Due: 8/30
Objectives:
- Very basic photo editing
- Introduction to the concept of Creative Commons
- Uploading and publishing to your new WordPress site
- Visual images as representations of complex conceptual topics
Avatar
Once you’ve created your web site, you need an image to represent yourself and/or your site for the class: an avatar. Your avatar can be whatever you want it be but try to create something that both reflects your personality and speaks to the topic for this class in some way.
Start by choosing one or more of your own photos as the basis of the avatar, drawing something yourself and scanning it, or finding one or more CC-licensed images on Flickr that you can modify. Make certain to keep a note for yourself of the URL for the photos you use if they are not your own.
[Edited to add: The link above has just broken, so here’s some additional instructions. Creative Commons licenses work with copyright law so that creators can share their work in a way that allows others to use it with attribution. The video on the left gives a good overview of the concept of Creative Commons licensing. The one on the right gives more explanation of how they work. They are short and worth watching.
You can find CC-licensed images by choosing licensed images on Flickr or with an advanced Google image search.
You can also search through public domain photo archives like Unsplash for images that you are free to use without restriction.]
Crop and otherwise edit the photo(s) in a photo editing application (like Photoshop, if you have it, or Pixlr is a free online photo editor that should work perfectly well for this task). You can create a layered or collage effect, if you’d like. Add your name on your badge in such a way that it’s legible — it can be your full name, just your first name, or the nickname you want to be called this semester.
Your final badge should be square and at least 512 pixels wide and high. Please make certain your badge is square so that it will fit into the design on the student sites page.
Publish
When you’re done, you’ll need to put the image two places, with an optional third:
First
Load the badge into your Media Library and publish it to your site in a blog post. (If adding it as a feature image means that the entire square image won’t display, then also insert the image into the post itself.)
Include information and links in the post about the source(s) for images included in your badge.
Write a paragraph or two about why you chose those images, what aspects of yourself and your interests are represented in your badge, and/or what difficulties you faced in creating the badge.
Please tag your post with the tag “sq1,” plus with any additional tags that you think are appropriate.
Second
Go into your dashboard to Appearance > Customize > Site Identity. Load the image as your site icon.
Finally
If you do not already have a gravatar, create a gravatar account and load your avatar there. From then on, your avatar will show up as your picture when you leave comments here and on other students’ sites.
