Can's Awesome Weblog

Transparent Student Groups

Cross posted on the ISIS blog:
I've been reading a lot about corporate blogging lately, and think that many of the issues raised there are very applicable to student groups. An increasing number of students is starting to question, what exactly groups are doing with their money. The recent special fees crisis just further illustrates this point. Getting members of student groups to blog might give students valuable insights into what those groups actually do. Right now it is almost of a relationship of students giving, and groups taking, where many students fail to realize the benefits of student groups.

The main complaint I hear about ISIS is that we waste money. Now for people who have been to our meetings and know that we do not spend money on anything we can think of, but rather carefully evaluate all options. But for somebody who has no access to ISIS (or any other student group) this is hard to see. Having public group blogs would help students understand what actually goes on at these groups.

There will be, of course not too many students who will make us of this, and groups will worry about loss of a coherent image to the outside. But in a world where organizations are starting to become more and more transparent through blogging, this has to happen eventually. ISIS should be first in embracing this.
Maybe one day even important faculty and administration people will take to the time to blog about what is going on in their department.

Update: ISIS is going to discuss and implement this by next week.