Blogging lunch at the U.

I took some time today to swing by the U. of Minnesota to check out a session on UThink, the U. of MN’s campus-wide blogging project. I posted about UThink recently. Shane Nackerud gave his presentation called “UThink: Blogs at the University of Minnesota Libraries” and it was quite interesting.

UThink was unveiled in April, 2004 and is now the largest academic blogging site in North America with 1,270 blogs, 18,650 posts, and 2,250 individual users. The idea was born in 2003 and Shane published a white paper on the topic that got the ball rolling that September. He talked a bit the hurdles that he had to overcome to get UThink approved. A few University officials and faculty were opposed to the idea initially, expressing concerns about the image of the U. among other things. But in the end, the enthusiasm for the project among the librarians who proposed it overcame the opposition.

The project proposal included a few goals:

• Promote intellectual freedom
• Build communities of interest
• Enhance the traditional academic enterprise
• Retain the cultural memory of the institution
• Change perceptions about the library

At the end of the presentation Shane showed some blogs representing the various types of blogging being done on the system. They have individual blogs, course blogs, and department blogs. Here’s a selection:

• EGAD — Astronomy grad student studying in Israel and writing a lot about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast — Another grad student writing about her dissertation
• Save The General College — An issue blog dedicated to saving the U.’s General College
• Random Thoughts – by Joe — An undergraduate blogging about everday things
• Viking Underground — A fan blog by an adjunct professor in the Pharmacy Dept.
• be silent, my dear — A photoblog.

Interesting session.