In Namibia, the average life expectancy of an elephant is about 17 years longer than the life expectancy of the average Namibian.

Irene Harvley-Felder, a 2005 Elon graduate, left a cozy Greensboro job to live in the middle of this poverty- and HIV- stricken African desert. She traded take-out Chinese for slaughtering and skinning a goat, and a city skyline for hills, rocks and grass patches.

Why did she make this decision? What was she thinking? Just read her blog to find out.

Harvley-Felder is one of two Elon students who have faithfully blogged their extraordinary experiences abroad on Elon’s E-cast site.

E-cast is a multimedia page maintained on Elon’s Web site that provides links to video and audio clips, photo galleries, podcasts, news feeds and blogs.

Blogs offer commentary on certain issues and can also function as a personal online journal.

Harvley-Felder’s first entry provides the reasons behind her decision to join the Peace Corps.

“I had a vague notion that the scales of justice had been weighted enormously in my favor and I wanted to give back… It appealed to me to be a part of something America is doing that I’m proud of; and I wanted adventure, or at least something more thrilling than copy editing.”

Senior Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown was deployed to the Middle East last summer and chronicled her yearlong tour of duty as a public affairs specialist in Iraq on E-cast.

Both of these women used the power of a blog to express their thoughts and inform the Elon community. Their ideas and experiences crossed the Atlantic and are easily viewed on any Internet user’s computer. They join the growing number of people on campus turning to blogs to reach a wider world.

A blog is a series of articles, displayed in reverse chronological order, maintained on a Web space. It is a free-form medium in which people can type out their thoughts and anyone with an Internet connection can read what they have said.

“A blog can keep track of your thoughts while you’re learning,” said Jim Murphy, director of instructional design and development. “It can be a form of peer review.”

Students are using blogs increasingly to stay in touch while abroad. Professors are beginning to see this fairly new Internet medium as a useful classroom tool.

Hemmerly-Brown was attracted to the idea that a blog could connect her to people so far away. She wanted to let her school community understand what was actually happening in Iraq.

“No one here [at Elon] without family in the service has an insider view of the war,” she said. “They only see what’s on the news.”

She was amazed at the reaction she received from Elon parents and alumni.

“I couldn’t keep up with the e-mails,” she said. “I was surprised by how many people were reached.”

The power of the blog and its increasing use as a personal and professional outlet has caught the attention of students and faculty members alike.

The blogs’ ability to reach a wide audience base is exactly why Assistant Professor of Communications Glenn Scott created a class blog for his JCM 300 class.

“I always want journalism students to get in the habit of writing for an audience,” he said. “It’s a vehicle to show employers what students can do.”

Scott believes this ability to reach a broader audience holds students more accountable for their work.

“I like the quality of writing I’m seeing,” he said. “I’ve been impressed; people are taking it seriously and not dusting if off.”

Hemmerly-Brown, who was awarded The Paul D. Savanuck Military Print Journalist of the Year award in 2006, thinks that by writing she was providing a service to her Elon audience.

“I definitely think blogging is a useful communication tool,” she said. “You couldn’t get in conversations with strangers across the globe before.”

Murphy stressed that it is the current generation of young people who have the resources and skills to create and maintain a blog.

Scott believes the future of blogs is bright. He sees blogs as a simple way to hold group conversations and predicts they will become more prevalent in classes.

“Something I savor about the course blog is that it doesn’t have to die with the class. This is just the start,” he said. “To me that’s very exciting.”

Reporter: Margeaux Corby - 11/14/07