By Janus Boye
Together with Joyce Peralta who leads digital communications at McGill University in Montreal
With “Seeds of Change” as the conference theme, PSEWeb 2024 focused on innovation and progress. Held at Olds College of Agriculture & Technology, Alberta (<1 hour from Calgary), it was a perfect venue to escape the crowded big city life and dive in for some deeper thinking on how those pushing digital forward in higher education are thinking differently.
The event brought together digital communicators and marketers from higher education, and the program was well curated and avoided the current trap of only talking AI. Instead it was packed with sessions covering most of the moving parts at the moment, including sessions on social media, internal communications, digital marketing, journey mapping and reducing your university’s digital carbon footprint.
I gave a presentation on how we might make digital smarter, safer and more sustainable based on insights from our peer group meetings in both North America and Europe.
Before moving onto what I covered in my talk (see further down for recording and slides), let me share a few other highlights from my conference experience.
Takeaways from PSEWeb 2024
Upon arrival, these small ‘let’s chat’ signs were put on the breakfast tables, so that everyone could easily join a given topic, start the conversation and expand their network.
Conferences come in all shapes and forms, and what I really liked about this one was that it was community organised and had a very friendly and helpful feel to it.
From the arrival on day #1, where you could enjoy breakfast at different tables each sign posted with a suggested topic for discussion and all throughout, it was held in a welcoming and inclusive spirit. This really benefits everyone, making for a more conversational environment and in particular helps those joining their very first conference.
I’ll highlight just a few sessions from the two days, and it makes sense to start with the charismatic and fun opening by the local author and psychologist Jody Carrington, who gave a memorable keynote on reconnecting humans in a disconnected world. Her take on the art of reconnection was refreshing and for a conference focused on digital, I enjoyed an opening focused on what Jody referred to as the foundation of every healthy, authentic relationship. In other words - it was a talk about culture and change. And on emotions - as she said:
The opening keynote by Jody Carrington : Reconnecting in a disconnected world
“Emotions won’t kill you. Not talking about them might”
The real AI we want, according to Jody, is Authentic Interaction.
Another keynote talk that I quite enjoyed was the opening on Day #2, which was about how social media is no longer for interns. Held by Jenny Li Fowler, Director of Social Media Strategy at MIT, her main point was that given its importance, SoMe has now graduated into the land of senior management. Interestingly, she mentioned that MIT are now also on BeReal alongside the seven (!) other platforms they are using (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, YouTube and X). Besides the point on having a seat at the table, she also focused on data, knowing your audience and realigning your job description if you work with SoMe.
On the topic of sustainable digital leadership, Simon Fairbanks joined us from the UK and gave a talk on how to reduce your university’s digital carbon footprint. His presentation was quite extensive, but with many good points, including his “Think before you think before you print” quote. His point being that while reducing unnecessary print is always a good thing, switching from print to digital also comes with a carbon cost. As we have covered in past members’ calls, digital content is (also) damaging the environment, and I liked his 5 Rs of the waste hierarchy (refuse, reuse, reduce, repair, retire), and how he applied it to digital work, e.g. refuse to create new content, reuse existing images, reduce unused websites and so on. Let’s go green when we go online!
Gavin Colborne from Little Forest in conversation with Joyce Peralta from McGill
Journey mapping is not a new thing, but it’s still very interesting to hear how organisations are working with these helpful maps. Joyce Peralta from McGill University in Toronto explored the missing opportunities journey maps present. Expanding on the traditional scope for journey maps, she shared not just how to use them to inform and transform your content strategy, but also how to use them as a tool for change management and shifting organisational culture. A resource that can foster empathy, encourage collaboration and maybe even break down those silos! For a closer look, view the slides (PDF).
Beyond the sessions during the two conference days, PSEWeb also hosted informal social events in the evening. I didn’t join the cornhole contest, but it was certainly a popular activity!
Making digital smarter, safer and more sustainable
In my presentation, I drew on insights from higher education and beyond and opened with my view that it’s a confusing time to work in digital. So many moving parts — regulation and AI just to name two of the big ones — but also a sensitive and tricky time with many campuses involved in political conflict.
I quoted Web pioneer Steven Pemberton on how “There’s no I in AI (yet)”. AI is a confusing term as it implies intelligence, which is not really the case. At least not yet.
Staying on AI, I also drew on the insights by CMS Experts member Tom Cranstoun as shared in his piece Rethinking AI’s Role in Content Management. To quote Tom:
“Given the translation, bias, regulation challenges and lack of trust in AI, one needs to employ reviewers and editors to correct the content; AI is better suited for consuming content. Let’s think that the current state of AI creating content is a beta experiment”
Moving on from AI, I covered how (European) regulation is changing the game. It’s not only GDPR, it’s also the new EAA (European Accessibility Act) and the DSA (Digital Services Act). And in Canada they have Bill 96 (promoting the use of French) and in the US there’s much more. My main point being: You need to stay on top of this, and it’s not about compliance as you may think — it’s about trust!
Then I moved onto creating a safer Web. I covered WordPress as an example of a platform that gets hacked all the time, but that doesn’t mean it is less safe than other platforms. More to the contrary, but the bigger point is that the devil is in the detail or actually, it’s in the implementation and you need to have security high on your agenda from the beginning of any project. Consider also all those micro-sites, landing pages etc. you have out there - might there be a forgotten site somewhere that could pose a risk?
A topic that’s not always getting the attention it deserves is search. And search is changing right now. Google has been the default for almost two decades and many have also given up on site search, but now something is happening; Google is still important, yet you also have customers, students or other stakeholders searching using Copilot, ChatGPT, Perplexity or even TikTok. If a prospective student wants to learn about campus life, do you think they want to go through a page of search results on Google, or might they start on TikTok?
As my last topic, I moved onto sustainability. It’s not just about reducing carbon emissions, it’s also about inclusion, equality and much more, but for this talk I did mostly cover how the Internet runs on coal, and how we can improve our websites. I referred to the free Ecograder service, which scores websites and offers advice to make them both greener and faster. Circling back to regulation, I predict that digital leaders will very soon be met by reporting requirements when it comes to emissions and this will further drive more attention to this topic. You can get ahead by making sustainability a part of your procurement.
You can download the slides (PDF) from my talk or even lean back and enjoy the entire recording below.
Learn more about digital trends
The conversation about digital trends and best practices naturally continues in our peers groups and conferences. At the upcoming CMS Connect 24 conference in Montreal on August 6 - 7, there’s also a few higher ed speakers, including Joyce Peralta from McGill whowill give a talk titled Digital governance and standards can be more fun than you think and Kate DeForest from SUNY Oswego will talk about accessibility and more in a session titled Piecing It Together.
In Europe, don’t miss the HE Connect 24 conference in Leeds in September and the Boye Aarhus 24 conference in November, where we have a dedicated higher education conference track.