HighEdWeb

After being away from this blog from some time – geez, almost 2 weeks, that’s what work can do to you sometimes – I’m back with a new edition of my “Catch-up Date with Karine” series.

Unless, you were leaving on an unconnected deserted island last week, you’ve probably heard about all the great things happening at the HighEdWeb conference in Springfield, MO last week.

Whether you could attend or not the conference, you should check out the following links pointing to the presentation slides made available by the HighEdWeb organizers:

Marketing, PR, etc.

• E-Cards: Using a Thoughful Tool to Communicate with Current and Future Students (PPT file) by Thomas Marrone (Southeast Missouri State University)
• A Day in the (Online) Life of a Humble News Release (PPT file) by Lori Packer (University of Rochester)
• Get a Clue: Shift Happens (PPT file) by Gordy Pace (The University of Montana)
• Feeding the Hand that Feeds You: Supporting Enrollment Efforts (PPT file) by Rob Liesland (Xavier University)
• Authenticity 101: Redefining College Marketing (PDF file) by Jeff Kalay (Target X)

Cool Web Thingies

• Web Accessibility: How Higher Education is Responding to the Need (PPT file) by Terry Thompson (University of Washington)
• Creating a College Web Style Guide: Principles, Processes, and Prototypes (ZIP file) by Jesse Racine (McHenry County College)
• Colors on the Web: Few Things, Great Results (Website) by Martha Carrer Cruz Gabriel (University Anhembi Morumbi)
• The Accessible Video Interface (ZIP file) by Gabriel McGovern (Portland Community College)
• Card Sorting: Research That Every Web Developer Should Use (PPT file) by Douglas Tschopp (Augustana College)
• Search Engine Optimization 2008: Beyond META Tags (PPT file) by Brian Smith (University at Albany)
• New Initiatives in Web Standards Education (PDF file) by Chris Mills (Opera Software ASA)
• Hello, Is Anyone Out There? Using Web Analytics to Understand Your Audience by Kyle James (Wofford College)
• View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: #heweb08 heweb08)

Projects (CMS, Redesign, etc.)

• Blogger + Jott = Crisis Communications (PPT file) by Paula Ganyard (University of Wisconsin – Green Bay)
• It Isn’t About the Feature Set: Selecting a Web Content Management System that Works for You (ZIP file) by Anthony Dunn (CSU, Chico)
• Our Pilot Adventure with Luminis IV Leading the Way (PPT file) by Sripriya Giridharan (Seton Hall University)
• Using Our Web CMS to Produce Academic Catalogs (PPT file) by Anne Macdonald (Suffolk University)
• Web Services for Web Services (PPT file) by Kevin Bischof (Xavier University)
• Designing a New User-Centric College Public Website: Lessons Learned (PPT file) by George Sackett (St. Louis Community College)
• Bedework Calendar Implementation Details (PDF file) by Cornelia Ann Bailey (University of Chicago)
• University-Wide Web CMS Implementation – Failure, Then Success (QuickTime Movie file) by James Buratti (Texas State University)
• Academic Alert System (PPT file) by Carla Bates (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
• Bold Fusion: Blending Our Marketing & IT Teams (PDF file) by Lee Staton (Indiana University Southeast)
• Migra(tio)n Headaches? (ZIP file) by Keith Slayden (Ithaca College)
• Wiki + Shared Drive + DocMgmt = Our Intranet (PDF file) by May Chang (University of Maryland)
• Getting Started with WordPress (Website) by Stephanie Leary (Texas A&M University Writing Center)
• A (pod) cast of hundreds (PPT file) by Steve Hodges (IUPUI)
• Webcasting (PPT file) by Joel Doepker (Ozarks Technical Community College)
• CRM Patterns, Puzzles & Prose: Bridging the gap for internal audiences (PPT file) by Paul Redfern (Gettysburg College)
• Identity Management: How and Why (PPT file) by Kirk M. Anne (SUNY Geneseo)
• CMS Success at Princeton University (ZIP file) by John Wagner (Princeton University)
• Vlogging Student Life Events (not as dirty as it sounds) (ZIP file) by Todd Sanders (UW-Green Bay)

