Tuesday, February 5, 2008

What is up with the Big Blog Plan?

As many of you know the development of an institutional blog is on my project list. I have been here a month, what is taking so long!

Right now I am in the research phase. I am looking at how other blogs are structured, how they are commented on and trying to understand what lessons I can take from them and apply to our communications. I am also looking to take some of my leftover budget money and find a consultant to help me define these best practices and help in creating the development plan.

There are also a couple of things that we are waiting on before we move forward.

1) The approval of the internal blog policy by legal. Once they get that pushed through the external policy should be much easier to develop.

2) The time line of the site redesign. The redesign is scheduled to be completed by September. If that deadline is met, it may not be such a good idea for us to develop the product, then redevelop it for the new site. Additionally, Rythmyx has blogs and social media tools built into it's newest release.

This is more than just a project, this is the development of a new communications vehicle for the entire institution. It is worth it to put in the time and effort to do it carefully. If all goes well, I expect to have the development plan written and ready to put through the approval process by early April. I will keep you all informed every step of the way.

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