Monday, November 5, 2007
Social Networking Site for LSU Alums
Last week at the Campus Communicators meeting I heard about LSU's plans to launch a university social networking site. It will at first be open only to alums, but Public Affairs hopes eventually to open it to current students as well. Once that level of participation is available, whether we get MacArthur funding or not, we might want to explore the site as a forum for discussions between our Distinguished Communicator candidates and our graduates from the program. As the number of DComm graduates grows, I think we'll have many of those alums willing to share their "real-world" communication experiences--I heard from another of our Spring DComm students today about his success giving a presentation for his supervisor and boss.
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We definitely should do this--OR make a link from the general one for alums to a special DComm Blog that we build (once we know how to make on visually interesting). I've asked Tiffany to set up a web page to get things rolling for graduates. Kim's post is also of interest. We should post links to some of the things mentioned in the story.
Here I go being negative again but. . .
I don't see how this is any different than setting up a Facebook page. It's already annoying to belong to Facebook, myspace, Yuwie, Linked, Xanga, LiveJournal. . .what can a LSU-only networking site offer? What will keep it from being another form of propaganda? "Join and tell us how wonderful we are, how wonderful your experiences were here, and don't forget to donate."
Knowing how LSU likes to control its media, I would be extremely hesitant to join something created by the university because I suspect "free exchange of ideas" is not on the menu. Have you read the Reveille recently?
What would it take to keep a site from being another form of propaganda? Very interesting question. Simple answer: A critical understanding of media on the part of the participants.
I think we have to ask who the agent is when we think about "the university" as a host. A website or a blog hosted by University Relations to promote alumni giving or media hosted by the Tiger Athletic Fund have fairly transparent purposes. They are "feel good" sites designed to promote the positive aspects of their products or services. They do not tell the whole story about LSU because that is not their purpose. They are also not all bad, taken for what they are. In fact, I'm pretty envious of some of the technology the TAF can afford.
When we understand that we are reading propaganda, that's one thing. When we don't, we are vulnerable. One of our jobs, I think, is to promote cultural critique and analyses of media. Another is to promote the free exchange of ideas in a civil, democratic society.
That said, could we (i.e., CxC) host a blog where DComm students could share their post-graduate experiences on the job or in grad school? Could we allow the "free exchange of ideas" and be the better for it? This blog, for example, is hosted by us on an outside server. It is only a mouthpiece for "the university" if we collectively want it to be. When we have a positive message to promote and deliver it intelligently and responsibly, I'm OK with being a mouthpiece. (Yikes! Can't believe I said that.) If we fail, I'm quite sure that we'll criticize ourselves before anyone else does (at least so far, because this is a fairly internal conversation).
Some of the blogs I see have posts that are written to promote extreme reactions, positive or negative, but others do seem to promote thoughtful discourse.
Our puposes would have to be clear, along with our choices about how to or whether to moderate the forum. For example, we'd have to think about the editorial policies we'd want to retain. Who would be allowed to post discussions? Would we allow anonymous responses to posts, for example? In general, I like it when people assume responsibility for their posts on a Web 2.0 site I'm imagining.
It's not exactly "social networking" I'm after. That might better belong in a general alumni social networking forum, though we already have that with the examples Jen gives. What we could explore is how to create a constructive, helpful exchange about what students need at LSU in order to be better prepared for work, graduate school, or communication in general after they graduate.
On appeals for support: I donote to many institutions and organizations that I believe in. I don't contribute to the ones that didn't earn or don't need my support. It takes money to deliver the things we need here at LSU, and we have one of the smallest endowments in the country. I'd be delighted if students felt they received something of value from us and wanted to give something back to the institution someday. Or, if they weren't sure about "the institution," then I hope they'd designate their support for a particular program, department, or college that earned their support.
Here I go being positive again...
I think it's important to understand what the goal of the networking site is. If used properly it could be very effective, especially when you are talking about LSU alumni, who are feircely loyal to purple and gold. This could be a great way to inspire more than just monetary donations to the university. It could create internships and mentorships and general professional networking. A university specific networking site really could offer something different than your standard social networking spaces. Again, I think we need to remember that these networking sites/blogs/wikis that are geared toward and administered professionally are different the same way our personal emails and our professional emails are different.
I agree, Colleen. As contributors with purposes other than simply "social" networking, we are exploring ways of using these platforms by ANOLOGY. Not simply how they are being used, but how they COULD be used. We need to get outside our immediate spheres and learn how they are being used in other environments (see Wikinomics, etc.). As a senior academic citizen, I find this very envigorating.
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