In creating a Web presence, it is essential to understand the way in which one intends to represent oneself, the purpose of the platforms, the audience one hopes to address/attract and the overall theme of the content. In the case of my Web presence, consisting of the website, ‘Mandy’s Music Notes’ and three contributing nodes, You-Tube, LinkedIn and Twitter, I intended to represent myself as a professional musician with the purpose of reflecting on and sharing my experiences and philosophies of life as a piano teacher and accompanist. Although I aim to interact with and reach an audience of other music teachers and/or students, my Web presence is undoubtedly a means of “self-expression…, self-construction… (and) intrapersonal communication” (Döring, 2002) as well as a way of creating my own Internet footprint, thereby leaving a positive impression of who I am. All of these considerations have influenced my choices in constructing my Web presence.
I decided on a Yola (2011) site for my central node. It was free, easy to use, offered a range of styles/themes and provided opportunities for upgrading and advertising if so desired. The Yola style I selected is called ‘Victoria’, chosen for its warmth, simplicity and classic design, all of which reflect the classical music theme of my Web presence. I deliberately kept the home page distinct from my blog as my aim was to welcome and orientate visitors, giving them an overall impression of my site. The image on the home page, created using basic computer drawing tools, was inspired by a graphic wallpaper image at ArtMoth Layouts and Graphics (2009 – 2010). Mine is a little more simplistic and complements the colour scheme of my website. The quote was found at ‘Quotes to live by’ (Francois, 2010) and I used medium, italicized, comic sans font to make it appear more reflective and artistic. The text on my home page is simple and brief so as not to deter visitors with large amounts to read.
The text on my ‘About’ page is also deliberately brief, providing a short overview of my professional and personal background with a small description of the reason for creating the website. It was not my desire to remain anonymous, as many bloggers prefer (Qian & Scott, 2007), but to establish my identity as a professional and a real person in the music community, hence my inclusion of a real photo as opposed to an avatar. I also included the links to my contributing nodes on this page (as well as on my blog page), since these are extensions of my online identity.
My blog page, also an extension of who I am, is a place for me to reflect, share and invite others to participate. Just as Blood (2000) came to value her own “opinions and ideas…as unique and important” (para. 20) through blogging, I also hope to develop confidence in writing and sharing some of the insights I have gained through teaching and performing music throughout my life. Of the numerous blog features one can employ, I have included a Categories list, Recent Posts, a Blog Archive, a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed, a Blogroll, my three contributing nodes, a Twitter feed, some Twitter and Facebook sharing/liking plugins and a comment box, powered by HTML Comment Box (n.d). Each of these were positioned carefully on the page to appear as attractive and uncluttered as possible. Furthermore, they are characteristic of the linking, sharing and participatory nature of Web 2.0 tools, offering visitors to my site a “rich user experience” (O’Reilly, 2005, p.5). The Twitter and Facebook plugins were chosen due to the popularity of these social networks and in order that my visitors have an option to share or like my posts. My Twitter feed was designed with colours that blended well with the website and to further enhance my identity and theme. I decided to use photos in my blog posts as they enhanced the aesthetic appeal of the page and contributed to the overall music theme. The photos are Creative Commons-licensed material from Flickr, containing flexible alternatives to the traditional copyright laws (Creative Commons, n.d). These have been acknowledged accordingly on my blog page with links to the appropriate licenses.
In selecting the contributing nodes for my Web presence, I considered platforms my audience was most likely to use, that would reflect the overall theme of my site and that would allow me to connect with other members of musical communities. For these reasons, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter were chosen. Both YouTube and Twitter enable members to set their own theme for their profiles. Naturally, I selected themes and colours which were compatible with those of my website. YouTube enabled me to create playlists of my favourite music, adding a multi-media dimension to my Web presence, which I believed to be highly appropriate for a musician’s Web presence. LinkedIn, a social networking site commonly used by professionals, was valuable as an opportunity to connect with other professional musicians and to share my professional and educational background. Twitter also provided a chance to connect and interact with other musicians, to discover links to other websites on similar topics and to share and promote my own website. In this respect, I am able to use Twitter, not only to forge friendships, but also to provide and seek information (Java, Finin, Song & Tseng, 2007). In searching for suitable buttons for the links to my contributing nodes, I considered the colours, the style and the size. They were found from various locations, including buttonshut.com (n.d) and Siah Design (2008). I particularly liked the Twitter button, as the bird’s ‘tweets’ resembled music notes, which were appropriate for my music theme.
Creating my Web presence has been challenging, yet enjoyable. Many decisions have been involved in the process, all of which have resulted in contributing to a positive representation of who I am as a musician, and have adequately reflected my theme. I look forward to maintaining and building on what has begun.
References
Blood, R. (2000). Weblogs: A history and perspective. Retrieved from http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
buttonshut.com. (n.d). LinkedIn Buttons LinkedIn Button 82x22px. Retrieved from http://www.buttonshut.com/Get-Button-Huts-Code/LinkedIn-Buttons-1096.html
buttonshut.com. (n.d). Youtube Buttons Youtube Button 120x30px. Retrieved from http://www.buttonshut.com/Get-Button-Huts-Code/Youtube-Buttons-1907.html
Creative Commons. (n.d). Creative Commons: Share, Remix, Reuse – Legally. Retrieved from http://creativecommons.org/
Döring, N. (2002). Personal home pages on the Web: A review of research. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 7(3). Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2002.tb00152.x/full
Francois, D. (2010). Quotes to live by. Retrieved from http://quotesweliveby.blogspot.com/2010/04/music-speaks-what-cannot-be-expressed.html
HTML Comment Box. (n.d). A comment box for your website. Retrieved from http://www.htmlcommentbox.com/
Java, A., Finin, T., Song, X., & Tseng, B. (2007). Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage and Communities. Procedings of the Joint 9th WEBKDD and 1st SNA-KDD Workshop 2007, August 12. Retrieved from http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/_file_directory_/papers/369.pdf
Musical Notes And Piano Keys PSP Wallpaper. (2009 – 2010). [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.artmoth.com/psp-wallpapers/details/1137-musical-notes-and-piano-keys/
O’Reilly, T. (2005). What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. Retrieved from http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html
Qian, H. & Scott, C. R. (2007). Anonymity and self-disclosure on weblogs. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 14. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00380.x/full
Siah Design. (2008). Free Twitter Buttons. Retrieved from http://siahdesign.com/archives/150
Yola. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.yola.com/
