What’s the point of having a website, anyway?
It it just to say you have one?
Or is it to say actually something?
Let’s go back.
Before websites, knowledge and ideas traveled through books, newspapers, academic journals - physical mediums that required time, effort, and privilege to access.
To share your ideas meant writing letters to the editor, printing a pamphlet, or navigating the gatekeepers of publishing.
For the everyday person, sharing a new idea or connecting with an audience beyond your immediate circle was almost unimaginable.
Websites changed that. They democratized publishing, making it possible for anyone with an internet connection to share their ideas and connect with people just like them, anywhere the world.
I was lucky enough to come of age as the medium was coming of age.
1996: My 5th grade teacher had a weekly trivia game that prompted my first web search, at the local library, using Netscape.
1999: In 8th grade, I started getting bussed to a school in the suburbs, which meant arriving an hour early and camping out in the computer lab. My favorite thing to search? Rap lyrics.
2001: In high school, I created my first personal website and started making websites for different class projects. When my mom asked me what I wanted to do, I said, “websites.”
2004: I started college, made a website for my production company, Spectacular Productions, and sold my first beat online for $30.
2009: In grad school, I thought about starting a blog, a professional one. But what would I blog about? What would I say? Back then, I had no confidence in my ideas or the thought of sharing them online.
2013: I started the first version of the website you’re on right now. The theme was arrivals and departures. Leaving the old and embarking on something new. The next year I’d start freelancing full-time.
2015: I started a website and case study at SQSPThemes.com to prove to myself that I could create an online business.
Everything I learned there, I’ll be sharing and exercising here.
Lesson 1: A website that has no intention to publish is just a digital business card. Rarely is there any reason to return.
So even though I’ve always had a personal website of some sort, I’ve never quite invested in it like I am now.
This is Day One.
A daily log of philosophical and practical musings.
Things I can’t help but get out into the world.
