There were more institutions and softwares mentioned than I have shared. Why? If I, rightly or wrongly, had the impression that in-early-development was more the flavor than "we're using it, it works for the average user" I left the institution or software off the list. (This is a weblog entry, however, and I was, no doubt, less consistent in this attitude than I could/should have been {;o} !!)
While we're at it let's moderate any unbridled enthusiasm for the institutional momentum chronicled here and elsewhere. As excited as I am about the possibilities of weblogging as a part of effective and collaborative learning, I am leery of the consequences of rapid deployment for the sake of invention and institutional fund-raising (not the same as a deep, collective conviction amongst the majority of those who will have to live with all of the consequences of the innovation). In this vein, James Farmer also wrote another entry in which to worry about this phenom here. He was thoughtfully supported by a number of others. His entry is well worth your reading and thinking time. Let me here add my vote for caution; it's a mistake to give full reign to the charge led by early adopters and fund-raisers; I'm old enough to have helped "lead the charge" (aka dragging the many behind the cart of the enthusiastic few) more than once. The results of precipitous development aren't always pretty, even for the developers!!
| University Weblogging Systems | ||
|---|---|---|
| Country | Description | Comments |
| Case Western University | US | Jeremy Smith of Case Western (see below) gives a 3.5/5.0 |
| Stanford | US | Campus-Wide Weblogging
Collaboration is essential to the Stanford University mission. After starting with one installation to meet a specific need in IT, the university now offers a campus-wide license of Movable Type to support the multi-disciplinary teamwork of faculty, staff, and students.
Approach
A member of the IT staff who'd been using weblogs for a while set up Movable Type as an ad-hoc bug-tracking system, allowing his team to submit bugs, make notes, and stay current with development project status.
The department evaluated various backend tools for communication with an eye to campus-wide deployment. Movable Type was selected. Results Movable Type is designed to facilitate communication. For instance,at Stanford, science departments are able to work with engineering departments to realize innovative ideas and bring new projects to completion. And now anyone at Stanford can better foster highly collaborative teaching, learning, and research. [Statement above is from Moveable Type site] |
| Yale | US | |
| Harvard | US | Open to anyone with a Harvard email address. Hosted at Harvard Law School. Dave Winer, one of the pioneers of weblogging, instrumental in setting up Harvard system and philosophy. Donna Wentworth is coeditor. 765 weblogs (onsite and off) hosted on Userland Manila server. |
| Northern Michigan University | US | Looks as if there's a clearance/recruitment process. Implying a wish for control signifying much for all institutional moves in this direction. |
| University of Minnesota | US | Assigned a 4/5 by Case Western rater (which has its own blogging system which the rater, http://blog.case.edu/jms18">Jeremy Smith gave a 3.5 |
| Reed Journals | US | Run independently and is, at this point, used by a small fraction of student, administrator and faculty population (186 accounts on 7/14) |
| University of South Florida | US | --- |
| Bryn Mawr | US | (for use with language classes, 67 users on 7/15) |
| Penn State | US | experimental system |
| Rice University | US | Official launch 2/24/05 |
| Virginia Commonwealth University | US | (not rated; not clear from online links how much weblogging is a central feature of WSS services at VCU or of student or faculty participation in the university) |
| Dartmouth | US | |
| MIT | US | Rated by Smith at a 3.5 out of 5 |
| University of Calgary | Canada | Appears to have been up 20 weeks or so; wiki available and navigable/editable by all. Powered by Drupal. (See this page to read D'Arcy Norman's comparison of multuser weblog systems.) |
| Weblogs@UBC (University of British Columbia) | Canada | |
| University of PEI (Prince Edward Island) | Canada | |
| University of Warwick | Great Britain | (rated a 5 out of 5 by J Smith of Case) Some advantages: single sign-on system, a blog directory, a "planet" site, as well as a roster of blogs for courses, faculty divisions and services plus "tons" of documentation, FAQ's, tours, a glossary and etc. Plus all setting up of blogs has be automated through something called Blogbuilder . |
Software:
As for software to run a multiuser weblog system, see James Farmer's entry on Incsub his weblog. He and his commentors give considerable detail. His initial list includes* **:
*Click on the software name to get James' summary points about each. **Click here to link to commenter responses to James' detailed entry.Manila, Drupal. See, also, this this presentation on Drupal as a nonproprietary Drupal to forward teaching, writing collaboration and general engagement in higher ed (Samantha Blackmon, David Blakesley, Charlie Lowe, TLT Conference, Feb 2005) , Moveable Type, Tikiwiki, WordPress Multi User, pLog, LiveJournal.org, Roller, and Blosxom (The Blosxom inspired Blosjom (a java application) can also be configured for a multiuser environment. It now comes bundled with OS X (Tiger) version (more here from Tom Hoffman).
