Sifting the Tea Leaves: Outreach Using the Read/Write Web CASE/NAIS Philadelphia, 2007 http://openacademic.org

Before We Get Started This presentation available at: http://openacademic.org/news/?p=21 Links to resources at the end of the presentation http://openacademic.org

What Are We Talking About? http://openacademic.org

A Cautionary Tale -- May 18, 2006 Ouch! However… http://www.sptimesphotos.com/blogs/classroom/ “... I will just say this ... the lies, distortions and mean spiritedness of some - was not worth my time or worthy of this district …” -- May 18, 2006 Ouch! However… http://openacademic.org

How open do you want to be? The Comment Quandary How open do you want to be? 1. Balance between participation (that spurs buy in) and control over content (guarantees clean content, but takes the “Write” out of read/write web) 2. A shift can occur based on the location on the post – for example, no comments could be allowed on the school web site page, but there can be an internal site with required membership where comments are allowed – different levels of control can be exercised in different contexts http://openacademic.org

Managing Your Buzz http://openacademic.org

Getting the Message Out The Mother Ship You  Them Them  You You = Them http://openacademic.org

The Mother Ship Your online presence Central area for information Your content Your domain Your look/feel Starting point And, ideally, the ending point http://openacademic.org

Delivering Content What gadgets are people using? A web page (aka old school) iTunes (podcasts and videocasts) RSS feeds RSS to email Email to text message How often do you check email? Do you check email on a Blackberry/Phone/Mobile Device? Do you use text messaging? Do you own an iPod? Do you listen to podcasts? What gadgets are people using? http://openacademic.org

You  Them Blogs, Podcasts, Videocasts Can be set up with limited ability to comment All content created by school staff Unfamiliar terrain? Get a guide. If you are setting up a presence within MySpace/Facebook/Social Network de jour, connect with an alum/student who is already active in the community. This allows you to work with them, and not have to reinvent the wheel – it also can soften the landing – these groups run on connections http://openacademic.org

Them  You Sites maintained by the school specifically for community members These sites generally require people to give you contact information – for example: Register for events Alumni Directory/Job Connection Please, not another FaceBook! http://openacademic.org

You = Them Community participation in the online presence Invite Alumni/Students to create content Broader involvement brings more content of interest, which brings more involvement Commenting/dialogue essential at this level No canned communities allowed http://openacademic.org

Enough Talking Let’s Build It! http://openacademic.org

The Mother Ship Who do people want to hear from? Who has something to say? Newsletters/Photos/Podcasts/Video What events are better for what medium? Judiciously shared content What can you give them that they can’t get anywhere else? At fundraising events – a treasure hunt via text; auctions with winners announced via text http://openacademic.org

Build a Pretty Frankenstein Phased rollout Gadget friendly content One page with links to all content Use what you need, when you need it A sloppy/poorly conceived online presence is worse than nothing at all http://openacademic.org

Expectations Management Each school is different Technology changes rapidly Faster than we can keep up Don’t sweat it Flexibility is essential You will learn more details about your community; apply that knowledge effectively http://openacademic.org

Implementation and Goals No matter how good it is, someone’s gonna hate it. Incremental gains A more informed member is a more connected member Can’t identify with the school if they have forgotten about it More likely to give time/treasure/talent to a known quantity http://openacademic.org

Closing Thoughts These tools have the potential to make the school a more regular presence in the lives of community members. Fight the hype: evolutionary rather than revolutionary Whatever. It’s different. The best infrastructure in the world is no substitute for a living institutional mission http://openacademic.org

Questions/Discussion http://openacademic.org

Resources – Web 2.0 Info Web 2.0 The classic definition When the lawyers get involved Graphic on slide 2 created with tagcrowd http://openacademic.org

Resources – Pod and Video Podcasting and Videocasting http://www.hipcast.com/ http://www.videoegg.com http://www.gabcast.com http://www.odeo.com http://feedburner.com http://openacademic.org

Resources – Content Reshuffle Content delivery Automate creation of podcast feeds (depending on your blogging software, this may not be necessary) http://feedburner.com Distribute content in different formats http://xfruits.com/ Distribute through iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/...faq.html http://openacademic.org

Resources – Email to SMS Email to SMS Gateway http://www.smseverywhere.com/ As this changes frequently, a google search can help track developments http://openacademic.org

Resources -- Open Source Tools Blogging Platforms/Community Building Drupal Worpress Wordpress Multi-User Mambo Joomla! Gallery (photo sharing) http://openacademic.org

About this presentation This presentation is released under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial License. Prepared by Bill Fitzgerald at OpenAcademic http://openacademic.org Email: bill@openacademic.com http://openacademic.org