Having a repository to store your assignment and other files (e.g. resume, your photo, etc.) will be an important part of your e-portfolio. Having this repository accessible from the Web will enable any visitor to your site to have access to files you want to share.
a) Select file storage approach
To store and host your files, you can use a number of different file storage services. Most schools also provide their students with some Web-accessible file storage.
It's really important to keep backups of all files that you store in a third-party or school hosting service.
For the past years, this tutorial used the MediaMax hosting service... until they shut their doors and now all the files previously hosted by them are gone. Unfortunately, this meant that some of the e-portfolios that linked to samples of their work stored at MediaMax are gone and if a visitor tries to click on the showcased work they now see a "not in service" message instead... not a good way to impress potential employers.
The same thing happened with files stored at a school's free file repository. The problem is that most schools don't have a long term file storage policy or plan. Once students graduate, their files stored at school file storage services often are deleted.
You need to be the owner of your e-portfolio and all files in it. This means finding an external file storage service that is reliable but also having backups so if necessary, you can move your files to another location (you would also have to modify your hyperlinks to point to your new file service if you change services).
Before
After
For this tutorial, I recommend you use the file storage service from Box.net.
Box.net offers a free, Lite box for 1 User. You get 1 Gigabyte of storage where you can share and store documents and smaller files. They say they are being used by more than 2 million people and they have been around for quite awhile and appear to be stable. They also have paid options for more storage.
It's a good idea to create a new folder called e-portfolio and then keep in here any digital assets you think you will want to use developing your e-portfolio (e.g. copies of your assignments you will showcase, images, screen shots of title pages of projects, etc.)
Once logged into Box.net, you can right click on one of your stored files and then select "Link to this File" then click on the "Send Link" button. That will create a unique URL for your file such as:
http://www.box.net/shared/yj8bz5fgx2
You can then use this URL within your blog postings (use the insert hyperlink tool within Blogger and then copy and paste your box.net URL into the hyperlink box).
When viewers of your e-portfolio click on the link to your sample work files, they would see a message like this...
Other possible storage locations include:
- other third party free storage services (e.g. XDrive, and Wikispaces) or fee-based storage services (e.g. Strong Space, XDrive).
If you know of other good file storage options, please leave a comment on this posting and I will add to the list.
This article by Michael Arrington at TechCrunch.com provides a good overview of some of the file storage options available. Note: it's from January, 2006... some of the services have changed since then but most of the information is current.
Back to Box.net...
Box.net offers a batch upload tool that makes uploading files a lot faster. To use this, you need to download and install a small plug-in.
b) Upload files to your File Storage Space
Gather the required files as listed above and any optional files and then upload them to your file storage space.
c) Backup your files
You should always have a backup of all your files that you have stored at a storage service like Box.net or your school storage options. If your original storage location changes, you would have to update your links in your blog template and postings so they point to your new file storage location.
Your back up files could be located on your home PC, a portable storage drive, CD-ROM, etc. You may even want to keep three copies of everything in case your primary and secondary storage options have problems at the same time (not a far-fetched scenario!).
Now that you have your file storage space sorted out, you're ready for the most important part of your e-portfolio... making postings to showcase your work, interests, skills, etc.
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