100 Awesome Webmaster Blogs by and for Women lists interesting blogs for and by women. The list is divided into these categories.
Also, commenters shared links to other lists:
Recap: Women in the edublogosphere 2007.
Wiki list of women bloggers http://wmagicallist.wikispaces.com/.
These are great lists to find some great blogs. Enjoy
Conversation Agent offers the following recommendation for the web presence of the future.
The article goes on to say: The structure of the page(s) is build around three simple questions:
I am writing this post as if I am thinking out loud. What if we followed this advice in redesign and a new approach to our web presence? A possible approach would be:
1/3 education--educational content presented in ways that are easily searchable and provide clearly written information for the casual learner and enough details for the one seeking an in-depth understanding.
1/3 communities--engaging others in conversations, listening, and learning what others are interested in and need in terms of education and information. This means we participate in all kinds of areas outside of our web site. We listen, engage, learn. Along the way, we build our personal and organizational reputation.
1/3 marketing--creating a web environment that promotes our mission and our organization through good marketing practices. Everyone throughout the organization through their online engagement understand and engage in ways that are consistent with our mission.
Each web page is built around 3 questions:
why the page is being developed and what it means to the reader or potential reader.
what are the details of information and education that helps empower people to make decisions.
how is the learning process and the education is delivered.
Reading reading online and with technological devices has changed the way we read. Howard Gardner explains how literacy has changed through time (not dying, but is different) in The End of Literacy? Don't Stop Reading in the Washington Post.
The most compelling statement is at the end of the article.
But whatever our digital future brings, we need to overcome the perils of dualistic thinking, the notion that what lies ahead is either a utopia or a dystopia. If we're going to make sense of what's happening with literacy in our culture, we need to be able to triangulate: to bear in mind our needs and desires, the media as they once were and currently are, and the media as they're continually transforming.
I found the article link on The Web Difference, a blog for a Harvard Law class (2008).
A week ago, an Extension colleague was interested in how blogging fits into Cooperative Extension and asked a few questions about our blogging. Jim Langcuster and I answered her questions from our individual perspectives.
Jim started blogging Extension Daily several years ago and he was the first one to write a Wikipedia page for a state Extension service. I started blogging a year ago and am using various social media tools, including Flickr, YouTube, Slideshare, del.icio.us (social bookmarking), and Twitter.
This post includes the questions, answers, and some examples so others can see how Cooperative Extension professionals are using blogging. In my opinion, Extension has not even created the "drop" in the bucket. Typical Extension subject matter professionals have tremendous of knowledge to share, and I hope this post helps them understand blogging can work for them.
1. How do you have time to write an entry a day?
Jim L. Well, in all honesty, it's hard sometimes. Finding subject matter often is very difficult. I pour over the online dailies regularly --- in particular, the New York Times --- and, fortunately, have a very good working relationship with agents and specialists. Otherwise, I simply would not be able to do it regularly.
Incidentally, congratulations to you for seeing the value of blogs.
Anne A. I don't post every day. I do generally write something daily, but it takes me awhile to post some of my blog articles. While Extension Daily covers a lot of diversity and Jim blogs everyday and sometimes more than once a day, I have averaged posting 1 time every two weeks. So far this year, I am posting 2 to 3 times a week.
I write notes throughout the general workday and my in-depth writing occurs mostly at night and a few free moments on weekends. Although I do sometimes blog during the workday, most of my writing is done at night. Sometimes I get ideas about presentation and approaches when I jog (that is part of being alone and having a chance to "think").
When I talk to agents about blogging, I encourage them to submit blog articles with material they have already created for their newsletters, newspapers, and answers to emails. As Jim says, writing and synthesizing the content is the hardest part. If agents are already writing articles for their newsletters, then they could easily adapt these articles into blog posts. I think a better option is to learn to blog and develop the newsletters from the blog posts.
I see Extension educators blogging in niches. Niche blogs will get "reads" from people who are truly interested in those areas, not necessarily thousands and thousands.
2. What is your position?
Jim L. Yes, a news and public affairs specialist -- technically a communications and marketing specialists based on a new university reclassification, though I prefer the first.
Anne A. My title is Associate Director, IT. I started blogging in January 2007 as a way to understand how blogging fits into the Extension educational efforts.
3. Where do you get your information? Do you find the stories yourself?
Jim L. Yes, as I said, I find the stories myself, though, of course, I work with the agents, though mostly specialists, for quotes. It's time consuming, and I do this on top of several other job tasks.
