Participation Activity 1


A key component of the First Amendment is freedom of expression. Until the mid-1990s expressing ideas was expensive and inefficient for the common person who was not a celebrity, a member of government, or working for the media. But now you have the Internet: it’s cheap, it’s easy, and you can potentially share your message with millions of people. So set up your own Web page!

1. Pick an idea or set of ideas, anything that interests you. It need not be political.
   
   
2. Find a host for your site. You may find a host for free: Perhaps your Internet service provider allows you to have site, or perhaps you can find a free host that requires you to run banner ads. Many hosts have pre-designed Web pages and sites; all you have to do is add your specific information. Ask those people working in the computer lab at school about the best options.
   
   
3. Design your site: Decide what information you want to present and on how many pages, and how you want the pages linked to each other.
   
   
4. Create the information: write the text, scan the photos, etc.
   
   
5. Put it all together and launch.

If this is an actual class assignment, you can either carry it all the way through and get a live site on the Web, or you can diagram the Web site design on paper, write all the content, and research how you could get it on the Web.