I Only Do This For You

OK, I admit, there is probably a bit more truth in this than I'd want to admit, but I'm never above shameless self promotion.

After last year's Great Keynote Revolt, I've been dying to do the keynote at HighEdWeb 2010. The reasons are many and complex. I've never had tomatoes thrown at me literally or virtually. I'd have a blast pushing all the buttons of the attendees (@notjared was an expert at this). Reading the Twitter stream after the fact would provide hours of entertainment.

On the serious side, though, whether or not the HighEdWeb committee asks me or not (pretty sure that 'not' is where the smart money is going), what I took away from last year's keynote - as well as the feedback I've gotten regarding TFRL - is that HighEdWeb needs to not only be about and for higher education web people, it needs to be by higher education web people.

And for the most part - with the notable exception of the keynote - it was. We live and work in a very different world than other web developers and even a different world than other workers in higher education. The web is a rapidly evolving, rapid maturing environment, and that is no where more evident than in education (well, and porn, too, but that's a whole different topic).

Seriously though, the community of HighEdWeb is a intensely close knit one. And the reason for that is due to the unique combination of rapidly evolving technology and massively inert bureaucracy that is high ed web development. And I say that in all seriousness. The tiny bit of success that TFRL has enjoyed is owed entirely to the unique character of higher ed web development.

And that's why I feel that the keynote needs to be by one of us. Only we really understand our environment, and only we can really speak to it. Jared Spool was great, but the one criticism that I heard over and over about his keynote was that what he said didn't really apply to our environment.

So, whether or not the committee gives me a second thought as a speaker (did I mention that I'm not afraid of an audience of geeks, nerds, and misfits armed with smart phones and laptops?), I do hope that they select keynote speakers that truly represent us in the high ed web community.


P.S. Mark Greenfield, you're welcome. I expect a cut of your fee. Email me - we'll talk.