I had a series of interviews with Rob Ochshorn of Kitsch magazine, culminating in the production of an article titled About a Blog: How Elliott Bäck has established himself as a serious news source for the Cornell community. When I read it, it feels like an ego-piece, but Rob’s done an excellent job of distilling the fact and fiction of my blogging experience in the Cornell community. Probably, the most interesting thing I said to him was “Where I do real good analysis only a handful read it.” With this blog in particular, I receive around a thousand readers a day and make $.50, yet it’s the place where every post I write is meticulously researched and written. There’s no place for “linkwhoring” on a University themed blog.

Just over halfway through the article, Rob quotes the former EIC of the Cornell Daily Sun, Andy Guess:

“It shows you what a citizen-journalist can do with just a computer and no other credentials whatsoever,” Guess said. Bäck’s ability to connect real people and events to their ephemeral online parallels can certainly add whole new dimensions a story, as in the cases of Pearlstone and Shorey, but some of Bäck’s most interesting posts combine his curiosity with his formidable computer science background.

That’s more or less what I do. I find that my actually being a Cornell student, aside from spurring my interest in the topic, has very little to do with what I write here, most of which comes from online investigation. And, that is a bit of a sad fact. If you’re a Cornell student with some campus pictures, a decently written and factual rant, or an opinion on the administration, you should send me an email and I’d be more than happy to publish you here. Even if you disagree with things I’ve written, I’m of the “more opinions the merrier” camp.

My personal favorite section is “Strong Response,” which details the controversial nature of what I write, and the responses I receive. From student deaths and sex offenders to slope day, it seems almost everything of interest to me offends someone at Cornell University. You’ll also find I’m not always right, either:

And when Bäck discovered and reported on the Slope Day performers, he also claimed to have discovered their set lists. In fact the songs he found were just songs that the artists were famous for, not songs to be performed, and his mistake was quickly pointed out in his comments first by a skeptical reader and then by the Vice Chair of the Slope Day Programming Board.

When I wrote about the official slope day bands, in my tired state I confused a suggested listening list with the lineup, and was quickly corrected. That’s exactly why I have comments–for when I screw up!

However, while there are hundreds of blogs by Cornell students, there are only a handful of blogs about Cornell. If you run a Cornell-related blog, or are a Cornell student with a blog and an RSS feed, leave a note in the comments. I’m thinking pulling together a 9rules-esque CU aggregator might be useful.

2 Responses to “What are you reading?”

1. Matthew Nagowski says:

   5/3/2006 at 6:14 pm

   Sadly, it doesn’t seem that too many people are interested in dedicating their time to a full-time blog about Cornell.

   Reply
2. Ruth says:

   5/6/2006 at 8:00 pm

   I feel bad that I rarely read your Cornell blog even though I am a good friend of yours. I think you are imparital when you reported the issue, and I believe this is the best way for people to learn something from the unfortunate death…

   Reply