Here is a snippet of a conversation I had recently about why I use Radio over Manila:
"I use both Radio and Manila, but my primary weblog activity is in Radio. I've got Radio installed on my machine in the office and I've enabled remote access (one of the preferences in Radio--Craig Burton has a great tutorial on setting this up). That way I can use Radio from anywhere using the username and password I specify in the prefs. I also use a tool created by Mike Krus of Newsisfree.com called RadioExpress! that installs as a javascript "bookmarklet" in the favorites bar of the machines I use at work and at home. This allows me, when I am on a page I find interesting/significant, to select some text and click the RadioExpress! link, which takes the text I've selected from the page and places it in a preformatted entry in Radio, ready for me to add my comments. When I submit, it takes me back to the page I was working on. It has become a fundamental part of my daily workflow, and I couldn't do it if Radio restricted me to a one-machine publishing model.

The primary reason I use Radio over Manila is the capability of multiple-category posting. The fact that each category can be served up as an HTML page (even to a different server via FTP) or an RSS feed is wonderful, but I am most excited about the potential of the tool. I want to be able to designate a category that sends the content of my post to an email address. It could be an individual or a distribution list of some sort. Once I figure out this capability, my weblog tool becomes a much more robust part of my communication interface. Manila allows categorization via "departments", but only one at a time. Many of my uses for my weblogs demand the data be routed to multiple destinations. I'm hoping Manila inherits this capability from Radio soon... "

Dale Pike maybe describes my dream setting. The problem is you need to have one of your machines constantly connected to the internet... and this is were the model doesn't work for me and loads of other individuals who do not have a workstation in a large cooperation or a university. Nevertheless, Dale is right when he calls for multiple departments and distribution channels within Manila. I still don't understand why the good folks at Userland do not carry their good ideas from one application over to another. BTW... the same holds true the other way around. Wouldn't it be nice if I could use Radio to publish to a specific department of a particular Manila site? Sure, Dave Winer once played with a bridge tool but never carried the idea any further. When will we get some "real" interconnectivity between these two publishing tools?

[Seblogging News]

In a recent post Pat Delaney wrote: "...through Admin, initially making them MEs. Then on another workstation nearby, I logged on to the site as each of them, created a story, and then in Admin created a hierarchy path with that student's first name and last initial in the url. Voila - Student Page. After they were all enrolled, I went to Editorial and "demoted" them all to Contrib Editor status. They could then edit their story, but no one else's."

I think one can save some time doing this in another way . You need to enable the metaData plugin (if available on your server) and create a news metaData type called "member". This metaData type is one of the build-in Manila types and holds the email of the orinator of a message. Now, if you create a new story your own email will appear in the "member" field and becomes editable. You can manually change the entry, thus shifting the status of originator from you to another person. You don't even have to promote a site member to contributing editor status. The page will have an edit-this-page button for the person whose email you filled in the "member" field.

This leaves you still with the extra work of creating paths for the student pages. Unfortunately Manila doesn't offer this in one single step if you create a new story page. Why this is the case I have never understood in the first place. I don't understand how Pat wants to do this via Admin. The two ways that I am aware of are the following: either you go via Discuss, or you write code under "site structure" on the Prefs/Advanced page. The second option is probably your choice if you want to created dedicated paths for a larger number of students. [Seblogging News]

The notion of a "disruptive technology" is interesting, I think. What exactly is being disrupted? The normal course of things? The status quo, meaning, here, one delivery node and many users?

As Long says, "The desire to communicate is powerful and technological innovations are frequently driven by our basic needs." A basic need of bloggers, I believe, is NOT to be hindered by the natural course of technology's methodology, even process. Blogging enables users--from every facet --to design content in the manner they like--or is it need to?

What's also very interesting, is Long's assertion that some tools, such as Userland's Software, are beginning to call themselves Knowledge Management tools. For us in education, this challenges terrain usually held by Blackboard and WebCT.
What do weblogs offer that these other tools do not? [Seblogging News]