Let's begin! This is the first day of class, and this post contains your first major task to complete. Your website will be a fundamental part of this class, so your first major task is to get that ball rolling by registering that domain and creating some content on it. This is a pretty important first step, so let's get to it with some things to read and some things to do.
Here are your goals for the first day:
Since most of our daily communication for this class will take place in Slack, the first thing you need to do is set up your account there:
@mail.umw.edu.Once all this is set up, switch to the "#general-chat" channel, and say a few words to introduce yourself. Also, add your response to these conversation threads:
And since Slack is a meant to be a platform for conversation, don't just write a paragraph and paste it into the chat box. See if others have already started a conversation, and reply to them (mention them by using @ and then their username).
In a technical sense, a domain is the fundamental part of a URL, or the location/address you see in your browser when you visit a web page. For example, google.com is a domain name, and so are umw.edu, youtube.com, and zachwhalen.net. As a student at UMW, you get a domain name for free (ordinarily these cost around $20/year), but since you only get one, you should think very carefully about what domain to register. I strongly recommend that you seek feedback on your domain name idea before you register it.
ICANN is the organization that controls all domain names, so here's a pretty thorough (if a bit technical) explanation of how they work: Beginner's Guide to Domain Names.
You should read or at least skim that document. If you prefer a video with someone talking to you, this youtube video seems to cover pretty much the same ideas.
Next, learn more about the broader context in which domains exist and specifically the role that UMW's "Domain of One's Own" project seeks to shift that context. Read Audrey Watters' "The Web We Need to Give to Students".
After learning about domains and digital identity, start or join a conversation in Slack about this article. Here are some questions that could be a good starting point.
Finally, it's time to consider your own domain name. Signing up is easy -- just go to umw.domains, log in with your UMW id, and if you don't already have a domain name, the first step will ask you to create one. In other words, you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to register before you sign in. Don't just pick something on a whim.
Generally, students use their name or some version of it. My primary domain is zachwhalen.net, for example, but since domain names have to be unique, you should first check and see if e.g. "yourname.com" is currently available. You can check this at a WHOIS website like whois.sc by typing in the name you're interested in and finding out if it's available or if someone else has already registered it. If it's listed as "for sale", do not buy it from whois.sc!! We (UMW) will be buying this for you, but you have to do that through UMW.domains.
There are plenty of good names available, and ultimately yours should be something that works for you. A few general recommendations:
Again, I strongly recommend you seek feedback on your ideas, so come up with a few options -- say, a top three -- and share those in Slack. I and your colleagues can give you feedback there, and you should also comment on each others ideas as well.
Whatever your process, once you've got one you're satisfied with, register it at umw.domains, and let us know what you signed up for by sharing it in Slack.