photo by Aunt Owwee
As a birthday present, I’m creating a website for my mom (a.k.a Mama Lisa). She’s really excited to have an online home, but unsure of what she wants that home to look like. A living room for close friends to hang out? A study that reveals all her projects and ideas? An art gallery?
This got me thinking about how we build our online platforms. I’m still working on my own, as my inspirations keep evolving. So to help out my mom and myself and anyone interested, I’ve created a little tour through a few online homes I quite like to visit.
I love to visit Matt Blair at Elsewise Media. In his own words, the blog:
…includes exercises that explore our senses and broaden our aesthetic perspective, short essays about my sources of inspiration over the years, quotes about the creative process, the occasional book review, articles that explore the life cycle of ideas, and my still-evolving thoughts on topics such as what we gain from thinking of creativity in terms of agriculture.
He also has an online scrapbook — a collection of the words, images, and ideas that fuel him. Matt’s sites are a constantly growing reflection of his ideas.
Gwen Bell gives us a lovely, intimate reflection of her life and her thoughts. Her blog is honest and welcoming, which inevitably bolsters her position as a consultant/speaker on using social web tools. In this way, her site seems to effortlessly mesh her life and work together into one engaging online home.
Betsey Merkel uses her online platform as a hub that links to all her online spaces — what she has written and said, what she has created, who she has worked with, and where she connects. It’s a map of her online presence, and surely a map of what she does offline as well.
Jeb Dickerson has some cool twists on his blog. A photo gallery that you can use to send e-cards (or actual postcards!). An archive of his older posts, tucked into a tab called “Chapter 1.”
Richard Reeve also makes great use of photos at Catskill Cottage Seed. Alongside his blog, he has some beautiful photo journals. (Incidentally, Jeb has worked wonders on blog design for both Richard and me — he’s responsible for the changes that keep popping up in my design here!).
Amy Sample Ward uses her site for blogging about her work (and passion) with nonprofits and online community-building — and the blog itself serves as a dynamic community of people who want to learn from each other. To complement her blog, she also offers presentations she has made, her publications, and an insight into what she’s reading. Her blog works wonderfully as a really friendly resource+community for anyone who intersects with her line of work.
Marianne Slevin‘s online home is the Secret Gallery’s blog. Here, she shows the paintings she is working on, her thoughts on the process, and the things on her mind. Looking through it makes you feel that you’re watching her work unfold; such thoughtful writing, such lovely photos of her work.
Jump into the comments and let me know about other people using their sites in funky ways…!
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the heads up, Zoë. I appreciate other people finding the time to give me good blogs to read!
My pleasure… I enjoyed using the home analogy to explore the sites I always visit in a different way.
I tend to use my blog in several ways – I can discuss the latest things I’m writing, and I can post actual short fiction so people get an idea what I actually do, but I also like to post discussions about books I’ve read, or films I’ve seen. I especially like to discuss films from an art history standpoint, or books from a cinematic perspective…it makes me feel like my degrees were worth doing! I have no idea if it’s a useful platform or not, but I enjoy doing it.
I think that’s great — looking at one medium through the lens of another! I’ve yet to use this blog as a platform for posting short fiction, but it’s something that’s always been hanging around my mind… Lately, I’ve been pretty deep in non-fiction mode too, but I love creative non-fiction style… always room for more outlets to try.
ZDub! Thank you for including me in a great post. It’s funny, there used to be more of these kinds of posts around the web – where we’d take the time to discuss the people/blogs we love to engage. Seems like that’s changed. Or maybe I’m just milling around in all the wrong places. Either way, thank you for some fine suggestions and, of course, for providing a wonderfully comfortable home, and inviting us all in from time to time.
Cheers.
Hm, I think that’s true! Didn’t even think about it before.
I do hope this blog feels like I place you can just drop by…
Zoë : browsed and liked all the websites you have choosen.You have taste! Look forward to read your mom (Mama Lisa) website.
These are my favorurite websites:
http://www.rjgeib.com/ he is a sage
http://maxkaizen.com/ she is a genius
Thanks for sharing some new online spots, Paul. I look forward to checking them out…!
I love your reference to “online homes.” I was writing a guest post recently about how Twitter is like a neighborhood to me. So I guess that my blog is my home that you can find in my neighbor I’ve carved out of Twitter. It all kind of fits and makes the internet a warmer place when you think about it this way!
I feel like these internet spaces are very much what we make them… they have a lot of potential to be pointless, scammy, or impersonal (and many are), but they have just as much potential to create community spaces.
A lot of thoughts on this one here, Zoe. Thank you for the metaphor – and for getting the gears turning. Will blog.
I’m looking forward to your post… love to see metaphors spread, morph and tangle!
What a great birthday present for your mom! Has she moved in yet?
Then, aw shucks: thanks for mentioning my humble little efforts.
And now you’re broadening my world even more with your tour of some great thinkers. Thank you for that, too.
Best wishes to your mom as she settles into her new home. Remind her that online homes are so much easier to change than offline ones: redecorate, knock out a wall, turn the backyard into a jungle one weekend, a zen garden the next. See who stops by, how the conversation goes, and keep adjusting.
Oh, and I nominate you as art director for her site. You’ve had some lush photos on Essential Prose lately.
She hasn’t moved in yet… we’ve been playing with different ideas, lots of input helps!
You’re very right — the ability to evolve quickly and easily has been magical for me. And it will also make it much easier for my mom to get started and see where it goes…
[I'm working on stronger visuals for my posts... inspires my writing!]
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