Vitality

Or vitae-lity?

When the call  I was ‘specting about a bit of web futzing didn’t jingle
my cellular phone this morning, I figured may just as well go to work on my
site. 
My
site
.  The one concerned with all things grand-boxy and professional. 

That’s what I did.  It’s not quite ready for mass consumption–the high
traffic of folks who’d have any business digging around in the proper record of
my professional life. But it is ready for a glance.  I anticipate a few
conversations in the coming months with my influential mentors, but any thoughts
you have–first reactions–let ’em fly, eh?

I know things will shift over the next few years, so I’m content–for the
most part–that this is an early version of a project that will likely enjoy an
overhaul about two years from now, just before I spruce it for the job search. 
I’ve started with twelve (hehe…eight too many!) front-page links: CCR, bio,
vita, teaching, coursework, dissertation, weblog, flickr, links/del.icio.us,
collections, media projects, and graphs.  The bio, I think, can be a space
where I represent, less formally, stances, stuff I’ve done, questions entangled
with my academic work.  Overkill? 

I was also uncertain about representing the diss already because it’s not
conceived yet.  So that’s a placeholder for the prospectus, chapter
synopses.  Yeah…that’s all.  Collections, media projects and graphs
are all loose and mysterious, even to me.  At the collections link, I think
I’ll begin developing a small bundle of bibliographic clusters, starting with
provisional exam reading lists for the end of next year. I don’t intend for it
to grow to the scope of
Becky’s
collections
, but I admire the model and find it exceedingly useful to jog my
memory by looking over lists of things. Collections will also include sets of
assignment-related links.  Media projects–there I’m thinking video, audio,
and screencasts, especially if I get on the ball with spoken word essays or
documentary stuff with my students in the next two years.  And graphs,
graphs will house some of my messing around with data visualizations,
infographics and other stuff I draw or design (rhetorical models, or lexical
equivalency chains–been intending to flesh that out). 

You might be disappointed to find that many of the links are as of yet
inactive.  But I just wanted to share what I worked on for a few hours
today.  Seriously, I’d be grateful for feedback.  It’s just a draft,
really.  For example, the more I look at it, the less I like the splotch of
spray-can brush stroke underlining on the image swap-out. Hell, by morning, I
might have the whole thing replaced with something new (although I am fond of
the box-fitting motif).

Ah, I’ve also been checking around at the various taxonomies
put to use in the vitae of folks whose work I admire.  No intention of
going too wild too soon with the whole project; rather, just trying to survey
the possibilities, locate a few adaptable models.  Gaps: invited talks, for
one.  Heh.  Maybe I should include a sub-heading for uninvited talks. 
Judging by a couple of my students’ course evaluations, that one could double
for teaching.

2 Comments

  1. Had it as just “J.” to start with. Should’ve left it that way. Can’t keep the J.-names straight. (Quote from *John* von Neumann threw me).

    Glad to know you think it’s a promising start. I figured I’ll mock it up, then we can talk about what’s missing, what’s overdone, and so on.

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