SCHOOL VERSUS THE INTERNET

The Internet is a powerful tool for engaging the minds of school-aged children. Students can collaborate on projects, pursue their own interests, gather their own information and communicate inexpensively with peers worldwide. Games, animation and stimulating activities offered by the Internet support the acquisition of math and reading skills and an understanding of science and the natural world.

For teachers, too, the Internet provides access to learning resources and experiences that were heretofore unavailable. Through the Internet, a teacher can interact individually with students and parents, send group messages via Listserv, and provide a personal website with electronic resources and assistance. Ultimately, a teacher may actually be able to give more individual attention to all students by spending less time in meetings, personal conversations, and talking on the telephone.

Does the Internet have it all over school with respect to getting kids to learn? Not really. School-aged children still need the human touch, the guidance and direction of their teachers, and protection from the dangers of the Internet. They also need kinesthetic learning experiences that the Internet cannot provide: participating in science labs, enacting a play, learning a musical instrument.

Still, the Internet has much to offer schools regarding how kids like to learn. Our schools are only at the tip of the iceberg with respect to harnessing the power of the Internet and taking its lessons to heart, i.e., bringing to the curriculum those aspects of the Internet that have made it so compelling for children. In the future, we may well see more self-directed curricula in our schools, with more games, interactive opportunities and other stimulating learning venues for kids.

A TALE OF THREE BLOGS

I am completely new to the world of blogging, and at first blush, I though it a colossal bore—so showy and self-interested. Until this very moment, I scarcely knew who was blogging and why, let alone that corporations had blogs, and used them to reach out to customers and other stakeholders in a personal way. Thus, I examined the blogs of three corporations that I’m actually connected to, i.e., I use their products or services, and these are Dell, Google and Hewlett-Packard (HP). In using this selection criterion, I thought I would feel more vested in the examination process, in determining what’s in it for me. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.

Dell’s blog, http://www.direct2dell.com/, is visually bland, but easily navigable, and encourages consumer feedback. As with Google, http://googleblog.blogspot.com/, and HP, http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs , Dell seeks to position itself as a thought leader, and it shares with HP the intent to receive comments from consumers. Dell has longer initial postings than HP, with an internal Digital Media Manager doing many of them. Dell uses more hypertext than HP, which I didn’t find at all disturbing. If I wasn’t interested, I simply moved on. HP leadership (execs, etc.) have their own blogs, and their entries tend to be shorter—maybe a paragraph rather than a page. All in all, Dell’s blog appears to receive more comments from consumers, and longer ones—sometimes several paragraphs. It’s just a chattier blog, though few pictures and such appear. It’s mainly straight text. HP’s blog contains more visual elements, such as photos, and it resembles a regular website. Ultimately, Dell’s blog gave me the impression that if I said something, they might actually act on it. I didn’t get that feeling quite as strongly from HP, mainly because I would be responding to the company’s higher echelon. Of course, I could be wrong about this. I was pleased to see that HP had a Corporate and Social Responsibility blog, which is authored by their Corporate and Social Responsibility Manager for Asia-Pacific and Japan. Neither Dell nor Google appeared to highlight this issue as prominently and clearly as HP, though Google had plenty of engaging activities on their blog.

This brings me to the Google blog, which is quite different from the other two. Any number of company representatives produce the blog with the purpose of reporting on an activity, an award, a contest, etc. The blog is fairly visually stimulating, with color, pictures, hypertext and such. Though one may respond to a blog, I don’t know if many comments are made in direct response to posted blogs because I couldn’t quite tell where these were housed. Google’s strength, not surprisingly, is serving as an aggregator of other blogs that use their service or discuss them in some way. Their corporate image appears to be fun, friendly, with razzle-dazzle, while Dell and HP are going for a more helpful and responsive image. Obviously, they're all looking to keep their customers and get new ones, but Google may also be looking to add to their staff. There were several mentions of how great a workplace they are.

As for my inital criterion--what's in it for me--I found that the battery in my Dell laptop might have been recalled! It has been acting strangely, so I will certainly be back to Dell. Also, I found it reassuring that I could relate to company reps and other consumers via blog, or at least read about how they might have discovered or solved a problem that I, too, may have.

MISSION STATEMENT

While this blog will showcase my work as a technical writer, I'd also like to provide a forum for sharing ideas about writing as well as actual works--technical or otherwise. Writers of all kinds who seek to improve their skills and learn new things are welcome! Let's see where we go!