Effective July 1, 2016, the Cornell Blog Service will offer new tiers of service designed to more flexibly meet the needs of different user groups.

These tiers are the outcome of extensive discussions among the campus IT@Cornell leadership and service managers for the blog service. They are intended to address concerns raised last summer about the differing requirements and support needs for blogs at Cornell.

Self-service blogs with default domain name: no fee

Blogs that use the standard URL of blogs.cornell.edu/sitename and that do not require central support beyond base-level* will continue to be no-fee.

The vendor, CampusPress, maintains extensive documentation at:
help.edublogs.org/user-guide  

How-to and frequently asked questions:
it.cornell.edu/services/blogs  

For course-related blogs, additional support is available from Academic Technologies.

Blogs/websites with custom domain name: $100/year

Blogs that use a custom URL, such as sitename.cornell.edu, will be billed an annual $100 fee (the equivalent of a little under $8.50 per month). 

On average, support needs (for example, questions about using custom themes, plugins, and widgets), performance expectations, and resource allocation are higher for sites that use a custom domain. The fee covers that level of support. Although we recognize needs vary among custom-domain sites, after much examination, this approach is the closest possible fit for university expectations and overall resource demands for this service. 

Unit-managed blog network arranged through vendor subcontract: vendor-negotiated fee

Some colleges or departments have many blogs and want to have their own dashboard, select which plugins and themes are available, and take advantage of economies of scale. Subcontracting with the vendor, CampusPress, can be a good option in these cases. 

Costs are negotiated with the vendor. In general, the base cost is $2,000 per year, plus the unit’s staff time to manage and support the network. The unit provides all support for its blogs. The cost of the subcontract is tied to Cornell’s existing agreement with CampusPress. To request more information, contact cublogs@cornell.edu

Any blog: optional fees for customization

Cornell’s Custom Web Development team may be hired for-fee to assist with customization of any blog in the service, regardless of its tier. To obtain a quote, contact customdev-req@cornell.edu

A note about abandoned blogs: Each year, every blog owner whose blog has not had any page or post updates in the past year will be emailed a notice about the lack of activity and alerted that if there is no response to the inquiry within thirty days, the blog will be deactivated, then deleted.

After IT support staff have had the opportunity to receive this information and do any outreach they would like for the people they support, this announcement will be sent to all owners of blogs in the Cornell Blog Service on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. 

Please contact cublogs@cornell.edu with any questions or concerns about the Cornell Blog Service.

Thank you,
CU Blog Service Team
it.cornell.edu/services/blogs