Gator Nation goes online

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
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<p>Gator Nation goes online</p>

<p>By CHAD SMITH
Alligator Writer</p>

<p>After students go start a Fortune 500 company, go write the great American novel and go to Mars, UF has yet another mission lined up for them - go online. </p>

<p>GoGatorNation.com is the latest extension of UF's Gator Nation marketing campaign. The new Web site, which is due to launch Saturday, will allow people to post videos and photos about their experiences at UF. </p>

<p>The Web site will cost about $50,000, said Joe Hice, UF's associate vice president for marketing and public relations. That money will come from food and drink sales on UF's campus. </p>

<p>The site will be an "interactive playground for members of the Gator Nation," Hice said. </p>

<p>Visitors can upload their own "Go Gators" videos to the Web site, and there will also be a message board for alumni, students and Gator fans to discuss the university. </p>

<p>"It's really social networking at its finest," Hice said. </p>

<p>Two multimedia companies - 352 Media Group and the UF Digital Worlds Institute - are collaborating on the project with the Fletcher Martin marketing firm. </p>

<p>Peter VanRysdam, vice president of marketing for 352 Media Group, said GoGatorNation.com is "definitely a much more interactive site than most sites out there." </p>

<p>The Atlanta Gator Club, a group of UF alumni and supporters, made videos for the debut. </p>

<p>David Bressman, a veterinarian from Atlanta, has already posted a video on site in which he dons scrubs and tells viewers to "go heal an animal." Desiree Miller, of Roswell, Ga., stands on a film set telling viewers to "go win an Emmy." </p>

<p>The site's official launch Saturday at 8 p.m. is just in time for the football game against the University of Tennessee. A commercial featuring the Web site's address will air during the game. </p>

<p>Once the site launches, visitors can learn more about campus activities and UF's contribution to the world outside of Gainesville, Hice said. </p>

<p>Television and radio advertisements can't fully convey UF's accomplishments, he added. </p>

<p>"You can't talk about the academic excellence or the research in 30 seconds," he said. </p>

<p>The Web site will also feature "orange-and-blue nuggets" - tidbits of UF information that will pop up within videos on the site. One nugget could mention two UF alumni who are astronauts, Hice said. </p>

<p>The Gator Nation marketing efforts have cost UF about $800,000 to date, Hice said. The ad campaign began in 2005 and is part of Machen's goal to make UF a Top 10 university. </p>

<p>It's important for other schools to know about UF's achievements if the university wants to be ranked as a top public institution, Hice said. </p>

<p>"All this stuff will get people thinking about the university and talking about the university," he said. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060913website.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060913website.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>This is actually a pretty cool idea. As (hopefully) an incoming freshman of the graduating class of '07 i'll be looking forward to this</p>

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<p>Next, we hurl a yeah-that's-totally-worth-it DART at GoGatorNation.com, UF's new "interactive playground" for students and alumni. "Go to UF," ads on the Web site say - and then "go write the great American novel!" Or "go to Mars!" Inspiring. Better yet, "go win an Emmy!" </p>

<p>Here at the Alligator, we've got a better idea: Bernie Machen, go to hell. GoGatorNation.com is the latest effort in Machen's marketing campaign, which also brought UF a new logo and slogan. The total cost so far? Eight hundred thousand dollars. </p>

<p>Think about it. With that much money, you could pay for 33 National Merit scholarships - the old kind, before UF cut the awards by 80 percent. You could hire at least a dozen professors. You could even buy every undergraduate at UF a pizza. Twice! But we got a Web site instead. So check out the "interactive playground" this weekend, but be careful - Bernie Machen might beat you up and steal your lunch money. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060915eddy.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060915eddy.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>The Alligator is a disgrace.. </p>

<p>Condoleezza Rice cartoon
In response to Kanye West’s statement “ George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” during A Concert for Hurricane Relief in September 2005, Marlette drew a cartoon published in The Alligator that depicted West holding up a life-sized Joker card in front of Condoleezza Rice. The card says "The Race Card" and the cartoon Rice has her arms crossed in disgust, telling West, “Nigga please!”</p>

<p>The use of the term nigga, a direct comment on Rice being criticized as a “house nigga” by the black press [source?], drew immediate criticism from black student organizations on campus.</p>

<p>Marlette responded a few days later with the same cartoon, however this time Rice's phrase "Nigga please!" was replaced with "As per the cultural standard of African American entertainers deriding each other using a racial and/or ethnic context, I would like to address you in the same way. You are a rapper who constantly uses terminology denigrating to the African-American community. I am an African American and close friends with President Bush; hence, Bush does not hate black people. Please."</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alligator%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alligator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>So if the Alligator is a disgrace, why do you continue to post random articles from it on this board? </p>

<p>Please don't ever bring up the Condoleeza Rice cartoon again. Even when put into context (which both you and Wikipedia neglected to do), it's been done to death.</p>

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<p>Isn't this more of an in-house squabble. What is the point in airing our differences in front of potential students? FYI: I am Pro-UF, however that doesn't necessarily translate into meaning that I totally agree with everything that is going on at Tigert.</p>

<p>But you are right, the Alligator has some good information.</p>

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<p>Just trying to show a different point of view.</p>

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<p>I can understand where you are coming from. Heck, I still have contempt remembering when my party got completely destroyed (during my Senior year) by the Gator Party.</p>

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<p>Maybe it's me...but I really don't see anything of value in that Gator Nation web site. What...it's just a place to upload photos and videos...with no meaningful indexing structure? I don't see anything resembling a UF virtual playground. I don't get it.</p>

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<p>rogracer, it's definitely not just you.</p>

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<p>I think its a work in progress. Hopefully itll eventually be organized into something a little more significant. What I think is useful from that website though is if they turn it into an official and frequented forums.</p>

<p>You could find out anything from something for sale, tutoring, parties, events, etc.</p>

<p>Any website that can channel such a massive database of users (the users in question would of course be UF students and even possibly alumni).</p>

<p>Imagine this CC forum with actual daily activity. I think it has promise if it is executed accurately</p>

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<p>Ruo, we already have several well-used channels for all of those things. None of them cost the university $50,000.</p>

<p>In fact, none of them cost the university anything.</p>