I’ve had a “personal website” for a number of years at this address. First started at the urging of my instructors (and longstanding personal desire) during my third (or was it first/second) year of university for many reasons: as a portfolio, to submit work for design class assignments, and to keep a record of past projects so they’d exist *somewhere* the next time my hard drive crashed (a recurring problem that lead to replacing my 2012 MacBook). Purchasing a domain name and hosting was exciting—there’s something really cool about having registered your own name, even for nominal cost. I’ve used a variety of designs and hosts—originally a Cargo Collective portfolio, I kept my site up for a year after they switched to version 2.0, then switched to WordPress.com as I didn’t want to fight with the new builder.
Following graduation, as I was no longer working on design projects, my website became stagnant, mostly serving as an archive of my university work and a place to keep my CV. It’s hard to post samples of Stage Management work (vital yet intangible, non-visual work), so I wasn’t regularly adding to the list of projects. The work I do has shifted, as I moved portfolio work from university, no longer my strength or focus, down in the hierarchy of this site’s navigation. Meanwhile, the link stayed on my résumé and in my email signature.
Recently, I’ve had more of a desire to have my own slice of the internet; a place for personal projects, thoughts & experiments, beyond a place for my CV to exist. I’ve put effort into revitalizing the site: changing the theme after a couple years (an internet eternity), adding new projects, and considering what else I want out of my home on the web. The possibilities are seemingly endless, and this is very much still a work-in progress with updated pages to come soon.
I’ve always been fascinated with computers & the internet, and what they can do for us, and I’m excited to *do more* with the resources and pages I have!
Duston Baranow-Watts 