NOW is the time for change
Last week, I assumed the role of editor of publications within University Communications Services and editor-in-chief of the NOW webpage and e-newsletter. My goal is to serve the university community in a manner that meets everyone’s information needs.
My first task has been to study the results of a communications survey, conducted last fall, which asked students, staff and faculty about the university’s communications activities. Our goal was to determine the efficacy of current communications tools with a view to improving them.
We were encouraged by the response rate of 16.79 per cent and by your valuable feedback and comments.
Staff told us that the NOW weekly e-newsletter should inform them about issues affecting Concordia (this was very important at 69 per cent), followed by events and important dates (66 per cent) and student and staff initiatives and other success stories (54 per cent). Some 55 per cent of faculty and 65 per cent of staff rated the NOW e-newsletter as effective at keeping them up-to-date on news about Concordia and more than half of you are satisfied with the e-newsletter’s ability to keep you apprised of events.
Some of your recommendations include tightening up the news items into short bullet points, personalizing the content for individual readers and including a section for staff recognition. You also told us that you want more information about specials on products and services and we have worked to deliver that. For instance, click here to read a recent feature on that subject.
Opinions about when the e-newsletter should be published varied among respondents. So, while taking into account production requirements and the news flow, we are looking at ways of meeting your requests by providing you with news on a regular and ongoing basis.
My task in the coming weeks will be to work with my colleagues to ensure that we fulfill your requests, taking into account all the feedback you gave us. Meanwhile, I invite you to subscribe to our RSS feed to get regular updates when stories are posted online. I also ask you to keep me informed of possible stories and to offer suggestions about how we can serve you better. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you.
Stephanie Whittaker
Editor of publications, University Communications Services
Related link:
• NOW RSS feeds