2008 Woodie Awards
City officials, students take talks to the Web
Mike Silvestri
Issue date: 1/31/07 Section: News
Carroll said he never used to be much of a blogger until he started using this site, which Goodspeed said began as the an idea to address College Park issues exclusively.
"I'm not a typical student. I'm a little older, so I don't blog a lot," said Carroll, who heard architecture calling after working years in other areas. "But this site has really opened my eyes."
Goodspeed said the site gets about 150 to 200 hits each day. The blog is joined by TheCollegeParkSite.com, which focuses mostly on student issues.
"In order for the city to move in the right direction, the divide between the city and university is going to have to be closed," Goodspeed said. "Unequivocally, we think we've been very successful with that."
The blog's reach amazed Carroll, who said he read about construction near a stream behind Hillel on the campus on the Rethink College Park blog and decided to talk about it with a university environmental official. To Carroll's surprise, however, the official didn't know anything about it.
"It was amazing to me," Carroll said, "for someone - in theory - in power at the university to find out in such a roundabout way."
Daniel Reed, a sophomore architecture and English student who runs a blog about Montgomery County, said the Rethink College Park website is not used enough by apathetic students, however. To gain a following at the level of another blog Goodspeed co-created, the Washington-based DCist.com, Reed said apathetic students need to start following a little more closely.
"These are very intensely local things," Reed said of the issues about which Rethink College Park writes. "[Students] interested in politics are thinking about Iraq, or they're thinking about President Bush. They're not thinking about the Taco Bell down the street."
District 3 Councilwoman-elect Stephanie Stullich, who will represent downtown, said the Internet is a unique, up-and-coming medium because of the role graphics can play as much as anything else. Rethink College Park, as an example, provides a number of blueprints and artists' renderings of proposed developments around the city.
"I think it's really important for people of all ages to get involved with the city government, and if this is a way that gets younger people - or older people - involved, I think that's a great thing," Stullich said.
The site began with a goal of 500 visitors per day, after Goodspeed, a graduate student, graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, which is abundant with blogs, Daddio said.
"I think [they] just came around at the right time," Carroll said.
Contact reporter Mike Silvestri at silvestridbk@gmail.com.
"I'm not a typical student. I'm a little older, so I don't blog a lot," said Carroll, who heard architecture calling after working years in other areas. "But this site has really opened my eyes."
Goodspeed said the site gets about 150 to 200 hits each day. The blog is joined by TheCollegeParkSite.com, which focuses mostly on student issues.
"In order for the city to move in the right direction, the divide between the city and university is going to have to be closed," Goodspeed said. "Unequivocally, we think we've been very successful with that."
The blog's reach amazed Carroll, who said he read about construction near a stream behind Hillel on the campus on the Rethink College Park blog and decided to talk about it with a university environmental official. To Carroll's surprise, however, the official didn't know anything about it.
"It was amazing to me," Carroll said, "for someone - in theory - in power at the university to find out in such a roundabout way."
Daniel Reed, a sophomore architecture and English student who runs a blog about Montgomery County, said the Rethink College Park website is not used enough by apathetic students, however. To gain a following at the level of another blog Goodspeed co-created, the Washington-based DCist.com, Reed said apathetic students need to start following a little more closely.
"These are very intensely local things," Reed said of the issues about which Rethink College Park writes. "[Students] interested in politics are thinking about Iraq, or they're thinking about President Bush. They're not thinking about the Taco Bell down the street."
District 3 Councilwoman-elect Stephanie Stullich, who will represent downtown, said the Internet is a unique, up-and-coming medium because of the role graphics can play as much as anything else. Rethink College Park, as an example, provides a number of blueprints and artists' renderings of proposed developments around the city.
"I think it's really important for people of all ages to get involved with the city government, and if this is a way that gets younger people - or older people - involved, I think that's a great thing," Stullich said.
The site began with a goal of 500 visitors per day, after Goodspeed, a graduate student, graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, which is abundant with blogs, Daddio said.
"I think [they] just came around at the right time," Carroll said.
Contact reporter Mike Silvestri at silvestridbk@gmail.com.
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