I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve been bringing in more featured bloggers to the site. While I am committed to continuing my own blogging, it has become clear to me that I will not be able to return to my previous pace of writing any time in the foreseeable future. Over the years, e-Literate has built up a significant loyal readership. I don’t want to squander that attention and good will. I want to continue to use this blog to share what I’m learning and help spread the word about good work and other things people should know about in the field of educational technology. As a result, I am strongly considering making e-Literate explicitly and permanently a multi-author publication. I haven’t made up my mind for certain about it yet, but based on the experiment with featured bloggers so far, I am strongly inclined to do it. I would like to use this post to explain what I have in mind and request your direct and honest feedback.
Before I get into what I hope to accomplish, let me start by setting out some non-goals. First, this isn’t about making money. While I don’t categorically rule out the possibility of trying to at least pay for the blog’s expenses through ad revenue in the future, I have no plans to do so and no interest in doing so right now. It’s just not something I’m thinking about. Second, while e-Literate has broken news in the past and will continue to do so from time to time in the future, I’m not looking to turn the blog into a news outlet. I believe that analysis rather than reporting has tended to be e-Literate‘s strong suit and I would like to keep it that way. Third, I don’t want the site to turn into a random collection of ed tech bloggers. That’s what an RSS reader is for. e-Literate has a distinct voice and, while I would like that voice to evolve as we bring on new perspectives from provocative authors, I want it to remain a coherent and distinct whole. This is challenging in part because I have no desire to become an editor in any active sense of the word. Rather, I want to carefully hand pick authors who I can trust to consistently write content that I will be proud to have on the site.
So how am I doing that? How am I picking my authors? First and foremost, I am looking for good writers who consistently teach me something with their posts. One of the great joys of the experiment so far has been the surprise of finding great content in my own RSS feed. I often don’t even see the posts before they are published. If I enjoy reading e-Literate, then that’s a sign to me that I’m on the right track. Beyond that, I’m looking for authors that have something to say about technology in education writ large. There are many, many good bloggers out there who write well about their own experiences teaching with technology and what works in their own classrooms. That kind of work is incredibly important, but it’s being done. What I feel is often missing is big-picture analysis of what the trends are. This is particularly true in the area of the economics of educational technology and ecosystems (both for-profit and open consortia) that those economics engender. For a variety of reasons, these issues are ignored or poorly understood by many educators, but they have far-reaching impact on what can be accomplished. In some ways, my model for what I hope e-Literate can become is GigaOm. What I love about that publication (besides the great writing) is that the authors live at the intersection of how and why. For example, Mathew Ingram really gets social software in ways that I don’t. He helps me understand better why some market entrants succeed where others fail. And he understands that, in order to tell his story well, he has to get at both how the product works qua social software as well as how the business/sustainability model is (or isn’t) aligned with the ways that the product can meet the needs of its users. That’s what I hope e-Literate can do for educational technology when we are at our best.
But this is about more than just business. This is about education. It’s about enlightenment. It’s about the core of what makes us human. That’s why I also want authors who are passionate about education itself, and I want to make sure that we don’t lose sight of why this stuff is worth writing about. I want us to think systemically together about education and how technology can improve it. I want to highlight good research and analysis of what’s happening with real students and teachers. I want to shed light in a way that helps to solve real problems.
It’s hard to find writers who can do all of this, but I feel extremely good about the people who have signed up for this experiment so far and I have a couple of more that I’m still talking to. Since the best way to tell if somebody is going to write consistently and well for you is to find somebody who is already writing consistently and well someplace, many of these authors will have their own blogs. I am giving them permission to cross-post between their site and this one. This isn’t to say that there won’t be any content that is exclusive to e-Literate, but a lot of it won’t be. Some of you may become loyal readers of the featured authors’ own sites (or may already be), decide that e-Literate is becoming redundant for you, and drop it. That’s OK with me. My goal isn’t to increase the readership of e-Literate. It’s to increase the readership of these authors. This is particularly important to me since some of them make their living by writing (in one way or another) and I want to help support their ability t continue to do good work.
So that’s what I’m thinking. None of it matters if you’re not interested, though. This blog is ultimately about a conversation if it is about anything of value at all. I am very much interested in hearing your feedback. What do you think of the general direction I’m suggesting? How have the guest posts been for you? Is there something in particular you would like to see more or less of? As always, I’d like to hear your thoughts.
e-Literate plays a valuable role in the ed tech community, and not only is it a regular read, it is also frequently cited in my newsletter and elsewhere. I regret the slow-down in your own writing, but would nonetheless value the analyses offered by both you and your guest posters.
Michael
Apart from recently confusing you with Phil, I’ve found your inclusive guest blogging approach really helpful. My sense is that we do need a more open conversation between business and education, if we’re to fumble our way towards a purposeful capacity to develop good ecosystems together, rather than continuing as we are to trade half-good tech solutions. I’ve been concerned for a while that I’ve become grumpy and ungenerous to big tech, as an educator involved in strategic planning. Your approach is very constructive in suggesting ways in which a new conversation might build collaborative partnerships of trust across our sectors. As you say, it’s about the potential human gain when learning is enhanced. Given the seriousness of the global situation on many fronts, this seems a significant goal.
Best
MfD
So far the tone and focus of your guests has been very much in keeping with your own entries, so I’d say your selection process is working. One of the nice things about this blog is that you’ve always been willing to quote extensively from or just refer to writers who you think express an idea bettter than you can, so I see the guests as being a continuation of that. The agenda, however, has always been yours, and it would be a shame if this blog just turned into an aggregator, even a high quality one.
Michael,
I’ve followed your blog for years, primarily as an employee of some of the ed tech vendors that you write about. Once in a while one of your guests touches on a K-12 topic, but not enough to suit me. None of us can go beyond what we know, and there aren’t too many folks capable of taking on the noisy and crowded market for tech in K12. It’s confusing and even schizophrenic. And frankly, the money just flows more quickly through higher ed and corporate verticals so I can understand why they get more attention. But the ed tech landscape in K12 is shifting in interesting ways right now driven by new funding and political forces. Let’s talk about it!
Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement. Jaime, I intend to invite only those authors that I think exemplify the voice and interests that e-Literate has always aspired to achieve, even as they bring in new perspectives. Shari, you will be happy to know that Audrey Watters’ latest guest post is about a K12 issue. She also writes quite a bit about K12 in her own blog, which I highly recommend.