Patrick Lencioni in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team highlights these points:

In reviewing each of the areas above, fear of conflict is the one place where most educators are...we're striving for artificial harmony, having to toe the line because standing up in opposition gets you...well...fired. I've read time and again that the fundamental freedom of speaking up is abridged--that's taken away in exchange for a paycheck--when you work for someone. In truth, professional and civil opposition is a must. As I review the 5 dysfunctions, I ask myself how my time at the campus level measured up?

While embracing uStream.Tv, as shared below, is something that should be done, what is our role and responsibility in doing this at meetings where we do not have clear permission to broadcast? In fact, instead of "citizen journalists" the term "ninja journalist" might be more appropriate. Would ninja journalism get us in trouble, right into conflicts, undermining trust with others, especially as one takes advantages of disruptive technologies that put meetings out there?

Everything else should be wide open to others in the community. I’m talking about literally taking a web cam and broadcasting weekly editorial meetings in real time streaming video. The most effective way to accomplish this task is by using the service offered for free by Ustream.tv...Streaming the budget meetings will give the community a tangible location in which to meet the reporters and hear what is being done, what isn’t being done and why. ..Ustreaming makes the community a part of the newsroom.
Source: NewAssignment.net

What if we broadcast those after-school faculty meetings? Are they top-secret? What if we ustreamed the faculty lounge? What if a teacher narrowcast those meetings to the Community? Would they be committing a public good or violating a sacred trust?

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net, Transparency

Source: Adapted from Patrick Lencioni's work

Some have gone through great lengths to achieve invisibility:

Scientists at Berkeley’s University of California say they’ve finally been able to surround three-dimensional objects with artificial materials which redirect light around the objects. Previously that had only been possible with objects so ultra-thin they were as good as two-dimensional.

The research is partly funded by both the US Army and the National Science Foundation. That’s likely because such invisibility could have extremely useful military applications.
Source: Invisibility cloaks becoming more feasible

An easier approach might be to just slap the sign, "Educational Technology" on the side of something. Invisibility will follow.

;->

How can district education technologists better engage their stakeholder audiences? Part of the answer is to "practice citizen journalism."

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, Leadership, MGuhlin.net

Imagine this:

You setup a brand new blog for a campus administrator but before anything can get published on it, it has to go through a hierarchy of approvals. Why? It constitutes public relations/communications for your district. The blog stagnates, no one posts anything because by the time it gets approved, it just isn't worth it.

It's not an uncommon scenario in some districts I've heard of, and I wonder if we don't need to consider a new approval process. This post is inspired by HowardOwens advice for journalists. Owens writes this advice...and the question I have is, what would this look like for administrators?

• You generate your own story ideas.
• You decide the angle, who to talk to, where to gather information and what you do with it
• As you gather information, you find and save any relevant links
• You decide what other assets the story needs — video? a map? a pdf? a database? a graphic? pictures? You then either create or get created those assets
• When you write the story, you include appropriate links (to names, locations, documents, previous stories, blogs and previous coverage)
• You gather all of the assets, publish the story in draft form and let an editor know it’s ready (with the expectation that the story will be live on the web within 10 minutes)
• When the story is published, you socially bookmark the story as appropriate; you send the link to bloggers you know who might be interested; you e-mail the link to sources or readers you know would be interested
• After the story is published, you follow and participate as appropriate in the online conversation, either via comments on the story or on other sites (blogs and forums)
• You take everything you’ve learned and repurpose the story for print
• If the conversation brings to light any new significant information, you plan a new story and the process starts over.

Here's my poorly adapted version for school district administrators:

1. Set clear policies for sharing ideas that are personable, reflective of the reality at your district and include media whenever possible.
2. You pick the stories that show your campus in the best light and then follow-up on those.
3. Follow the story, especially when it reflects the truth of the situation. If you don't like the story, share the obstacles and what is being done to overcome those.
4. Include video, audio, photos that tell the story compellingly from multiple perspectives (e.g. parents, students, district admin, teachers)
5. Include links to available online content. If the content doesn't exist (e.g. documents), then make those documents available when not confidential.
6. Publish the story and then send the link to your supervisor with the caveat: "If you haven't provided feedback in a day, I'll be sending this out to the world." Follow up with a phone call.
7. Encourage online conversations--whether in the comments or an online discussion board--for this.

Does this work? What do you think?

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, Leadership, MGuhlin.net

As my favorite J-school professor used to say: "Don't write about the circus if you're [in bed with] the elephant." I think the time's are a changing: You can still write about the circus. Freedom of speech and everyone has easy access to a cheap CMS. But you better let me know about the relationship with the elephant. If you don't and I find out - not only will I never trust you, but I'll make sure nobody else does either.

***

But imagine if we were talking about the pharmaceutical beat? People's lives hang in the balance. What about health or environment? Make no mistake - you pick a general reporting topic and there are billions of dollars at stake...the bigger you are, the more money involved - the more you have to lose, the more you have to keep a status quo.
Source: DigiDave - I am a technology curmudgeon

Quick aside: Ok, I'm sorry to Digi-Dave, but yes, I did change the original quote up there in brackets. You used a "bad" word that would get this blog censored quick. So, my apologies for sanitizing the language in the quote, even though it appears in quotes. I don't like to have bad words like that appear in my blog but I thought the message was quite clear.

It's not hard to imagine. What happens when a vendor for a school district realizes that someone is writing about them and tracks down that employee's employer, and then takes issue with the employer about the writing being done by the employee, even though that's not what is happening?

With this kind of situation in mind--which isn't hypothetical, since we've seen examples in the edublogosphere already and which I've written about previously--it's not surprising to think that companies in education have lots to lose. I still remember the time when my principal called me--as campus technology coordinator--and had me sit down with the Jostens Learning vendor. At the time, I was up to date on my ILS research and started asking questions. It was a short conversation. Why would we want to invest money in your system when it really only has short term gains? With a much lower investment, my kids can get to the top level of Bloom's, teachers can learn how to use technology to get them there. It was an amicable conversation. But what happened when that vendor went to the next small town school district without someone who'd just spent a few years dissecting ILS vendors an urban setting?

DigiDave is exactly right on about what he has to say--go read it all--but I find that we need MORE educators writing about what is going on in education settings around them, sharing the stories that are relevant.

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was there, loaded for bear as a citizen journalist, ready to catch THE moment that San Antonio's Zoo had its 1,000,000 visitor walk through the front gates...and when the hippo went into the water, less than 3 feet away from the tip of my video camera.

