Beyond Friending: @cunycommons and the Emergence of the Social University

What role should social networking play in academic communities, and what kinds of collaborations can result from the inclusion of social media in university networks? Using the CUNY Academic Commons – a site created by and for faculty members, graduate students, and administrators from the 23 campuses of the City University of New York – as a case study, Professor Gold will discuss the emergence of a new generation of university-sponsored virtual spaces that foreground social interaction as they attempt to foster collaborative research communities. Though not without complications, such spaces afford an alternate view of the intellectual life of the university, one that has the potential to offer a more engaging vision of academic life at a time when the humanities in particular, and universities more generally, are being asked to demonstrate their value to the wider public.