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Disclosure: This is a only a point of view, not a mission statement. |
As the writer of the draft, I have a perspective, a point of view, that values a process that the [AFSC] used to call 'devolving' a project. The idea is for a parent organization (or a parent consortium) to support community-initiated projects, to hold the community group's hand while it toddles, and then, with first successful steps, to get the hell out of the way. The timeline for this 'devolution' process is built in from the start of the partnership, though it may be extended by mutual consent.
In many ways, BAWP operates with similar value placed on 'devolution,' on indepndence from hierarchical control and interference. Our sponsoring vision of eBN is along those lines. If disruptive technology tools are going to really 'infect' educational practice, then access and control and growth and 'tweaking' of those tools have to be local. So does paying the bills. (See especially the Hosting topic below). eBN models and advocates, maybe helps host briefly, provides community forums, but it stays away from buying digital real estate (servers, bandwidth, office furniture) or hiring coteries of staff distant from district, schools and classrooms.
Below (in bold) are six areas in which eBN might be active. There are probably more. Maybe even less (collapsing these categories). This is my first attempt at filling in the back pages of our mission statement.
Hosting - short term? cheap?
1. actual hardware configuration of server is very, very important (more detail on this later)
2. actual electrical set up of NOC (network operating center) is very, very important
3. bandwidth into and out of the servers is very, very important
4. #3 can be impossibly expensive
I think we've already begun to address some of the items listed above. Several eBN members have reliable installations of blog and other tools on school/university, county, district and school servers. They are even able to offer hosting to others who need it. As far as I can tell, the costs for alot of this have been reasonable because the network (Can't really call it that yet.) of hosting ISPs uses already existing, publicly paid for network resources - servers, NOCs, bandwidth, admin staff. eBN might make its primary activity in this area of hosting investigation of and advocacy for teacher and student access to such hosting opportunities.
Training -
f2f
online
manuals
help site
Advocacy -
Get other teachers to see it blog tech in action and ask to use it.
Get school, district, county, state and federal digital gatekeepers to allow and enable its use.
Spread the meme.
Research -
What works?
Why?
I think this is where best practices, and exemplary uses, and student work comes in.
Fundraising- ????
Conferences