Blog Above Cayuga’s Waters

General Information

When VP Tommy Bruce first arrived on campus, he expressed a keen interest in “telling the Cornell story” and likened our campus and community to a mosaic. This theme echoes through the pages of cornell.edu, though many pieces of the story are lacking. There are nearly 14,000 undergraduate students enrolled at Cornell, each one a piece of that mosaic–each with a story to tell.

The student voice is largely missing from Cornell’s web site and, in this project, we have a golden opportunity to bring it to the forefront.

Project Goals

• Draw attention to Cornell in the “blogosphere” and bring us up to par with our peers in academia
• Supplement the work of Undergraduate Admissions and Campus Relations by sharing information about life at Cornell with potential students and their parents.
• Continue to tell the Cornell story in an authentic manner.

Expectations

• Because these blogs will be highly visible, it is important that they are maintained regularly. You will be expected to post at least two entries per week during the academic year (yes, even during prelims and study week and finals). During breaks, you will be expected to post one entry per week.
• And, because these blogs are highly visible, you will be expected to be intelligent about both the approach to and the crafting of your posts with regard to subject matter, language, and tone.
• Once you have a blog, you will be expected to maintain it throughout the academic year (07-08). At the end of the year, you may choose to continue with the project, or decide to drop out.
• You will not be expected to reply to every comment that your posts might receive, but you will need to monitor them for SPAM and delete as necessary. If you choose to respond to comments, you should do so in a courteous and professional manner.
• You will be expected to attend one orientation session before you begin blogging. In addition, there may be semi-regular meetings for bloggers that you would also need to attend.

We welcome your feedback (both positive and negative) about the project.