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Information Consolidation: NU Review

RTFM-6 Fall 2005. Information Consolidation: NU Review. Sam Rossoff Jared Kling Ryan Buterbaugh Jimmy Tang Yimming Liu. Background: So where should I live Freshman year?. Lack of consolidated information on NU and Evanston services Online information at NU's site is sparse

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Information Consolidation: NU Review

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  1. RTFM-6 Fall 2005 Information Consolidation:NU Review Sam Rossoff Jared Kling Ryan Buterbaugh Jimmy Tang Yimming Liu

  2. Background:So where should I live Freshman year? • Lack of consolidated information on NU and Evanston services • Online information at NU's site is sparse • Dorms: What the heck does a “TV Lounge” mean? • Dining halls: Am I getting ripped off by the meal plans? • Classes: CTECs are often vague • “THIS CLASS ROCKS!” • “Professor X can't lecture for $*(#@&” • Where should students and prospective students turn?

  3. Turn to... NU REVIEW*! *Working Title

  4. What is NU Review? • Mission Statement: • To create an online review site for the Northwestern community consisting of: • Pages of factual information on the institution being reviewed • Student reviews of said institution • Covering institutions of concern to the Northwestern community • Dorms, dining halls, area restaurants, possibly classes or professors

  5. Specific Objectives:Online Community • Create an online Northwestern-based community • Facebook.com, Instant Messaging, Blackboard, CTECS, HereAndNow, and others all have deficiencies • Mainly, lack of interactivity • Even in CTECS • No ability to respond to CTECS • No ability to review events on HereAndNow or suggest • alternatives

  6. Specific Objectives:Reviews, Reviews, Reviews • Provide a venue for commenting and reviewing which does not currently exist • Ability to respond to reviews • Does not exist in CTECS • To review unreviewed (or poorly reviewed) NU and Evanston institutions • Dorms • Dining halls • Allow for linking between reviews • What dining halls are near specific dorms? • What specific classes or professors go well together?

  7. Specific Objectives:Well that all sounds good... • Determine if such a site would provide wanted service to the Northwestern community • We believe it would • But admit we could be wrong

  8. Why NU Review:Well, what's our competition? • Current Northwestern systems are... • without any review ability • HereAndNow's schedule guide • not in real time • CTECS • subject to censorship or selection • CTECS • difficult to use • ASG's restaurant guide • And again....CTECS

  9. Why NU Review:Because we just love prospies • Help newer members of the Northwestern community • Older students can share experiences • Create base content to build off • Newer students benefit from the knowledge base • Add their experiences • Help those that follow

  10. Project Scope and Launch-Critical Goals • Initial launch would cover only dorms • Leave room for addition of other categories in the future • Launch-critical goals • Wiki System • Base website • Seed Data • Initial information • Possibly initial reviews

  11. Project Scope and Launch-Critical Goals • Launch-critical goals, continued • Improved Comment System • Deficiencies of current MediaWiki discussion system • Able to edit entire discussion • No Threads • Not conducive to reviews • LDAP / Northwestern Authentication • Limit the community to Northwestern members • Downside: Graduated students cannot participate • Possibly create ex-student accounts

  12. Future Goals • Allow viewers to rate reviews • Provide benefits for logging in • Reputation • Posting highly rated reviews bumps your reviews higher • Automatic suggestions • “Based on what you have looked at, you might also be interested in...” • Email notifications • Upon response to a review • Upon updating a “Watched” page

  13. Current Available Resources • MediaWiki • Allow for user editability • Previously noted Discussion limits • No Northwestern-based wiki with the scope which we plan to cover • Static NU information pages • Provide some information we plan to cover • No direct user feedback • Cannot respond directly to CTECS • Cannot respond at all to dorm descriptions on University Housing's website

  14. Tools • MediaWiki • Underlying framework • Will require reconfiguration to meet our specific purpose • LDAP integration • Extract information • User authentication • Northwestern University websites • Gather information for launch

  15. Tools • Surveys • Pre-launch survey • Determine interest • Post-launch survey • Determine awareness • Determine Response • Publicity • Listservs • Flyering sidewalks

  16. Pending Issues • Actual page layout • How and where are reviews placed? • How much should be editable? • Determine through reputation system? • Free for all, in the spirit of Wikis? • Compromise between the two? • How usable is a wiki to the average student? Will users be able to effectively participate? • Surveys and beta testing will help answer these questions

  17. NU Review “To boldly go where only ASG has gone before. Also, a couple of the Northwestern University websites. But they all failed.” Any questions?

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