I think it's important that we draw a clear distinction here between professional photographers, aspiring professional photographers -- and somebody with a cameraphone who just happens to be in the right place at the right time and snaps a newsworthy event. Scoopt was set up specifically and exclusively to represent this last group.

My contention is that the true amateur doesn't know or care about photographic licensing -- and, further, nor should they care. Scoopt is not for people making a living or seeking to make a living from photography; Scoopt is for somebody who realises that one day he just might take a great picture and could get some money for it. The true amateur with a cameraphone doesn't want to phone a picture desk editor and haggle or auction a photo.
Source: Citizen Paine

Will this bit of video qualify for the Scoopt? Will I make money off of it? Probably not since I've shared it here already <evil grin>.

Regardless, it's clear that this event hasn't made the Press Room web page on the San Antonio Zoo, a place my family and I never tire of visiting!! Wouldn't it be neat if the Zoo would consider allowing visitors to upload their photos and videos to a "YouTube" or "Edublogs.tv" type site?

Hmm...all that aside, I think the hippo story was more exciting. You know, the hippo deciding to actually GO into the water at the AFRICA LIVE!

Here's the video of the hippo...into the breach...listen to the excitement of the questions kids are asking ("Will the fish go crazy?")!! Wouldn't it be neat to capture these videos on the San Antonio Zoo web site?

and a few snapshots...

and completely unrelated to Hippos and 1 millionth customers, but one of my favorite attractions at the Zoo:

Posted by Miguel Guhlin at | +Del.icio.us |
Categories: CitizenJournalism, MGuhlin.net, Texas

Though video-editing is fun activity in Jumpcut, something Wes Fryer revisited earlier this month, I was surprised to see this bit of news from AfterDawn.com:

Google has acquired the web video editing company Omnisio and will use the acquisition to add new editing functions to YouTube. Omnisio creates software that allows users to edit video clips as well as add captions and slideshows to footage. The acquired company is still new and just went public in March but each of the founders came from Stanford University and the company had full backing from venture capitalists.

It will be pretty neat to be able to edit your videos directly in YouTube, making it an easy way to publish/edit videos without having to spend time with some clunky computer-based video editor. More and more services--like Flickr and YouTube--allow you to upload videos directly from your phone to the web. As programs and phones get more sophisticated, will basic editing be available through a phone-based app?

And, will being able to share and edit video enable more transparency, less privacy, to the benefit of a democracy? Consider:

In the future, when a government accuses someone of wrongdoing on the basis of footage from surveillance cameras, that government better get it right. Chances are the same incident will have been captured by private citizens on camera phones, whose manufacturers expect to sell 186 million units this year. The proliferation of electronic eyes is probably inevitable, but that's no reason to despair. Governments will watch citizens, but citizens will watch back. More likely than not, the balance of power will shift in favor of the citizens, the inverse of Orwell's prophecy.
Source: Sebastian Mallaby in The Washington Post via Citizen Paine

Thoughts?

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, MGuhlin.net

"It's about the collaboration, not the scoop!" One of the reasons (top 5 but not #1) I dropped out of one group blog experience is that the organizer would get after me if I linked to a competitor's news article or blog entry. A valid source is a valid source, forget which news organization came up with it. In the linktribution environment, you link to content.

Usually, I'd get chastised after I'd committed a crime, but not being able to link freely contributed to my decision to walk away from this particular group blog. That's why I found this quote to be spot on:

Guzman knows that some of her editors are uncomfortable with the ethic of collaboration. Many journalists are still stuck in the competition mindset.

"I love the blogging ethic of collaboration and I hate the ethic of competition," she said. One time Guzman wanted to link to a Seattle Times story because her paper didn't have the story. At first her editors didn't want her to do so because that was the competition's work, but she insisted. Her editors eventually said if the PI doesn't have a story, she can link to the Times as a last resort.
Source: BeatBlogging Blog

The most important part of the quote is the bold part. Collaboration is important, but persistence is critical.

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, MGuhlin.net

Over at LeaderTalk.org (btw, Scott, I forgot my login/pwd again...argh!), Reggie asks a few questions about blogging; I've included my responses underneath each question (questions in bold):

If you currently have a blog for your school/district, are you glad you started it or has it become more work than you thought?

I often feel I don't blog enough at work; instead, I end up adapting entries I write for Around the Corner and republishing them for work. In this way, though, I manage to do a lot of writing on my district's behalf--such as summaries of research articles, new technologies--while at the same time writing for Around the Corner. I can usually sit down and crank out 2-3 blog entries (or more) at one setting (most of my writing happens in the early AM or evening PM). The key for accomplishing that, I've found, is bookmarking possible blog entries and articles I read...I always have a wealth of things to write about, which is a relief when you consider writer's block.

One question I'm often asked is, "Do you blog at work?" The answer is YES, and you can see the results at my work blog . However, I also produce other writing at work, too, that ends up in electronic newsletters--some of which I post here as blog entries, presentations--sent to campuses. Some education writing, I've been collecting for ages and helped me start a new blog on that subject. I find that I'm always thinking and writing. I have to resist the feeling that work has to be perfect before using it.

Constant reflection and creation pays off. A writer is always thinking and I've never found that to be a bad thing, except when I'm really tired, in which case, I notice my writing takes a hit. But I've gotten to a point where I can recognize that and as such, just go to sleep (if at home!) or, if at work, I go have some conversations with folks. Conversations are energizing. Is it work? Yes, but I console myself with the quote that the unexamined life is not worth living or something along those lines. Thoreau, no? And, I've found that since I've written something down, when it comes up for conversation at work--or elsewhere--I'm prepared to have a conversation. That's a benefit I never imagined and I'm grateful for. The more writing you do, the better prepared you are for opportunities when they arise...especially those you wouldn't have recognized as such without the preparation.

Do you get feedback on your blog or does it sometimes feel like you are talking just to yourself?

Blogging is often a solitary activity. I never know what entry will strike a chord, but I'm grateful to folks who post comments. However, if no one posted comments, I don't suppose that would mess my writing up. For some reason, my ego is tied into publishing on the web. So, when I look at my Technorati or Statcounter hits, I get a thrill, whether it's 1000+ visitors per day or 60. That's always MORE people than would have read it if I'd written in my private journal (no, I don't have one or care to write one). Furthermore, I blog to remember what I learn and discover, to play with ideas (I often adopt an oppositional tone to a position I hold, just to explore another point of view, although that certainly causes confusion for some readers), and just enjoy the experience of writing and being in The Zone. I also write to share successes that wouldn't otherwise make it into the evening news or district newsletter.

