YouthMedia

Youth Media recently sent round a demo of a widget which sits on the desktop, letting you deliver news (and adverts) with various other bits of functionality. We were looking at it because contacting all students, to let them know about planned service interruptions, changes to opening hours, etc, is one of the things we struggle with. It doesn't seem to matter how many notices you put up or how eye catching you try to make them. We have plasma display screens around campus, but one student at a focus group commented that because they were bright and glossy she assumed they were just adverts and ignored them. We have logon notices, which are plain and simple,  but I think a lot of people just click 'Finish' without giving them a second glance (including me, especially when there has been a spate of them).
 
I guess the problem is we are trying to communicate information people don't really want to know. They might need to know it, but that's not nearly as interesting. I don't think there is a simple answer. I certainly don't think there is any one communication channel that will miraculously get through to everyone. (Of course, if you know what that miraculous method is, please share!) So perhaps plugging away using every channel available is the way to go.  After all, once you have the message, adding it to web pages, printing a few posters, etc, isn't particularly time consuming. Of course, getting the right message, in plain, non-technical English, is a different matter altogether...