How I make a living

  • No one pays me to write Fortnightly Mailing or to say particular things in it.
  •  
  • I combine independent consulting with part-time employment as Chief Executive of the Association for Learning Technology. My clients are listed on my business web site.
  •  
  • Since June 2006, if I write about a current or past client (other than completely in passing), I've made a point of disclosing this. Previously I was a bit hit and miss about such disclosure.
  •  
  • Sometimes I find myself writing more guardedly than would be the case if I did not depend on these roles to make a living. I cannot see a way round this.

Suggestions from readers

  • Subscribers to Fortnightly Mailing sometimes send me things which they think may be of interest to readers, and I actively encourage this. Whether I include what they have sent me depends on things like how pushed for space or time I am, and whether what they send fits my current preoccupations. Normally I mention them by name if I use what they send me, unless they have asked me not to do this, in which case I will always honour confidentiality.

Things I find on the Web

  • If I find something on the Web via the contents of someone else's web log I try always to credit the original author.

Guest Contributions

  • Since March 2006 I have tried to include one (and at the most two) Guest Contributions in Fortnightly Mailing. I actively solicit these from readers whom I think may have interesting or useful things to say; and I will cross the bridge of finding myself disagreeing strongly with what a Guest Contributor writes if and when this happens. Currently I restrict my editing of Guest Contributions to punctuation, insertion of hyperlinks and such like. Occasionally I make comments on a draft which sometimes has an impact on the final wording of the Guest Contribution. If you have a proposal for a Guest Contribution, get in touch with me.

Comments

  • I welcome comments from readers, but I have not yet worked out the best way to deal with them! Sometimes I may edit a commented upon entry to take account of the comment, rather than publish the comment. Sometimes I may encourage a commenter to improve the quality or clarity of their comment before I publish it. Sometimes I publish a comment and then respond immediately to that comment if I think it is misleading, or if I disagree strongly with it. Occasionally I have drawn someone else's attention to a comment, and encouraged them to respond, if I think that that person is better qualified than I am to respond. If and when commenting degenerates into a "tennis match" I prevent this.

Corrections