…or does anyone else see the potential (or is it irony?) in Dave Winer leaving Userland to go to Harvard and introduce America’s most prestigious educational institution to Web logs? (And BTW, can you believe he just wrote: “Now that I’m working with Manila again, I’m remembering all the things that infuriate me about Manila.” Well, how about fixing it?) Listen to some of this:
But now, thanks to John Palfrey & the Berkman Center, we have a bona fide initiative afoot to explore how weblogs can serve the aims of education. And it will be led by none other than Dave Winer, whom I recall linking to back when the word “weblog” was assaultingly fresh to my ears…It’s time for some radical approaches to teaching and learning. I don’t mean radical as in “cutting edge technology.” I mean radical as in “to-the-root.” Largely self-driven, apprentice-style. With everyone able to join the conversation, a built-in incentive to participate and (a few) natural filtering mechanisms. —Donna Wentworth (Emphasis mine.)
Hmmm…is eBN “bona fide?” Anyone else hear “disruptive” in that? And how about this:
We’re convinced that blogging, evangelized by Dave and others here, can help spread the wealth of knowledge from school to school; from student to student; and from elsewhere into Harvard and vice-versa. The Web, e-mail and other basic Net-based apps generally have had this effect to some extent. But not in a wholly satisfying manner. I wouldn’t bet again[st] blogs making the next big step forward. —John Palfrey (Emphasis mine.)
Can I get an AMEN brothers and sisters? And more…
Another sign of Web logs going mainstream came last month when one of the movement’s champions, Dave Winer, quit his California start-up to take a fellowship at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Winer, creator of the popular Radio UserLand blogging software, said he plans to help the academic community share information online more efficiently. “I hope to get a lot of blogs going at Harvard,” Winer added. —Leslie Walker, Washington Post (Emphaisis mine.)
Add a few degrees to the tipping angle…
Part of me is pretty hohum about Dave Winer at Harvard. It’s not entirely about the software. It’s not entirely about the hardware. (Manilla is just a specialized hammer.) It is about the wetware, the practitioner’s experiencing mind. It’s about that hurlyburly, where the battle’s lost or won in the hearts and minds of our blogging students.
I don’t think that Winer will necessarily know how to apply the edublog to the “stimulus field” any better than any of us in the eBn network. In fact, (heresy!) I don’t think he will know at all how it works in my rural, high school environment. The only positive might be that he casts an eye about to see what we are doing and learn something from us.