Cornell blogs make the front page (of the student newspaper)
It was bound to happen eventually, really. Cornell's pilot "student blogging project" was front and center in the Cornell Daily Sun, though there wasn't much to compete with. I wish I could link the article on the web, but it's not up yet. I will provide a link as soon as it is up.
Some excerpts from the article; some because they highlight how bad Sun staffers write, and some because they are interesting:
- "First it was Xanga and Livejournal. Then company blogs joined the parade. Now, Cornell is also embracing the Internet phenomenon…" — Would the writer who knows nothing about blogging please find a better opener for her article? Blogging was started by independent writers who published their own articles on their own websites without any automated content management systems. That's right; they did it all by hand. After that you had some soon-to-be-big names who managed to just scratch the surface of challenging established media while running on nice blogging software (some which were predecessors to Wordpress). Then people started making big money out of blogging, and the notion of blogging for dollars became real. Then company blogs got involved. Xanga and Livejournal? Has anyone ever taken those seriously?
- "'Cornell started classes on Thursday, and I must say, no matter how old you are, there is still something special about the first day of school,' wrote Jennifer Lin '09 in 'Jennifer's Blog: the sophomore year surf'" — Sorry Jen, I'm 21 and I can tell you you're wrong. The magic died sometime last semester.
- "Topics range from moving day to add/drop: 'It's an unpleasant necessity and an experience every Cornellian goes through'" — Enthralling. This one must be from "Captain Obvious does Cornell."
- "The Students must post at least two entries a week. For their work, they receive $50 in gift cards a month…" — $6.25 an entry? Less if you write more? Why not just pay in peanuts?
- "Cornell is one of the first Ivies to host a university-wide student blog in a fashion similar to schools like Colgate, Clarkson and Rider." — Yes, higher education continues to trail far behind the real world.
- "…[some in] senior administration harbored some reservations about using a new, relatively uncensored medium." — Translation: Some suits were totally opposed to the idea of giving students a voice. Sarcastic add-on: They were also concerned about allowing students to speak, since speech also tends to be an uncensored medium, but they were stuck on how to circumvent that first amendment thing. Serious point: Maybe the administration would have less to worry about if they stopped making so many students unhappy.
- "Partly to assuage the administration's concerns and partly to meet a tight deadline, she recruited from students who already had experience speaking for Cornell - campus tour guides, Cornell Tradition members and Undergraduate Admissions employees. From the 30 to 40 students who applied, she selected five tour guides and one Cornell Tradition student to become the student voices for Cornell." — Hold up. Break the list. This is important.
I realize now why I never received an invitation to apply for this project (you had to be invited, as you can see). I am not in any one of those 3 categories. I heard about the project via my fianceé who is a Cornell Tradition member, but she was never able to figure out why she was invited and I was not. I really wish I had known, because I applied for nothing. Obviously Cornell wasn't looking for a broad perspective; they were looking for students who are already mouthpieces for Cornell.
This editorial from the Daily Sun sums it all up nicely. If you don't want to read it, at least read this quote: "… in trying to maintain a positive face for the student body, they’ve chosen a group that does not truly represent the breadth of that body."
They don't even represent the graduate students at all, and it dissappoints me that Cornell's graduate body (which makes up almost one third of their entire student body) is always being overlooked.
But nevermind that, moving on…
- "[One blogger] said that these blogs offer prospective students something different from a regular campus tour." — Well, it can't be that different, if they are (almost) all written by tour guides!
- "[The bloggers] represent four colleges" — Cornell has 7 undergraduate schools and 5 graduate schools. Representation is a little wanting, and Engineering is not represented. But honestly, screw Engineering. Those kids are all nerds anyway.
- "'I can't define the line [that students mustn't cross in their blogging], but I'll know it when I see it' [said the project coordinator]" — Translation: We'll all know how far the students can go when one of these bloggers is packing their bags.
But enough criticism… the coordinator for this project is doing a good thing, and I think her group has potential. Even if their blogs don't bring anything particularly useful to the table, the project in itself is a revolutionary concept for Cornell, and has the potential to actually become revolutionary. Did that make any sense? It does to me.
