I am happy to announce that the uwebd social network (http://cuwebd.ning.com) hit a major milestone this month when the 3,000 member mark was reached.  Initially launched in December 2007, UWEBD has seen steady growth during the first two years and is currently growing by about 100 members per month.   The site has a global reach with members from over 50 countries.  Here are some additional stats:

  • 3,015 members (as of 2/11/10)
  • 1,104 discussions in the forums
  • 72 groups
  • Approximately 60,000 page views per month
  • Approximately 13,000 unique visitors per month

The goal of the uwebd site is to build a community of practice for everyone involved with higher education websites. It is intended to be a place where we can share experiences, ask questions, create community, and leverage the collective intelligence of our members to continually improve our skills.

I am always looking for ways to improve the site. Some current goals include:

  • Improving the search function. As the site has grown, the current search does a very poor job.  Improving the search will require getting into the source code and I will be looking for members with PHP experience to help with this task.  Please let me know if you are interested.
  • Continue to explore the relationship between forum discussions and group discussions.  It can be confusing on the proper location for a post (main forum or group), and searching for this information is a challenge. Feel free to share your thoughts on the forum posts vs group posts discussion.
  • Improved integration with other tools and sites where conversation about the issues facing higher ed web development are taking place, particularly Twitter and individual blogs. One of my goals has been to use the uwebd site to aggregate relevant conversations and content from across the web.  That being said, I think there is much more we could do.

I would like to extend my thanks to all our members, especially those whom have taken the time to contribute. I look forward to the continued growth and evolution of uwebd. I encourage everyone directly involved with higher ed websites to join our network.  And please send along any suggestions on how to improve the site.