How easily can you move your data someplace else if you need to? ALL of these systems can be made to support moving your data elsewhere. If that is not being given to you as an option, it is because the service provider is choosing not to - not for technical reasons, but for business reasons. If you still choose to do your work on their system, you need to be open to the possibility that your work will become inaccessible to you because the provider changes their terms.
Ease of use only really matters if you can actually *use* the system. It doesn't matter if the system was perfect or not; any time you work with a service over which you have no control, you run the real possibility of losing access to the fruits of your labor.
If you want to advocate for anything from Ning, I would recommend advocating that they support a full export of your communities in an open format. Unless their data architecture is a total mess, this would not be difficult.
Sorry that this is hitting people at an inconvenient time, and for those of you who have put significant time and resources into Ning-based communities, I encourage you to see that the strength is in your community, not the tool that it currently runs on.
Cheers,
Bill
----- Original Message ----
From: Tom & Christina <cttj@comcast.net>
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Fri, April 16, 2010 9:34:26 AM
Subject: Re: Ning no longer free
Sorry, the URL didn't make it - here for the Alternatives to Ning Doc
https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1OR38ADYxjiSjMGn5M2q_nnerR98jd5unoqvOdRHK8GE&hl=en#
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom & Christina
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: Ning no longer free
A great outline of resources/Ning alternatives etc. is being collected online:
Google Doc "Alternatives to Ning"
Christina DiMicelli
Technology Integration Specialist
Hampstead Academy
Hampstead, NH
dimicelli@hampsteadacademy.org
603-329-4406
----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce Lemieux
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 11:24 AM
Subject: Re: Ning no longer free
I am curious as to what other tools schools are migrating to if they have
been using Ning. We have some faculty using Ning networks in class and
have used it in professional development here at my school. We really
liked the ease of use of Ning, the ability to add embedded content was
particularly nice allowing video, Prezi, Slideshare and other presentation
tools to be incorporated. What migration options have folks found? Any
ideas?
Sincerely:
Bruce Lemieux
Director of Technology
Cushing Academy
39 School Street
Ashburnham MA 01430
blemieux@cushing.org
Phone: 978-827-7075
A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> writes:
>Just an FYI
>
>One month after long-time Ning CEO Gina Bianchini was replaced by COO
>Jason Rosenthal , the company is making some major changes: It has just
>announced that it is killing off its free product, forcing existing free
>networks to either make the change to premium accounts or migrate their
>networks elsewhere. Rosenthal has also just announced that the company
>has cut nearly 70 people - over 40% of its staff. Here's the email
>Rosenthal just sent out to the company:
>
>http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/15/nings-bubble-bursts-no-more-free-networks-cuts-40-of-staff/#comment-1030783
>
>So the question is, do you pay for a premium account or use a different
>tool.
>
>
>Garry Clum Jr
>Network Manager
>
>St. Paul Academy and Summit School
>1712 Randolph Avenue
>St. Paul, MN 55105
>651-696-1497
>gclum@spa.edu
>www.spa.edu
>
> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
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