Mark Greenfield

I’ve just returned from a long, wonderful day at the 2009 Ride For Roswell.  I was both a participant and an “embedded reporter” using social media to cover the event as it happened. ( see UB to Embed Twitter Reporters at Roswell Ride )

I learned a lot today about using social media to cover an event like this. While I process those thoughts, let me share with you the following video that I shot while riding in the peloton as it reached the finish line at UB, always one of the highlights of the Ride:

Tuesday, June 9, 2009
1:00 pm - 3:00 PM (Eastern)
Originating from the 2009 Penn State Web Conference

HashTag  #smsummit

Come join me at this virtual summit as we explore the challenges and opportunities of social media in higher education. The format will be much different than a typical workshop. Following the principles of an unconference, we will leverage the wisdom of the crowd in an open environment where everyone’s participation is encouraged.

In addition to those attending in person  we will be using Adobe Connect to stream the event live and allow our virtual attendees to participate in the proceedings.  The URL for the summit is http://breeze.psu.edu/psuwebsms.

Update, June 8: You will need to create a “Friends of Penn State Account” and then login in order to participate.  Instructions are available from the main Social Media Summit page at https://breeze.psu.edu/psuwebsms

We will also be utilizing social media to create a backchannel to let people from across the globe participate virtually. For those of you who want to participate on Twitter, delicious, Flickr, etc., the hashtag for the event is #smsummit

Discussion topics will be chosen by participants.  To facilitate conversation both before and after the summit, I have created a group at the uwebd site (http://cuwebd.ning.com/group/socialmediasummit)

I have added an instance for the Social Media Summit at the Harvard’s Live Question Tool:

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/questions/smsummit

Please submit your questions and vote and reply to existing questions. I plan on using the information gathered to drive our live discussion on June 9.

I would like to extend a special thanks to Patti Fantaske and the other conference organizers at Penn State for allowing me to push the envelope.  I was also like to thank Mark Heckel and the technical support staff for the hard work that will go into making the summit available virtually.

I look forward to an interesting afternoon.  Hope to see you there.

(Comments for this post have been turned off.  The discussion will take place at http://cuwebd.ning.com/group/socialmediasummit)

I came across this great SlideShare presentation today by Graeme Wood on the future of social media. It covers a wide range of topics at a high level and references the thoughts and ideas of people like Gorden Moore, Kevin Kelly, Chris Anderson, Tomi Ahonen, and Seth Godin.  Be sure to view the slides and read the accompanying text.

The 2008 Campus Technology Conference is being held in Boston from July 28-31. Here is a description from the conference website:

Campus Technology 2008 welcomes attendees to its 15th annual summer conference, where leading innovators and experts in technology for higher education guide faculty, instructional designers, eLearning program managers, information technologists, and campus administrators into the new realm of teaching and learning in a Web 2.0 world.

This year’s conference offers a blueprint for adapting to the new demands of Web 2.0 teaching and learning, both in and out of the classroom, and explores how educators are coping with the ever-increasing demands on their resources, skills and time. You’ll come away armed with tricks, tips and techniques to survive and thrive in the “Next Gen” educational environment.

This is the one conference that I really wanted to attend but had previous commitments.  The good news is that Jay Collier will be providing coverage of the conference through Twitter and a conference coverage wiki (thanks Jay).

I will be following the proceedings and encourage you to do so as well.

I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming eduWEB conference in Atlantic City.  I’m in the process of finishing the keynote speech.  There have been numerous new tools emerging recently so I’ve completely revamped the speech since the last time a gave it just a couple of weeks ago.  One of the themes I’ll discuss is the relevancy of .edu websites as the web continues to evolve.  For those of you who didn’t see this on bloghighed, here is a 3:00 video clip on the subject:

In addition, Brad Ward and I will be teaching a preconference workshop called Join the Conversation: Social Media in Higher Education where we will be providing an in depth look at how higher educational institutions can leverage the full power and potential of social media.

And one final reminder, the bloghighed meetup on Monday, July 21 at the Poolside Cafe, located on the 5th floor.  See you in Atlantic City.

I have been blogging for several years and the post that received the most attention by far was
Will Higher Ed Websites Become Irrelevant?. I’ve talked about this at recent conferences by sharing the following observation:  In 2005, 100% of my time was spent working on sites within the buffalo.edu domain. Here in the summer of 2008, I spend about 70% of my time working on sites in the buffalo.edu domain.  The remaining time is spent developing our presence on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Ning, etc., time that is well spent.

Jeremiah Owyang’s recent post The Future of the Corporate Website involves People continues to explore the future of corporate web sites. I particularly like the idea of “fluidity”:

“Corporate websites of the future will be less about canned content and more about fluidity. Meaning, the consumer will demand websites that are connected to the ‘users’ and ‘consumers’ personal networks which will promote and instill word of mouth as a best practice for business development and ultimately sales. The infrastructure will be designed in a way that company developed case studies, webinars and such will be replaced by real consumers leaving messages and user created video’s. …”

To stay relevant, higher ed websites will need to focus on authenticity, transparency, and a willingness to cede control to fully leverage the power of social media. And the time has come to think outside the proverbial box. It is no longer about your web site. Instead, it is about your web presence. Information and commentary on your school is no longer confined to your site, but instead lives in numerous places including Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube and countless individual blogs.