Believe in the Moment of Connection. . . Online Connection
by Catherine Noyes
Editor-in-Chief··································
I was recently reading The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman, a book concerning globalization and the convergence of world markets. One of the main points discussed in the book was the increase in technology, and how that has shaped the 21st century. The author goes around the world and meets people who have used technology to increase the efficiency of their organizations. It’s an excellent book. But that’s not really the point.
In the first part of the book, Friedman talks about the ten forces that have “flattened the world” so to speak. In the chapter titled Uploading: Harnessing the power of Communities, there was a vignette about a politician in New York City, Andrew Rasiej. Rasiej was using business principles in his campaign, specifically the idea of involving the community in every step of the process, from conception to design to the supply chain to feedback to response. He wanted to create an online space where citizens could post ideas on how to improve the community, participate in discussions, and just become more connected to the people around them. Ultimately, he hoped that people would go as far as to upload pictures of potholes, in order to bring problems to the attention of the city, rather than waiting for the city to find the problem. Interesting concept, no?
Which brings me to my point. Why doesn’t Randolph-Macon have an online bulletin board that students can upload onto? (And the answer should not be because we already have Facebook). It doesn’t take much to look around campus and see that many students have complaints regarding different aspects of the college. And there are avenues available to handle those complaints. Students can attend forums (often during class), schedule meetings with deans (not always easy to fi nd free time 9-5), write editorials (which are greatly encouraged, by the way) and go through different student organizations (also potentially time-consuming). These things all take time, and are not always very convenient if the student with a complaint has a demanding class schedule, or is particularly involved in athletics or extra-curricular activities.
An online forum or bulletin board would be far more convenient for students who would like to voice complaints, and it could also serve as a place for organizations to post information regarding up-coming events, pictures of past events and recruitment information.
Right now it seems that there is a disconnect between students and administrators at R-MC. An online forum could be an effective way for administrators to get a sense of what students are concerned about and to even respond to questions students have on R-MC policy. This in turn could lead to a student body that is more involved in the community.
So what are the potential downsides of an online forum? Well, the potential exists for people to post dumb stuff that will reflect poorly on the college. So test it for a while and make the forum password protected like our email accounts or MaconWeb. Then, if it does work, it might actually reflect very well on the school if there was an evident dialogue between students and administrators, and clear student involvement in activities etc.
Best part of the whole plan? It’s a way to potentially increase involvement at R-MC with very little cost to anyone. It would be a convenient way to promote activities and make contact with people who could help achieve common goals. It’s not that other options for these things don’t exist, but choice is good and it’s one more avenue to take advantage of.
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