NEWS
Monday, March 15, 2004
The Future of this WebsiteSince I will be graduating in May, I've been asked by a few people what will happen to this website after I graduate. In truth, I'm not exactly sure, but the information posted here won't go away anytime soon - it will always be avaliable archived online. However, as I move into a different stage of my life, the blog as it currently exists: focusing on the University of Michigan and the city of Ann Arbor and targeting a student audience will undoubtidly change. There seem to be at least a few blogs which might replace some of the functions of my site - Matt Hollerbach, Sam Woll, and Jenny Nathan come to mind, and I'm always willing to help people start and maintain websites.
However, I've decided I'd like to make a formal effort to cultivate successors - one or more people who will fill the role of this website for the next few years at least. I see what I do as providing a space of public discussion and communication that draws from a variety of sources to provide a news source for U-M students who want to be informed about things that will effect their lives. Hence, I'm am looking for editorial collaborators. These people would be able to post to this website (hence why each post is now attributed to an author), and I would show them how I go about operating the website. Theoretically, with my help, the collaborators would launch (or re-launch) their own blog sometime this summer.
Why collaborate with me? Although starting a blog is easy enough, there are lots of little things which make it hard. First, it generally requires some technical knowledge like FTP, HTML, and CSS to design and operate a good site. I can tell you what I know, and put you in touch with people who know much more about the technical side than I do. Second, there are lots of little tricks to find information to post - I can show you my techniques and give you advice on how to efficiently collect information of interest to your readers around town and from the media. Lastly, it takes time to build a readership - collaborating with me will help you get started with at least a base of readers, and I will help you promote your site.
The qualifications are quite simple: you are a freshman or sophomore at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, consider yourself politically progressive, and you have the time and desire to start a blog. To apply, send me a one-page letter of interest by this Friday, March 19th via e-mail at rob at goodspeedupdate.com.
Posted by Rob at 6:12 PM
