Weblog University

Riky, from Indonesia, has completed his first semester at Northern Kentucky University and looks forward to a well-deserved holiday break. Neema, from New Jersey, cheers on the "Ruts" football team in between studying for mid-term examinations at Rutgers University. Heather, from Columbus, Ohio, reflects on what Thanksgiving means to her while lamenting the cold, damp weather at Capital University.

Today`s weblog (or "blog," as coined by Peter Merholz in 1999) has come a long way since it was first introduced in the mid-1990s as a form of an internet diary and/or opinion podium. From news media, to corporations, to political pundits, today`s blogger continues to embrace the technology he or she hopes will attract a wider, more global audience.

Colleges and universities all over the world have now begun to implement student weblogs for a myriad of reasons. Take, for instance, Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and its "Games for the Web: Ethnography of Massively Multiplayer On-line Games." This is a "Live Journal" blog created for students of this particular class to showcase their writing and ideas generated as a result of enrolling in this course. Louisiana Technical University publishes student blogs as part of its admissions` website. These types of blogs use internet technology to recruit prospective students by peaking their curiosity enough to schedule campus visits and apply to the respective universities. Unlike other blogs and websites such as "Facebook" and "My Space," university-student blogs are "family-friendly" internet postings where current students from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences reflect on and share their experiences as college students.

The United States is not the only country that has caught on to this relatively new trend. In the United Kingdom, the "The Attic," which is hosted by Google`s "Blogger" website, is a virtual meeting place for doctoral (PhD) students who are pursuing their degrees at the University of Leicaster in conjunction with its Department of Museum Studies.

In addition to college and university weblogs, other student-oriented blogs have appeared on the internet. These range in topic from Jewish students` perspectives, to London students` personal musings, all of which focus on commonly-shared daily experiences of young adults pursuing post-secondary school degrees.

What with millions of weblogs hosted on the World Wide Web, it has become apparent that today`s weblogs have evolved from serving mainly as diary entries and opinion pieces. According to Olga Kharif, a writer for Business Week`s "The Tech Beat" website, the nature of blogs is changing with the help of technology known as "tagging," technology that operates with the help of "Technorati.com." Tags are used to generate search results for a particular topic. Let`s say you`re interested in studying at The Ohio State University. You perform an internet search on "Technorati.com," and you will soon find news stories, photographs and blogs tagged with the words "The Ohio State University."

Today`s weblogging capabilities will help colleges and universities attract potential students to campuses far and wide at a relatively inexpensive cost. In a competitive environment such as university recruitment, this technology will no doubt help increase future applications and enrollment in today’s competitive market.

By: Jane Bratton



About the Author:
Jane M. Bratton is a freelance writer who has been published in "34th Parallel" magzine and "The Cincinnati Enquirer. She wrote this article for Indocquent.com, an online resource where businesses and individuals can promote their products and services for sale and hire in over 20,000 cities, throughout 200 countries around the world.

Ms. Bratton will have a story published in the book "A Cup of Comfort" sometime in 2008.