Today’s Chronicle of Higher Ed reviews[registration required] how blogs, text messages, and other technologies helped to galvanize resistance to Gallaudet University’s controversial presidential appointee, Jane Fernandez. The article reports,
Blogging, text messaging, and instant messaging have been enthusiastically adopted by many deaf students, who started using the technologies before they became ubiquitous elsewhere. Nearly every Gallaudet student owns a digital device—like a Blackberry or a Sidekick, a beefed-up cellphone—making it possible to send text and e‑mail messages at a moment’s notice.
Indeed, they sound pretty typical of college students and teens. Not to mention young alumni.I’ve been reviewing some interesting blog entries lately in preparation for a workshop at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. I’ve been looking at blogs that have been responsible for crystallizing resistance to campus events, policies, or leaders.
Then there was the group blog at Alfred State College started by institutional insiders that helped to surface criticism of Alfred’s president, who eventually resigned. Coverage from Inside Higher Ed here.
And finally, if you want yet another good example of how blogs can keep attention focused on a controversy, Google “dartmouth + alumni + election + controversy” and read some of the results.
Michael Stoner Co-Founder and Co-Owner Was I born a skeptic or did I become one as I watched the hypestorm gather during the dotcom years, recede, and congeal once more as we come to terms with our online, social, mobile world? Whatever. I'm not much interested in cutting edge but what actually works for real people in the real world. Does that make me a bad person?