For my work blog, and because I've changed templates, I've effectively eliminated comments, though I need to add them back eventually. The purpose of that blog is to share successes. For topics that I do want feedback, I'll do a VoiceThread and that gets me comments. There is some "implicit" writing/sharing going on at that blog; one point is that people know my phone number and email and I'm happy to answer the phone when I'm at my desk! I practice inbox zero at work, too.

How much time do you think you spend a week writing on your blog? Do you try to do this during your work day or is it mostly from home?

I spend a lot of time writing in my blog. Probably 2-3 hours per day, including reading. However, if I get into a long blog entry that requires a lot of outgoing links, that can eat up 2 hours right there. However, it's important to me that I write something out. For example, my recent entry on Oppressing our Offspring took me 2 hours to craft on a Sunday morning. However, I felt I HAD to write it and summarize the main ideas I'd picked up from reading Literacy with an Attitude at work for "work" purposes. The ideas were buzzing around in my head and I had to write them down, share them with a wider audience. Good thing, though that entry received only a few insightful comments, it's had hundreds of hits. But MORE important than either of those reasons, I no longer have ideas buzzing around in my head. I'm free to move on to something else. Isn't that weird? But, there are days that go by when I don't write anything or read much. My writing comes in bursts of energy then nothing. It's during the "nothing" time that I relax and do other stuff.

If I learn something during the work day--here are a few examples of blogged items I learned about at work--then I definitely bookmark them for later or take a moment to crank out my notes/reflections because doing it right then and there is critical to my remembering it.

Do you pay for the blog service or do you use a free one?

I hate to pay for anything when it's available at no-cost. A dear friend of mine hosts my blog and wiki content on his server (www.edsupport.cc) at no charge, although I have my own domain (mguhlin.net). That's why I've focused on using Thingamablog and PmWiki as the two tools I use that are HTML/PHP based, rather than a MySQL backed web site (e.g. WordPress, Media Wiki). So, for the last 8-9 years, I've enjoyed free web hosting. For a cheapskate like me, you just can't beat that.

What advice would you give to an administrator who is thinking about starting a blog?

Use a free blog service (Edublogs.org) and play the role of citizen-journalist for your school. I'm working on a presentation for my principals, and my emphasis is on using blogs and podcasts (host podcast content at Edublogs.tv) as a way to share what's going on at their schools. Dr. Tim Tyson provided an excellent model of this with Mabry Middle School. I also encourage them to podcast their conversations with staff, parents and students. For me, an administrator is the public relations officer at a campus. That's their job, forget "instructional leader" baloney. Specific suggestions:

• Carry a digital camera and digital audio recorder in your pocket and don't be afraid to use them to capture a photo and 5-10 minute audio recording. Short, quick podcasts with a photo are powerful to give folks a flavor of what's going on at the school. Howard Owens writes, "Jack Lail sent me this link. It’s an interview in the aftermath of a church shooting in Knoxville. It’s a pretty compelling bit of evidence why every journalist should carry at all times an inexpensive and easy to use video camera." Now, imagine this happening with a student project or great teacher conversation!
• Share, share, share what you're doing, especially when it's potentially controversial and you're not sure that it's the right/wrong thing.
• Share the mundane details. At the very least, it will help you think through what you're doing. At best, others will offer you feedback, even if you don't like it <smile>...but since conversations are what it is about...be prepared to have exploratory conversations.
• Always ask for feedback and end your blog entries with a question.

I encourage admin to use 3rd party blogging tools (Edublogs.org) if they're going to be writing about leadership and their growth over the long run, but to use district tools if they'll be blogging about their school. In the end, though, I don't want to limit a blogging administrator because writing is intensely personal done in a public space. What I do discourage is using Blogspot when they could be using a district tool or 3rd party that is education-centric.

If you don't currently have a blog, why not? What's keeping you from creating one?

Though I have several blogs--actually, they are ideas that keep buzzing and as such, have me under their control--I think what stops administrators from getting blogs is their perception that they don't have time. The truth is, they have more time but they insist on filling it with "busy work." I like Jim Collins' idea of "stop doing lists" and empowering others (delegate) to get things done. You have to give up ownership--not responsibility--to others to do work. This has been such an eye-opener for me professionally in my position and a hard lesson (I'm a do-it-yourself kinda guy, Lone Ranger type that rides in to save the day then rides out). But the rewards of empowering others pays off big. I can now point to examples (blog fodder, BTW) where that has worked.

Remember that your job IS to communicate a vision, to ensure effective/efficient management of work...and one of the best ways to celebrate our efforts, success or dismal failure, is to blog/podcast it. Turn failure into success by sharing why something went wrong, what you missed, and how you're going to try again.

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Leadership, MGuhlin.net

Work in an urban school district, and you quickly realize the reality of these words:

Economically disadvantaged students, who often use the computer for remediation and basic skills, learn to do what the computer tells them, while more affluent students, who use it to learn programming and tool applications, learn to tell the computer what to do. Those who cannot claim computers as their own tool for exploring the world never grasp the power of technology...They are controlled by technology as adults--just as drill-and-practice routines controlled them as students.
Source: Toward Digital Equity: Bridging the Divide in Education

I learned this lesson working in a smaller urban school district as a bilingual/ESL teacher. The lesson there, put kids in front of computers so that they can be drilled in grammar. After all, drill-n-practice in grammar would surely translate into gains for writing and speaking proficiency. NOT!

"In my eyes," shares Robert Peterson, "many children in urban America are oppressed by a few key institutions: school, family, and community." How do we accomplish this in schools while at the same time congratulating ourselves that we're doing well? Well, let's take a look.

It's important to review the long-standing research.

Independent studies of integrated learning system technologies have subsequently confirmed that learning discrete skills in isolation does little to support students in transferring knowledge to other domains of experience. This lack of transferability of skills from integrated learning system performance to other tasks is well-documented in the research literature (NCREL, 2002).

Machines are not as effective as live teachers; ILS teaching is too mechanical, too impersonal; Pupils will find ILS instruction boring and repetitive, and thus can lose their motivation to learn; ILS can teach routine skills but they cannot teacher higher order thinking skills or conceptual thinking (White, 1993).

