The Instructional Technology department at CSU-Pueblo has implemented a new means of mass email communication for the campus. Email Digest, a centralized digest that contains information about events on campus, officially replaced the previous system Aug. 12.
Prior to the rollout of Email Digest a little over a week ago, only certain employees who were designated with emailing privileges could distribute mass emails to students, staff and faculty.
“We didn’t have a streamlined way to get messages out to people,” said Adam Pocius, manager of Instructional Technology at CSU-Pueblo.
Due to the sheer volume of these emails, some would never reach the intended recipients or they would simply get buried along the way. Often, attachments were duplicated during transmission, which caused the server to get bogged down with the burden of processing them.
In implementing the new system, Pocius said the intent was never to stop communications or mute anyone from sending emails.
Rather, he said the goal was to streamline communications across campus, while still allowing everyone to get their messages out in one format across campus.
When the need arose for a more efficient system at CSU-Pueblo, President Lesley Di Mare pulled together an ad hoc committee of representatives from various departments across campus, including Pocius, who was nominated as chairman.
“We reached out to other universities and they’re doing the same thing but it’s not as in-depth as ours,” Pocius said.
The intent of the digest is to minimize the need for distributing mass emails with large attachments. The poster provides a snippet of information via an electronic form to the digest, along with a link to a website to access more information.
Under this system, information is distributed via one central access point where the intended reader can scan over relevant information that pertains to him or her.
The Email Digest will not replace official email communication or change existing email policies.
“The goal is to provide a more effective format to distribute streamlined and consistent information on campus,” Pocius said.
The protocol involved in submitting information to the digest requires users to go to www.csupueblo.edu/emaildigest and complete the required fields on the form.
Once the information is submitted, the form goes into a cue where the URL of an external link, if provided, is checked for accuracy.
Content will not be edited, so the sender is responsible for providing accurate information. The sender will receive electronic confirmation of the submittal.
In the digest, post headings are color coded to indicate the intended audience of the message.
Email Digest is a precursor for what the committee hopes will be a subscription based website with channels and categories where members can add information, news and events, along with links to resources available elsewhere on the web.
Notifications of events are currently being posted twice a week. Information related to up and coming events is posted at the beginning of the weekend, while a preview up the next week’s events is posted at the end of the week.
A full-scale web redesign is also scheduled for the spring 2016 semester, Pocius said.
