Your Possibility Space*

Purpose

To introduce the CU Boulder Pilot program and the domain of one’s own story and to invite initial investigation of a “possibility space” (term used by Alan Levine) on buffscreate.net.

We’ll guide you through creating your own domain, setting up a possible blog space, establishing a domain landing page, and experimenting with some teaching tools and classroom applications. Through hands-on application you’ll experience the foundational goals of the project and walk away with some practical tools.

Let’s explore practices, strategies, and possibilities for enriching digital learning and literacies for CU Boulder learners.

Core questions:

What exactly is buffscreate.net and why are we inviting you to participate in the pilot?
What are the primary goals of the pilot and why is that significant and timely?
What have others done with similar initiatives at their institutions?

Personal questions and reflections:

How might you build your possibility space?
Why might this initiative be important for your work, your teaching, your students?
How might this initiative be of interest to your colleagues or disciplinary curricula?

Essential knowledge

Introducing BuffsCreate

View slidedeck in Google.

[icon name=”people-carry” ] Activity: Reflection & Networking

What is your name?
What interests you about BuffsCreate?
What questions are you pondering about BuffsCreate?

Imagining Your Domain

Buffscreate provides you with a digital address (or url) that points to your own hosted space, think of that like a plot of land, where you might choose to build a house or multiple other structures (websites or other digital artifacts). Imagine this plot of land — this digital space — What might you want to do with it? What would you build there? Who would be invited in? What would you want to keep there? How often would you and others visit?

A Domain is like a plot of land. Image from Disruptive Media Learning Lab, Coventry University licensed under CC BY.

Within your domain, you might build multiple rooms or subdomains. As you work on your site, you’re welcome to create as many subdomains as you like, and in each subdomain you can actually create a distinct, individual Web site.

Support Documentation: Subdomains.

Domain Metaphors

A House: A structure with rooms for various purposes (pages/ spaces in your site.) Consider how the rooms are arranged and how people will move through them.

A shelf: Imagine a shelf dedicated to displaying what is most indicative of you. Consider what you’d place there and in what order. Consider the frequency with which you’d clean and refresh the display.

A Room: A small flexible space that may customized for various uses. Consider how you might arrange the furniture, choose the aesthetics, and provide entry or exit.

A plant or garden plot: These grow more slowly and organically than a constructed home. Consider how you’d like the plant to grow over time. Consider how you might ready the soil or plant seedlings towards that purpose.

What other metaphors come to mind or resonate with you? Find your metaphor by viewing this worksheet or make a copy to add to your google drive.

Adapted from Tree Diagram , Website Metaphor, Coventry Design Guides by Disruptive Media Learning Lab, Coventry University licensed under CC BY.

[icon name=”sticky-note” ] Preparation for next session

We will begin working with your own accounts next. Before you return, spend some time considering your domain name. Once you’ve established a domain name, register at buffscreate.net. You’ll receive a confirmation email. Be sure to save that!

Consider the identity you wish to cultivate
Make it pronounceable
Make it short
Make it intuitive
Be sure you can live with it
More tips.

* Adapted from: https://extend-domains.ecampusontario.ca/guide/what-and-why/

Next time, we will introduce you to the backend of the system, practice installing an application, and other possibilities.

“There remains this idea, deeply embedded in the Domain of One’s Own project, that it is important to have one’s own space in order to develop one’s ideas and one’s craft. It is important that, as learners, we have control over our content and our data.”

– Audrey Watters

*The term ‘possibility space’ is borrowed from Alan Levine with Extend Ontario.

Header Image Attribution: Photo by Natalia Luchanko on Unsplash used under the Unsplash License.