Joe says:
I’ve been thinking a lot about weblogs (or web logs) and EBN as I’m reading this and how we spread the word. The TechLearning article was excellent publicity but it’s imperative that our work reach more and more print publications in coming months…I still don’t share Will’s optimism about how quickly weblogs will become more pervasive but publishing more in print publications will push the boundaries of the current audience for this work. Digital work is best represented and promoted in a digital environment but for some outside our current audience, print still lends and added sense of legitimacy.
I agree, and this is what I mean when I say we need to market this idea. I don’t mean it to make money; I mean it to spread the word. (Call it evangelism if you like.) I’ll go back to Wendy’s books and how hard we worked to get the word out, to let people know that we were out there with what we thought was a great product.
But here’s the challenge…we need to make sure we have a “product” as well, not a book or something to sell or an “enterprise level initiative” as Pat puts it. Our product has to be support, documentation, ideas, knowledge that educators can use when they catch a touch of the virus. I keep thinking about the readers of the TechLearning article…sure they can go to any one of our sites and get a great deal of information about Web logs and education, but let’s face it…none of our Web logs is dedicated to informing a potential convert about the basic hows and whats and whys of edublogging. You have to do some serious wading to get to that stuff.
Pat says:
Rest assured that the design of the eBN home blog, this site, is in good hands- in those of none other than Bryan Bell, Manila Master. Meanwhile, let’s get some more members, individual and organizational, in here to participate in revising whatever design first appears.
Bryan has done some great work. I’m looking forward to seeing what he and Pat come up with.
As noted in recent e-mail, whatever he comes up with in terms of architecture (not art) can be changed. But caution – don’t hold your breath! We’re not the wealthiest client on that consumate designer’s ‘to do’ list. Meanwhile, post or design whatever you want on your own blog knowing that Manila will allow easy copy and paste. I, for one, would love to see more of best practices, which you’ve already thoroughly begun with the ‘best practices’ section of your nav bar.