Background About Today’s Launch of This Blog

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Jennifer Brady

Today marks the official public launch of this new online community site called the UMassOnline blog. All of us at UMassOnline who have participated in the development and piloting of this site welcome you, invite you to explore its many features, urge you to return often, and hope you will freely participate in the ongoing dialogue we’re confident will evolve.

This site has been in development for several months during which access to it was restricted to a small number and variety of internal audiences. We devoted that amount of time to this development project for several reasons: to bring you the highest-quality site possible; to identify the set of themes and topics believed to be of greatest interest to you; to become adept at the skills unique to this evolving social media technology; and, to build confidence that UMassOnline could sponsor a site like this for the free flow of opinions while meeting the high standards of civility, scholarship, and mutual respect for others that are essential to the success of any community, online or in real life.

In the name of transparency and authenticity, which are two of the most important hallmarks of any successful blog, we elected at the conclusion of the pilot phase to retain the posts generated during the development period. This means you will find items which in some cases make reference to events or news in the past. While some of these no longer have the relevancy or immediacy they had upon creation, we decided to retain them so that the evolution of this blog could be seen by all and because most of them still offer information or views of value to at least some of the intended audiences and participants in this community.

Obviously, all of the participants in the development of this site are anxious for your feedback and participation. While UMassOnline is the host of this forum, where it goes next is to no small degree up to you. Developed with the hope that this will be a leading site for a dialogue of ideas about the issues of our time in higher education, with a focus on online learning, today’s public launch means the podium is available to you to add your commentary and contribute to the conversation.