web review of university and college collection sites
As the use of the internet and digital media becomes increasingly common and more and more people are concerned about preserving and collecting personal memories of the past, collecting sites are becoming more prevalent. Universities all over the world are setting up collection sites dedicated to their histories and their alumni memories. More specifically, many academic departments and alumni associations have taken on these projects. I am hoping to set up a collection site for memories of either American University in general, or specifically for AU’s History department. I searched the internet using Google, and by going directly to schools and looking for collection sites. Most sites target alumni only, though I ran across a few sites that are open to faculty. Alumni are the targets, probably because the alumni associations are generally the organizations that have the time and energy to expend on collecting information, and there seems to be a perception that alumni are the ones who would care most to share their memories. This may be true, but many of the sites had few responses on the sites. The appeal to the wider audience is missing from the sites, and perhaps is what is limiting the number of responses the sites received.
I have found that there are many different ways to set up these sites and those in existence span the entire range. Some require a great deal of information in form submissions as a sort of speed bump, to make sure that anyone submitting to the site is real and not a prank. Another concern about the collection sites is whether to make submissions immediately available, as they would be through blogs or forums, or whether to monitor them closely before posting, as would be possible through email and form submissions. These sites also vary in appearance. Some sites have many images that serve a dual purpose of making the site look better and of jogging the memories of alumni. These collection sites for alumni memories seem to fall into categories based on submission formats as well as use of images.
The first format for collection of memories relating to a university or college is one of the most common. This is the collection form that visitors fill out and submit to the administrator who then posts the memories to the site. Lawrence University’s collection site, created for the 150th anniversary of the school in 1996, allows visitors to the site to submit memories of 25-150 word lengths. The University’s magazine used these submissions for the yearlong celebration of the 150th anniversary, and the library, who administers the site, continues to accept memories. Staff at the library reviews submissions and then posted to the site for visitors to peruse. The Lawrence University site only asks for a name and graduation year to accompany the memory, providing only the smallest of deterrents to those who might submit a false posting. Rutgers University’s collection site for memories of its library also asks for little information from visitors before submission. These sites are also purely functional- they have no images, are there simply to do their jobs, and are not very aesthetically pleasing.
The University of Alberta has a site set up by the alumni association for their members to share their memories. This site much more attractive and has much greater controls over postings than Lawrence University’s site. Similar to Lawrence University, though, University of Alberta also has a questionnaire that alumni can submit to the administrators, who then post them to the site. The form requires only the first and last name, but there are a total of forty-three other questions that alumni can choose from to answer. Though these other questions are not required, the number can appear daunting at first glance, thus providing another deterrent to those who might not post a serious comment. Most other sites that I found are similar to that of the University of Alberta. Central Michigan University has ten questions to verify identity before posting memories, and Florida International University asks eleven questions.
Other sites out there ask very little and immediately post the submissions. These sites are either blogs or message boards that have been set up for the expressed purpose of collecting memories. One of these types of sites, “The 75:20 Season Reunion
Where alumni of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance reunite,” despite the blog format, actually has some oversight because only one member has administrator capability. All new postings must be emailed to the administrator, who then posts the memories. However, the comments, as on all blogs, any visitor can submit and post directly. Nebraska Wesleyan University seems to have a format that it is a sort of message board that asks little information of the author of a post before they submit their memories of the school.
The best of the sites that collect alumni memories go farther than those previously discussed. These sites use digital images and request submissions of more than just written memories. The Imperial College of London has a page where alumni can read and submit written memories. The college sets itself apart, though, by the requests it makes of its alumni. They also ask for donations of images and videos to collect a fuller picture of the history of the college according to the alumni. Unfortunately, though, the Imperial College of London does not have a site where these submissions will be accessible, though this could change, since the request for such submissions is relatively new. Other sites, though, have images throughout. The University of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia, has a site with five memory books full of alumni submissions. There are images throughout these memory books, rounding out the memories. Unfortunately, the site only permitted each posting to contain fifty words or less, severely restricting the stories. Despite this, there are several amusing stories on the site. Though the administrators closed the site to new submissions, the layout of the memory books is a great example of how to present the submitted memories.
One of the more interesting of these sites to use images is that of the University of Waterloo’s Office of Alumni Affairs. The office asks for memories specifically associated with concert memories. The site contains images of Alice Cooper, YES, Harry Chapin, and Cat Stevens, among others. There is a form on the site for submissions of stories relating to these and other concerts at the University of Waterloo. The administrator reviews and posts the memories along with images from the concerts. The administrator also provides a little background information when needed, including dates of the concerts, and any other needed background information, at times settling disputes about details. NC State University College of Engineering also has a great site for memory collection. The site has images and allows for a much larger amount of words (submissions are in the form of emails) than many of the other collections sites. Perhaps the most unique part of the site was an image of a class, the date of which was apparently a mystery. The image was posted to the site with a request that anyone who might know when the image was taken, or who was in the picture, would comment on it. Many people commented, but the mystery apparently has yet to be solved. Overall, this site is very well constructed, is an interesting way of collecting alumni memories, and a model for collecting sites for college/university memories.
The existing collection sites for memories of alumni communities from colleges and universities provide an interesting array of forms and designs. Some make it very easy to submit memories to the site, while others require a great amount of information along with the written memory. Some provide images that make the site more interesting and that make it easier for alumni to think of what they want to write. Sites such as these also vary in the motivation for their construction. Some schools created these sites in order to celebrate landmark anniversaries of the schools, while still others created them to gather information for the sake of history. Though these are great reasons to have these sites, many of the sites do not seem to have advertised well to their targeted audience, or did not have an audience that was motivated enough to participate in the project. Despite the drawbacks of some of these websites, they provide lessons in positive and negative aspects of construction, from which future site builders can learn.