This position in my Honors Portfolio is earmarked for dedication to work product within the context of the Folio-Thinking Honors Colloquium. Because the website you are now viewing is, in itself, the work product of this colloquium, I have been encouraged by Dr. Joan E. Leichter Dominick, Director of Portfolios for Student Success Programs and the Senior-Year Experience Program, to speak about the design elements I elected to incorporate in this website, the process I used to map out the flow of information, and my philosophical reasoning during the entire process.

As I moved through the process of learning about electronic portfolios and their benefits, I began to realize this was to be a two step process. The first step was largely conceptual. Conceiving a pursued theme, reviewing the countless creative methods available for delivery, and determining the highest level of compatibility between the two became the primary focus of my first step. The second portion of my process was technically oriented. Simply put, with the idea and method for delivery already conceptually hardened, the focus turned to translating this vision into the electronic forum.

The two step process I have described above delivers a couple of intentional philosophical points. By valuing the conceptual stage as the initial step, I attempted to avoid restricting my creativity by whatever technical deficiencies I might have. In my opinion, the answer to any technical problem during this process can easily be solved by looking in the correct book or seeking the council of more skilled people. In short, no painter’s imagination should ever be hindered by the size of their canvas.

I believe that a painter’s imagination is largely influenced by their personal philosophy. My philosophical concern about electronically delivered information is that it removes human interaction and consequence from the condition of our existence. By considering this fundamental belief in the conceptual stages of this website, I began to make design choices directed at combating the traditionally cold and impersonal nature of electronic delivery.

Several elements of this website design were predetermined by the mandatory benchmarks required by the Honors Department. By stipulating that this work have a professional appearance, several less conservative design options were available. Given these apparently inherent restrictions, the real challenge became finding a method to present accurate personal information, using a traditionally impersonal mode, in a highly personal way. This singular thought became my main theme.

By design, a person navigating this site may travel to any internal destination from any page. This is accomplished by strategic placement of a comprehensive navigation bar on every screen. Viewers are not required to back out of a page to a point of origin in order to move to a different destination within the website. The philosophical justification for this design element lies in the fact that human beings feel frustrated and angered when trapped. Because people naturally gravitate toward free circumstances, I made sure that visitors enjoyed the sense of freedom that can be derived from complete and uncomplicated mobility.

Using previously organized templates for the delivery of my personal information would have detracted from any real claim of authenticity. In keeping with the aforementioned theme, I vowed to avoid prepared materials in favor of generating previously unused ideas. Examples of these ideas may be found in the “owl buttons,” Kennesaw State University wallpaper background, and unique headline banner.

An overwhelming majority of people consider themselves highly tactile learners. One of the main human disconnects of electronic information is the inability to touch it as an individual would a book or newspaper. The navigation buttons on the home page are designed to straddle the line between conservative appearance and visual delight. Most importantly, the buttons react to a visitor hovering over them by appearing as if they are slightly depressed. This is done to stimulate a greater feeling of tactile human interaction.

The main theme mentioned earlier is a difficult goal to achieve when considering the vehicle for informational delivery is, by design, somewhat remote. By incorporating an opening narrative into this website, I have engineered a traffic pattern that invites people to know me before they get to know about me. Additionally, I have chosen to include an audio of my actual voice in an attempt to further break down the distant and remote feeling of the electronic interactive experience.

Organization of the factual or archived information contained in this website closely mimics the logical progression through the Honors Program. The driving reason for this choice of layout is continuity. Continuing with the reasoning of practical continuity, I have incorporated links that use the logo of the Honors Program as the gateway to relative information. This mode of reasoning is also the motivating thought behind the use of highly recognizable Kennesaw State University logos and artwork.

Recognizable artwork and logos from Kennesaw State University are woven into this website to the extent that they achieve an equal stature and frequency with my personal information. This is an intention metaphorical representation of my belief that participation in the Honors Program is collaborative. Although the Honors Program demands certain requirements of me, I voluntarily chose to participate. In this reality lies the proof of partnership.

In the spirit of partnership, I would like to acknowledge the valued contributions made by my wife in the creation of this website. Her technical expertise was an irreplaceable resource in this process. In that my opportunity to participate in the Honors Program stems largely from my wife’s supporting labor, I find it appropriately symbolic that her delicate fingerprint can be found throughout this project.

In conclusion, I submit that the main deliverable in this colloquium is that the process is more valued than the product. The mental journey undertaken by anyone venturing through the folio-thinking process includes reflection and introspection, imagination, personal honesty, and history. While I value the practical application of the end product in this process, it’s the journey I feel most enriched by. Thank you Dr. Joannie.