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M.I.T. Taking Student Blogs to Nth Degree
- bootload 17y ago"... M.I.T. chooses its bloggers through a contest, in which applicants submit samples of their writing. 'The annual blogger selection is like the admissions office’s own running of the bulls' ..." Which sort of sucks. Admissions choosing who is the best writer and meritocracy, don't go hand in hand.
- patio11 17y agoI would not expect meritocracy from the admissions office of a selective American university. When it happens it is a side effect of a process that is more about fulfilling institutional imperatives, including flattering the admissions's office view of itself as an agent for social change.
- unalone 17y agoMIT's not a meritocracy. Admissions already chooses who is the best candidate, so this is just an extension. It also lets MIT control the quality of their posts somewhat. On a whim I checked out their blogs and compared them to my college's blogs. They've got few fewer smiley faces, and come across as more mature. I think that for MIT that's a good thing, since that's their reputation. I wonder, though, if for other colleges allowing a bit more freedom humanizes them somewhat.
- tokenadult 17y agoAdmissions choosing who is the best writer and meritocracy, don't go hand in hand. The MIT student bloggers do a great job. I think the selection process is working just fine, and this degree of openness is a big attraction to MIT.
- tybris 17y ago> Internet Relay for real-time messaging It seems like they have an IRC channel and the editor thinks it is something really fancy. Maybe we should have told more people about IRC at some point.
- Anon84 17y agoIRC was actually (almost) mainstream in Portugal as a way of meeting/hooking up with people online before MSN and Facebook took over the "meat market".