General: May 2008 Archives

ReadWriteWeb had a very interesting post today about how 7 out of the top 10 fastest rising search terms from last year were “navigational search” terms: searches for a website that the user wants to visit where adding .com to the search term would have take the user directly to the site. In other words, instead of typing “www.facebook.com” into the browser’s address bar, the user searched for the term facebook in order to get to facebook.com.

We, as developers, have long been taught that providing your users with an easy-to-remember, intuitive URL is the best way to ensure that your users can find your site. But in light of this new information, I wonder if we, as a campus, should begin discussions on how we can make sure all our various sites are optimized for search engines.

Often in higher ed we use words that people outside academia (see, I just used one) don’t really understand. It’s sort of like a secret club and only those in it can participate in the conversation.

Recently, we started a list on the white board in our break room. This list was called: Words that are overused in higher education. We normally use our white board as a space to entertain, blow off some steam and otherwise have a laugh or two. However, it was really interesting and educational to see the list grow. So much so that I thought it should be shared on this blog.

As you read this list, think about how you communicate with your audiences. Are you telling your stories in ways those outside “academia” can understand? Are we relying on the same old catch-all words that amount to a lot of fluff and very little substance? Are we unintentionally creating the illusion of a special club by speaking in lofty terms that really don’t translate into the important messages we need to send.

There were a few other entries obviously added for laughs like football, bowl games, athletics, “your Mom”, etc. However, I’m sure you get the meaning. Take a look at the list and feel free to add a few of your own. After all, it’s all about the conversation, right?

• excellence
• paradigm
• engaged
• leadership
• diversity
• core values
• synergy
• utilize
• experiential
• impact
• enhance
• innovative
• success
• academia
• scholarly
• matriculate
• mission
• support
• dialogue (as a verb)
• multifaceted
• achievement