Wire Writing Guidelines
The MOUSE Wire is a blog featuring “News, Resources and the Voices of MOUSE program participants,”–which means that it’s going to have content written by staff at MOUSE that we think is of interest to our community–links to scholarship or grant opportunities, short articles on educational technology and announcements. But you’ll also be hearing from students and teachers as they post about their experience in MOUSE programs and help build this community. For example, this summer, several students posted reflections on their experiences at UBS and EMI.
What’s a Blog?
The dictionary defines blog as, “a Web site on which an individual or group of users produces on ongoing narrative.” The MOUSE Wire is a blog written by MOUSE staff and program participants.
What makes a good post?
Writing effectively for blogs has much in common with good writing. but there are a few things to remember when writing for blogs:
* Be concise
* Link to sources you cite. For example if you say Joel Spolsky keeps a great blog on Software Development, you should at least include the URL: http://www.joelonsoftware.com It’s even better if you reference the URL in your sentence: Spolsky’s blog takes on topics from blogging to the Windows registry.
* Omit needless formatting. Do you really need that bold tag? Probably not. Let your language do the heavy lifting, not your font choices. Having said that if you do use a tag, be sure to close your tag. If you don’t know what I mean when I say “close your tags” then stick to plain text and robust word choices. Your readers and blog admins will be grateful.
* Proofread your work. Remember, anyone with access to the web can read your words. You will be judged based on your writing. Use a spell checker. Follow standard rules for capitalization. Let a friend or colleague read your work before you post. If you don’t have a second pair of eyes, let your post stew before clicking publish. And if you do make an error, fix it promptly.
There’s more to the Wire than simply blog posts. You could:
* Leave a comment on a post that someone else wrote. (Click comments on any post.)
* Submit a link to an article that you think will be interesting to the MOUSE community. We’re using del.icio.us to manage these collaborative contributions. If you come across something you think would be interesting, just tag it using for:mousenyc and it will magically show up on the Wire.
* Add a picture via Flickr–a similar approach. You upload your pictures and tag them mousenyc and they’ll show up in the magical flash sidebar.
What’s tagging all about?
Need help? Email MOUSE.