Actually in New Zealand, we don’t have “grade schools” (they’re called Primary and Secondary schools here). But I wanted to subtly reference Jon Udell’s influential article called “Grade School CMS”. i.e. I’m just being a smart ass 🙂
Things I want to do with my weblog:
1. Contribute formal articles on the subject of the Two-Way Web. I’m still thinking about this, but one idea is to write a weekly “(insert Two-Way Web subject) for Newbies” article. eg “RDF for Newbies”, or “The RSS Wars for Newbies”. The Two-Way Web is on the cusp of becoming mainstream. Lots of people will soon take up blogging, moblogging, and other New School Tools. People will want to know what it all means, without getting into the minutiae of XML Namespaces etc.
2. Develop my Web of Ideas application. I’ve set up an experimental Movable Type weblog to develop this notion. If anyone wants write access to my MV weblog to help develop it, you’re more than welcome – send me an email.
3. Continue my Literary Web Development articles, as I enjoy writing these. e.g. my Moby Dick/Semantic Web post was quite popular, although personally I was just as pleased with my XML as Literature post (which nobody linked to).
4. Re-design my weblog. I’ve gotten some inspiration from the recent re-designs of Julie Wiggins and Keith Robinson. I need to make my weblog unique-looking, plus I wouldn’t mind testing out some modern CSS design techniques.
5. Synch my weblog blogroll with my RSS Aggregator subscriptions. This seems an easy win and a sensible thing to do.
Above all I want to keep following these principles when I write to my weblog:
1. Be Original. Contribute something new to the Web of Ideas, don’t just regurgitate what other bloggers are saying.
2. Keep it simple. OK I admit I’ve been influenced by Dave Winer and Jon Udell here, but I do believe that successful Web Development is all about making things work. If it works for the user, becomes popular, and there is room to bootstrap to new levels, then that’s a success. This is how Tim Berners-Lee built the Web (and he’s probably my main influence).
3. Automatic for the People. This isn’t really relevant for my weblog writing, but it’s another principle I believe in for IT/Web Dev. Where possible, automate it. Of course, this is where most of the challenge (and fun?) comes in with Web Development!
Wow, I have lots of things to do! Isn’t the Web great 😉
