Welcome to class.

Hello my name is Kodee 

- Okay Tristen, but we won't get into that. 

I am setting up a blog for Comm 350, Emerging technologies class, at WWU (Westerm Washington University) for my assignments. It seems we will have various assignments relating to the class. This is one of the few times I won't be whining over my homework. 

Blogging, Personal Branding and Photoshop

Blogging
I have been blogging for a few years mostly chronicling my journey through school to eventually teach, or at least move to Korea - The south one. 

Other options that can be more time intensive such as Wix.com,  which hosts websites as well. 
I suggest blogging as a great way to get out your creativity. I will often have to go back and edit blogs I've written because I've wanted to write them quickly, therefore grammar suffers.  However they are usually filled with a pretty heavy dose of humor, even my rather serious stories.  Sometimes I talk about places and experiences or how far I've come in the process. 

There are many options for blogs, Blogger was the one I personally liked the best. The interface isn't too difficult to maneuver, and usually it allows you to upload the gifs and photos you want with limited issues. 

Stylecaster mentions Blogger, Wix and Tumblr as three of the eleven free best blogging sites. 


Personal Branding
 What's a personal brand? Well in my head it involves a hot iron and the name of  your ranch, but I'm from Wyoming so my schema may be a bit different.

What about when you're in the room, after they meet you?

When we were tasked with making a logo I was unsure what to come up with. A few years back I created one for a Google page I had set up along with my Gofundme page. I wanted to do something a little different than before, but I put a lot of work into the first one.

My radio show

Each person creates a design that represents them, their ideas and the message they want to get across. There are a myriad of ways, using colors, fonts and shapes to convey this. 

Forbes gives ideas about building a personal brand.  A good thing to do is to make sure your online presence isn't too tarnished from a week-end in Cancun when you were 18. A good idea is to Google your name and see what comes up. Another good thing to keep in mind is that your "brand" won't be world famous within the week. Give it at least a fortnight and maybe a week-end. 

Photoshop 

I currently have a very special skill when it comes to Photoshop:

The elusive program of the creative. There are countless tutorials on Youtube, and via blogs. The program is as amazing as it is controversial among photographers. It is used to manipulate images and it can be beneficial, especially in ads, however it can used to manipulate the greater public as well. I am never less than amazed at the creations people make using this bit of software. The program has a great amount of detail involved, and thankfully vloggers have taken the time to show us all how to navigate its intricacies:

                             
There is also simple tricks like touch ups if you're a lot more skilled than I am. 
I have gotten to the point where I can open the program and stare at the toolbar eventually crying in joy once I made something work, and then in anger because I accidentally deleted it and can't get it back. 
Anyway here is another tutorial:

That concludes today's homework. Have a good week.