Low socio-economic status (SES) schools with predominately minority populations used their computers to administer drill and practice computer-based instruction. Low SES schools with predominately white populations preferred to use computers with their higher-achieving students to teach programming and computer skills (Balajthy, 1989).

As you can see from the bolded section above, as well as the quote from Toward Digital Equity, the observation that technology is often used for drill-n-kill with low socio-economic groups of students (allow me to put this baldly--Americans of African, Hispanic descent).

Consider that research study after study finds technology drill-n-kill is ineffective:

Randomized controlled trial of 512 3rd through 6th grade students reading substantially below grade level in 4 elementary schools in an economically disadvantaged, urban school district. Students were randomly assigned within each school and grade into either a group that used Fast ForWord as an add-on to their regular reading instruction, or a control group that did not.

The school district appears to have implemented Fast ForWord effectively, with teacher training and other support provided by Fast ForWord’s developer. However, just under half of the students in the intervention group fully completed the program. No significant effect on students’ reading achievement, as measured by their scores on the state’s standardized reading assessment as well as other researcher-administered standardized tests.

Finally, consider this recent blog post at Educational Insanity.

Overall, African-American students are much more likely to use computers to practice or drill on math facts than White students. Given the significant achievement gap that exists, these differences partly explain why, overall, the there is a negative correlation between using computers to practice or drill on math facts and math achievement.

The names of the drill-n-practice, tutorial tools don't even matter anymore. They've been passed like hot potatoes from one large company to another. What DOES matter is how educators in schools continue to use technology to DOMESTICATE children rather than EMPOWER them. Every time we sit a child down in front of a computer and expect it to drill them on a skill, we are teaching them to be obedient (and that it is good to be so), not ask questions but to answer them.

Giving children more and more drills in phonics and basic skills never has and never will lead to powerful forms of literacy. In fact, directive, domesticating teaching styles...which invariably accompany the skills and drills "solution," replicate the authoritarian, conformist, powerless societies of intimates that make implicit, context-dependent language and communication inevitable and explicit, context-independent language unnecessary.

Yes, that's right. When you purchase a drill-n-practice program, you are replicating authoritarian, conformist, and developing an attitude of powerlessness among your students. Wow, why would you waste tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on an integrated learning system or even $20 on drill-n-kill for your child at home?

Patrick Finn writes in his book, Literacy with an Attitude, the following:

First, there is empowering education, which leads to powerful literacy, the kind of literacy that leads to positions of power and authority. Second, there is domesticating education, which leads to functional literacy, literacy that makes a person productive and dependable but not troublesome. Over time, political, social and economic forces have brought us to a place where the working class (and to a surprising degree, the middle class) gets domesticating education and functional literacy, and the rich get empower education and powerful literacy. We don't worry about a literate working class because the kind of literacy they get doesn't make them dangerous.

This is exactly the kind of education I saw time and again as I travelled from district to district as a classroom teacher, campus instructional technology coordinator and district instructional technology specialist, and regional education specialist. As I've read Finn's book, I am amazed at how well it explains my experiences as a bilingual educator who often found himself in portable buildings with his class. Consider this statement:

Powerful literacy involves creativity and reason--the ability to evaluate, analyze and synthesize what is read...it is also the ability to write one's ideas so that another person can understand them.

For me, this is creativity, which students seldom have the opportunity to develop in schools because dangerous literacy students in schools today can get teachers' fired. However, as Gary Stager pointed out in one comment, it is teachers who should be fired for NOT encouraging this type of literacy. Yet, often, they willingly send their students to drill-n-practice labs.

Here are some other highlights from Finn's work that point to our domesticating education in schools today:

• Domesticate the poor rather than rile them up.
• Stories are expressions of conformity and solidarity.
• Hyperbole is a lie.
• Remixing ideas is a lie.
• Nothing happens when you teach people to be performative or functionally literate
• Skills and drills solutions...replicates authoritarian, conformist, powerless, implicit, context-dependent language and communication

Just get along, just support the economic model, but don't rock the boat. That's the message our schools send when we teach writing and focus on mechanics, and in math when we teach facts and formulas without context and engaging problem-solving opportunities. This quote from Richard Florida (Rise of the Creative Class) points to the way ahead:

The key to those who are in lower class rising is not more social welfare, but supporting the emergence of their creativity.

Steve Hargadon recently shared in this keynote that publishing will change everything, and that a tidal wave of change is coming at us. Yes, as more of our children become creative. Steve shares that The Internet is becoming a platform of unparalleled creativity....Customization, Collaboration and Creation are the New Model.

“Human talent is deep, diverse, and extraordinarily rich....Education should expose and develop that .... We assume that talent is identified and nurtured by education...However, countless people go through the whole of their education without discovering/ connecting with their true elemental talents and ability. That is because education was designed to do something else...”
Source: Sir Ken Robinson

I have to put the drill-n-practice stuff in the background. WE have to focus on supporting the emergence of our children's creativity. DOING this is challenging. Some ideas that Finn has, and which I encourage with different technology tools:

1. Expression and publication are not put off until the students have mastered the canons of correctness.
   Tech Connection: Aren't blogs and wikis excellent ways to encourage children to express and publish their work BEFORE it's perfect?
2. Students learn to be critical of inequities, become critical agents
   Tech Connection: Use citizen-journalism approaches--and the digital tools--to fact-check reality portrayed by "authoritarian" sources like the media, the government, institutions, etc. Use technology as a tool to understand the world and when injustices are uncovered, act not simply complain.
3. Provide conditions where students can speak, write, assert their own histories, voices, and learning experiences.
   Tech Connection: Pretty much, the whole range of Read/Write Web tools, including digital storytelling, voicethread productions and more.
4. Students as agents of civic courage - acquire knowledge and courage that will make despair unconvincing and hope practical.
   Tech Connection: What about YouthVoices?

Finn has some suggestions/observations as to how to best get to an empowering education, helping students achieve transformational learning. He bases the approaches on Paulo Friere's work, as well as Robert Peterson's work, quoted at the beginning of this blog post.

