Originally published in the February 8, 2007 edition of The Lantern. It is posted here unedited.
A handful of Ohio State students are vying to let the world read their diaries, and the university is willing to pay for them.
Well, sort of.
The OSU Office of Undergraduate Admissions is spearheading a new marketing program in which selected students will keep an online diary about life at OSU. The program is geared toward prospective students who want to catch a glimpse of life on campus, said Preston Pickett, creator and coordinator of Buckeye Diaries.
“Students these days are incredibly tech-savvy,” Pickett said, which is why he proposed the idea of an online student diary forum almost two years ago.
“This is the best way to get an honest representation of student life first hand,” he said.
What initially started as a test program between eight selected students has now become public, with open applications for students interested in writing about their experiences. The launch of a new undergraduate admissions Web site in December allowed the “pilot” diaries to be posted publicly for the first time, Pickett said.
“We’ve had students posting entries regularly for almost two years,” he said. “It’s nice that the public has access to them now.”
A few of the students stopped posting during the time largely because there was no audience reading their entries.
Rosemary Blackburn-Smith, however, has written regularly since 2005. She was asked to document her study-abroad trip to France online, she said, and she posted her first entry on her first night in Paris.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that I’m here,” she wrote. “I’ve dreamed of coming to France my whole life.”
Blackburn-Smith, a senior in comparative studies, works for the Undergraduate Admissions Office, calling prospective students to talk about OSU.
“Students are always asking about campus life,” she said. “With the diaries, they can just read an entry and have much more insight than a 10 minute phone call.”
The question of censorship has been raised by many people, Pickett said. Despite this, the university has decided not to edit the diaries, but offered a warning on the application for those who applied: “Remember… your mother may be reading.”
When they were initially asked to keep their diaries, the university wasn’t offering the students compensation for their work. However, that is one new alteration to the program that has been made, Pickett said. Students will now earn $5 for every post submitted.
“We’re hoping the compensation will motivate the participants a little more,” he said.
There are 52 students who submitted their application for the program and 12 will be chosen to replace the current Buckeye Diary keepers. Pickett said he’ll decide by the end of February who is chosen.
Terence Lee, a sophomore in computer science, was one of the 52 applicants. The Cincinnati native simply likes to write, he said, which prompted him to apply.
“I’ve never had an audience to write for, so this seemed really cool,” he said.
Mariam Mwase, a junior in computer science and another applicant, had a different perspective.
“Most people think all Ohio State students are huge sports fans and party all the time,” she said. “I applied because I want people to see that that’s not true.”
Either way, both students agreed the compensation wasn’t the only motivating factor.
“It’s nice,” Mwase said. “But I’d do it for free.”
