e Q u e s t.................................................

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Creating a Web Page

How people choose to present and in a sense create their online identity is an intriguing aspect of life in cyberspace. Designing a personal web page is a concrete exercise in understanding what you think is important about yourself. For this component of eQuest, create a personal web page. Say something about your life, your personality, background, and interests. Devote a paragraph to describing the issue you are exploring in eQuest, what you are learning from your project, what you are learning about yourself.

We'll put this page on the eQuest Blackboard site, so think about how you'd like to present yourself to future eQuest students. At the Blackboard site you can see the pages that past students created. For example, here's Gina's page and Joe's page. The random link generator at random.com also has a link that can connect you, randomly, to thousands of different personal pages. You might want to check out a few in order to get ideas for your page.

There are several ways you can create a web page. Netscape Communicator contains the "Composer" (under the Communicator menu). Frontpage Express also comes free with some versions of Internet Explorer, and you can download it separately from the Microsoft site. In PowerPoint you can also create a slide and then, under the file menu, save the slide as a web page. If you find yourself getting too frustrated or confused by trying to use these programs, then just create a mock-up page in your word-processing program. I'll help you turn that page into a real web page.

Be as creative as you like. Feel free to use colors, graphics, and pictures. If you want to include photos but don't have the means to scan them, I can do that for you. I'd be happy to help you construct your page. Think about these questions and write about them in your paper.

- Why did you chose the things you did to put into your page?
- What were you trying to say about yourself in how you designed it?
- Did you deliberately leave some things out? How come?
- How might you construct the page differently if people who knew about your issue were going to see it?
- How would you construct the page differently if almost anybody on the net might see it?
- How might you construct the page differently if only your friends and family members were going to see it?
- Take what you've learned about yourself in creating this page and describe how it might relate to the issue you are exploring in eQuest.
Exercise: Getting Feedback on Your Web Page
Ask three people you know (online or offline) for feedback about your web page. Ask them what the page reveals about your personality? Is there anything new they learned about you from that page? Write about this in your progress reports and in your paper.