West Virginia University is changing its online calendar system to keep pace with the changing times.
Instead of each department, college and student organization using individual calendars to display events and notifications online, WVU is using a centralized, interactive system that offers customized views of specific events and programs and subscriptions via email or social media.
The new system provides date links to a variety of social media outlets and allows groups to enter their own events. Postings are moderated and approved by University officials.
“One of the things we really liked about it was all of the social media components,” said Cathy Orndorff, director of University Relations/Web. “If there is an event you want to share with your friends on Facebook – you can simply click on the Facebook icon and it will be posted on your wall.
“We were missing some great events because people would post them on their own calendars in their colleges even though the event would be open to the public or everyone in the university,” she added. “Our hope is to do a better job of providing WVU events at a glance.”
The advances in social media over the last decade were a driving force for the change.
Facebook is just one of many options available for students; dates can be posted to individual email accounts and via websites and social media outlets such as Twitter, Yahoo, Blogger, Myspace, Gmail, Linkedin and more.
The upgrades are intended to make the calendars at WVU more informative and user-friendly. The new system feeds WVU’s mobile site (http://m.wvu.edu) and digital signage, called Information Stations. Users can subscribe to an event or category through an iCalendar dynamic feed and e-mail notification. Subscribers on campus and off can customize feeds to include events or programs tailored to their interest.
The new system particularly benefits the more than 300 student organizations on campus, Orndorff said. Each organization is able to post its own events and meetings and all information flows to two vertical Information Stations in the Mountainlair ; the Student Organizations page in MIX, the WVU student email system; and the Student Organization website.
Other improvements over the previous system include advanced search options, topic and date categorization, multiple format display options, and an event notification feature.
The system, a product of Active Data Exchange, a software company located in Bethlehem, Pa, is used by Villanova University, the University of Oregon and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
“An online calendar is a tool that people need at their fingertips and finally all of WVU’s events will be in one place,” Orndorff said. “I think this new calendar is more robust with many options to suit the many requirements of a large University.”
Replacing the old calendar began 18 months ago. WVU purchased the Active Data Calendar at the end of January with the help of the Provost’s office.
Orndorff said calendar feedback from officials and students has been positive so far. She expects the system to remain in use for the next three to four years.
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cg/09/09/11
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