New Web Portal Could Change UM

By Joe Prebich, 9-30-05

What a Web Portal is,is a personalized web page for each student and it will allow them to manage all of their daily business online. Some of the features include a built in RSS reader, email, calendar, apartment listings and a bunch of other stuff that each student can personalize. What this means for example, is that you can put any RSS feeds into the page you want and thus customize your page. Also there is a new thing called OSTN or Open Student Television Network, where you can watch programs from student produced shows from around the country. But the coolest feature of this UM Web Portal is the rental listing which they have integrated with Google Maps to allow you to click on the listing you want and then view it in a satellite image. Plus the listings are constantly updated when they rent or come on the market.

What this portal really does is make it easier for students to have access to the cool features of the Internet and also it allows them to manage their accounts and their daily lives without having to go to a bunch of different sites. The Web Portal scratches out the need for multiple passwords and really looks like it will help to link the University into the 21st century.

All this has been in development for the past two years and has been funded through a grant from Campus EAI Consortium. The consortium is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and exchange of community source software and digital content and already includes over 100 schools.

The beta release of the program is looking to be around the end of October but no concrete date has been set. [End of article]