Chasing the Dragon's Tale

Tuesday night while the storms in west Tennessee were hammering Union University, IT people (that would be me) were watching another large storm cell take aim at Belmont's area of Nashville. Fortunately, Belmont was spared the disaster and a live run on a disaster response plan. Sometime around 7:00PM, Union's web site went down down...damage to power lines, Internet connectivity, and internal networks seems the likely culprit from the images coming in from Union's campus. Union's primary web site went down, but something else happened:

1. Pastor/blogger, Steve McCoy, posted a brief story at 8:18PM that same evening on his blog. Video was added the next evening.
2. Twitter users began sharing information about news coverage, emergency contacts, and which cell providers were still functioning...some posted Tweets from cell phones on Union's campus.
3. Flickr.com images from web applications and cell phones began showing up online...there are well over 200 amateur images online now.
4. By 1:12AM following the 7:00PM storm, the uuemergency blog was online with links to news reports , drawing a flood of comments from readers.
5. Tim Ellsworth from Union University's media relations department was working feverishly to respond to the traditional press...and blogged his personal experience with an image of the disaster. (By the way: whatever Union University is paying Tim, it isn't nearly enough to cover his level of dedication).
6. The Red Cross blogged information about Jackson area shelters with information regarding support for dispaced students.
7. Several facebook.com groups popped up...most of which were created by students attending colleges other than Union. Less than 48 hours following the storm, the Pray for Union Facebook group lists 3,338 members.

Not to diminish the mainstream media's coverage of the storm and the events at Union, but I believe it is noteworthy to look at the above list and understand what individuals are able to contribute in the way of information, coverage, and support that is in addition-to/beyond to the scope of television, radio, and print media. Chris Turner at LifeWay Christian resources has already posted Blogs in a crisis. I consider it a must read for anyone involved in creating a disaster response strategy at the corporate level...and particularly in the area of higher education. It is a conversation that we need to expand when there are calmer, reflective days.

With each wake-up call (Tulane-Katrina, VA Tech-shooting, Union-tornado, etc.) comes new challenges to put in place strategies to respond quickly and professionally with the new media tools available. The Union disaster highlighted a role for bloggers and responsible social network users to become part of the reporting and supporting of those who are in the midst of crisis situations. The days of a single, tightly controlled message (from traditional media sources) in times of crisis...are gone.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Begin Rant: This is me being a grumpy old man, I suppose. Of the 100 or so daily emails that fill my Inbox, most include a subject line that includes words that are relative to the content of the email. Oddly enough (duh), that gives me some indication of what I am about to read...at least most of the time. Then, there are time like today, when an email arrives with a RE: Some-Previous-Email-Subject with content that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the body text of the email. I know that it is easy to sort through one's inbox of email and find a previously created message, hit the Reply button, and display my email address comfortably resting in the To: field. But is it such an ordeal to highlight the old, unrelated subject and type in something that makes sense to the soon-to-be-receiver?? Isn't this some sort of email etiquette breach?...or at least grounds for a sarcastic Sniglet?
End Rant
Deep breath. *Sigh*

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The people over at eweek.com have published their Stupid Technology Tricks 2007. It is their annual top 10 list of "IT products, technologies and decisions that stood out for the wrong reasons". Call it piling on if you wish, but seeing Microsoft own three of the ten made me smile.

Posted by admin at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

At any time throughout the active academic calendar at Belmont, there are event registrations in progress. Many are simply conveniences for quickly gathering and managing the 50-800 people for an event. For the last several years, our friends at SiteMason.com have provided us the tools needed to accomplish online registrations for special events. I recommend them whenever someone asks for the best deal in form processing...they have been good to us and responsive when we have run into problems.

Today, for instance, a simple registration form was created and installed on a secure site to allow Belmont University trustees to register for their January meeting...just a couple hours of construction and testing and the form is good-to-go. It may not be a perfect solution for every event, but it seems to be well received by those who can complete a simple registration form in mere seconds.

Posted by admin at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the joys of creating new templates and web pages is the instant gratification that comes with viewing a new gem in a browser (or multiple browsers) for the first time. It is not unlike seeing a new creature born...and not unlike the parent of a new creature, one of the first things checked, is to see if all the parts are in working order. That's not the best analogy, I'll admit...no one turns a web page upside down checking things out. And before I get beat up by those who endured childbirth I'll explain.

Beneath all the text, images, and general layout of a web page is a bunch of geeky looking code. For those who work toward complying with web standards that make those pages available on browsers around the world, there are validation services. I lean toward using the W3C Markup Validation Service primarily because it comes from a body (W3C) that many feel to be most dedicated to standards in coding. The process is simple. Go to the validation service and type in the full URL of the page you want checked...and tah-dah, you get instant feedback on your code. Can't you just feel the excitement??

All of that to say. I am frustrated with some of my own coding... even here on the page you are reading. With 30 minutes of tweaking, the number of validation errors has dropped from 40 down to 18. AKKK... 18 errors!!! So don't look too hard, this baby has flaws...oh, the disgrace.

Posted by admin at 06:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)