Techies’ Corner

• Higher Ed on Rails (ZIP file) by Sven Aas (Mount Holyoke College)
• Cross-Site Scripting: What is it, and how can you protect your site from becoming a victim? (PPT file) by Paul Gilzow (University of Missouri)
• Why Microformats? (ZIP file) by Daniel M. Frommelt (University of Wisconsin – Platteville)
• Avoiding the JavaScript:void(‘’): Building Web Apps That Work Anywhere and Everywhere (PPT file) by Jason Pitoniak (Rochester Institute of Technology)
• Adding Interactive Content to Your Website Using JQuery (ZIP file) by Jaclyn Whitehorn (The University of Alabama)
• HTTP 201 – Or, What Happens When Your User-Agent Isn’t A Browser? (ZIP file) by Jason Woodward (Cornell University)
• Agile Web Development (PPT file) by C. Daniel Chase (University of Colorado)
• Test-driven Development for Web Applications (ZIP file) by Brett Bieber (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
• Driving a Hybrid: The Basics of Adobe AIR (ZIP file) by Christina Dulude (Duke University)

There was also some live blogging (and twittering) going on at the conference. Karlyn Morissette compiled most of the posts on the eduguru blog.

HighEdWeb 2008 will take place on October 5-8 in Springfield MO.

Whether or not you plan to go to Springfield next month, I’m sure you’ll be interested to read the Conference’s Program Chair Doug Tschopp’s perspective on this big event in the higher ed Web world.

1) This year’s theme is “Infinite Solutions.” What’s behind this catchy phrase?

The conference is always about solutions, or at least seeking solutions. Since this is a conference run by higher-ed web developers, with content from higher-ed web developers for higher-ed web developers… this conference is always about sharing our solutions with our colleagues.

So why “Infinite Solutions”? Come on, you have to have the original Stars Wars opening scroll in your head when you read it… and there always seems to be something new to learn, that infinite set of knowledge that we all seek.

2) This year, the conference has changed location. What has been the impact of this change on the level of registration up until now? Next year, will it stay in Springfield or move to another location again?

The new location is awesome by the way. Excellent conference facility on a university campus… a nice Midwest college town with more than one micro brewery… exactly what our attendees will appreciate.

Registration is strong. We are very close to capacity and will close registration on September 23rd or earlier if we get just a handful more people to register.

Right now the plan is to move the conference every year. Returning to good locations periodically. We are currently reviewing proposals for 2009 and hope to announce that location at the conference. We also are looking to 2010 already and would be happy to talk to anyone interested in hosting it at or close to their school.

3) Can you tell us a bit more about this year’s program? If somebody can only attend a few presentations or workshops, what should they be and why?

Wow, a tough question. We had about 120 proposals for the 50 spots in the main tracks, so I anticipate an excellent program. The program committee had to turn away some excellent proposals because the overall quality was so good. Many top rated presenters from previous years are back and there are topics for all attendees… propeller hats to non-techies.

Overall – The poster session is always one of my favorites and I only wish it could be longer… I guarantee you can learn more in that one hour than any other hour at the conference.

Workshops – If wasn’t presenting an early workshop, I would do the Graphics Optimization session. My personal post workshop pick is Advanced Photoshop because I need it.

Main Tracks – I can’t pick because every hour I have 2 or 3 favorites. The big thing here is to stay for Wednesday morning and get the chance to see at least two of the best rated presentations in the repeat sessions.

Karine’s note: Are you going to HighEdWeb 2008, in your opinion which presentations look the most interesting? Post your take in a comment!

Here’s the third edition of this series “Catch up-Date with Karine” aiming at fighting the information overload. Please let me know if you find it useful by leaving a comment or sending an email at karine@collegewebeditor.com.

Looking for some YouTube Love? Why not suggest to your community members to take part in YouTube’s first journalism contest in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, Project: Report?

This 3-round contest is open to non-professional aspiring journalists to tell stories not covered by traditional media. The first assignment is to profile a community member in 3 minutes or less. The video must be submitted by midnight EST on Sunday October 5.

Don’t know how to (or if you should) use Twitter? Check out Wayne State University’s Twitter Initiative

A few days ago, I wrote about Colgate’s Twitter initiative, but I’ve also read about another interesting one.

Wayne State University has been doing something really smart with Twitter, using it to monitor the conversations about the institution first, then trying to get in touch with interested Twitterers interested and finally addressing their questions. Read Nick DeNardis’ blog post about how they did it.

And speaking about Twitter, CNN has just launched a show based on instant feedback via Twitter and has been using the microblogging application more and more to interact with its viewers in its other shows.

