Internet University educates, entertains World Wide Web users

By Marisa Ma
Daily Staff Reporter

What university charges no tuition and allows "students" to be pizza makers?

To "enroll" at the Internet University on the World Wide Web, users only need a computer, a modem and an Internet connection.

"Internet University offers the best on the Internet," said Doug Levy, the creator of the site and a recent University of Pennsylvania graduate.

Targeted at college students, Internet University's 12 departments and more than 250 homepages offer a wide range of information, from world and local events to entertainment news and job listings.

There are also more entertaining options for users. Busy student-cooks can retrieve easy recipes or be creative at "iPizza," an electronic pizza kitchen.

"(Students) can make a pizza and send it to a friend through e-mail," Levy said. Some fun toppings include chocolate ice cream, light bulbs and Spam.

The site also offers "Fusion Box," a service through which "users take two people like Jennifer Aniston and Ross Perot and fuse them together," he said.

LSA first-year student Jenny Geyer said the Fusion Box is "funny" and iPizza is "cute" after she made a pizza topped with kiwi and dog food which she then sent to a friend.

Users can access pages dealing with more serious issues at the site. There is "Net Vote '96," an information and discussion forum on the presidential campaign.

"That gives us access to the candidates' perspectives that you won't be able to find anywhere else ... It totally lays it out for you," Geyer said.

She also said she liked the advance schedules of college sports. "You get access to all the team pages," Geyer said.

Levy came up with the idea from his college experiences. "As a busy student, I realized the need for an easy-to-use resource that had all the information I wanted," he said.

"Students are busy and with Internet University, students can hop on the Internet and find out what they are looking for," Levy said.

Both Geyer and Education senior Scott McIntyre agreed the site is easy to use.

"I don't play on the Internet much, but it seems easy to get where you want to go," McIntyre said. "You can get the information in other ways, but it's all right here."

Levy said tens of thousands have logged on, and he estimated that the number is increasing 50 percent each week. The average user spends an hour and 30 minutes at the site, which is a lengthy time for a web site, Levy said.

And there is always something new for regular users.

"We always add stuff to the site every week -- new, fun stuff," he said.

Levy added that he has received "some real positive feedback. We put a grade sheet on our site, and people give us a grade," on content, graphics and technical features. He said the site has frequently earned straight As.

"People have said this is the best site on the Internet," Levy said.

Also grading the site an A, Geyer said, "it looks pretty much (like) they covered everything you could be interested in."

Whether serious or not, "whatever (Internet University users) do, they have a great time doing it," Levy said.

Internet University is at the web site: http://www.internetuniv.com.