Now I could go ahead and point you to these blogs, but you'll know where to find them if Cornell is doing their job right. What I should mention is that I'm feeling this "unofficial Cornell blogger" thing now, and I came across a couple others today:
- Bungee Jump by Minerva, Cornell '10
- Wasting Forty Grand by Zack, Cornell '10
Both of these blogs are stellar, and I don't usually say that about any blogs, ever. Even more, they offer a genuine look at what Cornell is really like, which is more than tour guides have accomplished. Both of these blogs are members of College Blogs Network, one of those ideas I wish I had thought of. Then again, I like doing my own thing, and I can't think of a better way to end a very long blog entry than by plugging my own UNOFFICIAL CORNELL BLOG. Enjoy.
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You know, I was going to say something in defense of these student bloggers, but then I read this:
http://web.cornell.edu/studentblogs/caroline/?p=7
Actually, though, the writing on these six blogs is good. So far, rather boring, but it is true to their experiences here. Once they cut the junk about what it "means" to be a Cornellian, the writing should get more interesting. Being a tour guide says very little about your other interests. It's true that selecting only tour guides is unfair to the "real" Cornell student bloggers, but you shouldn't blame [the coordinator] for taking precautions for what is undoubtedly (from the administration's perspective) a risky endeavour.
I agree completely with you, in principle, but I actually think that they've selected a good set of bloggers. Minerva and Zack are superior because they've had a lot of experience, but I bet that the six selected students will become more interesting once they no longer feel like "representatives" (if that ever happens……).
C, I haven't seen a good post from you in a while, but this was pretty excellent. Thanks!
I'd been sitting around waiting for a comprehensive sort of reaction to the blogs to develop before I wrote on them again (I picked up on their existence fairly late in the game) but it looks like aforesaid rection came quicker than I had expected, hadn't been keeping close tabs on the situation. Looked into the Cornell Engineering-specific blogs the other day (sometimes hard to find!) and was disappointed with those; came back to your critique here from cblogs. I'm all about the unofficial–big reader of Elliotback-hosted Cornellblog also. This is a great rundown of the blogs, even if it does flog them a little bit. As I always say–and try to stress to some of my institutional readers–authenticity is more important for good PR than "good" spun PR is.
This is probably your best post ever. Amen. And those two unofficial blogs (especially wasting 40K) are great too. Long live the unofficial! Like overheardatcornell.com
Did you get the message I sent you yesterday via your contact form about the Cornell Blogging Program?
Thanks for the comments guys.
Karine: Yes, and I'll be responding soon.
Hi Christian,
Yes, we are a PR tool. We are tour guides, not journalists. Still, you'll notice that none of us are really saying "yay Cornell!" and talking about how amazing it is to be a student here. Do prospective students sitting in their bedrooms in Long Island really want my insight on events or policies that we care deeply about as Cornell students? Probably not. We are trying to give an authentic view of day-to-day university life; attacking our writing styles or the content of our blogs is not necessary. I'm curious as to what you would write about if you had been chosen as a blogger.
Actually Jenna, I was allowed to be an advisor to your project, but realized you are all good bloggers and don't need my help. But I really shouldn't have to share that with you.
Keep doing what you do; my issue is not with you, but rather the Cornell administration who are stifling the true potential of this project.
Hey, Jenna. I said this to one of your fellow bloggers, I'll say it again here. I'm a prospective student, and guess what: I do care if you have insight to offer on events or policies (@ CORNELL) that you care deeply about. I'd probably value that insight more if you weren't a tour guide, but that's a bias you could grow out of. I'd still love to hear your insight if you had any, though. also: If you want an idea about what he might have written about, try looking at the cornell blog he actually has? : )
kramtark: Of course they are a good set of bloggers; they're Cornell students. They might be a little new to the "culture" of blogging (did I just say that?), but they definitely have potential, and it most certainly is not their fault that Cornell was so careful about selecting students.
ZSometimes humans are unpredictable, that really is surprising…
Georgia Tech's College of Computing gives some students blogs (blogs.cc.gatech.edu).. but they aren't anything special. They all use Kubrick (egh) and the student's aren't paid (to the best of my knowledge).
if you're going to talk about annoying things at cornell, perhaps you can extend your frustrations from the administration to the sun in this case:
http://overheardatcornell.blogspot.com/2006/08/stolen.html