A few weeks ago I received a voice-mail message from Athalia Nakula, a staff writer for DVC's student newspaper The Inquirer, asking me if she could interview me for an article she was writing about blogging. I told her I'd be happy to take part. She sent me a series of questions via e-mail, which I promptly answered. Then, a few days later, she wrote me another e-mail saying that the entire focus of the story had changed. Originally she was writing a general story about blogging. After learning about the DVC-in-Italy blog, she decided to change her story to an exclusive on this very blog. I was thrilled!
More questions and answers went back and forth, including a request for names of people who had read the blog regularly. A big thanks to all of you whose quotes appear in the article: Toni, Mallory, Richie (John's mom!), Krista, and my dad. And thanks to all of you who were interviewed but didn't make the cut (those darn space constraints!).
I know that Athalia worked hard on this article, and I really appreciate her efforts and professionalism. The story, which appeared in the November 30 issue, turned out great! Here it is:
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Travel Blogs
Teacher's experiences online
By Athalia Nakula
Staff Writing
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Carolyn Seefer's blog was a "must-read" for anyone wondering what DVC students were up to in Florence last spring.
The business administration instructor started dvc-in-italy.blogspot.com in January to chronicle the "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" of teaching and studying in Italy, from preparation to trip to homecoming.
"I wanted to create a permanent memory of the trip in a format that a variety of people could access," Seefer said.
She wrote about learning Italian, a class field trip to Milan, a day trip to Cinque Terre, and a student reunion in North Beach, among other entries.
"Now that we're home, the blog will remain available online so we can relive our experiences anytime we want," she said.
English instructor Antonia Fannin, who taught with Seefer in Florence, said "Carolyn really raised the bar with respect to communicating with the extended community of a study-abroad program."
Fannin, who was pictured with her father and her daughter in Seefer's blog, said she enjoyed reading about her trips and seeing pictures of their students.
Mallory Cotton, one of Seefer's study-abroad students, said she read the blog regularly while in Italy, as did her parents.
"I really liked the fact that my parents could see everything without me having to do the work," she said, "Carolyn did an amazing job and her efforts were well appreciated by all the students."
Richie Bologni, the mother of a student on the trip, said she read Seefer's blog every other day.
Besides e-mail and occasional phone calls, Bologni said, "The blog was essentially my only means of finding out what my son and the other students were up to in Italy."
Dean of Business Krista Johns said she also read Seefer's blog regularly.
"I liked Carolyn's mix of facts about study abroad and Florence, her inclusion of stories about her experience and that of her students and her pictures, Johns said.
The blog was also a hit with Seefer's family. Frank Brault, her father, said he read it every day.
Many of his friends were planning trips to Italy and used her blog as part of their research on what to do, see, and eat, Brault said.
Seefer said her blog stands out because it "contains lots of honest tips that you'd never find in a travel guide."
While keeping the blog up to date was time-consuming, she said it was worth the effort.
And she admits to being "hooked" on blogging.
Seefer discusses them in her classes, incorporated them into textbooks she recently wrote, and reads several daily on business and education issues.
Seefer's comments about Italy were published Oct. 21 in "Just Back From, " a regular column in the San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday Travel section.
"We made the big time," she wrote two days later on her blog.
