Friday, April 11, 2008

copyWrite - Historically Innovative


The copyWrite post for today is more copy from the About section - this web page will probably be titled "Cool Facts." Take a quick read through these; whether you're a seasoned member of the W&M community, or a graduating senior, you may find some nifty surprises here.

About W&M
Cool Facts


Founded in 1693, William & Mary is the second oldest educational institution in the U.S.

Four Presidents of the United States benefited from educational programs offered by the College: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler.

Although William & Mary retains its traditional title of "College," it is in reality a small university that offers advanced degrees in several fields.

The average SAT score of William & Mary's incoming first-year students is higher than that of any other Virginia institution.

Phi Beta Kappa, the premier academic honor society in America, was founded by College of William & Mary students in 1776.

William & Mary was the first college in the nation to institute an honor code of conduct for students.

William & Mary is one of only eight U.S. institutions of higher education designated a "Public Ivy." A Public Ivy is a state-assisted institution which offers a superior education at a cost far below that of Ivy League schools.

William & Mary's 12-to-1 student-faculty ratio is among the lowest of national public universities, a factor that helps strengthen the College's traditional commitment to teaching.

Founded in 1842, the William & Mary Society of the Alumni is the sixth oldest such group in the U.S.

Named for its presumed architect, the Sir Christopher Wren Building was completed in 1697 and provided classrooms, library, dining hall and a chapel for generations of William & Mary students. It is the oldest academic building in continuous use in the U.S., and classes are still taught within its walls.

A recent NCAA study shows that only William & Mary and Stanford University reported student-athlete SAT scores of at least 1,000 in eight categories based on gender and sport.

A succession of influential individuals—including President George Washington, President John Tyler, Chief Justice Warren Burger, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger have held the post of Chancellor of the College of William & Mary. In 2006, Sandra Day O'Connor, former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was installed as the College's 23rd Chancellor.

William & Mary has the highest number of per capita Peace Corp volunteers in 2008 who are alumni.

posted by Susan Evans

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So the value-add is that they go from Interesting Facts to Cool facts?

Anonymous said...

It's true that this page in particular was a re-write of existing content. If, however, you look at all the new web copy, I think you will see the "value-add" over the current copy which is bland and often outdated.

http://reweb.blogspot.com/search/label/copyWrite

Anonymous said...

Seriously.. this is a really lame way to get across "cool" facts that are the same as before. Check out what Dartmouth is doing with their "Ask Dartmouth" feature

http://ask.dartmouth.edu/

It's a really cool, interesting, and informative approach that isn't as bland as making a laundry list of facts that everyone already knows.

Oh, by the way, Lake Matoaka is the oldest man-made lake in the western hemisphere.

Anonymous said...

If you look at the details, this is part of the "About W&M" page. Dartmouth also has an "About Dartmouth" page. http://www.dartmouth.edu/home/about/

The About Dartmouth page is mainly a "laundry list of facts that everyone already knows." Almost every College, Organization, and Corporation is going to have something like this on their site.

The key is having other interesting and cool things on the site as well.