ESSAY COM112

ESSAY (Assessment 1)

Submitted 4th Dec 2018

I have used the following platforms to start to build my identity online. My ‘travelinman’ online identity is the preferred identity I wish to develop as I progress through this course. I have also purchased the domain travelinman.online for future online use. These are all currently in the initial stage of setup.

• Twitter https://twitter.com/Travelinman9

• Facebook (page) https://www.facebook.com/travelinmanonline/

• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqQTsRYE4wup-OZMFwV8YxQ

(WORD COUNT STARTS HERE)

My current design is an authentic reflection of who I am, and not so much who I want to be. It will help to support the development of Travelinman.

In establishing my online identity, I point out that mine is a more of a summary of past events or achievements, as it is under development towards the end of my careers so far. I am also working on a possible new career using the domain travelinman.online. This has led me to setup my twitter account for this course (COM112) under that name. I have also established a travelinman facebook page and plan to setup a youtube channel under the same name. At this stage I do not have plans to use Instagram, although it seems that this is a very popular platform the promotion of an online identity. Often working in conjunction with facebook.

My current profession is mature aged student studying things that are appealing to me and my online identity website also lists my current and previous career highlights of Teacher, Actor, Writer, Traveler and also Presenter. I have included relevant photos, videos, sample of my writing. I am confident that it reflects my diverse background and also reflect my personality. The risk that I run in providing examples of diversity is that my online identity and future profession are not specialized in one clearly defined area. In order to successfully portray and reflect who I am I do not wish to limit my identity to just one of these career areas. I also feel that these areas are connected through my own experience. This decision is also at an early stage of establishing an online identity. Although my career has included some past online presence it has not been an essential part of my work. In fact, as a teacher one conscious choice is that I have avoided using my real identity in most online situations.

I intend to use this platform to share the required content as it relates to the topics discussed. At this time, I do not want to limit myself to one profession but as the course develops this may change. My site is also of a personal nature and contains family content from my personal collection of photos which I have taken or are part of my family photographical history. My preference for future development of Travelinman identity does have the advantage that it is not my legal or 'real' identity. As it is a relatively new idea I am not totally certain that it is a sustainable, authentic persona. I am hopeful that it will be a good fit for how I wish to spend my time in future years. That is related to the travel I have already and intend to undertake in the future. It is also my current project.

These decisions explain where I am at with the development of my online identity. It is early on in this process as I am also very early on in the current course development. “Our online presence is a big, if not the biggest, factor in personal branding” (Ross, L. 2013)

My brief personal bio is an observation which I have come to appreciate more in later years. My career profile is made up of a variety of careers or jobs that I have undertaken. This will become more refined as I progress through this course. Of the images and video samples the one that more closely fits my future Travelinman identity is the “Manly Jazz Festival” video. This is a project I completed recently. I am reasonably pleased with the video produced as it feels like where I would like to move towards in the future.

I have also selected a photo composition of me as a teacher of film reflecting back over a varied lifetime. I previously referred to this photo composition as ‘reflections’ and feel that my past lives or incarnations have led me to where I am in life. Providing me with the experience I require to do what I enjoy most. Travelling and enjoying the experience and flavor of different cultures. From my acting career, I have included images from two of my most memorable projects. One is the stage play ‘Cry Wolf’ and the other is the Baz Luhrmann film ‘Australia’. The photo credit from the later photo is film still from the DVD movie release. The other photo is from a photo commissioned by the Manly Daily for an article they wrote about my role in the Cry Wolf play. As they feature my image I feel justified in using these to promote my online identity for this assessment. I have also included as part of my site my most recent acting CV (sites.google.com/view/grahambowker/performance/acting)

The photos I have used from Koh Lipe in Thailand are again from my personal photos taken while travelling in Thailand in 2014. They capture part of that experience. In future, I would like to record more video to compliment such photos with an emphasis on travel experience. This focus is likely to become more apparent as my Travelinman project takes life.

The timed selfie taken on the Balmain side of Sydney Harbour is the header photo intend to use for both Twitter and Facebook. I like the photo as I feel it conveys the feel for my current image of Travelinman. I may develop a logo based on this photo but again that is a future step. The whole Travelinman concept is very new and will take time and devotion beyond completion of my current study in mid-February, 2019.

The Manly Jazz Festival article I wrote and have included as a pdf needs to become a page, when time permits, so that it is more interactively viewed. I am not happy with the way it displays on my career page. However, it is an essential ingredient as a shared post and it was necessary to include it in this assessment task.

The course COM112 is exactly the inspiration I require to help bring my Travelinman concept to life. I am currently very pleased with my choice of ‘Digital Media’ as a session 3 subject. With only week 3 complete I am confident that my Travelinman project will move forward. I am equally certain that this subject provides a beginning and not a conclusion.