December 2005 — Features
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Why Blog?
Bear in mind, you must have a parent population that has access to computers
and the Internet in order for a blog to be successful. But more and more, personal
computers in the home are reaching the same ubiquity as televisions. And with
phone and cable companies competing to provide high-speed Internet access, the
cost of getting online faster continues to plummet. So, a blog also might be
the most cost-effective, timely way to ensure that parents from your school
or district have up-to-the minute information on their kids.
—posted on Tuesday, December 6, 2005 @ 8:52 pm
How Do Parents and Students Know It’s New?
A blog may seem like the perfect alternative to your school’s print or
e-mail newsletter, but how will readers know when there is something new on
the blog? After all, everyone is busy, and remembering to check a Web site every
morning can compete with having that second cup of coffee. Plus, you may have
added critical updates about, say, closing school early because of bad weather
in the middle of the school day.
There is, of course, technology for that, too: Your readers can subscribe to an RSS feed. RSS—an acronym for really simple syndication—uses an XML-formatted file to allow anyone with a Web site to easily “syndicate,” or distribute, blog content. Subscribing to an RSS feed (details can be found at the well-regarded Lockergnome site: channels.lockergnome.com/rss/resources/articles/quickstart.phtml) is equally simple.
When you sign up for an RSS feed, you receive notice of new articles on a blog
directly in a piece of (usually free) software known as an RSS newsreader, or
even in your Web browser, saving you the time of browsing the site itself and
scouring it for the latest information.
—posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 @ 4:00 pm
