Starting This Journey

Okay, I think I'm the person that Nate (see Getting Started) is referring to as already having started - as I go have a registered domain and existing blog.

At present, I have my own non-institutional website at http://www.michaelbarbour.com. I also regularly maintain three different blogs:

• my research blog - Virtual High School Meanderings
• my academic/profesisonal blog - Breaking into the Academy
• my personal blog - Rock Ruminations

Now, getting my own domain was actually an interesting process. Last summer I was posting a series on web presence (see Creating your web presence and Be careful about your web presence) to my academic/profesisonal blog when I got this message in my inbox:

Subject: new web site disclaimer policy
TO: UGA faculty, staff and students
RE: New policy requiring disclaimer statement on Web pages
____________________________________________________
On April 21, 2005, the University Cabinet adopted a new policy requiring a disclaimer be placed on all Web pages residing on the UGA Web server, or that otherwise explicitly or implicitly indicate an affiliation with the University of Georgia. Please note that pages that provide OFFICIAL information on behalf of the University are NOT required to affix the disclaimer. The policy, including the specific language of the disclaimer and detailed information regarding the requirement, may be viewed at

http://www.eits.uga.edu/webhelp/wsdpolf.pdf

Please review this policy to determine its applicability to any Web site under your control. This particularly applies to any personal sites of students, faculty and staff, as well as those of student organizations. Please note that non-compliant sites are subject to removal from the UGA Web site. We trust that the policy and explanatory document at the link above will answer your questions. Additional questions may be addressed to wsdp@uga.edu.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

This prompted me to write Disclaimers on your web presence and to get my own non-institutional server, which was finally set up at the end of June 2005 (see My new web presence). Th procss itself was relatively simple. I asked two friends that had their own domains for their opinions, and I was recommended the Canadian company Doteasy by my American friend and the American company GoDaddy by my Canadian friend (funny how that worked out). I selected Doteasy because if you registered a domain with them your web hosting was free if your website was less than 100MB. If you recommended them to a friend, that increased to 200MB (which I did when I registered a domain for my wife - see http://www.lisabarbour.com). The fact that I got in during a special where I was able to register my domain for $4.95 didn't hurt either.

So, it is a basic website and has served its purpose for the past year and a bit. But now I am going up on the job market again and I think that I need a more professional presence. So my main personal goal during this Blog Track is to give my shingle that professional and polished look prior to arriving in Dallas in October won't you join me on this journey?

Tags: AECT 2006, AECT, graduate student, graduate students, graduate school, higher education, education