Social Media

Mission:   The Social Media Committee was formerly the Handbook Committee. The Social Media Committee’s mission is to promote the Writing and Communication Program through social networking, blogs, twitter feeds, video, podcasts, and other media technology. In consultation with the Director and Assistant Director of the Writing and Communication Program, we develop and maintain the Brittain Fellow Handbook and the TECHStyle website to inform members about policies and to create a sense of community. The re-formed Social Media Committee was a new in I 2010-11, emerging from the Handbook Committee.

Membership: The chair of the committee is invited to serve by the Director in consultation with the Assistant Director of Writing and Communication. Members on the Social Media Committee are invited by the chair of the committee, in consultation with the Director and Assistant Director of Writing and Communication.

2011-2012 Committee
Chair:     Kathryn Crowther

Committee Members: Christine Hoffmann, Diane Jakacki, Aaron Kashtan, Malavika Shetty, Jesse Stommel, Nirmal Trivedi, Robin Wharton.

Goals:        (1) Increase the visibility of the Brittain Fellows’ innovative pedagogy and research by publishing blog articles, news, and announcements on the Brittain Fellowship online magazine, TECHStyle.
(2) Centralize all information for Brittain Fellows on TECHStyle so that it becomes the “hub” of the Fellowship. (3) Redesign TECHStyle to give the site a professional look and to accommodate new categories and functions. (4) Generate regular content for TECHStyle by developing a posting calendar, soliciting posts from current and former Brittain Fellows, and including weekly and bi-monthly columns. (5) Bring a wider academic audience to TECHStyle by soliciting guest posts from former Brittain Fellows and other academics and by advertising our posts on Twitter and other digital forums. (6) Add to our online Brittain Fellowship Handbook, making the content dynamic and visually attractive. (7) Liaise with the wider Brittain Fellow community to find other ways to make social media a vehicle for bringing their work to a national academic audience. (8) Develop a long-term sustainability plan for maintaining TECHStyle.

Prior Committee History

2010-11 Chair: Roger Whitson

2009-10 Chair: L. Andrew Cooper

Accomplishments: In 2009-10, the Handbook Committee added several sections to the Handbook including policies, procedures for designing syllabi and articles giving advice on everything from volunteering in Atlanta to eating in Atlanta and creating a syllabus that was more inclusive of students with disabilities. The Brittain Fellow Handbook was moved online, paving the way for the Social Media Committee.   The re-formed Social Media Committee, new in 2010-11, emerged from the Handbook Committee. In 1010-11, the committee created TECHStyle, a blog that includes both Brittain Fellow articles about multimodality and teaching and coverage of specific events during the year with video and audio. TECHStyle includes a regular production schedule. The social network portion of the site includes forums, video chat, and other plugins to make TECHStyle an attractive place for past and present Brittain Fellows to meet online. The Brittain Fellow Handbook is being reimagined as a multimodal, dynamic and interactive hub for Brittain Fellows. Some pages (like policies) will be less interactive than others.

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