Case in Point: Building Community at UW-Madison

How can we use content to develop a true sense of community—both online and off—among our audiences? Whether it’s through a revamped newsletter or new ways of using social channels, University of Wisconsin-Madison social media and internal communications manager John Lucas has made it work. Through his work on innovative projects like #UWRightNow, a 24-hour crowdsourced snapshot of life on campus, the Bucky Challenge, a social media scavenger … [Read more...]

Happy Days for Content at HighEdWeb 2012

Another HighEdWeb conference is in the books. This year’s event, hosted in beautiful Milwaukee, Wisc., featured cheese curds, beer, the Bronze Fonz, bratwursts—and of course, tons of incredible insights into making our university’s online experiences awesome. As for content, there were two compelling themes that ran through the various sessions, and I’m going to get to my recap faster than you can say “Laverne and Shirley. Creating a … [Read more...]

Making Content Strategy Work with Student Staff (Part Two)

Yesterday, we began discussing how our content strategy efforts can be made more effective by smartly applying student workers to the cause. As Texas A&M’s Amy Grace Wells explained, the challenge is in getting the students to see past individual assignments and embrace the larger strategy at work. With the right training, context and support in place, Wells has made it happen. Today, we bring you the student perspective. Laura Lorenz is a … [Read more...]

Making Content Strategy Work with Student Staff (Part One)

Content strategy in higher ed can be a gnarly, complex pursuit, and more often than not, we may feel we don’t have the staff to adequately take on the challenge. This is where student workers can prove invaluable. But how can we apply the time and talent of students—some of whom may only be with us for a semester, or only for a few hours a week—toward content strategy work, which is inherently long-range, in-depth and holistic? We talked to … [Read more...]

Content Strategy: The Case for Collaboration

During our webinar last week, Georgy and I talked about content strategy as change management—how content strategy can provide a framework for making positive changes with your organization. While discussing the current unchanging landscape in higher ed, one issue that topped the list was collaboration. Really? We're Still Talking About Silos?   This week, a colleague said in a moment of exasperation, "When will we stop talking … [Read more...]