Web 2.0 idea for College Publisher sites

Part of my Christmas vacation reading has been the special edition of the e-magazine Newspaper Techniques called "The Publisher's How-To Guide to Web 2.0." And from it I got an idea for those JACC schools that use College Publisher.

You might have heard the term Web 2.0 and not know what it means. Wikipedia describes it as:

A perceived or proposed second generation of Internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users.

Not really a very helpful definition.

Web. 2.0 is not a new version of the Internet, but rather a new way of using it. Think of putting your student publication online so others can come to your Web site and read what you've produced. For newspapers Web 2.0 would include letting the reader decide what is news. The publication might present some data that the reader chooses how to sort (such as a search engine or a mashup) or it might mean letting the user contribute to the news.

Well, here is a Web 2.0 (really more of a Web 1.5) idea for those JACC publications that use College Publisher. One of the advantages of a content management tool like College Publisher is that it allows you to have multiple producers (your reporters) of the news. They can all post to the database, but content does not go live until an editor okays it. One of the issues we've faced as long as I've been a publications adviser is giving campus clubs as much coverage as they like.

Well, how about giving each club a reporter status account in College Publisher? Let them post their own stories. If you are nervous about abuse, you still have some control because it will still need an editor to approve it before it goes live. That makes it more 1.5 than 2.0, but it is a step the right direction. Perhaps over time we'll become more comfortable opening the gate. And at the same time, you could build some good will on campus (unless, of course, you reject too many contributions or are slow to approve them).

We currently offer free classified ads to clubs. We've added the New Digital Group's INK classified tool to our College Publisher site. It's an enhancement to the built-in classified ad tool of CP. And we give each campus club that wants to to post club announcements as classified ads, which we then run in our print edition as a separate classified ad section. But the idea above would allow them to get beyond 25 words.