University news site celebrates first anniversary, looks ahead to 2010

Evolution of site includes new look in 2010.

By Karen Cochrane

One year ago, FIU took its news online and launched newsarchives.fiu.edu. In that time, the site has found a growing audience of readers interested in FIU events and people.

From the outset, the newsarchives.fiu.edu team of contributors — communicators from across the university — had one goal: Tell the stories that matter. Convey news that illustrates the depth and breadth of what it means to be a Panther, from the silly to the sublime. More than 800 posts later, we’ve learned that there is no shortage of stories. In fact, we can’t get to them all. But in 2010 we’re committed to telling as many of those stories as we can in ways that will resonate with our readers.

Quick Facts

Unique visitors: 215,836 (currently increasing at a rate of 20,000 per month)

Page views: 624,404

Posts: 840

Comments: 960

Weekly site visits as of Jan. 2010: 7,600 (average)

What you’ve been reading

Some of the more popular stories we’ve reported in the past year include our welcome posts that run at the beginning of every semester, the renaming of University Park to Modesto A. Maidique Campus, the appointment of President Mark B. Rosenberg to the FIU presidency, and the decision by university leaders to offer the H1N1 vaccine for free to FIU students, faculty and staff. You’ve enjoyed reading about Sky Choi, an aspiring physicist, and Dr. Pedro Jose “Joe” Greer, Jr. You took an interest in the actions of our Board of Trustees and loved our coverage of the College of Medicine’s White Coat ceremony. From the beginning, you’ve enjoyed checking out the latest posts in our Media Gallery section and reading our FIYou employee profiles.

We have our own favorites — from a graduate student who composed a sea symphony to faculty members who hunt rare orchids in China and offer their services to local law enforcement to help solve horse slaughters. We’ve enjoyed introducing you to some special new graduates and alumni as well as to fellow FIU employees and cool collaborations. And we had fun reporting on Homecoming and FIU athletes who lifted the spirits of some local residents at Thanksgiving. Along the way, we’ve been inspired — joyfully, continually — by the people and programs of FIU.

Something to look forward to

We’re still figuring out how best to communicate our news online, but we’ve already identified ways to improve newsarchives.fiu.edu and your experience on it. This year we will introduce a redesign of the site — it will be cleaner and easier to navigate. We’re also working on some upcoming stories that you’ll find on newsarchives.fiu.edu in the weeks ahead: students working on mangrove restoration at Biscayne Bay Campus, students and faculty working on the restoration of a World War I-era statue in a local cemetery, and a collaboration between FIU faculty and a local organization to help homeless men and women improve their presentation and interview skills.

We’re always on the look-out for great stories. If you’ve got one, send us an email: cochrane@fiu.edu.

Thank you

Perhaps our greatest story of the past year has been that of you, our readers. “If you build it [they] will come” isn’t always true in real life (although it worked out pretty well for Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams). We’ve been fortunate and are humbled by your support. We continue to learn a lot from our readers, and we enjoy receiving your feedback, both in person as well as through comments on the site. We have no doubt that you will continue to push us to improve our quality and story-telling capabilities. Truth be told, we wouldn’t have it any other way.