Columbia Business School (CBS) has officially joined the world of user-generated content with the launch earlier this month of Public Offering, a school-run blog featuring submissions by students, faculty and graduates on more than a dozen topics ranging from accounting to world business.
In an introductory post, CBS Dean Glenn Hubbard mused about the remarkable pace at which the World Wide Web has evolved over the past decade but faulted academic institutions for being slow in general to embrace interactive online communication tools as a way to further their work.
“I am proud that Columbia Business School is using technology to foster exchange in our community, which includes students, faculty members, and alumni in every part of the world,” he wrote. “Moreover, it is my hope and expectation that this blog will eventually grow to serve the wider business community.”
Public Offering’s “About Us” page calls the blog “a natural extension of Columbia Business School’s longstanding tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship” that aims to cover the “stories of achievements, research, ideas and adventures” circulating through the halls and elevators of CBS. The blog is produced with support from the CBS Office of Communications.
Comments on blog posts are welcome from within or outside the CBS community. Those submitted by readers with a CBS account will be posted immediately, and all others will be queued for moderation and approval. Comments will not be edited for content or grammar, but they will be limited to 450 words or less and cut to fit as necessary.
Hubbard’s initial entry, posted yesterday, has generated a flurry of responses, the vast majority of which commend CBS for being at the forefront of educational institutions taking steps to promote platforms for open dialog.
“This is a wonderful initiative,” writes Rajeev Kohli. “Universities are in the business of knowledge creation and dissemination, in the market of ideas and opinions. Efforts like these – blogs, wikis and open course initiatives like those at MIT – can shift dialog and ideas in education to yet another level.”
Kohli’s sentiments were echoed by Osifo Akhuemonkhan, who writes, “Once again Columbia Business School under your direction has shown that it can talk the talk and walk the walk in terms of identifying and capturing opportunities. Providing a means of interaction between the business school community at Columbia and the rest of the world will keep Columbia a step ahead of its peers.”
Not all comments, though, were quite as glowing. “Better late than never,” writes Selden. “Columbia may think it is first, but only in the context of those at the back of the pack in terms of adopting new technology. Blogging is 4 years old. I guess if you are far enough behind, you think you are ahead.”
As recent posts here on Clear Admit have shown, Columbia is not alone in opening up the dialog. Oxford’s Saïd Business School launched its own blog this past December, MIT has long been an innovator with its open course initiative and schools around the globe are embracing YouTube and other user-generated content platforms with increasing vigor.
Ultimately, whether CBS deserves praise for being among the first or criticism for being slow to the game is your call to make. With initial posts ranging from an economic policy analysis of why dancers smoke to a defense for having a messy desk, Public Offering certainly provides us with something new and interesting to read. But don’t take our word for it – check it out for yourself and join in the dialog.