Peterson (Rethinking Our Classrooms) has some advice, as cited by Finn. Can you imagine GlobalVoicesOnline.org kind of writing coming out of your children? And, would you get fired in your school district for actually writing about oppression in this way? Peterson has some specific advice for you as you encourage your children to become critical agents who have the civic courage to speak, write and assert their own experiences:

• Bring the wold into your classroom, so that children start reflecting on their own lives.
• Deal with power relations in the classroom. That is, construct a classroom in which students have the maximum amount of power that is legally permitted and that they can socially handle. To accomplish this:
  1-Create a positive atmosphere through activities that stress self-affirmation, mutual respect, communication, group decision-making, and cooperation.
  2-Engage in small-group problem solving sessions with students.
  3-Engage in dialogue with your students that asks these questions: a) What do you see?; b) What's happening to your feelings?; c) Relate it to your life; d) Why do we face these problems?; e) What can we do about it?
  4-Use controversial posters and quotations to encourage writing and discussion, as well as model social responsibility.
  

I am not the only one, I'm sure, that sees how blogging, podcasting for social justice could have an immense impact on our students and people out there. Finn writes something that is particularly fascinating, a sentence my eyes slipped over without reading and then I was pulled up short:

We engage in dozens of political acts and make dozens of political statements in our classrooms every day that support the status quo. We don't think of them as political because they are not controversial.

Oppressing our offspring...could just as easily be empowering our educators to deal with these topics, to move beyond drill-n-kill to create-n-collaborate.

Ah well. Thanks for coming along on this blog entry. I'd been reading Finn and the blog entry at Educational Insanity brought it to a head for me.

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Diversity, Education, MGuhlin.net, Transformation

Wes Fryer (SpeedofCreativity.org) has a detailed analysis of different blogging solutions. I'd like to correct some of the links he makes to my web sites, and, for fun, offer up this graphical representation to complement it.

My recommendation is Edublogs.org for this journalism teacher featured in Wes' post if she doesn't have her own server or would rather not pay a server host provider. However, if money is no object, then she can get her own server provided she's willing to deal with all the PHP/MySQL stuff. Some of my tutorials--which appear linked from my Moodle Mambo workshop page--might be helpful in that case.

And, Wes, I'd switch from Thingamablog to something else if I didn't have so many darn posts invested (7000+) in Thingamablog. It works, but I'm waiting for the day when THingamablog is discontinued or dies on the vine (which may happen since I don't figure the author is making money off of it and it isn't free, open source, although it is no-cost with a donation request). At that time, I'll probably switch to Edublogs.org, pay the $25 fee, and leave my content on there. Sigh. I'd love to have my own server, but it costs too much for a lowly ed-tech director in Texas with other commitments.

Right click to view at full-size

Wes links to my old Wikispaces page, but he should be linking to the links below:

Corrected Links:

1. Walled Garden Apps that use PHP/MySQL backend
2. Walled Garden Apps that DO NOT use MySQL backend but do use PHP

Essentially, use option #1 if you have control of your own server. Use option #2 if you can only upload/FTP files to a server that supports PHP but not your setting up your own databases with MySQL.

Posted by Miguel Guhlin at | +Del.icio.us |
Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net, TechTips

Image Source: http://fm-i.org/images/img_teamFMi.jpg

Dave Fleet shares some suggestions for online monitoring of your organization's image, or the buzz around it. He says it's important that before you do anything--such as set up a blog, whatever--that you find out how to track what's going on out there. I see his suggestions as part and parcel of establishing your own Global Communications Center for your school or District. Fleet writes:

Before your organization launches a blog, before you start playing with Facebook, before you even think about Twitter, you should be listening to what people are saying about you.

"Google is managing your identity unless you are," as quoted by Dean Shareski in his Going Global, Going Public. "What digital footprints are existing for you right now? It's not an ego search but to find what others are saying about you." This goes for each of us, but also, for organizations like schools. But it's important we go, as Dean and others share, beyond just tracking our digital footprints, but that of others' footprints when they interact with our organizations.

As an edublogger, this is something I learned while setting up my blog and finding ways to connect with others. However, the tools that are available now are much more comprehensive than what were available when I began. A quick look at Dave's suggestions, and I'm astonished that I'm using most of these approaches already. What I doubt is happening, though, is that school districts and schools are doing this...most of our organizations may very well have a less than active interaction with news and other people out there. Simply publishing your own television show isn't enough when most people thrive online, and most content endures online more than in a broadcast.

I love this quote (Christian Grantham as cited in NewAssignment.net) about ending the "passive relationship with local news" in this blog entry. What catches my attention is that the same tribulations and troubles students, teachers and leaders are going through, well, that's what a lot of folks in the news industry are going through. You could tweak this paragraph easily to reflect the angst among educators:

I love working with people who see the importance of the role the net will play in transforming the way the world gets and interacts with information. I also love working with veterans of news, and I will always remember the challenges they face with the changes that are happening. For some, that change is very difficult. But the fact is, we are no more in the television and newspaper business than Wal-Mart is in the trucking business. Our business is no longer the industry that surrounds distribution – the trucks, the printing press, the reams of paper, the broadcast towers, the satellite dishes, the lights, the huge cameras, the buildings, the “live trucks”…

It’s the final product: information. The market in an on-demand world for news and information where people have to wait to receive a highly produced product is steadily shrinking. At the same time, the online audience for news and information is growing significantly. It’s an exciting time to be working in a new medium that is transforming the way we get information.

How has our "business" in education changed? It's no longer about textbooks, that's for sure and canned ideas. It's about creativity, communication, collaboration. Even as the market shrinks in the news world, in the education world, I find this statement to be as true as it's ever been in education (BTW, the link below includes a Clay Shirky moment in video):

If our information was made freely available and became the building blocks through which other work could be done - we would be the foundation upon which the news and information world is built upon.
Source: DigiDave - Journalism is a Process, Not a Product: Changing the Legal Structure for Digital Journalism

That education is still the foundation--albeit being switfly eroding--is because it is firmly entrenched in a "no market" environment.

Dave points to 4 steps and I've included links to some with sample searches for "mguhlin" in each:

1. Define your keywords
2. Create your searches...some of the tools Dave shares include:
   -GoogleNews
   -GoogleBlogSearch
   -Technorati
   -TwitterSearch (Dave mentions Summize, recently acquired by Twitter.com, and TweetScan)
   -Blogpulse.com
3. Plug the results into your RSS reader OR
4. Collapse all the results RSS feeds into a service like AideRSS.com (I've included a list of Tools4RSS here)

One additional type of tool that I'd add to Dave's list includes Social Bookmarking sites. The idea comes to me from a presentation Alan November did in China (Learning2.0 Conference) where an audience member suggested using Del.icio.us as another search tool in lieu or addition to regular search engines. 3 skills November says aren't taught in schools include:

1. Teaching students to deal with massive quantities of information (pattern-making, organizing patterns for information)
2. Global Communication skills/global communication, as well as checking sources with people on the ground
3. Self-directed, lifelong learning

What's neat about becoming your own "global communications center" is that you can teach students these skills as you're setting up your classroom web site. Imagine what would have happened if Bob Sprankle and Darren Kuropatwa had set these tools (if they'd been available) BEFORE they started blogging with their students. Wouldn't it have been awesome to capture the feedback flowing in from all over the world, including traditional and participatory reporting?

