Okay, as a part of the Day 18 of the 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger series that Steve Dembo did last month that I participated in I created an entry on the Blog Carnival website (see Day Eighteen – Thirty Days To A Better Blog). Steve described a Blog Carnival by quoting from their FAQ:
A Blog Carnival is a particular kind of blog community. There are many kinds of blogs, and they contain articles on many kinds of topics. Blog Carnivals typically collect together links pointing to blog articles on a particular topic. A Blog Carnival is like a magazine. It has a title, a topic, editors, contributors, and an audience. Editions of the carnival typically come out on a regular basis (e.g. every monday, or on the first of the month). Each edition is a special blog article that consists of links to all the contributions that have been submitted, often with the editors opinions or remarks.
There is so much stuff in the blog-o-sphere, just finding interesting stuff is hard. If there is a carnival for a topic you are interested in, following that carnival is a great way to learn what bloggers are saying about that topic. If you are blogging on that topic, the carnival is the place to share your work with like-minded bloggers.
Well, as a part of my participation (see Day Eighteen – Thirty Days To A Better Blog) in the 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger I created the following call for entries.
K-12 online learning
Description – This Carnival is devoted to K-12 online learning
Keywords – k-12, online learning, virtual school, cyberschool
Filed under – education
Submission deadline – Whenever We Get Enough Content
Maintained by – Michael Barbour
Current status – This carnival is ongoing.
Pretty straightforward, right? Initially, I was going to post the first Blog Carnival on 15 December, but I have to say that I have been disappointed with what I have received. To date, I have received the following type of entries:
Entries actually on the topic of K-12 online learning or even K-12 distance education:
- NONE
Entries about teachnology use in K-12:
- Managing the Modern Classroom – an entry about a 1-1 laptop initiative
Entries about K-12 in general:
- List of Elementary School Guides, Workbooks, and Assessment Resources – ISBN, Used, and List Prices – an entry literally listing the names and prices of books used in a K-12 system
- 6 Tips for Success in School – an entry about how to succeed in K-12
- Teaching Test Taking Skills Doesn’t Mean You Are Teaching to the Test – an entry for teachers about teaching and assessment
- Scissors and Glue and Glitter, Oh No! – an entry about project-based teaching and asking questions
Entries about teaching and or learning (not necessarily about K-12 at all):
- Avoiding Tricky English Grammar Mistakes – an entry about learning to speak English
- 100 Best Lifehack Lists for Recent College Grads – an entry of tips for your post-college life
- Games for Brain Health – Novelty, Variety and Challenge – an entry about a recently published article
Entries that have nothing to do with education at all:
- Denver Climbers Coalition – an entry announcing the creation of this organization
- How To Subscribe To Your Favorite Real Estate Blogs – an entry explaining RSS for real estate bloggers
- Will Social Media Kill Membership Sites? – an entry about the various tools in social media sites
What I kind interesting is that it seems that these people don’t really care that their submissions had little or nothing to do with the topic at hand. I even corresponded with some, expressing my interest and enthusiasm to getting this Blog Carnival started, and they all seemed oblivious to the fact that their entries had nothing to do with K-12 distance education.
I suppose by posting these entries I have given the submitter exactly what they wanted, more exposure and potentially more traffic. What I wonder is why they took the time to submit anything at all to my Blog Carnival? Is there a bot that will do this for them automatically, so that they don’t have to even enter in the information?
Steve, I have to say that this has been a real bust thus far!
Michael,
While I agree that Denver Climbers and Real Estate Blogs really don’t have much to do with K-12 online learning, I think you may have answered your own question as to why you didn’t get more entries about K-12 distance education. Your request for entries about K-12 online learning opens a much wider field, which I took to include the use of online tools in school-based K-12 learning. For our teachers, a big part of that is the management and planning that comes with keeping kids focused and on task when using online tools, thus my entry.
You might want to start another carnival more centered on distance learning, perhaps with keywords and a description that make it clear you are looking for blog entries on learning that occurs across the internet rather than learning in a traditional setting with internet tools. However, you may find that the area is still so narrow that there aren’t many out there writing about it. There’s also nothing wrong with letting people know via email that their entry isn’t quite what you’re looking for – I certainly was one who misinterpreted your request and I’d guess that others may have done the same.
And yes, I would guess there are three reasons any of us would either start a carnival or add an entry to one:
– to gain exposure and feedback on our own ideas by volunteering an entry
– to gain exposure to our own blog through carnival hosting
– to read and learn more from others who are exploring the same topics as us
Here’s hoping you find what you’re looking for,
Michelle
Comment by Michelle Bourgeois — December 31, 2008 @ 10:46 am |
Michelle, thanks for the response. For the record, your entry was actually the closest to the topic at hand. Had I received others on topic I would have included your entry with a comment something like “And not directly related to K-12 online learning, but still worth the read…” Also, you were the first to respond to the call and even if I had received entries on K-12 online learning it was always my intention to include your entry as it was (as you accurately describe) about “the use of online tools in school-based K-12 learning.”
For those wondering, Michelle’s entry is the “Managing the Modern Classroom” entry about the 1-1 laptop initiative.
Comment by mkbnl — December 31, 2008 @ 10:55 am |
Heh, you’ve taken the challenge a few steps further than I was anticipating!
Here’s my thoughts on it… How many people visit the carnival site every day? And of those, how many are educators? And of those, how many are focusing on k-12? And of those, how many are keyed in on k-12 online learning? And of THOSE, how many are going to take the time to submit during that visit to a carnival that isn’t established yet and could very easily be one and done…
See where I’m getting to? What I’d recommend is that you jump on the long tail and ride it. Sure, put it up on the carnival site, but then advertise the heck out of it. On twitter, on plurk, on online learning newsgroups… Go to K-12 Online learning blogs and choose specific posts to comment on, inviting them to submit it to the carnival (just like you see for group pools on Flickr).
Pure and simple, if you want to build something from nothing, you need to put in the elbow grease up front. Once you get a few issues in and have something ot show for your efforts, hopefully it’ll start snowballing.
Good luck! And if you want to do an announcement on Teach42, drop me an email.
Comment by Steve Dembo — January 5, 2009 @ 4:02 pm |
Steve, I’ve sat on this comment for a bit because I was honestly waiting to see what I would do with it. I think I’m going to give it another try, so look for another call for items in my blog tomorrow (and I’ll try and get the word out on my Twitter / Plurk / Facebook / NING / iNACOL forums as best I can.
Comment by mkbnl — January 16, 2009 @ 10:14 pm |