Incidentally, I take much of what I write --- two thirds or so -- and provide it to the agents in column form, which, of course, involves significant rewriting. We've had a tremendous increase in our newspaper coverage as a result, so I'm convinced the effort has been worth it.
Also, I sometimes take the very best material and pitch it to media outlets directly -- and, in the case of truly singular stories, I write them into op-eds bearing the by-line of the person I've interviewed.
These have been featured in Sunday op-eds in some of the state's major dailies, most notably the Birmingham News.
Anne A. I write my thoughts as they happen (in meetings, right after discussions, emails, phone calls, and instant messages). I don't post articles right away, rather; I develop the notes and find supporting material before posting blog articles.
Agents are usually in middle of most of these discussions or their work is the object of the discussions, so yes, I get ideas for my blog posts from agents. I often think how Extension professionals can apply the information as I write my articles. Most of my articles are usually written for specific Extension educators (although I don't always say so).
Also, I keep up with lots opinions and knowledge on social media from a variety of sources:
I read a lot, try to listen, and absorb lots of opinions and information from a variety of sources. By the way, the only way I can read from this many different sources is to use a news reader (i.e., Google Reader).
4. Do you have any advice for agents who are considering doing a blog? Time seems to be the biggest obstacle.
Jim L. Yes, believe me, time is the biggest obstacle -- not just to write the stuff but to conceptualize it in a form that fits the whole Extension matrix. Frankly, I see a huge potential here for agents. In fact, I've begun speaking about old and new media -- old being conventional media, new being blogs, vlogs and podcasting.
I suppose the frustration is that that while we have a big administrative buy-in to the value of blogs, our specialists and agents are still rather wary of them, partly because of the time, partly because blogging strikes them as, well, terra incognita -- something a bit too new and too daunting to grasp at this point.
The lack of understanding of the power of this medium and of a similar but emerging new medium -- social networking -- is what I find most frustrating. If you like, I'll write you an epistle about why I think new media quickly is superseding old media as the most critical outlet for Extension educators.
Anne A. Like Jim said, Extension agents' opportunities and reach are vast. It is a great medium that should not be overlooked. Blogging is a perfect fit for Extension educators. My advice to agents:
Tim Mathews and Diane Turner, write Master Your Garden. My Minnesota Woods is updated by faculty members, Eli Sagor and Philip Potyondy. The Beef Blog is a team blog serves as an educational forum for beef producers and Extension educators.
Teens use of social networking sites. Internet security presentations.
At Home with Extension Civility in the Workplace Shepherd's Notebook Lead2020 High Touch Keeper Scouting Around Virtual Blue Ribbon Party Extending Extension Brian Webster-Blog
Web 2.0 = Social Networks, NOT , Trust in Web 2.0 and Social Networks , and Trust,Web 2.0 and Influence, Social Networks Part IIBecky Nibe refers to writing for the web post in Writing for the Web refers to writing tips. Mitch Owen and I had a conversation via blogging in these 3 articles:
Do You Blog? or Why Blog? , and What is a blog? ContinuationJohn Dorner and I had a conversation via blogging in these 3 articles: What is a blog? ,
- My examples: Challenging the process is a must to move from good to great and Connecting, Engagement, and Productivity
Ron Brown on Future and Jim Collins' Keynote - ASTD 2007- Mitch Owen's examples:
Everyone has something to say. Blogging:
1. is a great way for Extension professionals to expand and develop their programs.
2. creates relationships with other Extension professionals.
3. creates relationships with clientele.
Random observations:
Anne A. As Jim says, writing and synthesizing the content is the hardest part. If agents are already writing articles for their newsletters, then they could easily adapt these articles into blog posts. I think a better option is to flip that process around: Blog articles and then develop newsletters from blog posts.
I see Extension educators blogging in niches. Niche blogs will get "reads" from people who are truly interested in those areas, not necessarily from thousands and thousands.
Blogging may not be for every Extension professional. However, most anyone can find a social media tool that fits for their style and talents.
Jim L. First, as I’ve said before, old media is not on a Hospice trajectory, though it’s nonetheless competing with entirely new and, in most respects, far more convenient media that many younger users, the so-called Millennials, find considerably more appealing.
Our role, as Extension educators, I believe, is to begin tapping into these sources. Indeed, if we don’t, we soon will begin losing any sort of competitive edge we still enjoy vis-à-vis better funded public and private entities.
