Generation YES Blog

Well, we’ve been blogging here at Generation YES for a whole year. In February 2007 we started posting some practice posts, and about a month later linked to it from our main site.

In one year, we’ve done 212 posts within 22 categories that gathered 300 comments — thanks very much to all of you! The comments have been fascinating, smart and incisive. Sometimes it’s been tough to find the time to post, sometimes there’s almost too much to talk about!

Most viewed posts/pages

• Second Thoughts on Second Life - My thoughts about using Second Life for educator professional development vs. collegial use
• About Us and This Blog - Who we are. Inquiring minds want to know!
• Halo 3 Shines Harsh Light on Games in Education - Looking at the real viability of educational games in light of development costs of video games.
• OLPC XO Top Ten Checklist for G1G1 Reviews - A list of “reminders” for people who got One Laptop Per Child XO laptops in the Give One Get One program about the true intentions of the program.

It’s tough sometimes to keep focused on why we started this blog, because the most popular and most commented posts aren’t about what we do as a company. It’s tempting to write posts chasing popularity, but that’s really not why we started this. As I wrote in the post, Welcome to the new Generation YES blog:

We’ve decided in the sprit of Web 2.0 that we like the idea of sharing with the world. Although we have a definite point of view about how schools should be using technology and how students can be key stakeholders in their own education, we don’t believe we have all the answers. Further, we completely believe in “transparency” — the act of thinking and doing out loud.

We think that we are ready to walk that talk.

Other random facts

• Akismet has protected the site from 14,773 spam comments
• Technorati says 282 blogs have linked to our posts
• Technorati rank: 74,992 out of 71 million blogs - We started at about 2,000,000!
• Authority: 91 - We started out at zero, and the most popular blogs have authority numbers in the tens of thousands. It’s not bad!

A year later I’m pleased with our effort, and humbled by the people who tell me they read and enjoy our work. For a kid who spent most of high school ducking out of anything that resembled writing or speaking, it’s a strange experience to hear that anyone would go out of their way to read what I write.

I hope you continue to read, comment, and contribute as we move into our second year of the Generation YES blog. Your suggestions are most welcome!

Sylvia