Thu 15 Sep 2005
For readers interested in blogs and Web site design, I just published a short report comparing how the top 30 colleges/universities (per U.S. News) responded to Katrina on their Web sites.
This is not about the offline behavior — for example, which college is taking in the most students — but rather how they altered their Web sites to disseminate information about student aid, fundraising, alumni status, etc.
Dartmouth, Duke, and MIT did the best job at making it easy for their various constituents (students, alumni, staff) to share information, via well-designed mini-sites as well as blogs and message boards. At the other end of the spectrum, Grinnell and Harvey Mudd have made no reference to Katrina on their Web sites whatsoever — something I find hard to believe, given the national angst and the fact that they must have had some students and alumni impacted by the destruction.
Another oddity is CalTech. Over Labor Day weekend, it had a notice up about Katrina. But rather than pointing to fundraising efforts or notifying people of classmate/alumni whereabouts, it just noted that mail delivery in the Gulf area would be delayed.
Although not mentioned specifically in the report, Williams sits on the border between Best and Standard Practices.
September 16th, 2005 at 6:04 pm
One exceptional element of the Williams response to Katrina is the wonderful Amherst-Williams cooperation in time of tragedy. This came through clearly in the Presidents’ letters on both the Williams and Amherst sites. Bravo to Presidents Marx and Schapiro!
September 18th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
I agree. The report dealt with Web design, not with the actual decisions.
As I was up in Williamstown at an Alumni Fund Vice Chairs Meeting, I heard Morty talk about this over the weekend. It was clear from his remarks and demeanor that he and President Marx were of a single mind on this one. (He did note, however, despite easy cooperation in this case, that Williams was going to continue beating Amherst on the playing field every chance it got).
September 20th, 2005 at 8:13 pm
Hey, beating Amherst on the playing field is what we do! :-)