Susie in her business suit

Susie had a temporary web presence in spring 2011, when we hosted our annual regional conference for the SCWCA. Playing the role of virtual conference host, Susie moderated a blog we set up for conference participants and wrote some advice about creating a conference proposal.

Susie also plays a role in our writing center publications. We publish a newsletter about twice a semester and Susie volunteered to write an “Ask Susie” column. When we collaborated on a booklet about academic honesty, Susie’s advice column definitely translated.

In addition to her work for us in the chat module, Susie’s most long-standing web presence has been her Facebook page. Ellen has discussed how creating the Facebook page helped to develop Susie’s personality, but once that was done, the Facebook page allowed Susie to show her 308 fans the multiple sides of her personality: You can visit her page to see her riding the roller coaster in Kemah or frolicking on the beach during spring break at Corpus Christi. She can be serious too—as you can see in the pic of her studying for finals with Wilde.

Susie’s “friends” page allowed her to post comments about writing, cartoons, and writing center information and to talk with people who often then made writing center appointments or met with her via the chat module. Recently, however, our university’s communications’ office asked us to convert Susie’s page to a fan page for security reasons, so Susie does not have the same virtual flexibility that she once had. Her fans can follow her, but they cannot directly interact with her on her Facebook page. This change prompts an effective segue into a discussion of the potential security issues you might encounter while developing your own virtual writing center tutor.