Paul,
Sounds like there could be a great match. Gregory, our team's main contact
with b&n, is currently in NYC with them talking about upcoming course ideas,
etc. He'll be out all week, but he or someone from the curriculum team will
be in contact soon.
Thanks,
Kathy
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Terry Walhus [mailto:
paul_walhus@notharvard.com]
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2000 10:16 AM
To:
teach@notharvard.com;
terry@spring.net;
terry@austen.com
Cc:
gregory_kallenberg@notharvard.com;
judy_bitterli@notharvard.com;
regan_brown@notharvard.com;
jan_davidson@notharvard.com;
stacie_herrington@notharvard.com;
kurt_huffman@notharvard.com;
claire_huie@notharvard.com;
shannon_ingram@notharvard.com;
kathy_kitayama@notharvard.com;
katie_kratzig@notharvard.com;
shelly_lance@notharvard.com;
shelly_leuzinger@notharvard.com;
john_ratliff@notharvard.com;
eric_roach@notharvard.com;
tim_ziegler@notharvard.com
Subject: Austen University - a Content & Course Suggestion
I am currently working as a system administrator contractor at
notharvard.com, working on building the Solaris platform for the next
generation of
notHarvard.com servers. But I have also spent the last ten
years developing several successful websites (
austen.com,
spring.net,
firth.com etc.) that have become heavily populated virtual communities.
I have an idea for a series of courses based on a popular website I own
called
http://www.austen.com. It is the main Internet portal for the works
(books, movie adaptations, television adaptations) of Jane Austen. It
receives several hundred thousand hits a month, as does it's sister site
where Jane Austen discussion forums are held at
http://www.spring.net.
The website has a fervent following, to say the least. Donations and
contributions sometimes are several thousand dollars a month, and the
membership is growing rapidly. I get about 40,000 unique individuals a
month visiting both
spring.net and
austen.com, comprised of a highly
literate, well educated audience who are into studying the works of Jane
Austen and doing literary adaptations of these works. The "Derbyshire
Writers Guild" is a unique educational area where anyone can put up a story
based on the writings of Jane Austen.
See
http://www.austen.com/derby/contrib.htm for the Derbyshire Writers
Guild.
I would like to meet with someone at
notharvard.com about the potential for
writing a series of courses on the works of Jane Austen as part of
BarnesandNobleUniversity.com or some other
notHarvard.com venue. I could
enlist the support of this loyal
austen.com community in putting these
courses together and would draw participants from the community. The
educommerce potential, I believe, would be enormous considering that this is
a well established and highly literature, book buying virtual community.
I also feel like the
spring.net community as a whole could develop other
course opportunities that would be supported by the conferencing structure I
have developed at
spring.net.
Will you please help me to evalute the potential merits of developing Jane
Austen courses that would be coupled with online discussion forums and see
if this has potential merit as an offering of
notHarvard.com?
Thanks,
Paul Terry Walhus
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Paul Walhus
http://www.notharvard.com
paul_walhus@notharvard.com 512-682-3321
221 W 6th 11th floor Austin, TX 78701
alternate email:
terry@spring.net
cellphone: 512-699-4000 (also text pager)
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