Creating my own CarlSite with WordPress

Setting up my own site was a little tedious but not too difficult at all. The most difficult part was getting my own cPanel set up by ITS, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. I enjoyed playing around with the design and understanding what all the menu options did. It was also fun creating an “about” page for myself. It made me feel a lot older and more professional.

This platform seems helpful for collecting ideas. In this class, we use Austin’s site to share ideas and collaborate. I’m sure we’ll do that on our own sites too, even if it’s not for this class. Depending on what I major in, I could see myself listing ideas and findings on my website and having my peers post comments on my work. The benefit of hosting my own website is that I have control over stylistic preferences and I can modify my website to best display the content that I am creating. Also, I feel like creating my own website, especially using WordPress, also helps ensure that my content will reach the right people. While posting on social media reaches more people, it also reduces validity since it automatically seems less academic. That being said, it is a benefit to reach a lot of people, especially since Digital Humanities often involves work that aims to engage and help the broader public.

One downside of not signing up for a service, however, is that I your website might seem more sketchy or get less traffic because it is not hosted by a well-known entity. I wonder if personal websites are generally less advertised by Google and other search engines? That is also an issue that Digital Arts and Humanities seems to face: since it is all small collaborative work, you need to really dig deep to come across it. Especially since most people get their information from big academic sources, like a college. You generally just see the finished product and not all the small contributions.