Blog gives EMU folks a place for candid talk
The Internet revolution has quickly changed media as we know it, with Web logs, or blogs, offering users a fast - and usually free - way to communicate. A local blog, EMUtalk.org, has drawn the attention of community members and conventional media alike because of events over the past year at Eastern Michigan University, including a faculty strike in the fall and the murder of student Laura Dickinson in December.
Q. Why did you start EMUtalk.org?
A. I see it as something completely different from my teaching and from my work. ... It's not affiliated with EMU. It's people talking about EMU.
So (the blog) started in September ... of 2006. It started right around the (faculty union) strike. One reason I started it was because there was sort of a desire or need for a space where people could talk about some of this stuff in a more open forum than what's either in (newspapers) or what's in EMU's official publications.
Q. How would you describe the average EMUtalk.org user and the site's traffic?
A. I think the main audience is people who work at EMU or are associated with EMU ... When it began ... it was stuff about the strike, but I think it's changed over the last 11 months because we've had a lot of other news. The Dickinson murder, Fallon being fired. I still think it's mostly faculty and some students, mostly people who are involved in EMU.
There's been a lot more (traffic) since the Dickinson scandal .... The thing that's interesting about all these kind of spaces is the way that search engines figure into where people find their (information) .... If you go to Google and type in "EMU strike,'' my Web site was one of the first ones that came up. The same is mostly the case with the Dickinson murder and the Fallon issues.
Just as an example, when the Dickinson case first broke ... there were about (2,200) page views a day. When Fallon got fired, there were about (6,600) page views a day.
Q. How does the Internet's underlying factor of anonymity affect the site?
A. To be an original poster ... those folks need to register with me and I need to give them an account. I think there's about 20 (registered posters).
When it comes to commenting though, anybody can post a comment. ... On the one hand, I think it's important to allow for people to post anonymously, because there are people who feel like they have something to say, but they can't say it without remaining anonymous ... and I respect that.
But on the other hand, the problem is that sometimes people use the protection of anonymity to say anything. And that's a real problem.
In other words, if someone's posting anonymously, I think readers need to look at those kinds of posts and say, "Are they posting anonymously because they really need to be protected in some way ... or are they posting anonymously so they can essentially say whatever they want without any repercussions at all?''
I think (there are) flamers, people who carry vendettas, people who speculate on things in a way that is not as responsible as it would be in a newspaper. That's another thing, EMUtalk is not a news source. ... EMUtalk is more a conversation between people. ... Anyone who paints it as a news source is doing themselves a disservice.
Q. Have you had any feedback from the EMU administration about the site?
A. The main thing I've heard is some very informal things from some people in the administration saying that this is a good thing.
Q. What do you see for the blog's future?
A. I'm going to pay (the blog service fee) certainly for next year, there's no doubt about that. I'm looking forward to a place where the blog is not about the strike or murder on campus.
I'm looking forward to it being a place where it's more about day-to-day things at EMU. Which would of course decrease the audience because not as many people are interested in day-to-day things at EMU, but at the same time it would be good for people who are talking about those things.
I'd like to see more student involvement. The most active posters and commentators are faculty. And I suppose that's because faculty tend to be ... the most willing to talk about things.
I'd like to see some more staff people involved, I'd like to see some more administrators involved, in terms of posting and commenting and things like that. ...
As kind of the bigger picture, I hope it bonds people at EMU to realize that it's probably a good idea to create spaces for people to exchange ideas freely and openly. It's better to do that than the opposite, to rely on information that's kind of beamed down from (official channels).
Reporter Amanda Hamon can be reached at 734-994-6852 or ahamon@annarbornews.com.