Which way do we go ... first!

Next week is a big week for us. We need to nail down the plans for the first release of freshbrain.org - and in doing so, nail down the content that we will provide for the students and the marketing programs that we will pursue in letting them know that we exist!!

But before getting into that, just a quick mention of a couple of pre-launch programs that we plan to embark on. We would like to do a couple of things with these programs.

1. Start to spread the word about FreshBrain
2. Get some input from our target audience

We are looking at maybe two programs or contests. One would be around creating the best short video advertisement for FreshBrain. We would provide a bit of background on FreshBrain and then let them at it ... to show their creativity in explaining why it is cool, something students would want to do, all in short video form. How great would it be to see how they explain it. The results would at a minimum make our messaging. And maybe we will end up with videos that we will use directly:)

The other would be to create graphics that best communicate the areas of technology that the students can explore with FreshBrain. Some examples of these include gaming, video, graphics and website creation. We have been struggling with the best way to communicate these as graphics that we place on the website. I bet that the students that participate in this contest will come up with some great ideas ...

In both cases, the winners will get prizes. And we will get registrations from everyone who participates!!

So back on next week and the content that we will provide. There are a lot of choices to be made both in terms of how many different technology areas we start with and the depth within each of these areas. The site will provide students with areas of technology that they might be interested in. I mentioned a few of these above - gaming, video, graphics, website creation.

Then within each of these, we will look to break them down further. Using gaming as an example, there are wireless games (for a cell phone for example), games for your PC, game console games, etc. Each of these then will likely require different technologies, tutorials, training, samples and so on.

So we have to decide how many we can support and how deep we go with each. And since we will not be the content creators for these technologies, we will need to find partners that have the required content, get it from them and include it in a form that is easy for students to use.

And while doing this, we will need to put in place the project and activity structures so that we support the students completing projects and activities in the technology areas that interest them ...

Lots to do. Very exciting. Feel free to leave comments!!