Photo by: Paige Hendrick
As Hannah DeClerk sits at a computer, she slowly types her name into the google subject bar. She has been afraid of what she might see for months now, but she wants to know if the disrespectful post about her being an dis-loyal girlfriend and a promiscuous sorority girl has been removed. The first seven google hits are about her and she sees the one that she has been fearing.
To her surprise, the post has not been taken down. Despite her countless efforts, even calling a lawyer to contact the website, the post remains for all to see.
"I don't think that they're really is anything else I can do other than prove the post wrong" Hannah said with a smile.
Hannah DeClerk talks about what blogging has done to her reputation.
Video By: Paige Hendrick
Even with Hannah's positive attitude toward this situation, reputations of lives and even schools are feeling the effects of logging. The athletics department of most schools has been the first to do their part to stop this from getting any worse.
Blogging has changed drastically since the 90's. What once was known as running conversations called "threads" is now the widely known term of logging. Recently websites such as juicy campus and facebook have put administrators in a difficult position when controlling their athletes.
How can blogging be controlled? The truth is, there is no clear answer to that question. If someone has a particular problem with a post, they can petition the website to take it down but that is not an easy task, as seen in DeClerk's case.
YouDiligence is a program that coaches can subscribe to in order to do just that. It is considered a social monitoring service that will scan two of the biggest blogging websites out there.
Kimberly Wesphall talks about what the Panhellinic council is doing about these websites.
Video By: Paige Hendrick
The program scours the facebook and myspace pages of athletes for key words. Those key words can be programmed by the coaches to search for anything from illegal activity to profanity, if they so choose.
When a word that has been programmed in the "banned" list appears on an athletes web page, the coach is sent an e-mail to warn them.
The program was introduces at the NCAA's annual convention last winter but KU has yet to jump on that band wagon.
"We do not subscribe to that program as of right now. We trust the athletes to make the right decision but if it gets to out of hand it is a definite possibility", Jim Marchiony, KU Assistant Athletics Director, said.
Chart By: Paige Hendrick
Info From: www.blogworldexpo.com
Picture From:http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007
The program generally runs about $250 per month, with an additional $500 start-up fee. The cost of this program is by no means cheap.
"The older kids on the team kind of show the new ones how it is. We know what we shouldn't say ya know. We just gotta trust that everyone watches what they say so we don't have to be watched all of the time" Tang Bacheyie, a KU football player, said.
The athletic department has done their share in order to help the situation and the Panhellenic society has recently followed in their footsteps as well.
"Juicy Campus has caused so many problems for sororities and it is making us look bad. We're just trying to avoid censoring students" Kimberly Wesphall, KU Panhellinic VP of public relations, said.
Chart by: Paige Henrick
Info From: Technorati
The website has not been banned from all houses on KU's campus as of yet, but Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta have been the first to block the website from their server. Other sororities urge their members to avoid the site and to use discretion when posting anything on line.
"I just want to help people because i know how bad it feels to have these things written about you. I know that the person they portray on line is not me i just have to always keep that in mind" DeClerk said.
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