WHAT ABOUT SOCIAL BOOKMARKING SITES?
It would definitely be fun to know how many folks are bookmarking what you're doing, and you can also subscribe to the RSS feed of results. To accomplish that, you'll probably need to use Page2Rss.com--a tool someone told me about but a week or two ago (speak up if you're out there!). Neither Diigo or Delicious, as far as I can see, support RSS for search results. So, with that caveat in mind, to the list, I'm adding these two:

• Diigo.com - RSS wasn't available via Page2Rss.com since Diigo timed out.
• Del.icio.us - RSS

OTHER TOOLS
A few other tools worth checking out include these:

• IceRocket.com - RSS
• Teoma.com
• Spy ...lacks an RSS feed but you can get one with Page2RSS (not sure yet how well it works). Lets you know what's going on in Twitter, FriendFeed, Blogs, and Google Reader.

Though I had some of these items setup (Technorati, TwitterSearch) I didn't have all of them setup. As a result, I discovered some new blog entries out there--and new blogs I wasn't reading--writing about what I'd written. Nice to be in touch!

GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
You know, I hadn't ever thought of myself--or the work the Communications Dept in a school district--does as Global Communications. But, that is exactly what we're doing with Read/Write Web tools. And, that is the challenge facing districts as well as journalists. We are caught up in a "citizen" journalism, teacher communicator.

"Should learning professionals be leading the charge around new work literacies such as social media and informal learning?" Good question. My answer: yes. Because everyone should be. Tucker writes, "my responsibility is to work on my own sphere of influence, starting with our online course development team leading by example for our facilitators." Christy Tucker, Experiencing E-Learning
Source: As commented on and cited by Stephen Downes

How are YOU setting up your Global Communications Center? How are YOU leading the charge? The answer to this question is a lot easier than taking this position:

Al Gore said: "We have to abandon the conceit that isolated personal actions are going to solve this crisis. Our policies have to shift." He was talking about global climate change but he might as well have been talking about our attempts to transition schools into the 21st century…
Source: Our Policies have to Shift, Dr. Scott McLeod, Dangerously Irrelevant

Compare that approach--abandoning the conceit that isolated personal actions are going to solve the crisis in education, or journalism--to this one from Pete Reilly (EdTech Journeys) with his tale of Gandhi's decision to not offer advice unless he was living by it himself.

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net, SocialBookmarkingTools, TechTips

Jay Rosen, as cited by Jeff Jarvis (BuzzMachine), defines Citizen Journalism:

When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another, that’s citizen journalism.

Here's an my adaptation:

When our children, previously known as the class, employ the press tools they have in their possession to teach one another, that's education.

Whatcha think?

;->

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net

If you want to master your skills as a citizen journalist, are these the questions you should ask of yourself? Are they questions applicable to edubloggers writing about their local situations?

Putting aside your feelings--read Rick Tanski's entry on Digital Racism--about the divisiveness of digital natives vs digital immigrants, etc., what do you think of his list?

Bill Dunphy posted this list called Seven Steps to Writing Like a Digital Native:

Are there original documents you can link to?

Are there any photographs (related videos, sound files, slideshows)?

Can you map it?

Can you gather past stories together and link to them?

Can you post the audio or video of an interview or a performance or a meeting?

Can you direct readers to an authoritative (external) site for more info?

Can you invite comment or start a conversation?

via Teaching Online Journalism

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, MGuhlin.net

Usually, the unforeseen is negative or perceived in that way. In a recent podcast I listened to, Claudia Golden is quoted as saying something like this, Competition had the direct effect of having newspapers provide more information than spin. This meant that newspapers were objective because it was profitable...how can learning 24/7 and making your content available for free be profitable?

Steve Hargadon has a nice long post on PBS and things he likes (well-worth reading), this suggestion jumped out at me:

Speaking of time, Rob Lippincott made reference in a comment to what I consider to be the second inherent tension/dilemma expressed in the meeting: that of feeling that PBS may already be a little late to the Web 2.0 party, but not wanting to rush so that they do things right.

For me, there is another option to both the content and time dilemmas, which is for PBS just to provide the quality content, and by creating some open access to that content, allowing others to build the collaborative or participative structures that promote more interaction without compromising PBS.

I think that the ability to embed PBS-branded content would allow for discussion and participation to take place in many more creative venues than PBS is in a position to actually explore, without ever eroding their quality or trust.

As the founder of several Ning networks that would benefit from educators being able to showcase PBS content within the context of professional development discussions, I see great opportunities; I imagine PBS sees a mess of complex licensing issues for any existing content. :( I'm intrigued with the ability that Diigo has, though, to build community discussions around content without requiring that it be transferred in any way. I wonder if there is something there?

I tend to agree with that perspective. It is important for all organizations to jump into the Web 2.0, but Steve's observation is especially apt. I was sensitized to this idea because Andy Carvin shared a new Ning with me via Twitter...DirectCurrent.

Find them here - http://currentpublicmedia.ning.com/

This post by Steve Behrens in particular did the trick:

Last year, public radio's Digital Distribution Consortium Working Group predicted (see page 10) that freeing content could result in mashups such as "a Hidden Kitchens regional food content site that mashes up DDC audio and video content with Google Maps and Flickr photos about local restaurants and food events; a Science Talk site that draws on DDC science content combined with selected blog posts on related topics."

And there probably will be much more signficant unforeseen innovations, as the DDC authors would probably agree.

This idea of unforeseen innovations and trying to plan for them, to capture them, is something any smart person or organizations wants to do. I like that PBS is considering it and that Steve Hargadon is pondering it.

It's hard though because we're bogged down. Everywhere we look, we see more of the same, until we dare to ask the right question, or as Dr. Joyce Valenza shares in this presentation of Pandoremic (made up) proportions (via Bob Sprankle's Bit by Bit), open the box. Or, consider this quote:

"To know that you are a prisoner of your mind, that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation, is the dawn of wisdom. To want nothing of it, to be ready to abandon it entirely, is earnestness." - Sri Nisargadatta
via Crossroad Dispatches' Rogue Robot

Now that we increasingly have the ability to free content, to make it easier to access, it's tough to imagine the unforeseen.

