NASPA, the largest association for student affairs practitioners, released a re-designed website last week. The major feature of the new site is a custom, members-only, social networking site. The new, NASPA members-only site is a walled garden.

Only NASPA members can access the site’s features. It’s sort of like iStudentAffairs, except that it isn’t. iStudentAffairs runs off of Ning, an open-source social networking platform. iStudentAffairs is therefore a familiar interface to anyone who has ever used a Ning-based site.

NASPA’s WG is sort of like iStudentAffairs except that it uses tables, has an extremely clunky interface (everything feels like it’s slower than it should be), lacks alt attributes on images, and you have to be a member of NASPA. I’m not very excited about NASPA’s new site. I had really high hopes… iStudentAffairs might not be the busiest student affairs practitioner portal, but it’s definitely the easiest to use, the most current-thinking, and the only open model on the net.

Apparently, as the above screen grab shows, the newly re-designed NASPA template also does not like Firefox 3 on a Mac as the nav bar rollovers are breaking.

Recently, the head space that I am devoting to various Web 2.0 sites and applications has begun to feel quite cumbersome. I decided to create a post on my “Web 2.0 footprint.” My usage of each of these sites ebbs and flows. This list represents Web 2.0 services that I use at least once per month. Without further ado, here is a list in no particular order (with links to my personal profiles) of the Web 2.0 sites and services that I currently engage with on the interwebs:

WordPress.org: It runs my blog. I’ve tried Blogger and heard a lot about Movable Type, but WordPress has my blogging heart in its php basket.

Twitter: I’m still not sure what it’s good for . My virtual journal consists of my blog, my live journal account and my twitter account. Sometimes I just need a few words in the Twitterspace to get something out of my head.

LiveJournal: Everything that does not get posted on my blog or on Twitter is posted on my LiveJournal account. Private groups get treated to spectacular rants and it serves as a space for me and my local friends to share all sorts of thoughts and feelings.

Flickr: Only a few of the gigabytes of photographs that I have taken are on my Flickr account. I really need to upload more when I get some spare time.

Facebook: I use Facebook on a daily basis. It’s a great place to connect with friends. It enables me to stay connected with a lot more people than I probably would be able to in the “real” world. Facebook isn’t perfect, but in my opinion, it is the only show in town for my social networking needs.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a social networking site that focuses on linking people together who have a professional (and sometimes personal) relationship. I love that people can write recommendations about their work-related interactions with you.

Wikipedia: Wikipedia is a wonderful source of information. I have edited a few pages and “watch” several others.

WordPress.com: My backup blogging location is at WordPress.com. Whenever MediaTemple’s server temple has a glitch on my WordPress.org site, my WordPress.com site is called upon to maintain my blogging presence in the blogosphere.

YouTube: I have not uploaded a lot of videos, but I have watched quite a few.

Pandora: Pandora has provided me with countless hours of musical enjoyment. It is definitely one of my favorite Web 2.0 websites. I’ve never tried Last.fm because Pandora has never given me reason to…

Meebo: Prior to the purchase of my MacBook Pro and the subsequent downloading of Adium (IMHO, the best free chat app ever), Meebo was my number one choice for multi-account chatting. It simply works. A perfect blend of form, function, and simplicity.

Digg: I remember the first time one of my blog posts was “Dugg”. It was almost as exciting as the first time someone wrote on my Facebook wall .

MyBlogLog: This service is a great way for me to see who is visiting my web site and to join web communities.

Technorati: It’s a great way to see who is linking to your blog posts as well as keeping tabs on interesting subjects.

Orblogs: I love Orblogs. It’s the easiest way for me to catch up on posts by bloggers in Corvallis, Oregon. If you see Paul, buy him a cup of coffee. He’s a blogging legend and the proprietor of Orblogs.

UWebD: I’ve been a member of the University Web Developers listserv for quite a while and just recently signed up for the Ning-based social networking site. It has a lot of potential.

iStudentAffairs: Another Ning-based social networking site. This one is for student affairs administrators in higher education. Any time technology and student affairs are mentioned in the same sentence, I won’t be too far behind .