by Kathy Sucher

It was suggested at the close of the spring semester that a useful teaching tool would be an archive of the video, newspaper coverage, and internal SMC correspondence surrounding Governor Schwartzenegger's keynote speech to SMC's graduating class of 2005. The Faculty Association responded to this call, creating an online archive "Commencement 2005--A Case Study: Free Speech, Political Action, and Economic Realities."

When you look at the website, you will notice that, in addition to its function as an archive, it provides the interactivity of a weblog or "blog", the popular news format currently used by many syndicated journalists and independent bloggers, which allows readers to respond to what they have read. So, if you were so moved, you could respond to anything you read on the site and your response would be visible to all future readers.

Indeed Commencement 2005 is over, as is most of the discussion surrounding it. Other issues however do lie ahead and might benefit from a tapping into the "group mind". The Association therefore would like to invite any and all interested parties to contribute to the next faculty blog--or "flog". Beginning with this issue of the FAB online, there will be a link to the flog at the end of each article where you can easily post a comment (along with your name and email address) which will be viewable to all readers. Think of it as a "Letters to the Editor" column where your letter always gets published!

The Flog is an experiment in using new forms of communication to strengthen our union and in extending campus dialog. We hope you will jump in when you are so moved.

The flogs can be found at: The Flog and SMC Commencement Archive/Flog. Comments can be posted by clicking on the small green link which says "Comments" underneath each article title. Please contact the SMCFA webmaster if you have any questions.