Western Courier

Issue date: 3/29/06 Section: News

Western's Alumni Association will be releasing WesternNation, the university's take on Internet networking, May 1 to recent graduates and alumni.

Taking a cue from the rising popularity of online social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, Western Illinois University's Alumni Association is developing a social network of its own. Geared toward alumni and soon-to-be grads, the network is expected to be up and running by May 1. The project is the brainchild of several Alumni Association staff.

"The reason we want to have this is because we are trying to find ways to connect our alumni back to the university," said Amy Spelman, associate vice president of alumni programs. "It's an important goal of the strategic plan. And to make it work we need to connect with all 95,000 alumni. This is a great way to do it because we think it will attract everybody, but particularly the young graduates who are just like 10 years out." Spelman said.

 "It was really spurred from Dan Hendricks, who is our vice president of advancement and public services," said Amanda Shoemaker, assistant director of alumni programs. Shoemaker said she, Hendricks and Spelman attended a conference known as Council of Advancement and Support of Education.

A group known as Affinity Engines promoted inCircle, the online social network they have created.

"I sat down with (Spelman) and (Hendricks) at the conference and we talked about it. (Hendricks) assigned me to develop a task force. I brought people from across the campus from all different kinds of expertise," Shoemaker said.

She added they addressed three questions: whether or not the Web site would be feasible for the school, if inCircle was the best vehicle for Western's social network and what the positives and negatives of having the social network would be.

Shoemaker said after they had worked out all their questions they approached Affinity Engines about the legal issues that went along with having a social network.

"During this time (Shoemaker) was doing all kinds of research," Spelman said.  "She looked at MySpace and Facebook and made sure this was an appropriate product and the negatives that went along with those sites would not be part of our site."

Spelman also said Shoemaker checked with schools like the University of Florida, Stanford and Bryn Mawr who already use the product to see how they like it.

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