ultoday.com: Send Us Your News

ultoday.com Staff

03/06/2008 06:23 am

Thoughts on Citizen-Journalists and the OpenContent Movement: your articles, photos, letters, and other contributions are welcome.

ultoday.com's essay on The Most Powerful Generation discusses a shift in the world, perhaps the next step in the evolution of democracy: Citizen-investigators. Citizen-analysts. Citizen-writers.

Citizen-journalists.

On the one hand, powerful multinational conglomerates increasingly dominate commercial, political and even social life in the modern world.

On the other hand, there is an equally powerful, but almost entirely unrecognized movement that is meeting the corporations head-on: the OpenSource and OpenContent movements. ultoday.com will examine these movements, and discuss how they empower individuals and communities; and particularly, why Lafayette is perhaps uniquely poised to become a leader in these movements.

In the meantime, but in the spirit of those Openness movements, we intend for ultoday.com to be largely a user-generated platform.

Which only makes sense. First, UL is a University, a citadel of writers and critical thinkers. Second, it is also an exploding University, one that produces many, many more important stories than an army of reporters could ever hope to cover. Third, all University activities face the same peril as research: without publication and recognition, all of the work is for naught.

Given those points, there is only one practicable solution: an OpenContent platform. We will publish anything (reasonable) that you send us.

So we invite the UL community of citizen-scholars to submit articles, announcements, observations and photos-- on research, teaching, students, awards, appointments, events, anything that is happening on campus or within the UL District, or any issues that affect our quality of life here at UL, or in Lafayette, Acadiana, Louisiana, and the world.

Please use our Contact Form for submissions, questions, and suggestions.

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Before coming to UL, Ted Kozman was Project Director for the largest superconductor magnets ever built. He now teaches at UL, and advises Louisiana industry on how to make their facilities more energy efficient. He directs The Industrial Assessment Center, which was just named a National Center of Excellence by the US Department of Energy.

Interview with Dr. Billy Ray Stokes, Part I

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Dr. Julia Frederick, Director of UL's Honor Program

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Interview with Elizabeth Brooks

A few years ago, a student stepped up to work towards making the UL "Horse Farm" a public park for the whole community. While a fierce argument raged through the community, fueled by divisive media commentary, the student heading the effort was meeting politely with President Authément, who welcomed both the student activism and the independence of thought and diversity of opinion, with the open-mindedness, tolerance, and collegiality that the life of the mind demands. She talks about her experiences with ultoday.com.