Your posts should always be published to the main blog page.
The first thing you need to keep in mind is that the blog is visible to the public, and it's permanent. What you post there stays up forever unless I move it to back to draft mode. I intend to only remove posts/comments that are exceptionally poorly written, highly unprofessional, or vulgar/obscene. Everything else, good or bad, remains up.
Further, I maintain a network of prior strategy students. In a week, I will send an invite to these alumni, asking them to drop by the blog regularly. They won't be authors - that's your job. They will, however, be invited to comment on your work and share with you their thoughts and experiences. I will extend this invitation to you as well after graduation. The strategy blog should (over time) tie together current and past students, helping you develop your UHCL network.
So, with that in mind, here are some helpful guidelines for posts:
1. Take pride in your authorship. Even if you post from a pseudonym, you leave a record of your activity. Your classmates will see your posts and the entire world could, in theory, see your post. Represent UHCL with the professionalism and diligence that I know business students are capable of.
2. Write your posts in Word or some other word processor program. Proofread, proofread, proofread. Edit it a few times as needed. Get it to say exactly what you want to say, exactly the way you want to say it. Once it's done, then you are ready to move it to the blog. Think of the blog as a magazine - with you as a staff writer (for this term).
3. You post to the blog using the 'New Post' button on the top right side.
4. When you are setting up a post, choose a title that makes sense and then paste your pre-written post into the main body. Use the formatting tools to make the post more readable.
5. Linking is very easy in the blog. Highlight the text you want to make a link. Then, click the 'link' button. This opens up a dialog box that asks you for the website you wish to link to. I usually keep a second browser window open with the website I want to link. Copy that web address and paste it into the link dialog box and hit okay. You just built a citation link into your post - it's pretty easy, just practice and it will make sense!
6. If a post has serious problems, I will take it back to draft. I will then contact the author and let them know they need to do some editing. For your first two posts, this will not have any impact on your grade. For the last two posts, though, I expect you to get the editing done correctly the first time.
7. Your introduction post is a non-graded post, it's a good one for practice!
8. There are 'page' links on the right side of the blog. I will maintain these links, they will sort the blog posts into the topic areas. While I would like for you to follow all of the posts, you only NEED to follow the posts from your topic authors. Just check your topic link every few days and see if there is anything new!
9. Please comment to the other authors in this course. Be cordial.
10. I have a series of helpful links and blogs off to the right. These are very good and informative sites. If you have a recommendation site, please send it to me. I am happy to extend the reference list of our blog based on your experiences.
11. You can do your three graded blog posts in any order you wish. That said, you will probably find the academic article blog post to be the hardest of the three. I would recommend doing one of the easier graded posts first (practitioner article or current event) and then do the academic article second. Save an easy one for the end of the semester when you will probably be busy with other activities. Make sure you post a copy of your blog post to the Blackboard SafeAssign tool too, and try to remember to load the post to the right entry!
12. I am here to advise you. If you need ideas on topics for your articles, or if you want me to confirm whether an article is suitable, email me. I'm glad to help. BUT, do leave me lead time to get back to you in time for your deadlines (e.g. don't ask me for advice a day or two before a deadline, be very proactive, we both have a lot to do).
13. Your topic assignment shouldn't be thought of as a rigid wall. Think of the wall between topics as fairly translucent. For example, on my personal blog (Small Business Intel), I put up a current event post July 5th about the Facebook IPO. That topic would be suitable for Business Analysis, Applied Strategy, Business Leaders (with more of a focus on Zuckerberg), Governance and Ethics, or Inter-organizational studies (as an IPO). Some of the topics would probably require a small change in the focus of the post, but the main event (Facebook's IPO) is fertile ground for a number of the topic areas. Think of your topic area as a guideline, but you have some flexibility to extend abroad.
14. Large or small business, U.S. or foreign business, for profit or not-for-profit are all open for application in this course. Business Strategy has a broad reach and so should the blog.
15. I am in-office (Summer 2012) Tue/Thu from 3-6pm and I am available for meetings on other days of the week (but they need to be scheduled in advance). I check the blog first thing every morning and check email shortly after. I would recommend you get in the habit of checking the blog at some point each day as well.
16. This is the first semester for the strategy blog. There WILL be bumps in the road, there already have been (the spam filter issue) and there will be more down the road. For your grade, as long as you (a) submit your posts to SafeAssign and (b) remember to comment on others posts, you will be okay (assuming your SafeAssign posts are well written, of course). The blog is a learning activity for all of us, myself included. If you have thoughts or recommendations to improve the blog, please email them to me - it's YOUR tool - and it will be the tool of students who follow you. This is a collaborative project, one which you are invited to participate in as a visitor after you graduate. Let's work together to make this a great, and innovative, tool.
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