About UI Now

What is UI Now?

• UI Now is a continuously up-to-date snapshot of what Illinois is doing and producing.
• UI Now is a dynamic (automatically updated) listing of breaking news, feature stories, opportunities and events for public consumption.
• UI Now puts an organizational structure around the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds that the campus is producing.
• UI Now makes it easy for external audiences, including media outlets, to subscribe to campus new feeds. In effect, our news is transmitted to subscribers as it is released. We are no longer dependent on them to browse to our site in search of our news.

Who are its audiences?

• People who work and study on campus know where to find, via the campus website, materials that are pertinent to their lives. The campus community should not be considered the primary audience for this snapshot of Illinois ’s production.
• Off campus audiences are primary: alumni, journalists, and the general public.
• This is not to say that people who work and study on campus will not find UI Now of interest. This will be a place to easily browse news aggregated from across campus. An On Campus desktop will also provide dynamic content that is of interest to the campus, such as CITES updates and Campus Recreation opportunities.

Why is it valuable?

• UI Now communicates to interested audiences, in one central location, the most current information (news, feature stories, and events) organized so that it’s easy to browse.
• Your content in UI Now is marketed by Public Affairs to key audiences, such as alumni and journalists.
• UI Now makes it easy for key external audiences to subscribe to your information feeds so they receive the latest information when you post it, rather than when they browse to it.
• Campus communicators will reach audiences in this new way, and Public Affairs will provide metrics that help prove it.

What content fits there?

• Dynamic content – that is, content that changes often
• Public content – meaning content that is of interest to external audiences (news, feature stories, opportunities and some events)
• Content that reflects the broad excellence and far-reaching relevance of Illinois .