Maybe I just keep cranking out the copy web sites. If you invite me on to aproject chances are I will make a case to do something derivative of DS106 — maybe it’s blog aggregation or some kind of bank.
But the one I love the most is introducing the Daily Blank, a WordPress theme that was developed to power the DS106 Daily Create.
I always find value in creating small, low stakes challenges that encourage people to try new tools or creative techniques. I still find great reward in populating the DS106 grandaddy site – today is it’s 2026th consecutive daily create (“Shatner a Song” I dare ya), going strong for more than five years. Companies and tech fads have Gartner hyped and fallen in that span.
Other ones I have spawned include:
- The You Show Daily (52 Dailies 2014-2015 at TRU)
- The UDG Agora Daily Try (258 dailies 2015-2016 for the UDG Agpora Project)
- Daily Digital Alchemy (124 dailies 2017 for the Networked Narratives Course)
For an upcoming project with eCampus Ontario I just pressed the button to create this new one, the Daily Extend:
The Ontario Extend project aims to support educators in the northern part of the province, typically less connected and under-resourced institutions- the web site is still being built but a general description of the project is:
The Ontario Extend project is part of a Northern Capacity building initiative, led by Northern College, working collaboratively with eCampusOntario and the publicly funded colleges and universities in Northern Ontario (we will create a page that this links to clickable logos of the 10 colleges and universities?). The project focused on designing a collaborative approach to knowledge building, skill development and resource sharing to support the technology-enabled learning initiatives at post-secondary institutions across the province. It is the intent that these resources will provide the basis for more deliberate course design and digital pedagogical practice and provide an opportunity to explore a range of emerging technologies and practices for effective online and technology-enabled learning, teaching and facilitation.
The metaphor is that we are helping people and institutions “extend” and increase their capabilities with online resources and networking.
I am part of a team designing 2.5 day in person institute next month to introduce a model of professional development, but more importantly (IMHO) to cultivate a professional network. a Key component (the part in my corner) is that the 30 participants are being provided for two years a domain of their own under Reclaim Hosting.
The reason I suggested including a Daily _____ is because I find it’s an effective way to get people using twitter; it gives them something to do. But also, and more importantly, it is a way to introduce new tools and resources to them in a low stakes way that carries little weight of failure. It’s all about trying.
It’s also fun.
Well, I think it is.
We are not introducing it to the participants until the institute in a few weeks, but I always like to start this kind of site with a body of activity. So after setting it up yesterday, I have asked our development time to try it out.
And have they ever!
In just one email of invitation, we have 16 response to 3 dailies from 8 people. And this group is motivated by the leaderboard.
I am borrowing / modifying / remixing dailies from the DS106 and Daily Create sites, but like all of these, they get more interesting when participants create their own. Anyone can do that.
So if you don;t get enough out of doing the DS106 Daily Create I have a new one for you to give a spin. It always makes a huge impact on a group like this when people outside the project get in the mix.
You can get the daily prompts by following @OntarioExtend or just bopping over to https://extend-daily.ecampusontario.ca/.
I keep doing these daily sites not for lack of ideas; it’s because I have seen it work effectively at least 3 times. Now aiming for 4.
Join in, eh?
Featured Image: Modified from DADF (Canon IR6000).jpg Wikimedia Commons photo by Guruleninn shared under a CC BY-SA license. Original was cropped and an screenshot of the web site https://extend-daily.ecampusontario.ca/ overlain on the sheet of paper in the original.
.JPG){kind=link}
I started looking for openly licensed images based on the word “clone” but got too many Star Wars images, then tried “copies”, then decided to search for “copy machine”. Bingo.
Comments