PrintEvery person involved with our online GIS program should have some kind of personal introduction to themselves on the web. This serves many purposes. Perhaps the most important is that when your fellow students, your teachers, or program administrators want to know who you are, they have a way of finding out. Without an online presence, it is harder to participate in an online community. Another important reason to have a web page is so that when people are evaluating you (such as a graduate school application, or an application for a job) they can quickly get a sense of who you are, in a professional sense.
What should you put in your web page? I would suggest putting in some information about your personal and professional background, and a picture of yourself if you feel comfortable with it. Think of what you would want your instructor to see in one of our classes if he or she was curious about you.
If you already have a web page, then you do not need to set another one up. However, this would be a good chance to make sure the information in your page is current. After you check it and freshen it up if needed, be sure to include a link to your page (the URL) when you submit your lesson in the drop-box.
Web site Creation
All of the following options are recommended, you should pick the one you are most comfortable with. Any one of them should only take ten minutes or so to set up. A listing of advantages and disadvantages of each are listed below.
- Create an account at http://pages.google.com or http://www.weebly.com/, or login to the blogs at Penn State http://blogs.psu.edu/.
- Walk through the wizard, or study the help, tutorial, or guided tour to learn how to use your chosen tool.
- Use the tool to create a Web page.
- Include your URL (e.g., "http://www.personal.psu.edu/youruserid/blogs/myblog/" or "http://yoursitename.weebly.com/" or "http://yoursitename.googlepages.com") in your drop box or email submission.
Advantages and disadvantages of web site options:
- Google Pages and Weebly are similar to each other in their advantages and disadvantages. They are both easy to set up and use, and they will persist indefinitely. They have the disadvantage of being run by private companies and the hosting and creation tools and terms of use are subject to change.
- Penn State blogs have the advantage that they are easy to set up, and are supported at Penn State if you get stuck. They have the disadvantage that your content may be deleted if you take some time off from the program, and will be deleted once you graduate. (We are working on getting this changed, but without much sucess.)