I’ve decided to try and write a meaningful post every week day during the month of August. From the comments on my post yesterday it sounds like it would be an interesting test. As people mentioned to me, the only way for it to work is to write things that go beyond the “mailing it in” posts … instead focusing on a particular theme and trying hard to make each post have some depth.

So, to get this kicked off the right way, I’ll add a few rules that I will attempt to stick to during the One Post a Day effort for the month of August … I am writing this mostly so I have some parameters to follow, but I am also interested in seeing if anyone else feels like trying to create with me for a month. It could be interesting to see what would happen if a bunch of us tried to follow some basic rules and publish meaningful content for a month. I would think if we could grab a few other people in this, the aggregated content could be really interesting. At any rate, here are my “new rules” for the One Post a Day project:

• I’ll post every week day during the month of August. I am giving myself the weekends to think about other things.
• Posts have to be meaningful to count. I’m not going to simply point at an external site and say “this is cool.” I’ll try to find things that could be of value to the community.
• Sticking to a theme seems like a good idea. From a few the comments it seems important to have a focus and I think I know what I want to focus on … I’ll work to expose interesting results from both our and national statistics that have emerged in the last year. I’ll draw upon data we’ve been collecting and attempt to add a layer of context to it that explains where we are going and why.
• Trying to create conversation will be a big part of the effort. I’d like to share stuff that gets people anxious, angry, excited, and interested in talking back.
• Having fun and writing are really what it is all about. If I’m not having fun, I’m done. That doesn’t mean I am dropping out if it gets hard, but it means that if I am having a good time exploring ideas then it is a waste of time.
• There are no invitations required to join in. If you want to write along with me, let’s come with a shared tag and I’ll aggregate stuff together on a public page shared via Google Reader. I you want to come along, establish your own theme, and torment yourself with me then leave a comment and share an idea for a shared tag.

That’s it. I hope I can follow my own guidelines and make this go.