Blogging on Campus
Eden Stiffman
Posted: 10.02.2009 / 9:56 PM PDT
An article in today’s New York Times discusses how college campuses, in particular M.I.T., are using student bloggers as a marketing tool to attract prospective students who may be tired of the official messages produced in a school’s communications office and more interested in hearing directly from students about what they are thinking and doing.
There are certainly risks with schools attaching themselves to blogs that may contain sloppy writing or negative observations of the institution, but I think that this is a great way for students to connect with the educational communities that they are a part of. The University of Michigan does have a page that links to student blogs in connection to the Office of Undergraduate admissions, however, it is not accessible from the umich.edu homepage, and therefor, few people are aware it exists. The blogs are rarely updated and are not likely to draw much interest to the U-M campus.
There are countless blogs in the Ann Arbor area produced by students, but many are only viewed by a select audience (the friends and family of the blogger for instance). I think that these blogs deserve more attention from the University because they are a vital part of modern student expression. A database for student blogs, where the links for different pages could be shared, would be an excellent addition to the umich.edu homepage. A list of blogs produced by people around the Ann Arbor community already exists here .
I would hope that if provided with such a venue, campus bloggers could connect in a way similar to the way the Patchwork Nation blogs are all accessible from one central site. This sort of connection, possibly facilitated by the University, would open people’s ideas to the lives and ideas of Ann Arbor’s young adults (as well as increase blog readership!).
