Check it out, kids: ExpressiveConnections.com has finally been announced.

Expressive Connections is a network for creative professionals – aimed at aspiring and accomplished writers and artists who are looking to begin or advance in a career utilizing their talent.

The site is in a sort of alpha-mode right now. We think it’s got a pretty solid start, though – which is why we’re inviting you to take a look around, create an account and let us know what you think – if you’d use it, or what features you’d like to see added, etc. It’s still got some kinks and we’re still working things out here and there. But we’ve got big plans.

The site started out as a class project for my Interactive Media class. If you’ve read my blog at all, then you have probably heard me speak of it vaguely – referring to it as my first real RoR, HTML, and CSS application. You may have also noticed that I keep referring to “us” and “we,” by that I mean myself and AJ Gorczyca – we are the “team.” Well, once again we find ourselves in the same course – this time it’s TC448 – Scripting Web 2.0. And if you read my very last post, then you would know that this class entails Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Apache, and other things of the “Web 2.0” nature. Pretty f-ing awesome, basically. Well just like the last course we took together, this one has a group project – that is to develop a web site utilizing the ideas and languages learned in class. Since Expressive Connections already fit into these project requirements, we decided to ask the professor, Kurt Demaagd, if we could continue building onto the project rather than start again from scratch. He agreed and so you can expect to see a lot of new features and changes. Here’s what we’re aiming for:

  • On-site private messaging
  • Member endorsements and letters of recommendation
  • Ability to watch favorite users, see who other users are watching, and see who is watching you
  • User-submitted audio and video content for portfolios

It would just be wrong if a network for creative professionals left out musicians, producers, actors, directors, and everyone in between. So, we’re not going to leave you out.

This is where we stand and these are our plans for the next semester. I think you’ll see some exciting changes along the way. And, hopefully you’ll help us, too – by checking it out, creating a profile, or spreading the word around to others who may be interested.

It’s a work in progress and we want you all to help us in building the most exciting site we can, so any feedback you give would be greatly appreciated.

Jewls