Blogs: The Many Voices of a University

Blogs The Many Voices of a University The Many Voices of a University

Back in the old days, we took the P.S.A.T’s then were overwhelmed by viewbooks and brochures.

We tried to discern the true nature of a school through guidebooks and word of mouth

Now, schools can provide more information on the Web

A plethora of facts are available
Online bulletins
Statistics
Majors
Research
Faculty Bios
Campus Tours
News & Events
Picture of happy students
History
Department Overviews
Student Organizations
etc.

Are facts, figures and photos enough?

Marketing a school is more like matchmaking than sales

How can we use the Web to convey the personality and essence of our schools? Share the voices of the people who make our campuses into communities.

University Web space gives voice to those who know HTML those who know HTML

Wiki pages are easier to create and edit but are less personal

Blogs offer easy entry to the online world

University sponsored blogs provide a place for individuals and departments to share thoughts and opinions.

Case Blogs are provided to alumni, faculty, staff and students for business or personal use. business or personal use. business or personal use.

Case blog system brings in over 100,000 visitors per month. Year Unique Visitors Visits Pages Viewed Dec 1, 2004 478 992 9403 Dec 1, 2005 33176 71069 349649 Dec 1, 2006 105237 203228 720122 Dec 1, 2007 135437 289649 1267117 May 1, 2008 145466 283948 1327243 Year # Blogs # Authors Total Entries 2006 1,080 1,460 10,800 2007 1,330 1,850 14,500 2008 1,475 2,060 16,850

Faculty Blogs Writing this blog has been of benefit to me personally. The sheer discipline that it forces on me to write daily has resulted in greater productivity. Last year I had five articles accepted for publication, three of which started out as extensive blog entries, which meant that I had done much of the research and writing and editing long before I considered submitting it to a journal. There is one thing about the blog that I have still not quite come to terms with, and that is the personal exposure. I am by nature a private person and initially saw myself only writing about abstract ideas in a coolly analytical way, without revealing much about myself. But it is hard to maintain that level of detachment when one is passionate about something. Although I do not dwell on the details of my personal life (which is very boring anyway), I have discovered what writers know, that you cannot help but reveal things about yourself whenever you write about anything you care about. You inevitably reveal your attitudes and values. -Mano Singham Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 13,053 26,774 52,314

Faculty Blogs - Steven A. Hauck, II Assistant Professor Planetary Geodynamics Things I am working on, reading, teaching, or just musing about...

Student Blogs

Student Blogs Blogging makes me a better consumer of information I’ll be honest: I can’t stand reading textbooks. As I’ve gotten older, I feel as if my ability to focus on a single sheet of paper or book has diminished, rather than strengthened. Blogging has helped reverse this trend as it’s critical that I monitor a variety of news sources daily in order to stay on top of industry and other news. My Google Reader feed, for instance, averages about 100 or more read items per day; that’s a lot of info to keep up with. Although I don’t feel as well-educated as I would if I were able to keep up with, say, some of the hard-hitting political blogs out there, I learn a lot more per day than I would without these inputs. Fortunately, the more you read, the better you write, and I feel as if my writing abilities have improved somewhat since beginning this project, at the very least within this specific medium. A few months ago, I wouldn’t be able to keep my thoughts straight within a 200-word article, but now, my focus is headed in the right direction. Andy DeSoto Senior, College of William & Mary http://www.andydesoto.com

Student Blogs

Self Censorship

Classroom Blogs Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed April 2006 595 1,416 3,920

Staff Blogs
Podcasts of legal research presentations

Staff Blogs
Words of Trishdom
Personal observations on life in general.
Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed June 2006 2,591 12,759 22,123

Staff Blogs
I have used this blog to advance my work as CIO to comment (sometimes at length ;-) on the importance of next generation broadband connectivity and advanced technologies as part of a critical strategy for American competitiveness and for support for the vital role of higher education in a wide range of public goods from basic science to educating critically reflective citizens.
- Lev Gonick
Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 1,903 5,822 15,414

Alumni Blogs
If Blog@Case were accessible by alumni...
More people would use Blog@Case. This means that Case gets more attention - rarely a bad thing.
Alumni bloggers would have Case as part of their daily lives. The more alumni are involved, the less likely they are to forget who gave them a degree and the more likely they are to give $$$.
Alumni and active members of the university would have a similar medium in which to interact. The transformational impact of the university extends past graduation.
Case would be a pioneer in this area of IT. We are already making waves by actually deploying a campus-wide blog system. We could make tidalwaves by granting access to alumni.
- Greg Szorc (written in 2005...alumni such as Greg now have blog access.)
Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 4,523 7,819 17,967

Alumni Blogs I am an alumnus of the Class of 2000 from Case Western Reserve University. I currently live and work in New Jersey, but I do make an occasional visit back to campus. The views expressed in this blog are my personal ones, but I do hope that visitors will consider my viewpoint in making the right choice. - James Chang Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 19,274 24,908 43,391

Department Blogs

Department Blogs Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 1,106 2,966 6,636 Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 7,238 15,920 35,263

Department Blogs Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 48 68 193 June 2008 8,791 18,889 45,973

Department Blogs Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed August 2008 48 68 193 June 2008 8,791 18,889 45,973

Off-campus blogs This blog is an ongoing exploration of issues related to copyright and fair use in our contemporary digital culture. The blog began and continued through April 2008 as a class project in Peter Friedman’s Legal Analysis & Writing classes at Case Western Reserve University of Law during the spring 2008 semester. The students wrote cross-motions for summary judgment in a fictional lawsuit brought by the owners of the copyright to "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)." In the course of the students' work in researching and writing their summary judgment briefs, the professor and the students posted items here that raise and explore the legal and policy implications implicit in and related to the infringement claim and Defendants' fair use defense.

Off-campus blogs

Blogs as platform for online publications Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 3,460 9,788 18,796 Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 26,428 56,082 513,895

RSS Feeds Repurpose Content

RSS Feeds repurpose content to, and from, multiple sites

RSS Feeds Allow Subscriptions Making it Easy for Visitors to Return Making it Easy for Visitors to Return

RSS Feeds Make Podcasting Easy

Social Media: current readers encourage new readers StumbleUpon top external referring site 8.5% traffic for 2008

Campus blog systems offer certain advantages certain advantages

Directories and aggregators create a relationship among the different blogs. Month Unique Visitors # of Visits Pages viewed May 2008 145,466 283,948 1,327,243

Subject tags let visitors explore how different blogs explore common topics.

1 Tag - “Podcasts”, 3 different blogs

The many voices of Case Tag cloud from Case Blogs

Heidi A. Cool http://blog.case.edu/webdev/ cool@case.edu

Blogs: The Many Voices of a University

by Heidi Cool on Jul 26, 2008

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