'U' plans for personalized, portal Website for students By Robert Gold Daily Staff Reporter In an attempt to offer students a Website separate from, more interactive and user specific than its current homepage, which receives 20 million hits each month, the University plans to unveil an interactive and customizable Website later this year. "We were one of the first institutions to have a Website, (but now) we don't have a state of the art Website," said Jose-Marie Griffiths, chief information officer for the University. The project's plan is to eventually allow students, faculty, staff and other University affiliates to tailor the site's content and design to their personal interests, said Gavin Eadie, project manager and director of strategic technology of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. The initial system will be separate from the University Website, because the University wants to "get out a personalized Website very quickly," Eadie said, adding that the goal is to incorporate the two sites in the future. "The idea is people can go to (standard sites) directly or through the portal," Griffiths said. The Website's organizers and creators consist of a group of ITD staff members and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. The endeavor, nicknamed Project Janus after the Roman god of doors, beginnings and endings, has been allotted $250,000 funding by Griffiths' office for the current fiscal year. An initial student prototype will be available in April at www.my.umich.edu. Garnering feedback from various focus groups and steering committees, project officials look to develop a more comprehensive site by the end of the summer, Eadie said. Gordon Leacock, co-manager of Project Janus and director of planning for ITD, said the team plans on developing content relevant to staff, faculty and other University affiliates in the future. Eadie said the current University Website, which has remained unchanged for the past three years, is insufficient in satisfying the needs of students, faculty and staff. "The biggest criticism is it's really hard to find things. It's a very static site," Eadie said. "Three years is like a lifetime." Eadie said some future options include allowing students to access grades, e-mail and weather from a single site. LSA junior Debbie Helfman said she uses the University Website frequently. She said she is satisfied with the content but a customizable site may save time. "Everything is run through the computer," Helfman said. "It would be very convenient to have everything on one site." Eadie said while few universities currently have personalized Websites, many are considering the feature. Universities that offer similar Websites in New York include the University of Buffalo in New York, Harvard University and the University of California at Los Angeles. America Online, Yahoo! and Excite offer widely used commercial portals with customizable features. Last year, Northwestern University's student government and technology department developed a new student-oriented Website, Associated Student Government President Steve Spalding said. The Website enables students to check vital information such as e-mail, grades, book exchange information and schedules. "All freshman have it here now as their default home page," Spalding said. "It's been very successful." Project members plan on developing student focus groups next month. Eadie said the project team has a long list of ideas, but the final product depends on what people want in a Website. "What we realize is you have to start with the users," Leacock said. "If people aren't motivated to use the site, why use it?" LSA senior Terrence Craion said he uses the University Website regularly and doesn't think the customizable option is necessary. "I think it's fine the way it is," Craion said. Leacock said the prototype will likely include news for students gathered from a range of information holders on campus. He added that he does not see any technical problems in implementing the site, but the challenge is gathering information from outside groups. "If people have various databases, they have a choice of whether they want to share it or not," Leacock said. Originally on page 3A in the 1-12-2000 issue of the Daily.