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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Argus Opinion Piece

I wrote an editorial for the Argus this week. Just in case it doesn't get accepted, I've decided to post it here on my blog.

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Do We Really Need a Play-By-Play?

While I understand that the growth and development of the new classroom building is exciting for everyone in the Illinois Wesleyan (IWU) community, do we really need a webcam play-by-play?

As if watching the construction in person wasn’t exciting enough, visitors to the IWU main page can click on a link which allows viewers to “watch minute-by-minute progress on construction of the new main classroom building.”

The webpage also says: “When workers are active between 7 a.m.-6 p.m., the webcam picture will update every minute.” Meaning, the webcam only offers live updates when the construction crews are in action. When they’re not busy at work, however, the image remains frozen.

I’m forced to wonder: Who is the university’s target audience? The obvious answer is alumni and students no longer on campus. I say this because those who are on campus are forced to endure the inconvenient and disruptive presence of the construction site.

Now, I doubt this is costing the university much in terms of funding, but I suspect it has deducted some common cents from the administration’s account. Who has time to sit and watch the construction equipment inch across the page every minute or, better yet, watch the poor employee walk from the crane to the porta potty and back?

The minute by minute updates might have been a good idea at first but, the university would be better off investing in quality photographs documenting the development of the new building.

The only time video should be used is during monumental moments such as the signing of the final pillar (which occurred this past summer). If alumni are especially invested in the development of the building, then a weekly photo update should suffice.

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