Bad Girls Write Good Blogs
Disclaimer: If the account below were real, it would undoubtedly be so over-dramatized by yours truly that no specific factual details could be gleaned from it. In other words, the story told is not what actually happened, but a made-for-TV version of it.
So, it goes like this: a university goes on a bleeding edge, hosts unmoderated, full-open blogs for a handful of their students, feeding straight to the university home page. The blogs become instant success and by far the most popular part of the site.
Second year into the adventure, one of the bloggers starts pushing the envelope with edgier content. Her blog gets noticed, even linked from a major sports network site. Posts are sharp, fun, and closely personal. Popularity is rising.
The blogger keeps inching to the edge, eventually going over (can I call this a “rageboy syndrome”?): a person in Admissions office turns on their computer in the morning and reads in horror a fun-filled, but wildly inapropriate (not for a university official site, that is) story, featured prominently on the front of the university’s online face. Orders are yelled, buttons are pushed, post rolled back, everybody’s pissed. Ouch.
Sounds familiar? No? Let’s pretend it is a fictional tale of caution. But what should we be cautioned of? That we shouldn’t let bad girls blog? That people only want read really edgy stuff? That blogs are bad? That young people are not fit to shape the brand of the university?
The reason why I ask these questions is because I don’t have ready answers. Or maybe I do, but I don’t know if they are the right ones. Talk to me.
on November 28, 2006 on 12:33 pm
The caution, I think, is to think about what role the college homepage plays in the college’s conception of itself, before opening it up beyond the “professionals.”
We generally wouldn’t let students create the college catalog cover (or table of contents) on the fly, not just because it’s not feasible, but because it’s not appropriate. We internally — and most of our audiences — give the home page in particular that same level of authority.
on November 28, 2006 on 1:49 pm
I’d be happy to re-write that University’s homepage. Oh yeah! And yes, you can definitely call it RageBoy syndrome. Yours for Girls Gone Wild!
on November 29, 2006 on 2:00 pm
My rebel side says – if it’s reality, then there should be no fear. Embrace it.
But in all honesty, this is an issue with content, not with technology, or youth, or rebellion. A true story – a faculty member used his “faculty page” as a portal to many non-politically correct Web sites (even offensive Web sites). He called it a “teaching opportunity” for his students, but it was linked from pages within the .edu (and cross-linked by news sources). Bad for the University.
That University’s solution should be the same for this institution. The problem to be fixed is with the writer. Make her understand what the purpose of the blog is and where to draw the line. There are plenty of blog services for her to explore her wild side – away from University attachment.
on December 29, 2006 on 10:49 am
It’s a great story. Lessons learned include: unremitting truth and image management are incompatible; lots of institutions run by people my age (old) still rely heavily on image management; and that may change, slowly, as my gen is succeeded by folks who grew up natively with transparency. Hmm, or not.
When I was in college, I was publisher of one of the larger student newspapers in the US. All sorts of fuss over our “First Amendment” right to publish what we wanted, even if school disagreed. We won … then .. but now? What’s “news”? Regards -JC