Batson Blog

This is from the Chronicle:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/do-you-need-your-own-website-while-on-the-job-market/35825?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

The writer makes a good case for young academics to create a Web site for themselves and occasionally refers to this Web site as a "portfolio" but seems to be unaware of electronic portfolio technology. 

In my recent discussions with the major vendors of electronic portfolios, I have found that an emerging market for them is providing individual accounts.  The eportfolio for a person unaffiliated with a university does not need institutional assessment management functionality but is instead a version of the product customized for individual use. 

If you have not checked lately, you may find that the eportfolio vendor at your institution offers individual accounts unbundled from institutional links.  Most eportfolio software is now Web-based anyway, so offering individual subscriptions is a natural next move -- and it solves the issue of what to do with your eportfolio after graduation.

I believe individual eportfolio accounts will eventually become as big a market as institutional accounts. People will pay for an annual subscription directly to the eportfolio provider. 

As more and more individuals use eportfolios before, during, and after graduation and throughout life, individual eportfolios will be become more and more user-friendly.  When I have tried to use eportfolio accounts for myself in the recent past, I have found them still assuming I'm part of an institution.  Once the eportfolio offerings for unaffiliated individuals -- that is, for the general market -- become common, they will no longer have institutional legacy features and requirements but will instead be designed exclusively for individual use.  They will then be viable alternatives as a way to create personal websites with eportfolio capabilities.  Then, I can move from WordPress to a true eportfolio.