What kind of blog do you want us to have?
As our fearless chairman mentioned in a previous entry, we're looking at launching a more formal, long-term Blackboard blog soon. (Although "soon" sometimes feels like a relative word. I keep hearing my beloved and beleaguered Redskins are going to be a good football team again "soon," too.)
Since last month's Users Conference, we've been having a lively set of conversations here at Blackboard HQ about exactly what a Blackboard blog should be, who from Blackboard should be involved, what kind of information the world outside our offices wants to see on a company blog . . . as well as what stuff would bore the socks off readers.
In one of those slap-your-forehead moments, it dawned on me this afternoon that we don't have to guess. We can just ask you, our loyal readers. Both of you. ;-)
So: what kind of company blog would you like Blackboard to have? What do you want us to do with the Bblog?
posted by Greg Ritter @ 3:44 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Stuff I'd like to see on the Bblog: Building Blocks info, User Group (Communities of Practice)info, updates on conferences, ongoing discussions of academic and technological trends, etc...
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Since I've been encouraging as much correspondence as possible, I guess I'd better respond here. :)
The personal touch has been good... Jan's post about National Teacher Day was cool because it reinforces the human side & the inspiration for all of this geekery. It's also good just to hear the different "voices" of the Bb team members who have taken the time to post, and some of the things that are important to them.
Equally interesting are the notes about interactions with standards bodies or with clients, and ideas that they've inspired (understanding that proprietary info can't be published). A blog generally seems to take the flavor of a public forum while maintaining an illusion of intimacy... which can make for a really good sounding board.
I guess, more than anything else, keep it as sincere as possible & encourage as many Bb voices to participate as you can... and if anyone simply posts a straight press release... I'll slap them.
I guess I make 3 people who read this ... :)
I like the idea that's being done at Sun Microsystems with open blogging by employees where anything goes. Employees usually write about thoughts or things that they are doing within the company.
If you are not familiar with it, check http://blog.sun.com
I would like to see an rss or atom subscription feed. This way I can find out when something has been added to this great blog automatically through my feed aggregator.
RSS would be pretty cool within the Blackboard environment as well. Any plans to implement it in the coming days?
Keep up the good work!
Scott, this blog already has an Atom feed!
Drat! I just realized we never put a link to it on the main page, so some people may not have realized that. I've taken care of that already. Lesson learned.
Re: RSS in Blackboard, the Blackboard Community System lets the institution (but not individual users) set up RSS feeds that can be viewed through a portal module.
Also, Matt Hartman at the U. of Cinncinnati has created a great RSS Building Block that allows instructors to embed feeds in courses. See this earlier post.
I don't think Matt has posted that Building Block to the Building Blocks Catalog yet. (Matt! What's up with that?!) But you can probably ask around on the bb-opensource listserv and get a copy of it.
Thanks for the ATOM feed Greg. I'm looking forward to checking out the Building Blocks you mention.
All of the above... As I just added to Adrian's earlier post, it's a great idea to use the Bblog as a front end overview of what's going on in the community/regions.
I also think it's great to hear some personal voices & interests of staff coming through.
Obviously we don't want to repeat stuff which will/should go elsewhere or be discussed at greater length on the mail-list, but I think the Bblog offers you a chance to keep direct contact with all of us on a less formal basis than the company html messages - we want to know what excites you and what we can get excited about, and that you are really there, working and listening in between releases.
"Maintaining the illusion of intimacy" - illusion?!? Since you lot don't generally post to the maillists, this is a great way to create an 'intimacy' which goes a long way to bolstering customer relations - always a good thing (not at the expense of a stable product, obviously ;o ) Particularly in offering you a chance to be proactive, because when you do post to the mail lists, it's often in response to moans and groans!
A word of warning - I've just been at a conference on blogging where there was a lot of talk about the freedom of individuals blogging as employees, and where the gagging line is drawn. We don't expect inside information, but this is a fantastic space for those of you who write - please allow them/yourselves to be them/yourselves. I suspect a lot of the posts and comments will become ideas and inspirations which reflect why we - and you - are working with e-learning. Make sure that the person[ality] behind the a Bb post continues to be heard openly as they are at present.
One that updates regularly.
If you have 1,000 of your clients reading a blog posting, there is no more intimacy than any other website. However, traditionally blogs have been a personal space share with only a few, and the style of writing/type of information shared can still preserve the sense of a "one to few" medium.
An LMS with blogs, wikis and RSS support. But also standard sopprt for SSL, LDAP enrollment & cour setup.
the LMS should have a mortor board in it's ldgo and can't it without that focust on the purpose.
Another componet is how much such an lms should cost...free or should there be a license costs?
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