But to media traditionalists, freeing content also rips it from a relatively concrete "place" (radio station or website) that carries underwriting and is clearly associated with an institution that seeks to generate good will and membership, subscription, foundation or taxpayer support.

Thus the freed content gets much-improved distribution, and probably added value from the mashing-up. But the institutions best positioned to reap revenue are companies like Google that put relatively little money into generating content themselves. 
Source: Steve Behrens in this post entitled What can come of NPR's release of an API giving access to its story database?

What holds us back, holds us down is the desire to make money, to generate revenue. Fortunately, as an educator, as a creator, I don't have to worry about that...for now. Our goal is more to reap the value of the remix, the mash-up and show others how to do it. While it would be nice to get rich doing what you love, pursuing your passions, maybe that's too hopeful? Maybe passion-based learning works, but not passion-based work?

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net, OpenLearning

Matt Tabor's words ring true:

If your organization has problems with distortions/inaccuracies in the community at large, it’s partly your own fault. Look at how to disseminate information more clearly, and at a higher effective volume - then start regulating. That too will probably go by the wayside.

And, of course, the irony gives a chuckle. When an organization implements a watch program for blogs and the like, it’s because those media are effective means of communicating - otherwise, the organization wouldn’t bother with the misinformation.
Source: Education Blogs and the PR Spies Who Love Them

If your organization, such as a school district, is having problems with public relations, then it certainly needs to re-visit how it's approaching the problem.

Actions that are helpful:

1. Start your own district blog and have central office staff, as well as campus principals, share exactly what is going on in their areas. What is it that they are passionate about improving, why that needs improving as measured against collected data, and then engaging the community.
2. Collect podcasts with those community members, as well as with other district staff, that can be shared online. These should not be the "media-polish" kind of productions we've all become accustomed to from Public Relations firms, but rather, authentic, civil but not politically correct conversations with 2-3 people participating with varying perspectives on an issue.
3. Take advantage of polls. I'm sure there is a reluctance to take advantage of polling because a poll signifies that a District might have to pay attention to that poll. Consider an educational decision, a matter of curriculum where expertise is desirable, being decided by a public poll where perhaps a lobbying or political action group has taken part. However, it is important that the conversations had reflect authenticity and take into account unpopular opinion about an issue.
4. Create a wiki that allows registered constituents--that is, people who register with their own name and are verified to be who they say they are--to offer solutions to the top 5 problems a district is facing. If a solution doesn't work, have the District explain why not in a podcast discussion.

Actions that are NOT helpful:

• Trying to control or manipulate what is said about your district in blogs, wikis, podcasts and the media.
• Establish a restrictive policy in regards to what employees may say outside of work that has a chilling effect on speech, essentially, censorship.
• Only pull committees of constituents together to rubber-stamp or validate decisions already made by district officials.
• Aggressively release press releases to address negative comments.

Often, the greatest criticism I have for any school district--or organization for that matter, public, private, commercial, doesn't matter--is that I found out about something AFTER the fact, even though it has wide-spread consequences for the people served by that organization. That's why I think it's important that organizations--like school districts--work to get their story out there as quickly as possible using Read/Write web tools!

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net

Proposal #1 submitted to COSN for their March 10-12 Conference in Austin, Tx

“Either write something worth reading,” shared Ben Franklin, “or do something worth writing.” In this session, you’ll learn 5 strategies for enhancing your communication strategies as a citizen-journalist. As an education leader and administrator, powerful tools are available to me. Assume the role of a citizen-journalist! The idea behind this is that educators can--although we lack professional journalism training--can use modern tools to create, enhance and/or share information. Yet, I didn't start out to be a journalist, I started out to be a teacher. At a time when we're all struggling to share what we're about, why we need more funding, it's essential that each of us recognize that maybe, it's no longer just about teaching, learning, and leading...it's also about sharing about that in ways that are easy for others to understand. The techniques shared in this session will help you.

3 objectives

1-Discuss how do-it-yourself citizen-journalism and public relations using simple technology-based tools and methods.

2-Explain what leadership in a connected, collaborative, and creativity-focused global learning environment is about.

3-Describe how you can immediately put these strategies to use in your own learning and leading environment.

Narrative

“Sharing is THE threat,” shared Mark Pesce at a recent conference. One of the key points of his talk was that in his”honest and human act of sharing, any of the pretensions to control, the limitations, or power are revealed as completely collapsed and impotent.” As school district leaders struggle to lead, it is clear that though children have gained access to powerful, disruptive technologies, they have not. While students share ideas and information about everything under the sun, leaders are unable to have real conversations about critical issues. Tools like digital audio/video recorders, free software, access to publish at will technologies such as blogs and wikis enable leaders to engage every facet of their constituency in reflective dialogue. A citizen-journalist is an everyday person who assumes the mantle of sharing useful, relevant information with others. This sharing of information enables others to make better decisions.

This session is an invitation to education leaders in schools to 1) Become Citizen-journalists; and 2) Engage their world in a deeper, reflective conversation that they have been able to without technology. The role of the leader is not so much to transform teaching and learning through the strategic application of technology, but to disintermediate monolithic organizations that serve themselves rather than those who must work and study within them. As citizen journalists, we can recognize the value of our own voices, contribute unique, innovative ideas to the larger conversation occurring globally around us. In this session, participants will have an “unconference” conversation about the power of citizen-journalist tools, how they can be used to transform their communications with stakeholders, and actually use the tools themselves.

Participants will experience 5 steps to becoming a citizen-journalist in educational settings, including learning about and how to use digital audio/video recorders appropriately, podcasting, becoming more mobile and digital, and self-publishing using a blog or wiki.Participants will also leave with access to a wealth of online tutorials and resources for each step.

