Accessibility.umn.edu

In case you hadn't heard, a new online accessibility resource has been created by the U's Computer Accommodations Program--a partnership of Disability Services and the Office of Information Technology.

The site has been designed with the goal of sustaining and improving access and services to students, faculty, staff, and visitors--including those with disabilities. It's all about making the U-wide-web available to the widest possible audience -- including users of old, adaptive, alternate, or emerging technologies.

The site content includes the following seven categories, each represented by an icon used to identify category membership:

Documents -- includes information on accessibility barriers, best practices, and how to create accessible Microsoft Word, PDF, and Microsoft Excel documents.

Presentation -- includes information on accessibility barriers, best practices, and how to create accessible PowerPoint, Adobe Presenter, Apple Keynote and S5 online presentations.

Multimedia -- includes information on captioning, accessibility barriers, best practices, and how to create accessible Flash, QuickTime, Camtasia and Podcast media.

Learning Technologies at the U -- includes information on accessibility barriers and best practices for Moodle, Google Apps, MyU Portal, UMConnect Meeting, Clickers, UThink, and Wimba Voice Tools.

Web Content -- includes information on making Web pages and applications accessible. Includes a self-assessment tool.

Laws, Policies and Guidelines -- includes information on university policies, federal and state laws, and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guidelines regarding accessibility.

Adaptive Technologies -- includes information on a variety of technologies available for making information accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Duluth Forum program hit the mark

by Karen Kloser, program associate, Institute for New Media Studies.

After four years working for the Institute for New Media Studies research center in the U's School of Journalism, I have yet to meet someone who understands all the social media tools and is maximizing all the platforms and their potential.
Over the years I have looked to the Forum programs to expose me to the missing pieces.

The Forum's first program of the year, held in Duluth, did just that with guest speaker Marty Weintraub, the frenetic owner of AimClear. Weintraub, along with one of his bright, young staffers and blogger Manny Rivas for Search Engine Watch wowed attendees with their energy and command of social media and especially their work in search engine optimization (SEO).

My interest in attending this program was piqued when I read the words "reputation monitoring" in the promotion copy. Straight up, there was so much to cover in one hour that Weintraub didn't even touch upon this topic. However, I was not disappointed.

He opened the presentation with the apropos analogy comparing their agency's online marketing efforts to an ecosystem: Like nature, all social media is intertwined and interdependent, with Google as mother earth. Although Rivas was careful to remind us that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.

Weintraub also delineated online marketing into two types: free (or organic) and paid. It sounds simple enough. But as he dove deeper into their practice and strategy for search engine ranking, driving traffic, creating content, engaging communities, and harvesting high quality inbound links, I knew he was way over my head.

I didn't expect to come away from the program as a social media scholar; however, I did pick up a few tidbits to share:

• Social media dovetails nicely with customer service

• There is stunning micro-demographic diversity in FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube to be mined

• Play with Facebook's amazing advertising reach-- add some off the wall likes and interests, or change your political or religious views, and watch what appears in that right hand column of ads on your page

• Don't rule out B2B marketing, there are tons of Facebook social segments in it

• Try Facebook advertising.

Finally, the best part of Forum programs is the networking. Afterwards, Weintraub and Rivas mingled with us during the reception. Weintraub may be a wiz at what he does, but he was very approachable and came across as just a regular Midwesterner.

Academic Freedom

There's been a lot of talk lately about academic freedom. As communicators at a public university, it should inform everything we do. If you are wondering what exactly our policy on academic freedom is, look no further.

BOARD OF REGENTS POLICY ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

SECTION I. GUIDING PRINCIPLES.

The Board of Regents (Board) of the University of Minnesota (University) reaffirms the principles of academic freedom
and responsibility. These are rooted in the belief that the mind is
ennobled by the pursuit of understanding and the search for truth, and
the state well served when instruction is available to all at an
institution dedicated to the advancement of learning. These principles
are also refreshed by the recollection that there is commune vinculum omnibus artibus, a common bond through all the arts.

SECTION II. ACADEMIC FREEDOM.

Academic freedom is the freedom
to discuss all relevant matters in the classroom, to explore all
avenues of scholarship, research, and creative expression, and to speak
or write without institutional discipline or restraint on matters of
public concern as well as on matters related to professional duties and
the functioning of the University.

SECTION III. ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITY.

