Here at UCS we’ve been getting complaints about too many sources of information. People are concerned with missing something critical. A common question is, “How am I supposed to keep track of all these different blogs, forums, wikis, and so on?”

The short answer is, you don’t really need to. As long as you’re reading your email, you’re fine.

Here’s the long answer: though official policy hasn’t been set yet, we’re still using email to send any information that is really critical. All these blogs, forums, wikis, and so on are alternatives, designed to give you additional information if you want it, or for specific uses by smaller groups of people.
The blogs are mostly designed for personal communication; some of us write about topics that affect campus, but mostly that’s because we deal with those things as part of our own personal jobs. I would hope that my posts are useful enough so people interested in blogging at WOU will visit my blog regularly; but you aren’t required to. The resource is just there in case you want to take advantage of it.
Speaking for myself, if I post something on my blog that is really vital for people to see, I’ll include a mention of it in the weekly FAQ email (or, as you’ve seen in the last few weeks, I’ll send out a reminder to check blogs even if there is no FAQ for that week.) Other UCS people are also sending out messages on the allfacstaff and/or students email lists, to inform you when they post a blog entry with important information. That way, it’s not your job to check fifteen blogs every day just in case there is something important in one of them.
Of course, if you choose not to read your email list messages, and you miss something, that’s your responsibility. This is just me talking here; it’s not the official UCS policy. We’re meeting you more than halfway by using email for everything critical; you only have to worry about one source of information, so I think it’s only fair that you take advantage of that source.