Last thing about Twitter, if you haven’t read “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy,” an article written by Clive Thompson and published in the NYT Magazine on September 5, take the time to do it. Very, very interesting piece.

Do you have a Web Style Guide? Take this short online survey!

Jesse Racine, Web Content Specialist at McHenry County College, is collecting information on the status of web style guides in higher education for a presentation he will give at HighEdWeb 2008.

Want to help? Take this 10-question survey.

Cloud computing might be in your institution’s future and is already in 69% of Americans’ life

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released a new research memo about the use of cloud computing technologies.

69% of online Americans use webmail services, store data online, or use software programs such as word processing applications whose functionality is located on the web.

• 51% of internet users who have done a cloud computing activity say a major reason
  they do this is that it is easy and convenient.
• 41% of cloud users say a major reason they use these applications is that they like
  being able to access their data from whatever computer they are using.
• 39% cite the ease of sharing information as a major reason they use applications in
  cyberspace or store data there.

This 9-page report including some background information about cloud computing is available as a free PDF file.

Looking from some benchmarking data on the technologies used by institutions on their homepages?

Matt Pasiewicz, Manager of Web Development at EDUCAUSE has been busy working on a tech pet project of his own as he explained in a blog post published this Saturday:

Ever wonder if any other universities are using jquery or or scriptaculous? Ever wanted to get a feel for how many universities mention blogs or podcasts on their home page? Ever wanted easy access to the home pages of 1,831 universities[i.e. the institution members of EDUCAUSE]? I’ve been working on a pet project and wanted to share what I’ve worked up this far.

This little application searches the source code of these homepages for “word strings” (or regular expressions for you, inner geeks), a good way to find the type of technologies used by these institutions.

Here’s an example with a search on “blog:”

Higher Ed Web Reference

And here’s something the writers, editors and marketing folks will like, a snapshot by Wordle of the words used on these homepages.

Tag Cloud of University Home Pages | EDUCAUSE CONNECT

Some of you might know it already, but I’ve been maintaining the calendar of higher ed conferences and events for a few months now. It’s a Google calendar that I update on a regular basis.

A quick glance at the rest of 2008 on this calendar has revealed many interesting events, so I thought I would highlight in this quick post some of these great opportunities for professional development.

• September 24 – online
  “Beyond YouTube: how to host and promote your online videos on the Web,” 1 hour webinar presented by Mike Richwalsky. ($120 – Register by September 15 at www.higheredexperts.com/beyondyoutube)
• September 24-27 in Atlanta, GA
  CASE Institute for Senior Communications & Marketing Pros ($760 for CASE members and $1,060 for nonmembers – Register ASAP online, by mail, fax or phone)
• October 5-8 in Springfield, MO
  HighEdWeb Conference ($600 – Register ASAP online)
• October 21-23 – online
  “PR School 2.0: How to survive and thrive in the new online world of Public Relations and Communications,” 3-webinar series presented by Matt Herzberger (Texas A&M), Andrew Careaga (Missouri S&T) and Geoffrey Mock (Duke University) ($300 – Register by October 13 at www.higheredexperts.com/prschool20)
• November 5-8 in Petersburg, FL
  Stamats Integrated Marketing Conference ($499 – Register online)
• November 11-13 – online
  “Social Networks MBA: How to develop and nurture a thriving community online,” 3-webinar series presented by Mark Greenfield (UB), Mike Caulfield (MIT OpenCourseWare) and Adam Stahr (UNL) ($300 – Register by November 3 at www.higheredexperts.com/socialnetworksmba)
• November 16-19 in Chicago, IL
  AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education ($528 for members, $793 for non-members. Register online)
  BTW, I’ve been invited to present my “Blogging Boot Camp” workshop on November 16. So, if you’re going, we’ll get a chance to meet.
• December 2-3 – online
  “Email Marketing 360,” 2-webinar series presented by Karlyn Morissette (Dartmouth) and Carmella Manges (St Edward’s University) ($240 – Register by November 17 at www.higheredexperts.com/emailmarketing360)

I don’t know about you, but there is so much going on lately that it’s really difficult to keep track of everything. So, here’s a quick update of what you need to keep in mind if you’re thinking about attending a conference or another professional development event.