Academic responsibility
implies the faithful performance of professional duties and obligations,
the recognition of the demands of the scholarly enterprise, and the
candor to make it clear that when one is speaking on matters of public
interest, one is not speaking for the institution.

Twins Baseball and corporate speak in academia..or, "Word optometry"

Ron Gardenhire, manager of the Minnesota Twins, is not a professor of baseball, but last night after the Twins game he had a teaching moment, at least for one reporter. "He learned him good," you might say.

Gardenhire is an angry man, and has been ejected from a higher-percentage of games (per games coached) than any other baseball manager. When a player asked him something to the effect of how do you see the Twins "moving forward" into the playoffs, Gardenhire replied (paraphrasing, as I can't find the actual press conference footage, "Moving forward? What the hell does that mean, moving forward? Do you want to move forward into the next room and ask me the same question? Because if you do, I'll give you the same answer." He is an angry man.

But "moving forward" is a weasel word, there's no doubt. It says and asks nothing specific, and as far as providing an actual vision for anything, it is a word in dire need of an optometrist.

We're guilty of weasel words at the U, too. I have a friend who used to play a game called "Bu** Sh** Bingo," which is probably explanation enough.

So how do we avoid language like this? How do we talk and communicate like normal people? It might help to first look at causes, and then maybe we can find the corrective lenses.

Self-consciousness is surely a cause, perhaps especially in academia. Trying to sound flashy and smart in a sea of PhD's is a natural inclination, but if it's not a natural you, people will see through it, and whatever you're trying to convey will be lost. Word obesity is often the phrase used to describe the outcomes, like when I tell people that I work in "Universitas Relatus." If you say what you mean, you're much more likely to mean what you say, and those who hear you are more likely to see what you say and believe.

Check out some examples from this great blog, and feel free to add your own or comment at will.

• If you want ice in your drink, do you think about it as "adding value"?

• Do you "request the status of the deliverable" when you're wondering if lunch is ready?

• We don't help set something up, we "coordinate to facilitate it".

Here's some more on talking normal from our British friends.

Lastly, can anyone suggest a faculty member who might be willing to give a tutorial on the subject, perhaps even sharing insights about communications at the U?

Social media and alumni

Last week I saw a great social media presentation by Amy Phenix with Macalester College. Her team is finding creative ways to target their alumni through Facebook ads and posts. Her presentation showed how they are reaping the benefits through increased alumni interactions, awareness-building, and fundraising.

Are you reaching out to alumni online? Post tactics that you have found effective.

 

Average open rates for communications at the U

I received a question from the Forum's chair elect Kelly O'Brien, who recently began a new CLA newsletter for faculty, staff, and student workers (mostly grad students, I believe) as to what are the average open rates (unique opens) for regular email updates/newsletters here at the U. I told her that for Brief, the number varies between 20-25% and has seen 30% on some occasions.

Matt Sumera in University Relations gave me stats on some recent high-profile emails, and those seem to average unique open rates of around 18%.

An interesting analysis on open rates by list size can be found at open rates by size.

For those of you who track your open rates, where do you fare?

U. of Kentucky Encourages Students to Check In via Facebook

Here's an idea about using Facebook's new Places location service on a college campus:

The University of Kentucky has planted giant, wooden pointer thingies --
like the tab that marks the map in the Facebook Places logo -- on its
campus to encourage students to check in at school.

"We're encouraging students to check in, so when they do, it'll show up
in their news feed and maybe their friends still in high school will see
it over and over again," said Kelley Bozeman, Big Blue's marketing
director, adding that the university's marketing efforts are focused on
undergraduate recruitment.

Read more

CASE V Mini-Conference "The Meaning of 'Like': Social Media and the New World Order"

How do blogging, Facebook, and other social media impact advancement?

Discover "The Meaning of 'Like': Social Media and the New World Order" at the CASE V Morning Mini-Conference Thursday, September 16.

Find out how blogging fits in with new social media. Discover how to measure activity and its impact. And, probe a case study on Facebook ads. Presenters:

• Mark Engebretson, Director of Electronic Communications at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health

• Amy Phenix, Director, Communications and Public Relations at Macalester College

• Paul Sorenson, Director of New Media and Brand Strategy at the Minnesota Medical Foundation.

Schedule:

    8-8:30 a.m. Registration and continental breakfast
    8:30-10 a.m. Panel presentation and Q&A

Events are in the Ski U Mah Room at the McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak St. S., Minneapolis. Registration is only $30 for CASE V members and $35 for others.