Hey y’all,
This is the link to my web hosting account: https://mickeyxjetertwins.com/
This week I started out with creating the account. I used ChatGPT to help me brainstorm a domain name because I had no idea what I wanted to name it, but I also didn’t want to use the default domain name. Every week (between this class and another class I’m taking) I become better at prompting AI and I learn new ways in which I can use it to my advantage. I prompted it with this prompt: “Help me brainstorm some domain names for a poetry portfolio that includes variations of my own name: Makayla Tatiyana-Marie Smith.” It gave me twenty ideas almost instantly. Then I continued to prompt it with other forms of my name, including my nickname “Mickey” and I ended up deciding on the domain name included in the link I posted above.
I watched the video on using C-Panel and it seemed pretty straightforward. I’m not very tech savvy, so I hope that when we start creating and editing HTML and CSS files, it’s not too difficult.
After setting up my web hosting account and reviewing the material about C-Panel I began to think about how I want to construct my portfolio. I initially just wanted to have a fun website with samples of my poetry. I planned to take my shorter poems and, at some point write new poems, but then I looked up portfolio examples for writers and I found that what I initially had in mind probably isn’t the route I should take. I came across this particular portfolio (https://www.akwaeke.com/). The owner is an artist in multiple forms. Her portfolio markets herself. She has books, music, poetry, short films, stills, visual art, etc.
I came into this class thinking that I only had to focus on one thing because we’re supposed to research a specific industry, but in seeing her portfolio I realized that I could just use my portfolio to market myself. I model, produce short films, write poetry, sing (although I don’t have any online content for that), etc. I could create a portfolio that reflects that. Even though this seems like that path I should take, I still haven’t completely decided the direction I’m going to head into with my portfolio. I’m still trying to figure out whether or not I’ll just center it around my poetry or market myself as a whole.
If I just market my poetry I’m going to add artistic displays of it in Canva and upload them to my website. If I go the opposite route and market myself as a whole I’m going to work on the poetry, as well as upload some of my modeling photos and videos, links to some short films I produced, links to short films I’ve acted in, and some videos of me singing backup for my vocal coach.
Before I graduate, I definitely need to write some new poems and configure them in Canva in order to reflect my current artistic style. I also need to compile videos of me performing musically because I have none. I think that’s a good goal to have because after I graduate I have some things lined up in order to help me pursue a career in music. Writing poetry is a great skill set to have when it comes to music.
This week raised a lot of questions for me in terms of how I want to proceed in this course, but I have faith that everything will come together the way it’s supposed to in the end. 🙂