Information Consolidation:NU Review

Sam RossoffJared KlingRyan ButerbaughJimmy TangYimming Liu

RTFM-6Fall 2005

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?

Turn to...

NU REVIEW*!

*Working Title

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tools

● Surveys– Pre-launch survey

● Determine interest– Post-launch survey

● Determine awareness● Determine Response

● Publicity– Listservs– Flyering sidewalks

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

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?