There were a few major differences between the two schools. First of all, UMass Boston has a strong reputation for remaining very engaged with the organizations in their communities on a consistent basis. Therefore they were very invested in the organizations they added to the map. They also added fewer organizations, but there is more information available about the organization, including names of administrators and phone numbers and best ways to contact them, etc.
Secondly, they deal with a diverse population of community members, and many of them don't speak English. There is a desire to have the BLink website available in Vietnamese as well as other languages so that the entire community can access and benefit from the site.
Thirdly, they see a huge opportunity for this site to be a collection of resources that community members need, such as where to vote, how to get a state ID card, who to contact in different situations, etc. There is a lack of centralization with all of this information and if you don't know what you're looking for or how to find it, it can be very difficult information to access.
Other topics discussed included privacy setting issues, as well as different Facebook applications (such as games).
This really was a great meeting, and it was essential I think for us to see how the other campus was using the same service in a totally different way. I think that the class discussion about "names" acutally brought up great points about how the objectives may be different, but we're all working towards a common goal.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to see the UMASS model especially because of the sustainability that they seem to have that we're not set up for yet. It was interesting because I felt like what they were trying to accomplish by creating a smaller and more information spreadable community, we already have in many ways. But, it was good to see how we are matching up!