Online Writing - On Campus Classes

Foss Arts, originally uploaded by dmhergert.

I'm not apart of the discussion, I'm not a Professor nor a writer and can not be aware of circumstances informing the decision. Had I been there, I would have wanted to bring some ideas to the discussion.

"Computers are people, too", as Soccergirl memorably said, reminding us that behind every bit of online information are people. The online world is people to people communication without transportation required.

Organizations or individuals involved in collaboration projects such as education, should use online communication where it helps and off-line meetings where they are best. Online publication of class materials can benefit a great many people beyond the geo-area of the college, group discussion may well take place online in group spaces like chat rooms online Skype conference audio calls or virtual worlds and one-to-one teaching can be accomplished through IM, email, video or audio conferencing, but the very best human exchange is still people coming together.

I agree with the decision taken, although I could have countered some of the points. It's good, I think, that the University maintain accredited degree classes on campus, using online communication for back-up and reach-out efforts. If, in the future, online classes are mandated, additional staff and equipment would be required to execute.

That said, I think classes should be added to teach online writing and publication.

Campus classes for on-line writing

• Bloggers, tweeters and online readers love to meet up. Face to face classes in online writing should be popular. New information occurs everyday, new tools and new thoughts on how to use them occur hourly. It takes a crowd to keep up. Online sharing of information is good, but not enough for humans. Regular class discussion would be valuable.
  • How to write for online readers
    There are two groups of online readers
    1. Humans - when online, need the text broken up in visual blocks with descriptive headlines. They need main-points stated first, as in newspaper writing. They need less development than in paper published writing, instead they need hyperlinks to more information.
    2. Machines - indexing robots are responsible for bring human readers to the writing, the bots need to have access to plain text organized in a standard hierarchy content structure allowing them to understand the subject of the writing and how it relates to other content pages. They need images, video, audio and links to be clearly labeled.
  • How to research online
    Using Wikipedia as both the prime source and the repository of any research a creative writer may need to do for their fiction or non-fiction projects. Go first to Wikipedia, if what you want is not there, continue on to the rest of the Internet or off-line resources, then bring back your results to Wikipedia to fill out our collective knowledge.
  • Where to publish online
    Blogging styles are changing as new technology creates new tools. At this moment:
    • twitter may be best for the personal logging of fleeting ideas and changing circumstance, useful material for possible development.
    • tumblr may be best for capturing quotes from online sources, useful multi-media materials and for loose preliminary drafts.
    • vox for the first formal drafts - access may be limited to those you designate.
    • typepad or wordpress when the writing is ready to be polished through public interaction.
    • lulu when the the work is in its final form to be published, for either reading in PDF form, ebooks or printed in paper books.
    • tie all your web-presences together with jaiku
  • How to market online
    The public development of the work using the tools above allows an invested audience to form around the work. Class presentations and discussions could teach growing the audience through additional tools, such as social networking sites, like virb, facebook, myspace and virtual worlds, like second life, combining them with traditional off-line methods, to make a thorough marketing attempt.

Efficiencies and limitations of on-line courses

• Efficiencies are in communicating general material. Online syllabus, schedule, lecture notes, etc. help the on-campus student as well as the global off-campus public.
• Lectures, guests, class discussion can be recorded and podcast for universal benefit.
• Limitations are in one-to-one interaction between professor and online student. As time-consuming or more so than one to one interactions off-line.