Georgetown’s new student-oriented website, my.georgetown.edu, was launched Aug. 23 by the Georgetown University Student Association. The website, which is produced entirely by students, is composed largely of links to existing online information from bus schedules to local weather, and also has pages devoted to academics, events and frequently asked questions.
According to Adam Doverspike (CAS ‘03), who helped create the website, my.georgetown.edu mainly acts to consolidate access to all the online information students might need.
“My.georgetown.edu is a student website with links necessary and important to student life. There are so many different websites at Georgetown but none provide connections to all the others,” Doverspike said.
The new website was originally proposed as part of Georgetown University Student Association President Kaydee Bridges’ (SFS ‘03) campaign platform.
Bridges approached other students to ask for their help on “a website that would put everything at the fingertips of the students,” GUSA representative Nazareth Haysbert said.
Bridges met in late June with members of University Information Services and the Department of Student Affairs, as well as representatives from the Key Bridge Group, an organization of Georgetown alumni that created the University’s web pages.
“Everyone we met with was very supportive, and UIS offered to help pay for the site,” Bridges said.
Each student working on the project was assigned a certain section to write, which they submitted to Bridges who then approved it and sent it to the Key Bridge Group, which translated the writing into HTML.
GUSA representative Nazareth Haysbert (CAS ‘05) said that Bridges’ proposal suggested a new website that would correspond better with student life.
“Since both Georgetown students and the University itself are growing so much, we thought we needed something more progressive online,” Haysbert said.
Students’ responses have been positive, Doverspike said.
Ariana Albater (CAS ‘04) said that she was pleased with the site after some initial confusion.
“When I first saw it, I didn’t know what it was, but after I explored a little bit I thought, ‘This is really cool,’” Albater said.
According to Doverspike, now that the basic structure is in place, there is room for the site to grow. Ideas such as a place on the page to log directly into GUMail, student-written entertainment reviews and an expansion of gBay, Georgetown’s own version of eBay, have all been suggested to the GUSA executive board. Haysbert also noted the potential of the site.
“I can see it expanding to include more aspects of the University, the community and the world that factor into the lives of students,” he said.
