establishing a digital presence - a primer for students
TRANSCRIPT
Establishing Your Digital Presence: A Primer for Students
Amy Santee, User Experience and Design Research Consultant Presented to the University of Memphis
Dept. of Anthropology November 19th, 2015
Agenda1. A bit about me 2. What is a digital presence? 3. Elements of a D.P. 4. Examples
@amysantee
A bit about me…
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MA Applied Anthropology2009-2011
Consumer Researcher2011-2012
UX Researcher / Consultant2013-2014
Lead UX Researcher 2014-2015
2004-2008 BA Anthropology
UX & Design Research Consultant (freelance)
July 2015 to present
Amy Santee
My job: User experience & design research
UX & Design Research
Research that informs the design of products, services and systems through understanding how people interact with them, and which impacts their experiences with them.
- User research - Design research - Usability testing
It helps businesses and organizations stay competitive and create things that people find useful, relevant and valuable.
What is a digital presence?
What is a digital presence?
Enabling others to find, evaluate, and contact you online
Focused on the professional, with a thread of the personal
A cohesive and holistic ecosystem of interconnected places
Why is this important?
Because globalization and the information age
This is a way to take advantage of our interconnectedness for professional exposure
Social capital
As a digital extension of your professional identity, it’s a way to:
Be findable when you’re a professional Help people get to know you before they contact you Expand your connections Tell your professional story Have a voice, share your opinions Be a part of the global conversation Support others in your discipline or field of work Practice putting yourself out there
The best time to start is when you’re a student.
You don’t need to have everything - just the basics.
Elements of a digital presence
Where should you “be” online?
Wherever it makes sense. Wherever you want to reach people.
Consider your audience. Provide relevant, interesting, updated content
Website: resume, professional statement, experience
Blog: interesting, relevant posts and opinions
Social media: interesting, relevant posts and activity
LinkedIn: filled out with up-to-date info on experience, creds
No need to constantly update
provide the information people don’t know they’re looking for
Your digital presence should be well-designed
To design means to put thought & intention into decisions.
Amazon 1999 Amazon 2015
It can also refer to the act of creating of websites, documents, etc.There’s a a reason lots of websites care about design.
Designing Your
Website
Use best practices from User-Centered Design
Mobile friendly: Can’t just work on a laptop or desktop
Readability: layout, font, colors
Readability Scanability: people don’t read on the internet
Information architecture: content is organized and categorized in ways that make sense to people
Calls to action: give people something to do (“contact me” or “learn more”)
Content: help people find people what they’re looking for quickly and easily, without frustration
When designing your entire digital presence, how can user-centered design best practices apply?
My digital presence: a few examples
Applied anthropologist sites/blogs
