“The CUNY Academic Commons: Building the Social University” – March 2, 2011 – Kristjiana Gong – In Yale University’s Collaborative Learning Centerblog, Kristjiana Gong describes a meeting with the Commons’ own Matt Gold and Boone Gorges in which the Commons was showcased as a way to build a “social university.” …transparency in development and support […]

February 26, 2011 – Benjamin Allen Campbell over at The College of Education at the University of Florida gave a great shout-out to the Commons, noting how it is: …a digital hub for the disparate faculty who are scattered around 23 colleges in the 5 Burroughs” and how it “has grown up in a very big way.

“The CUNY Academic Commons: fostering faculty use of the social web“ February, 2011 – Matt Gold and George Otte The authors published a case study in the journal On the Horizon, chronicling the steps they took to develop and implement the Commons. … open and participatory forms of academic social spaces within the CUNY system encourage […]

“15 Go-To Places for WordPress and BuddyPress” WPMU.org, 2011 Siobhan Ambrose The CUNY Academic Commons was commended for its BuddyPress work: As well as releasing a number of significant BuddyPress plugins, they also post regularly with BuddyPress Tips and Hacks. As a large BuddyPress network they produce some insightful and useful content that you should […]

“Mashing Up the Institution: Teacher as Bricoleur” The Radical Teacher, 2011 Larry Handley explores how technology can either reinforce centralization, standardization, and rationalization, or open up “new spaces and practices of creativity, knowledge, and communications.” He cites the Commons as an example of how networks can be hacked together for learning rather than profit: …the […]

“The 20 Most Outstanding BuddyPress sites of 2010“ December, 2010 In BPInspire, Jerome Degl’innocenti recently honored the CUNY Academic Commons by putting it in its list of the Top 20 BuddyPress sites! The sites featured … each created a strong community, demonstrate excellent custom development and are rich in design creativity.

“Internal Social Networks May Help Break Down Institutional Silos” October 1, 2010 – Richard Nantel Brandon Hall Research’s Newletter/BlogWorkPlace Learning Today featured the CUNY Academic Commons efforts to use social networking to break down institutional silos. Institutional silos are a reality of all large organizations; whether in academia, the private sector, or government. Internal social […]

“New College Social Networks, Unlike Facebook, Foster Academic Interaction” October 10, 2010 –Travis Kaya In its “Technology” column, The Chronicle of Higher Education featured CUNY Academic Commons and University of Pennsylvania’s Open Learning Commons as premiere “learning communities.” Universities are turning to social networking to create online learning communities that mix serious academic work, and connections among […]

“CUNY Social Network Mixes Scholarship With Facebook-Style Friendship” September 29, 2010 –Travis Kaya CUNY Academic Commons was featured in “Wired Campus” column of the Chronicle for Higher Education. Rather than setting the Academic Commons in stone, the committee [on Academic Technology] decided that it would leave the platform design—and the source code—open for user input, […]