• Portal 2008 at Gettysburg College, PA – June 3-6, 2008
  The conference that will tell you all you ever wanted to know about portals and for a conference fee of just $100 (well, with this kind of topic, it’s not surprising that vendors are rushing to pick up most of the tab ;-)
  The conference program is available online and you can also register on the Web as well. Moreover, if you’re willing to guest blog the conference for this blog, you can even get your conference registration for free. Anybody out there interested in saving $100? Email me at karine@collegewebeditor.com.
• EduComm 2008 in Las Vegas, NV – June 18-20 2008
  This conference is organized by University Business. The conference program is available online and the early-bird pricing of $495 is available until this Friday – May 9.
• EduWeb in Atlantic City, NJ – July 21-23, 2008
  Regular readers know that I’ll be presenting at this one (but you’ll have to stay up to the end to listen to my closing keynote speech “It’s the Community, Stupid… 7-Step Plan to Raise and Nurture any Community Online” – note to self, remember to have this presentation available as a recording ;-). Mark Greenfield from the University at Buffalo will kick off the conference with a keynote titled “It’s the End of the Web as We Know It Redux.”
  You can find the conference program online and register on the Web as well. The early-bird price of $495 is available until June 1st.
• HighEdWeb 2008 in Springfield, MO – October 5-8, 2008
  While it’s too early to register for this conference – registration will open June 1st, 2008. There are just ten days left to submit a presentation proposal. The deadline is May 15 and you can submit your proposal on the Web.

No travel budget this year? Don’t worry, I’ll soon announce a few webinar series I’ve been working on for Higher Ed Experts. And, if you want to stay updated about interesting events, just check out the Higher Ed Event Calendar on a regular basis.

Today, they even sent “Matthew” an invitation for the 2008 HighEdWeb Conference.

Problem is I don’t have a brother and haven’t planned (or ever thought about it for that matter) any gender-changing surgery.

Lori from the conference committee gave the explanation in a blog post posted yesterday:

Due to a mail merge snafu with our conference mailing lists, some folks received a “Save the Date” postcard this week that appeared to be addressed to an unknown sibling or spouse.

While I saw Lori’s post yesterday, I got “my” invitation in the mail today (yeah, I leave in a far far away corner of the world) just a couple of hours after reading the following excerpt in a very interesting article, ‘Dead-tree Medium’ No Longer: For Many Marketers, Print Outperforms Digital published yesterday in Knowledge @ Wharton:

According to Wharton marketing professor Eric Bradlow, print offers marketers a clear advantage over digital media, such as email. “Many people see email as impersonal and costless to write,” he says. “People want to feel special. In marketing [terms], email is transactional; paper is relational.”

Calling me “Matthew” sure makes me feel… very special.

I’ve just found out that the newly redesigned website – a design signed Jim Welch, an Admissions Counselor for Missouri State University – of the HighEdWeb conference is now live:

This design was the winning entry of the contest launched to replace the old coffee mug theme.

That’s definitely a BIG change, don’t you think?

So, go check out the new website. You’ll also see that the call for proposal is open.

Here’s a quick reminder for you: the deadline of the design contest for the HighEdWeb Conference is approaching very, very fast.

You can submit your competition entry for the logo and the website of this great conference to be held in Springfield, MO in October until this Monday at noon (ET? CT? PT?).

Want to learn more about the competition and the prize (fame and cash), just read my previous post about the topic.

The winner of the competition will be announced on February 19, 2008.

If you a regular reader, you already know that the 2008 edition of the HighEdWeb conference will take place at Missouri State University in Springfield (MO) on October 5-8.

However, what you might not know yet is that you’ll soon get a chance to (re)design the conference website.

Back in October, I emailed the conference committee with a couple of suggestions for next year including the following one:

You might be able to create even more interest in the conference website months before the event by integrating the blog into it and giving it a “new “user-generated” design. Since the community has so many web designers, why not create a contest for a new design? That would get conversations going about the conference and keep it in the mind of potential presenters/attendees before the program is even announced.

I don’t know if I was the only one to make the suggestion, but Sara Clark and Jeremy Trumble, HighEdWeb 2008 Conference Co-Chairs have decided to put the old coffee-mug design back into the kitchen closet. They will tap into the incredible talent of the community to redesign the conference website by organizing the HighEdWeb Design Competition:

Here’s an opportunity to showcase your talents. The HighEdWeb 2008 Conference web site needs your attention. We are looking for an individual or team to help design the site.

Details about the competition will be published in December. I’ll keep everybody posted.