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Leadership, MGuhlin.net

Large organizations argue whether podcasting should be allowed or not. Well, I'm happy to read the following:

When a blogger writes up daily accounts of an international conference, as David Steven did at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, that is journalism. When a magazine reporter repurposes a press release without checking facts or talking to additional sources, that is not. When a blogger interviews an author about their new book, that is journalism. When an opinion columnist manipulates facts in order to create a false impression, that is not. When a blogger searches the existing record of fact and discovers that a public figure’s claim is untrue, that is journalism. When a reporter repeats a politician’s assertions without verifying whether they are true, that is not.
Source: Rebecca Blood on "What is Journalism?" as cited in PressThink

This is the kind of definitive response i was looking for. You see, I was never trained as a journalist. I find myself asking, "Do I need to become a journalist to be a better blogger?" Or, is what I'm doing now resulting in random acts of journalism? How do I fine-tune that so that I know where the lines are, so I can cross them at will? The problem is I've always suspected that some of my posts fell into the journalism area, but I didn't have the benefit of a framework, a way of defining what I was writing or doing...aside from calling it blogging. What I have a need for is An Educator's Guide to Citizen Journalism.

It's so wonderful to discover a world of writers sharing what their perspective is on this topic. It also challenges the ideas I cling to as an educator conforming to a traditional, top-down organization controlling public perception.

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, MGuhlin.net

Elaine Talbert wrote me--responding to my FriendFeed--this note:

Hi Miguel, Interesting to read about bighugelabs. Our education department has sites such as these (media sharing, personal network storage) blocked to school students. This is becoming quite a contentious issue.

The note was in response to my post, PR Guy - Advice for Educators. The point of that post was to encourage everyone to turn into a citizen-journalist...the advice offered included these points:

• Carry your digital audio/video recorder everywhere you go in a school district and remember to use it, even if it seems embarrassing
• Carry permission/release forms for students and employees on you at all times.
• Think of taking a few photos with your camera that are quality, not just blurry ones, that can be used for print and online publications. After all, this is our portal into the event.
• Collect any realia--gee, is that a teacher term?--that would be great to share, like a student project or teacher lesson plan document that can be scanned and shared. Maybe create a flow-chart of what's happening.
• Write a short blog entry and post it.

With the launch of Edublogs.TV, having a place where educators and students can post content in a "safe" environment is sure to have a positive effect. Why? Consider that many, if not all, of the 150 social media tools listed on this web page--thanks Beth Ritter-Guth for the tweet--are probably blocked in schools. Yet, what jumps out at me is that all educators, not just

Howard Owens shares the following tips for journalists in an entry entitled, "Journalists: Invest in Yourself" (from which I stole the title of this blog entry)...note the similarity to my list above. Is there something wrong with the similarity? Are we all preaching the same solution to the problem?

1. Start a blog.
2. Buy a multimedia camera, such as a Sony Cybershot. You need a quality, but small and inexpensive, camera that does digital stills, audio and video. Buy a holster to clip to your belt or stick it in your purse, but never let it be more than inches from your hand.
3. Learn to edit video.
4. Become more mobile and digital.
5. Try your hand at podcasting.

Howard's advice is more cogent than what I expressed, but the similarities are striking. That bothers me. It's like we're on the same train, coming at the problem--changing world impacts how we work--from different perspectives and ending up with the same solution. But will this type of solution really result in a working solution for education?

Yet, this kind of solution is what I'm advocating for in my original post. I want teachers, students to use these technologies to disintermediate the Communications Dept, the school district and get right out there and share what's happening. I'm reminded of the science experiment of exploding mentos and red soda. Uh, no, that's NOT the way you're supposed to run an experiment, but, at least we know you did it.

If teachers and district staff are doing this "citizen journalism" in their schools, could that be what journalists call "beatblogging?" Here's a quick overview:

Beatblogging.org is a collaboration ... to figure out how journalists can use social networks to improve beat reporting.

What do we call "beat blogging" in schools? Should we be adapting journalism to what we're doing in schools?

Posted by Miguel Guhlin at | +Del.icio.us |
Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net

Source: http://home.scarlet.be/krisverwimp/images/thefal2.jpg

The sky is falling for both groups. Edubloggers are worried about changing their education system, hoping that everyone will get it in their settings. We are excellent hand-wringers, and yet, the more I read, I see that journalists are also bemoaning their fate. Consider this post that generated over 136 comments:

“We can see a better future for journalism right across the bridge on the other side, but the bridge is on fire, and if we just stand here, we are going to burn up with it.”...She continued from this point, saying she wasn’t sure, but that this had to be a step in the right direction. If we don’t move, she said, newspapers will continue their “death spiral - because that’s what this is.”

She compared newspapers to the music industry. Having increased access to music has undermined the corporate giants of the music industry. They are not making money, but demand is just as high if not higher than it ever has been. That’s how the news is, she said. There is a high demand for it, but with abundant access to it, it’s time to rethink how we can carve out a niche.

How delicious it is that we're seeing two groups stuck in the past, disintermediated by disruptive technologies, struggling to find a way to keep their cultures, their modus operandi alive...unsuccessfully.

The sky is falling. Yeah, so what? Maybe we need to make some popcorn and enjoy the Fall of the Empire.

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Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net

It seems obvious now that we should add RSS feeds from Delicious or Diigo to our front page. A few months ago, maybe it was longer, I had my team add an RSS feed for a Delicious tag "itnews2007"

Assigning a year to the tag was a mistake since I'm still using it in 2008, but the fact is that I can easily bookmark something in Diigo (which automatically drops into Delicious) and see the link show up in the front page of our web site's sidebar (right side). Or, if you're a campus, you stumble across a classroom blog entry or neat resource to share, you simply bookmark it and it's there...immediately.

Howard Owens--focused on journalism and news web sites--writes:

Online is about information grazing. Reading print is a more leisurely activity, even if it’s just 20 minutes over toast and coffee before rushing off to work. Train your newsroom staff to keep that web site fresh, and then let them take their time on writing the really important stories in a way that provides meaning and context; for an added bonus, make sure those longer stories are well written, since print readers — shocking revelation here — like to read.

On a daily basis, a good reporter should be able to produce three or four web updates (some call it breaking news) and then pick one of those items to turn into a quality, longer print story (or have some other print-appropriate piece in the pipeline).
Source: Spare me the fancy redesigns and give me some text to read

Of course, we gave up print some time ago. We no longer send out PDFs via email--although some departments still do--but instead drop it into our online publication. There's a world full of ideas and information to draw from. The value-added of our group is selecting what to share from an infinite variety of awesome ideas.

How are you taking advantage of RSS and the wealth of resources and ideas to enhance your school district/department/campus web site?

Posted by Miguel Guhlin at | +Del.icio.us |
Categories: CitizenJournalism, Education, MGuhlin.net, SocialBookmarkingTools

In my quest to learn more about PR 2.0, instead of ignoring these presos available via Slideshare.net, I clicked on them...

#1 - Public Relations 2.0