(转载)选大学了？请看“上大学”网

选

择大学时可以对学校进行多种形式的考察，比如探访校园、研究各个学校的网站。不过多年来，众多高中学生和家长只有购买那种大厚本且价格高昂的大学指南，才能同时获取各个大学的综合资讯。奇怪的是，这类指南根本没有网上版本。

不过，现在终于出现了一个免费网站，由全职编辑负责管理，内容由在校大学生提供，真实反映了当下的大学生活。网站提供的资讯不仅仅是文字和数位，而且还有多数学校的大量相片和视频录影，对同一所学校感兴趣或者有其他共同点的人，还可以在网站上建立起小小的社交网路。

也就是说，这是一个YouTube和 Facebook时代的大学资讯网站。

该网站的网址是Unigo.com（Unigo意为“上大学”），其运营费用均来自广告，上网无需任何花费。虽然创立的时间只有短短几个月，却已经涵盖了 250所学院和大学，平均每所学校都有几十篇学生创作的评论、照片及视频。借助网站先进的搜索引擎，报考大学的人士可以仔细搜索所有这些材料，找到自己合用的东西。比如，你可以查到有关一位持保守政治观点的亚裔美籍女考生的所有内容。

最近我一直在试用这个网站，感觉很不错。根据我看到的那些学校介绍，我觉得该网站既保留了学生上传内容那种直白坦率的特色，又有足够的专业素质来剔除那些太过偏颇或不准确的言论，在二者之间取得了很好的平衡。

该网站的创建者年仅26岁，以前是制作那种纸质大学指南的，他说网站共有19名全职编辑，并有一个由300名代理人组成的网路负责撰写学校介绍。这些代理人遍布全国各所大学，搜集各自所在学校学生提供的材料。据网站称，首批250所大学的资讯是由1万5千多名学生提供的。

也有一些评论、照片及视频不期而至，这些最终也要由网站编辑把关。

每篇大学介绍的开头都是一段编辑撰写的概述，篇幅相当长，其中有学校的基本资讯、相关统计资料和排名，还引用了大量来自学生的评论。

不过，Unigo网站学校介绍的核心还是那些学生自创的内容，其形式多种多样。比如，网站介绍密歇根大学的内容有92篇学生撰写的评论，有些洋洋数千字；35幅照片；36段视频；10篇学生撰写的“文档”。“文档”通常是由校园记者撰写，内容涉及学校的体育活动、对附近餐厅的评论，等等。

Unigo 网站上最有趣的内容要数视频，观者可以借助视频看到这些学校的在校生和校园，而这在一般的大学指南中通常并未涵盖。多数视频都很短，有些仅仅是为了回答某个问题，比如“这所学校的强项或弱项是什么？”。不过，也有一些会针对某个问题提出自己的观点，比如，哪类学生在学校里最如鱼得水或最格格不入。还有些视频可以带你简单参观校园或宿舍。

我看到有一段学生视频就是带你走了一趟大学城的主街。还有一些视频讲了学校的知名度，或视频拍摄者讲述为什么自己会选择这所学校。有一段视频讲述了拍摄者在大一时犯下的最严重错误（他选了“古典神学”课程，但觉得这门课很乏味，就没有用心学，结果拿了个不及格）。

我还无意中发现了克拉克森大学（Clarkson University）一个学生上传的一段说唱视频。这所大学位于纽约的波茨坦，Unigo目前还没有该大学的相关介绍。这位学生通过说唱的形式对这所学校的学生、建筑以及天气品头论足了一番。

Unigo网站上还有一些针对一般性问题的文章，内容包括什么规模的大学最适合你、如何通过校园游来充分了解一所学校，等等。

网站编辑会遮罩有关人身攻击以及色情的内容，但是不会拦截那些负面评论。实际上，网站还会刻意挑出那些针锋相对的论点。很多学生对学校的评价都是正面、热情洋溢的，不过也有很多对于学校的社交活动、费用、伙食、师资、宿舍等等提出了抱怨。

对于创办时间如此之短的一家网站而言，其内容的丰富程度已经是非常惊人了，不过，缺点和问题也还是有的。各所学校的介绍材料比例有欠均衡。比如，纽约瓦萨学院（Vassar College）的评论文章多达117篇，视频有42段，而规模大得多的堪萨斯大学（University of Kansas）却只有45篇评论和三段视频。找到网站的深度搜索功能不太容易，因为主页上没有明显的标示。你也无法很快地对各所大学做出比较。此外，虽然学生家长可以免费使用该网站，网站中却没有任何针对家长的栏目。

