About Microformats
To quote my online buddy D’Arcy, anyone who tells you they are an expert in this field of making sense of cyberspace isn’t telling you the truth: it changes too quickly for anyone to know it all.

I’m the first to tell a potential client what I don’t know- but hopefully, I can make a connection for them to someone that does know a lot about that area.

So- when I came across this site about “Micro Formats” and read the about- I was excited. Here is a new way of trying to make sense out of the chaos we have on the Internet as things change so quickly- and it’s called MicroFormats- using common, existing data vocabulary to build things we need.

Unlike, say, the video production industry that builds a new format every other week (there are about 18 different Hi Definition “standards” for video)- the “MicroFormat” movement is trying to use existing tech to accomplish things in a simple way. Much like the way Apple forced developers to use the same interface and formats to make it easy to interchange data and learn different programs on a Macintosh – microformats are trying to keep things simple.

You don’t have to understand the code- you just need to be able to use it and exchange it could be thier mantra.

Hopefully, this movement will gain traction- making it easier for all of us to become “experts” in this new media world.

The Dayton chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) is sponsoring a free “Java Talk“- roundtable on blogging, business and marketing on Friday 24 February 2006, at 7am until 8 am. Attendees to the free talk are asked to register– mostly so we can get a head count. At 8:30 we will kick off another Blogosopher session.

Special rates are available for Dayton AMA members to Blogosopher – $79 in advance, $99 day of. These are the Next Wave client rates. Please visit the sign-up page to register for Blogosopher and pay with check or credit card.

Both events will be held at Nehemiah University, 750 S Main Street Dayton OH 45402

Plenty of free parking.

The Vancouver Education Blogging Sessions at D’Arcy Norman Dot Net

What I refer to as Web 2.0, D’Arcy calls the read/write web. Others call it a “live” site- but the idea of 2-way interaction with the user is the concept we are trying to define. The original cool thing about the web was that a user could guide their experience through your site- choosing what they thought was important- vs. what you thought-an example:

Companies have been publishing brochures for a long time. There was always a battle over how much detail to put in them. With the web, you can keep drilling down to more and more detail until the customer has the information they want, with a brochure- if it isn’t there, oh well. But, until recently- that was as far as it would go. Now, you can give feedback right away, ask deeper questions, or even rearrange how you view the data. There is no reason to still create a printed “brochure”- since it’s always going to be inadequate.

When it comes to education- especially higher education- the dialog between teacher and student was the core value added proposition in the learning environment. Secondary, was the interaction between students under the guidance of the teacher. So forward thinking educators are using the blog platform to create these linkages. But with all things new, how to do this is still being established. I am now asking all interns to set up their own WordPress.com blogs- just to get some experience with the new web, and to see how they think and write. I have also guided a forward thinking doctoral candidate to a blog to build his resume to the world. But D’Arcy has brought up a key point on ownership and oversite of these blogs- if they are truly part of the learning experience, shouldn’t they remain with the student after they leave the institution? I’m even wondering if WordPress.com is a viable solution as opposed to a totally owned domain (See “how to blog” on this subject).

All this aside, the most important thing D’Arcy brought up was that blogs don’t need IT support as we know it. The simplicity of a blog is the beauty of it. It empowers people to do thier own thing on the web- which is why Blogosopher exists.