A Year of Jagwire

A year ago – Oct. 1, 2015, to be exact – we unveiled Jagwire, the news and information source for Augusta University and its health system.

It was a result of months of intense planning and the realization of an ambitious goal – to give our staff and faculty and everyone with an interest in our wide-ranging institution a single place to go to learn more about it.

With Jagwire, we turned our previous notion of news delivery on its head. Not only would we update our news daily, often hourly, we would offer it up the way our readers said they wanted it – in sections tailored to their individual interests.

Curious about what’s going on at the University? We’ve got you covered with the University page. Health news? Same thing. Pressed for time and just want a quick look at the latest open enrollment announcement? Scan the Employees page and you’re good to go. Only interested in research? There’s a page for that, too. Got time for an overview of the entire enterprise? Poke around our front page.

There’s also a page for media, quick access to the calendar, a link to get to our magazine site, the Fine Print, and an easy way to submit story ideas directly to us.

Because Jagwire is such an expansive, flexible platform – designed in-house by the talented folks in our Communications and Marketing division – we’ve been able to do some pretty cool things, like going all-in on things like our brand launch and Undergraduate Move-in Day. It also gave us a way to showcase one of our own, alumnus Pardon Ndhlovu, as he trained for, then competed in, the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Want a glimpse of all that content? We’ve preserved these milestones for you online. All you have to do is click.

We’ve worked hard to keep Jagwire fresh and responsive, and although we’re proud of what we’ve done and what we’re doing (we’ve even won an award – a Silver Georgia Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations award), we’re not content to leave things as they are. We’re constantly evolving, and we’ve got some interesting things in the works. So keep checking Jagwire to see where we’re going next.

Some fun facts we’ve learned while reflecting on our first year:

You guys really care about parking. Two of our top-six stories involved parking, including the most read story of all, which was about parking registration.

Tie this in with the fact that our Employees page was our most visited page, and we start to see a pattern: You’re interested in the things that directly affect you. While there are some fun stories in the Top 15, like the ones about Pokémon Go, the huggable Coke machine and the doctor competing to be named “Ultimate Guy,” several of the Top 15 were about issues directly affecting employees, like password updates and road projects and changes in wage regulations.

Top 15 stories on Jagwire

1) Parking registration runs through July 15
2) Best Coca-Cola machine ever visits campus
3) Augusta University ranked among top schools in nation
4) Local donor gives $1.4 million for pediatric cancer research and care
5) Snag new Jag swag on Jan. 21
6) Stronger parking enforcement to begin Oct. 12
7) Passwords expiring for all employees and students at 10 p.m. Sept. 9
8) Known but to God: The story of the Resurrection Man
9) Liska named CEO at Augusta University Medical Center
10) Augusta doctor could be ‘Ultimate Guy’
11) Laney-Walker project update
12) Change to federal regulations and potential impact on employees
13) Become the very best without ever leaving campus
14) Meet Augusta University
15) First Look: Graduate students move into Elm Hall

One of the most interesting things about Jagwire is its ability to easily and attractively present video, which means we’re producing a lot more of it, ranging from documentary shorts like The Extra Mile to quick hits like the huggable Coke machine.

Because of this, we’re training team members to be versatile in video, so expect a lot more video in the coming months.

You want it, so we’ll do it.