Do you think the blog will have a similarly profound effect on education? Will the trend spread from Harvard?
It will. Absolutely. I’ve already gotten e-mail from tons of educational institutions that want to be up on what we’re doing. And many are way ahead of the curve with Web logs. Harvard has extra significance because it’s not just any university. It’s a very influential place.
Ok…let’s try to find out where those guys are who are ahead of the curve…
What exactly will your role be at Harvard?
I will be an evangelist and an educator and a scholar. I hope I’m here to learn as much as I am to teach. After doing all this software for all these years, I haven’t spent that much time with users. And the problems have been largely technical–how do we do these things,? What are the basic features, and how do we tie them together? Now I want to be on the other side of the fence and see how a community reacts to this. How can it be better? What are the barriers? I want to learn, and then share what I’ve learned. You publish and let every one know what you’ve learned.
Sounds familiar…
…how has the medium or format evolved? Ultimately it’s going to be a basic skill like e-mail or using a word processor. It’s going to be like writing, and that’s why I’m at a university now. We’ll teach all the students and the teachers how to do it, and in turn they’ll teach their students. So we’re getting ready for the long haul here.
Imagine the day…I’m in.
—–