The main objective with the assignment is to deeply explore tools for Digital Business Enhancements (DBE) and document that journey through active blogging. This imples that you will also get useful and personal hands-on experience with the blogosphere - a wonderful entry into the brave nEw world...
Identity and openness
First, a brief note about personal integrity and confidentiality. Blogs are typically regarded as more valuable, and trustworthy, when they highly reflect a personal viewpoint. In this case, because you are graded individually, the blog is yours and not any organization's. Even so, you may choose to use a nick name instead of your real name. Furthermore, you should consider how much of your company information/situation is appropriate to share in the bloggosphere. Sharing a lot of information implies some risk taking and vulnerability, but also a number of advantages. These include that other actors are better informed when they support you, share valuable advice, and provide useful feedback.
Six simple steps
In sum, these are the steps you should take:
- Pick a business problem/opportunity where DBE could be useful
- Start a blog, in which you will document your assignment
- Register your blog among the class blogs
- Search for appropriate DBE tools
- Continously blog your activites
- Interact with your group members
One, the problem/opportunity
Identify a business problem or an oportunity for a company (e.g. the one you are working for). Of course there are many possibilities too choose from. Just pick one that you from the start consider to be useful to approach from a DBE perspective.
Two, start your blog
There are a vast number of blogging solutions available on the market. Most of them support a number of languages, including Polish. Even so, you should write your blog in English. The AE DBE blog is hosted for free on
Blogger, one of the major blogging hotels. It is very easy to use, with one major disadvantage - it has no built in support for tagging (categorizing the entries). Another widely used free hotel is
Wordpress, which is based on open source software. In any case, you may choose any blogging tool you like.
Three, register your blog
[Updated June 06, corrected the instructions link] In order for all of us involved (me the class teacher and you the students) we need to inform each other about the blogs existence. We will do this by registering, or rather add each student blog, to the Bloglines user "aedbe", see the
detailed instructions for this process.
After the registration,
do no forget to send an e-mail to
richard.gatarski@bat.se with your name and the blog's name in order to make sure that I know that your blog is up and running.
Four, search for tools
The course literature is full of tools and E-business concepts, for example, buy-side, CRM, tagging, ERP, etc. Now is a good time to browse the literature in order to assess what E-business encompasses. Use this assignment as a method to more deeply dig into one of the DBE areas/tools/concepts.
Five, blog your activities
In the old days students handed in their assignment by means of a written document (paper/thesis/etc). But, times are a'changen, and this time you should continously document whbat you learm, see, think, do, etc., by posting entries on your blog. It is up to you to decide upon how much to put into your blog. First, consider what you think is an appriopriate amount to best approach your chosen business problem/possibility. Second, remember that your blog is what I grade you after.
Six, interact
You are many students in the class. You can both help, and learn, from your peer student by following their blogs and comment their postings. In fact, you are required to at least interact in this fashion with at least the members of your working group. That work is part of the assignment. If nothing else - until you have taken an active part in inter-blogging you have not even begun to understand what blogging might be all about.
Remember, "we" are greater than "me"Use blogging as a way to help your fellow student to be at their best! A group is not at its best when each individual student strive to perform at her or his maximum. No, the group, and every individual within it, excels when the members skilfully play on every others unique capabilities.
(a point I stress, inspired by the director Juri Lederman).