Some would contend that Millennials still are roughly 10 years away from being fully integrated into the economy and exercising opinion-leading roles that ultimately could affect our bottom line. So what? My argument is that 10 years is an exceedingly short time, and besides that, there are other older clientele that could begin benefiting from blogging and other social networking techniques, if only they were given adequate training. At the top of the list are the Master Gardeners, who often tend to be retired, well-educated and highly adaptive Extension users - lifelong learners who hunger for knowledge.
I would add to that list a large number of well-educated agribusiness professionals who already have bought into the highly technical precision farming methods and who may be interested in one or more social networking techniques to keep abreast of emerging technologies and innovations among Extension experts and other producers.
Have a great Thanksgiving Holiday!
This probably true of any informational and educational sites, at least the ones I am most familiar with. Where do we spend most of our time developing? Does this change the way we plan and development our web sites?One thing that jumped out is that “The Long Tail” definitely exists on our web server. This says that a small number of pages have the highest visits per page. However, when aggregated together, the less popular web pages make up the bulk of the visits.
By linking to it, you are 1) giving credit for your inspiration and 2) giving the reader an opportunity to delve into the topic for more detail and explanation.
In another example, Content is king, but Linking is Queen.On the Internet content is king and always will be. This is because the Internet is the information superhighway and most people use it for information of some sort.
The problem with such descriptions is that they leave out the other elements. What about presentation, credibility of the source, content within context and applicability, and individuals' choice to read and learn what they want to? Is community more important than the content? Are presentation, design, and organization more important than the content? Can content alone be the delivery and serve our communities? Where does the individuals' value of the content fit?Community killed content and stole the throne.
...we must understand that content is infrastructure before we can see radical improvements in education.
...Take the roads (an example of civic infrastructure) as an example. When there are enough roads, going enough places, with enough capacity, and without tolls, we can expect to see significant experimentation and innovation on top of this infrastructure. In the case of roads, we can see people establishing a variety of transportation services (taxis, shuttles), delivery services (food, packages), support services (towing, tire repair), and other services. In the case of content, when there is a sufficient amount of open educational content on a sufficient number of topics at sufficient quality, we can also expect to see experimentation and innovation in localization services (translation, low-bandwidth delivery), accreditation services (degrees, certificates), and support services (tutors, study group locators).
I think I might have used other examples of services, like remixing content and individuals in online communities supporting each other rather than the examples that David uses.
In any case, open content initiates innovations and creativity into services we haven't thought of. Open content means that learners learn to grasp content and and use the content in ways we have not imagined because individuals value the content in various degrees and for various purposes.
Education encompasses teachingand learning specific skills and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgement and well-developed wisdom.Also,
Education means 'to draw out', facilitating realisation of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. It is an application of pedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning ....Are our web sites and our web presence educational? Do they apply pedagogy principles? Are they only informational? Does the information on our web sites impart knowledge and develop skills?
Learning is the acquisition and development of memories and behaviors, including skills, knowledge, understanding, values, and wisdom. It is the goal of education, and the product of experience. Learning ranges from simple forms such as habituation to more complex forms such as play (activity), seen only in large vertebrates.Do our web sites and our web presence draw clientele into a learning process? How do our web sites and the information contained in them contribute to learning? Are we using methods that help guide individuals to learn? Do we provide ways for individuals to learn and acquire more knowledge?
It is Extension professionals' passion for their work which makes them great candidates to blog. Maggie Lawrence in her guest blog points out the most crucial element of blogging is passion. Blogging is a perfect fit for most Extension professionals."Content is thoughtful, personable, and faithfully written. It hooks the reader and draws him in, encouraging him to click this link or that, to venture further into a website. It delivers what it promises and delights the attentive reader."
Get to the Point
Include your Personality
Perseverance—keep on blogging.
Avoid jargon. Use shorter words when possible. Use one idea or concept per sentence. Use active, instead of passive words.
- Readers tend to skip graphics when reading. If they look at the graphic, it
is either before or after they have read most of the content. (4)
"... It's not the speed. It is like having a solid thing rather than a fluid thing." (3)
References:
(1) Chapter 2: How we really use the Web from the book Don't Make Me Think, posted on Advanced Common Sense written by Steve Krug.
(2) How Users Read on the Web from Jakob Nielsen's useit.com, posted Oct. 1997.
(3) PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption from Jakob Nielsen's useit.com, posted July 14, 2003.
(4) Article Level Page Design: What Matters Inside?
(5) Content & usability: Writing for the web from web site, Webcredible, posted August 2005.
(6) Beware of Opening Links in a New Window from web site, Webcredible, posted February 2005.
