A Life Lived in Fear is a Life Half Lived

smiltenb — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:37:54 -0500

I am attending EduWeb 2007 this week. This is a conference focused on web technology in Higher Ed -- with a slight tilt toward marketing and recruitment.

At the heart of our MICA Connected strategy we are trying to bridge the gap between marketing/communications/public web experience and systems/services/private content. Many of the discussions and presentations at EduWeb offer great examples of how broad the web experience can (should?) be. In his keynote address, Bob Johnson said "message control is dead" -- yet so many campuses are afraid of letting more people participate in shaping the college's web experience. So many people I've talked with this week really believe that the best ambassadors for our institutions are our students and faculty. We believe that our web presence would be richer, more exciting and a more true reflection of our campus experience if we tapped into the authentic resources of our own community.

Yet as we talk about blogs and wikis and podcasting, a shared sentiment seems is that many of us go home to our institutions and facing a culture of fear. Lots of Eduweb attendees seem to understand that in order for our campus web experiences to be dynamic and engaging we need to stop controlling the message. The opportunities are so exciting: iTunesU as a way to reach alumni, giving current students an opportunity to share their true experience at MICA (because they have so much pride in their college!), using podcasts to support our learning management system and marketing videos on youtube...

We need a new life for our web presence and it should be vibrant and rich and not a life that is half lived because we fear a loss of control.

"Message control is obsolete. Marketing control is futile. The citizen marketers are here."

Jackie Huba, co-author Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message

EDUCAUSE | Change Management and Organizational Culture

A Life Lived in Fear is a Life Half Lived