When MovableType migrated from a free service to a purchase plan, Belmont University invested in a license with a long range view of how many blogs would be needed and how those blogs would be used. Over the last three years (or so) we have set-up as many as 50 separate blogs and roughly 100 authors. Many experimented with blogging and discovered that the commitment part to contribute on a regular basis was more than they could handle. The corporate-use blogs have been amazingly successful as an easier way of distributing news, announcements, and general campus information. One author, Dr. Jeff Cornwall, created and continues to sustain one of the most widely read and highest ranked blogs in the business world. The mission blogs for Brazil, Ukraine, Honduras, and Venezuela added a new dimension to mssion trips that we hope will become a part of more student trips...we have successfully converted those blogs into archived web sites.
There have been challenges along the way. Comment spam and trackback spam are a nuisance and time-waster for authors and for blog administrators. During one session of deleting extraneous comments last year, some 200 legitimate comments were accidentally deleted...and recovering the lost comments has been an adventure. Modifying templates and mastering browser compatibility issues along with learning the ins-and-outs of RSS has been a stretch at times when schedules have pulled us to other projects.
Since the first of the year, the university's approach to the look, feel, and application of blog use evolved into something more corporate than personal. We have developed new templates that are more compatible with the look of the university's marketing site. Conceptually, the new templates will have the flexibility to reflect the personality and nature of the individual blogs, but all blogs will be part of one, university family of blogs. In essence, we have a blog brand that supports the larger model of branding for the university.
There is still a bunch of work to be done in the way of upgrading our blog software, supporting the server dedicated only to blogs, backing up blog data, and adding and adapting new plug-ins for preventing spam. There are broader conversations among blog users that still need to happen to make the best use of the assets that we have available. Those projects will take a priority over my personal writing here on CTDT...and those projects may be the source of reflective writing as this blog evolves into something new over the next several months.
Meanwhile, it is back to the world of HTML, RSS, and CSS...send oxygen if I'm not back next week.