另外，还有很多学校未被网站收录。首批250所大学是通过数月的调研和向学生征稿“筛选”出来的。Unigo网站有信心收揽更多的学校，但这一点尚需拭目以待。

尽管有这些缺点，Unigo网站还是堪称典范，它表明，用户提供的内容能使一个人们关心的重大问题变得更精彩，而同时仍能让网站保持其编辑水准。

转自：http://chinese.wsj.com/gb/20090305/ptk090915.asp?source=blog by Walter S Mossberg

Research on choosing colleges takes many forms, including visiting campuses and studying the schools' Web sites. But for a lot of high-school students and their parents, finding a centralized resource containing information about numerous schools still means buying one of the thick, costly printed guides to college that have been around for years. The Web versions of these books are surprisingly dry.

But there's a new, free Web site that, while overseen by paid editors, is built on lively content submitted by current students at the colleges. The information isn't just words and numbers, but includes numerous photos and videos for most schools. You also can create a small social network of people interested in the same schools or who share other common traits.

In other words, this is a college-information resource built for the age of YouTube and Facebook.

The site, Unigo.com, costs nothing to use and supports itself with ads. Although it's only a few months old, it already covers about 250 colleges and universities, and claims to average dozens of student-created reviews, photos and videos for each college. Its sophisticated search engine lets applicants comb all this material to find just what applies to them. For example, Unigo would let you see all content relevant to an Asian-American female applicant with conservative political views.

I've been testing Unigo, and I like it. In the sampling of college profiles I read, the site seems to have struck a good balance between the immediacy and candor of student submissions, and the professionalism needed to weed out wildly biased or inaccurate claims.

The site, founded by a 26-year-old who formerly created printed college guides, says it employs 19 full-time editors. This team uses information from a nationwide network of 300 representatives on campuses to create each college's profile. Each representative rounds up contributions from others on campus, so that the site claims that over 15,000 students contributed to the profiles of the first 250 colleges.

Reviews, photos and videos can also be submitted out of the blue, and these are also eventually reviewed by the editors.

Each profile starts with a fairly long editor-written overview, liberally sprinkled with comments from students and accompanied by basic information, statistics and rankings.

But the heart of Unigo's look at each college is student-created, in multiple forms. For instance, the site's section on the University of Michigan includes 92 written student reviews, some running to thousands of words; 35 photos; 36 videos; and 10 student-written 'documents.' The latter are often by campus journalists and cover things like athletics or critiques of nearby restaurants.

The videos are the most interesting part of Unigo, because they provide a look at current students and at the campus that isn't often captured in standard guides. Most of the videos are fairly short, some only containing the answer to a single question like 'What's the best or worst thing about this school?' But others include opinions on issues like what kinds of students fit in best or worst on campus, or minitours of the campus or of typical dorms.

One student video I watched was a walk down the main street of the college town. Others are reflections on the school's reputation, or on why the student chose one school over another. Another was about a student's biggest freshman-year mistake (he took Classical Mythology, found it boring, didn't do the work and flunked the course.)

I stumbled on a rap video submitted by a student from Clarkson University, which doesn't yet have a review on Unigo, in which the rapper comments on the alumni, the architecture and the weather at the Potsdam, New York, school.

Unigo also contains articles on general topics, such as how to decide what size of college is best for you, and how to get the most out of a college tour.

While the editors ban personal attacks and nudity, they don't bar negative comments. Unigo deliberately seeks out pro and con opinions. Many of the student submissions are enthusiastically positive, but plenty are negative comments on campus social life, the costs, the food, the faculty, the dorms and other topics.

The site feels surprisingly full for such a young venture, but it has some quirks and issues. Coverage is uneven. For instance, Vassar College in New York boasts 117 reviews and 42 videos, while the much larger University of Kansas has only 45 reviews and three videos. Finding the detailed search feature can be clumsy, because it's not obvious on the home page. You can't generate a quick comparison among colleges, and the site lacks any parent-oriented sections, although parents are free to use it.

Finally, there are just loads of colleges that aren't yet included. The first 250 schools were 'seeded,' with months of research and solicitation of student content. Unigo is confident it can get more schools, but only time will tell.

Still, Unigo is a good example of how user-generated content can do a lot to enhance an important topic, and still keep editorial standards.

ZT from ：http://chinese.wsj.com/gb/20090305/ptk090915.asp?source=blog by Walter S Mossberg