Comments on: Entertainment Tonight and UNI.edu’s Inukshuk Content

By: David Jaeger

David Jaeger — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 02:05:59 +0000

As a director for a higher ed Web department, this part of the presentation was of great interest to me. I have seen this technique used on many sites over the years. We explored it a few years ago and I have been asked to look into it again.
I fall in the same group as Jeff in that this would not have helped me in selecting a College when I was 18. I believe there are prospective students that this would appeal to, but there is so much diversity in interest among them. How much information would be required in order to be effective, for example, is having one Music student enough to appeal to all prospective music students; or do you need several music students from various concentrations such as horns, voice, jazz, composing, etc? Will online diaries have a greater success on prospective students with interests in programs such as Music, Art, and Theatre and less success on those with an interest in Engineering, Management, CIS?
Also, once a working mix of content has been identified, what tools or business processes need to be in place to ensure the students keeping these online diaries are going to consistently write effective content? How would you assess the effectiveness? Asking a sampling of admitted students if the online diaries had an impact on their decision won’t tell you if the online diaries had a negative impact on any of the students that did not select your institution.

By: Jeff Louella

Jeff Louella — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 12:50:20 +0000

A well deserved poke that was. I feel like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. hehe.

By: DeWayne Purdy

DeWayne Purdy — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 01:45:11 +0000

Other than a couple of non-traditional students, all of them should fall in the 19-22 age range. We try to balance them by gender, ethnicity, in-state/out-of-state, etc., all roughly in proportion to the make-up of our student population, so they will appeal to a variety of prospective students. To me they look like college students I’ve seen all over the country. Perhaps they just look more mature to you because Iowa students are smarter than New Jersey students (Iowa students have higher average ACT scores than New Jersey students)… sorry, I couldn’t resist a friendly poke back at you, Jeff.

By: Jeff Louella

Jeff Louella — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 14:04:31 +0000

Jared,
If those students in the pictures were 18, they look 16 years older than people who live in my state of NJ. But my stab at Iowa was basically saying it takes them 5 years longer to graduate high school. It was a bad joke about the mid west from an urban crusader.

Christine,
That is a great observation. It’s sort of like the new McDonalds campaigns. They are pushing “Fruit and Walnut” salads. I am fat and want something with cheese and more cheese. So I can’t relate. McDonalds should push Cheese Fries. Yummy, now that will get me in there.

By: Christine Perfetti

Christine Perfetti — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:33:28 +0000

Jeff,

I think you raise an interesting question. If users, for whatever reason, don’t relate to the inukshuk content, will it still work?

In our ongoing research, we want to examine ways authors can measure if their inukshuk content works effectively for users.

By: Jared Spool

Jared Spool — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:05:00 +0000

Jeff,

Are you saying that 18-year-olds in Northern Iowa naturally look 5 years older?

By: Jeff Louella

Jeff Louella — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:02:34 +0000

Though the testimonials are good examples of Inukshuk content, I don’t think they would have helped me out if I was 18 years old and looking for a college to attend. I am 31 years old and those “Students” look at least 5 years older than me. On the other hand, it is northern Iowa.

By: Nicholas Longo - CEO CoffeeCup Software

Nicholas Longo - CEO CoffeeCup Software — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 05:49:30 +0000

CoffeeCup Software is about to do this guys. We have over 14,000,000 users worldwide and have been around since 1996. We have been thinking of a way to make Web Design Software a more human experience and we will be rolling out something in the next week or so that is very similar. We asked users to send a picture and a comment about our software yesterday and we have already recieved 1,000 replies. Keep an eye out.

Nick-