Shaun DiGiovanni: Posts from GEN 2243

StoryboardThat Comics: "Busy Day" "Dread" "And so nothing got done..." More Storytelling: "The Process" "Your Problems" Thanks for reading, Shaun DiGiovanni Stories  1-3 were made using StoryboardThat, Story 4 was made using Canva, Story 5 was made using Make Beliefs Comix

What's in a good website is such a complex topic, I wouldn't be able to cover it all in one short smackdown video. Generally speaking, the 4 pillars of website design are: A clear purpose, visually appealing aesthetic, good content, and clear site navigation. I would also add a 5th pillar: available for free. Paywalls often impact the user experience by frustrating the user. When I mean paywalls as a negative experience, I'm not talking about Wikipedia asking you to donate to keep the lights on or a YouTuber making a call to action for their viewers to become a monthly supporter on Patreon. I mean paywall experiences that negatively impact a users ability to use the actual website. "What do you mean I need to pay for this now? This used to be free!" is a common complain I hear about news media sites when they give you half the article but you need to sign up for a weekly subscription to view their articles. Or more relevantly, "Twitter Blue", the paid-fo...

  When I was younger and posting my art online on platforms such as DeviantArt, the way that people would ask to collaborate with you was by asking "collab?".  Collab is obviously short for "collaboration" and it's probably the most important thing you'll do within your journey as a connected professional building your connected learning community. Maintain Your Relationships Relationships matter, no matter what career field you're in, but it's especially true as a freelancer. Your relationships with not only clients, but your fellow artists and your following is your career's life force. Does that mean you have to be friends? Absolutely not. It'd be absurd to ask someone working an office job to befriend every single colleague and coworker. Everywhere you'll find people you like and that like you, or people you don't like and don't like you-- that's human interactions. The key point is to be professional to everyone. Collab? ...

Today, I present to you my Web 2.0 smackdown for webtool Google Drive.   What is Google Drive?       This seems like almost a dumb question– Everyone’s used google drive! Google Drive is a file storage web tool. It’s part of Google Suite– Google’s productivity webtools such as Docs, Sheets, G-Mail, etc. If you have a G-Mail account, you have Google Suite and by extension, Drive.   How do I use Google Drive?       I use Google Drive to store files for clients so they can retrieve them. Drive has your files private by default unless you share them– I use this feature to share files and store them. While I can’t show you the extent of what I have on here, I hope this video demonstrates the navigation and ease of use for this application. Presentation Thank you for watching and reading, Shaun DiGiovanni

     What is a professional without their tools? Now that you're a connected professional and are connecting with your community, you need to have an arsenal of tools to use to stay connected. In my previous two posts on The Connected Professional , I outlined how to become a connected professional and how to build your connected learning community. Tools of the Trade      The most obvious tool connected professionals use is networking. Either through social media, going to events virtually or in-person, or working with others.       A tool we haven't gone over yet is using non-social media resources, such as podcasts, blogs, websites, videos, books, etc. With the power of the internet, there is an endless variety of resources on the internet. These are so accessible to create and consume, it seems almost obviously that they'd be your tools.      Here I'd like to introduce you to an online tool called an RSS feed-- a way t...

  This post works best in conjunction with my previous post, The Connected Professional. For my original post, please  click here .      There are two simple facts of life: 1) You can't know everything and 2) you're not born knowing everything. That's just how it is, we're human. You have to find this knowledge as you go through the world. Building your connected learning community is no different. How do we do that? Kickstarting Your Connected Learning Community       So, you want to start your personal learning network. A great place to start is to pick up good online "branding" habits like picking a consistent internet handle across your professional accounts so that it will make it easier for others to find you across platforms. If you're not so familiar with this but know someone that is, you can always ask them to mentor you.      The next step is picking who you want to follow. Who do you want to follow? Do you want...