I’ve become obsessed. A few weeks ago, when I was scanning college sites for news of budget cuts and tuition hikes, I stumbled on a press release for a university somewhere in the English-speaking world. But I couldn’t discern where. The university was never called by its full and formal name; there was no location mentioned or explicit contact information; there were no links to the rest of the university’s site. The press release, which I’d found through Google, was a public relations black hole. Curious, I emailed the contact person, asking the name and location of the institution. She answered. But for some reason, a light bulb did not go off in her head.
That started it. Since then I’ve Googled and read scores of university press releases on budget and tuition matters. I’ve been to the publics, the Ivies, the public Ivies. I’ve cruised the small private liberal arts colleges. The results have been edifying.
I can say with some certainty that most educational institutions do news on the web badly. Many do not do news at all during the summer—a problem if you’re concerned about student recruitment. A few do news very well. For instance, I’m frequently impressed with the capacity of Hamilton College (1,750 students) to fill its lively news site 12 months a year.
Others have neat features. University California-Berkeley has a number of interactive options-features that engage both external and internal audiences. The University of Kansas often flanks its news stories with audio files, links to related stories, links to background information, and even callouts identifying the home towns of students mentioned in the press release-all of which serve media well. I also like University of Michigan’s handling of the budget issues: linked from the home page, it’s a multi-dimensional, dedicated subsite useful to media, legislators, voters, parents, and the university community. (Its only weakness seems to be its self-contained design, which creates a lack of connection to the university site.)
Any other standouts? I’m taking nominations …
Voltaire Santos Miran EVP, Web Strategy I've developed and implemented communication strategies in education for more than 20 years now. I think my team at mStoner is the smartest, funniest, and coolest group of colleagues ever, and I can't imagine being anywhere else. Except Barcelona. Or Paris. Or Istanbul. To quote Isak Dinesen, "the cure for everything is salt ... tears, sweat, and the sea."