Thank you for your support with this project and being one of the original 100 ME bloggers! Your right about me not sending out the “ME Blogger Police” if you don’t keep up with the criterial. I’ve had a number of discussions with colleagues since I originally posted the “criteria” and have since decided to “soften” the requirements so I don’t frighten off any future ME blogger by too many requirements. What I’m really looking for is the “spirit” in a ME Blogger, someone who wants to have a vivid and rich avenue of communication with others in our field. Somebody who is not stagnant but rather wants to grow and reach out to others. We need them, the communication paradigm has shifted and future and current educators need to understand these and utilize these new technological means of information delivery and exposure.

In that spirit, I’ve softened the criteria so as not to exclude anybody for fear they won’t be able to commit to everything.

Here are the main changes:

2. You must agree to post as regulary as you able to about a topic that is interesting to you, your students, the music audience as a whole, etc. that related to music education and/or music technology in the classroom environment. Literally, you can almost blog about anything related… the “world is your oyster!”. I know many of you can’t post every day (I don’t-ok, not usually ), week, or even couple-to-three weeks, but let’s strive for at least a post a month!

3. You must agree to not “covet” all your materials and share many of them, freely, with the world so we all can gain from everyone’s expertise and experiences. Of course you are free to copyright your creative works and ideas as you see fit, afterall they’re yours! We are encouraging ME Bloggers to consider using a creative commons license (your pick!) to help them preserve their ideas while allowing others to access them in ways that the ME Bloggers see fit. Becoming a ME Blogger does not in anyway obligate you to give up an of your commercial venues or have everything on your blog “given away anything or everthing for free”. It simply means that you are blogging for the good of music education and that you are part of the global conversation about it! What we are NOT looking for in a ME bloggers is a blog that is specifically designed to sell products and/or services.

4. You must actively participate in our “global conversation” about our field by joining in the conversation with others:
Agreeing to comment on other ME Bloggers posts as you are able to and have the ability to contribute or encourage

Share your blog with others by linking to the other ME Bloggers in either your blogroll or a page of ME Bloggers

Agreeing to answer legitimate quesions by ME Bloggers and others that post questions on your site in a timely manner.

The reasons for these changes are numerous but I also think self-evident when you read them and more attractive for a “newbie” or someone who has commercial ties.

I’ve updated the mustech.net/100-me-bloggers page to include those changes just last night! Sorry, I didn’t do it before your post and thank you for being part of this new endeavour!

Best regards and thanks,

J. Pisano