UC Meetings on Blog and Video, Coming to a Computer Near You

The University has its own Facebook fan page, Twitter feed, and publication that's now updated online daily. But it isn't the only Harvard institution looking to release news on its own platform.

The Undergraduate Council launched the blog "The UC Juicy" yesterday, which will try to give students more of a sense of what the UC does. Though the UC had a blog on its official Web site for the past two years, no one read it. UC President Andrea R. Flores '10 explained that having a blog on a separate platform hopefully will make the blog more accessible than the previous one, which she admitted that "nobody updated" (except for Student Relations committee chair Daniel V. Kroop '10, occasionally).

Flores said she hopes that the blog, which is being led by the Student Relations Committee, will be "more personalized" than its predecessor. In addition to previews and summaries of UC meetings, it will include profiles of UC members and "joke posts" about Flores' love of lolcats.

As of now, the blog still is an embryo, commemorating the death of Geocities and boasting pretty Harvard pictures. Its most popular tags are "J-Term" and "the internet"—a bit reminiscent of the comatose GossipGeek, which featured animated gifs and other older internet throwbacks.

More "Juicy" info—including the coming launch of "UC TV"—after the jump.

The UC already has its own Twitter feed (with 49 followers, making it 188 percent more popular than Harvard's Gen Ed Twitter feed) and is soon launching its own Facebook fan page. But in a few weeks, it will launch its boldest foray into the media yet: "UC TV" via HUTV, featuring broadcasts of UC meetings and interviews with UC members, according to Flores.

Flores said that since UC meetings this year will be dealing with budget cuts, it will be more important than usual "to make us more transparent and visible to students."

"Instead of waiting for that one Crimson article that summarizes everything, I want people to know that this a process; advocacy does take time," Flores said. "The UC is not just for people who want to play politics. It's people who work very hard...We don't just go to sleep until the presidential election and then talk about the issues."

But rather than just build a wall of good news, Flores said that she's aiming for the blog and other online outlets to increase the UC's transparency and accountability.

Though the UC presidential election looms just a couple of weeks away, Flores emphasized that the blog will not discuss the elections—though she said she's planning to announce on the blog that she's holding office hours today for anyone interested in running for president.

The UC is hosting a Halloween-themed launch party for the blog on Friday at 4-5:30 p.m. in Ticknor Lounge. The raffle includes a date with Andrea.