The Story of Your Life
Using WordPress
as a Memory Warehouse
"Things in life have no real beginning,
though our stories about them always do."
-Colum McCann
Hi, I’m Brianna
AKA: brianna.org
In 1996 I built my first website*
*we may have spelled it “Web site” at the time
“I’m here, where are you?”
-Frank Chapman, ornithologist
Your Place on the Web
Register a domain for a year at a time - credit cards expire and it’s a good opportunity to review your info.
Get domains for your kids while you’re at it.
Your Place on the Web
“If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold. - Andrew Lewis/blue_beetle
The web belongs to us
Your Place on the Web
Open-source WordPress gives us a powerful tool for creating online as well as ownership of what we create.
"There are only two eras of any importance in the world's history. The first is the appearance of
a new medium for art, the second is
a new personality for art…"
- Oscar Wilde
In 2005, I moved my personal
website to WordPress
This was a good choice.
Getting Started with WordPress
“It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
- Patrick Rothfuss
Lesson #1
You are responsible for your privacy online. �Only share what you’d be comfortable having displayed on a movie screen in front of 1,000 of your closest friends and also the government.
Lesson #2
Consent means getting permission *before* you post pictures of people who aren’t you in a place where they can’t delete it or un-tag themselves.
Consent and Privacy In the Digital Age
Part of curating our lives online is balancing the weight of creating a satisfying personal record and protecting our data and the data of those who touch our lives who may not be in a position to give consent.
Consent and Privacy In the Digital Age
When you document the hard stuff,
you leave a more honest legacy.
“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we are here.”
- Sue Monk Kidd
Lesson #3
Your story is only one part of the picture.
If you’re curating a family document, make it easy for others
to share with you.
Collaboration Ideas
Lesson #4
Digital data is simultaneously more and less fragile
than you think.
Things have a way of sticking around, so make sure you want them available. Things have a way of disappearing, so make backups in more than one format (including physical).
Backups and Your Digital Legacy
Digital Resource Lifespan
Backups and Your Digital Legacy
Automating Your Personal Website
Automating Your Personal Website
Favorite Recipes
Lesson #1 - You are responsible for your privacy online. Only share what you’d be comfortable having displayed on a movie screen in front of 1,000 of your closest friends and also the government.
Lesson #2 - Consent means getting permission *before* you post pictures of people who aren’t you in a place where they can’t delete it or un-tag themselves.
Lesson #3 - Your story is only one part of the picture. If you’re curating a family document, make it easy for others to share with you.
Lesson #4 - Digital data is simultaneously more and less fragile than you think. Things have a way of sticking around, so make sure you want them available. Things have a way of disappearing, so make backups in more than one format (including physical).
Thank you.
View these slides, with links to resources at technosiren.com/wcus17