Creating an Academic Website (& this Website's Progression)

I might not be the best person for this, as I'm still figuring it out. But, in the spirit of moving forward in the ambiguity and learning process, here is what I've learned/been learning in constructing this website. 

The main thing for me has been the question of: but what is the point? What is the point of an (academic) website? 

Purpose & Objective
For some, an academic website is  meant to highlight your scholarship/research, teaching, a site to house your CV, etc. For others, the website is a place to share resources, reflect on lessons learned, and create a community. The website can be both. They can be neither. They can be along the spectrum. Here are some general categories I've noticed:

• About (because truly: who are you?)
• Research (e.g. your publications, your research projects)
• Teaching (e.g. the classes you have taught, want to teach, teaching philosophy)
• Services (like consulting, copy-editing, grant-writing)
• Resources
• Blog / Reflection
• Links to social media (like Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Platforms & User Design
Websites need to be easy to use. There are whole fields dedicated to "user design." And I think this makes sense on both ends: easy for your audience/readers, easy for you as the creator. Here are some of the platforms that are not coding (i.e. building) from scratch: 

• Weebly (this site)
• Wordpress
• Wix
• Squarespace

With these, you'll want to think of categories and easy-to-understand titles. If you've been following this website closely, you'll notice I'm... clearly, still figuring it out (see blog post).  For comparisons, I'd highly recommend this site (this example compares Weebly and Squarespace but they also compare with all the aforementioned platforms). 

Getting Started
If you're wanting to get started on an academic website, I'd also recommend this tutorial from "You on the Market," ​

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As an aside... 

How the question of... "Should I Blog" on my website?... became a transition to Katherine's Story Corner (ha!) on how I created this website and it's evolution:

Again, I don't think there's a clear-cut right or wrong way to blog for websites. However, I do think that this has to do with perspectives. For me, the idea of this website came from the desire to create what I would have wanted, which meant two things: (1) resources to navigate, and (2) narratives in navigation.

I have so dearly appreciated blogs like Dr. Betina Hseih's that have helped humanize the academic journey for me. I wanted to create this too. And so I did. From there, the first "static" page (compared to a blog format) was "Due Dates." Over the past years, I had been making this system for myself and realized I should just share the wealth. After all, better conference submissions would (hopefully) lead to better conference programming and more learning. That extended to journals, submissions, fellowships, etc. With these due dates, came the tips I wanted to share— now affectionately named "Me-Sourced" (this page). By then, I had already been bullet journaling, and with several friends asking if I could sell a writing/productivity planner, I decided to digitize my favorite templates. The last section (as of now) is one I'm still figuring out, where I wanted to credit the people, the sites, the bookmarks of where I learn my information— my sources, if you will. And that's how the "Out-Sourced" section was born.

But to go back to the question of "should I blog," I think this is more of a question of "how personal do I want to be in the public"? And that is something I've reflected on quite a bit and the necessity to have some boundaries. For example, my blog includes my Spotify playlist of music for when I'm writing, but I don't see myself including a photo album of my life any time soon. But if you do, I think it is wonderful.

As a fun aside, for those of you who might not know, my father is also a faculty member and has a website as well. Clearly the apple doesn't fall far from the tree (check out his resources page), haha!