Project One

Below is the first post assignment. Forgive the sloppy presentation, I'm cutting and pasting from Word...

English 106 Fall 2007 Project 1: Mission Statement as the First Post

As I have brought up several times, your first major assignment is due next Wednesday, 12:00 noon. The assignment itself is short and sweet, but we are looking for a rich yet compact first post for your blog—somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 words (one page single-spaced).

Your first post should address the following questions:

• What's the goal of the blog?
• What will it cover?
• How will you structure your blog? What will a post look like? What is your methodology?
• What will people find on a first visit, and what will keep them coming back? Who is the audience? Describe the audience specifically (i.e., “college students” is not specific enough. “Purdue students” is not specific enough. We are looking for a characterization of your ideal audience. Who are you writing to?
• What is the personality of the blog as a whole? Think in terms of adjectives (practical, sarcastic, energetic, apathetic, enthusiastic, hesitant, etc.).
• What roles will the individual team-members assume? Will team members have unique voices or roles? What will distinguish you from each other [note—your first post might end with short bios of each member]
• How will you build your credibility? How will it compare to other similar blogs? What blogs inspire you?

You may answer these questions in whichever order you wish. If you can think of ways to describe your blog that are not covered by these questions, feel free to. Remember to contact your instructor early and often if you have questions.

Remember that you are also responsible for the following:

• Giving the blog a new title (Settings > Basic)
• Giving the blog a new URL (Settings > Publishing)
• Giving the blog a new template (Template > Pick New Template)
• Creating a link list with three links per member (links can include resources, other blogs you are trying to emulate, etc)(Template > Page Elements > Add Page Element > Link List

Good luck!