Penn State unveiled a new name for its Portal and along with it, a selection of enhanced digital services for the entire Penn State community. "The new name, 'We Are-Penn State Portal,' reflects the Portal's theme as a Web-based community resource that students, faculty, and staff are literally creating for themselves," according to Jim Leous, Portal Project Team manager.
Less than a year old, the Portal is thriving at Penn State, offering users a "one-stop shopping" view of the University via an expanding number of "channels" (content containers) that can be selected to provide news, career planning services, weather, Web cameras, The Daily Collegian, event calendars, and more. In addition, numerous "tabs" in the Portal interface can be defined by the user to organize related channels on subjects such as business, technology, arts, entertainment, and science. However, what makes the Portal content unique, observes Leous, is the fact that it's primarily designed by students, staff and faculty at Penn State.
"While some institutions have found it increasingly difficult to provide good content for their portals, our strategy has been to keep the content closest to the experts," he observes. "Collaborations with University groups and individuals have made the process both less expensive and less complex for Penn State, and have made it possible for Portal users to truly 'own' the information it provides."
The use of Open Source Software (freely shared products) and open standards have additionally enabled Penn State to build on the successes of other institutions, as well as reduce the Portal's development costs. One type of Open Source product known as WebEvent, for example, enables colleges and offices to create and distribute event calendars from a centralized server. University groups such as Student Affairs, Hub Late Night, Diversity, Career Services, and the School of Music have been using the software's "Web form" to design event calendars for their areas, that can then be selected by Portal users depending on their interests.
In addition to the input of staff and faculty, the Portal Team has also solicited the creative talent of Penn State's students. Last year, over 600 University students eagerly participated in the Penn State Portal beta test, a phase of the project before its launch in September 2001 that invited students to use, critique, and submit ideas for Portal content, before its official release. Students were also invited to "name the Portal" by submitting their suggestions via an online voting form, with the promise that the winning title would afford its nominator with a new laptop computer. Sara Havas, a recent Penn State graduate, who was majoring in English and International Studies during the beta test period, submitted her idea for "We Are-Penn State Portal" and it landed her the laptop of her choice. Six other students won Palm m105 personal organizers for their suggestions.
Students who participated in the beta test also provided ideas, including content and preference enhancements, to help build the diverse representation that makes up the Portal's channels. Laura Beck, a junior at the School of Information Science and Technology, coordinated resources at the Schreyer Honors College to build an Honors Portal Tab which showcases the College's resources, events, and news for students in the college.
Beck reports that although she enjoyed contributing to the Portal, she's also a devoted Portal "user." "It pulls all the information I need together in one place-weather, news, headlines, University news-all the things I'm interested in," she remarked.
Leous, who manages the UNIX Systems and Technical Solutions Group at Information Technology Services (ITS) in addition to the Portal Team, added, "I believe a single university can build and sustain a portal over the long haul, but we can only do this with cooperation of all areas of the University. Our team has been instrumental in supporting and nurturing these contributions-we aren't creating the Portal ...you are."
To set up your own personal view of University events and services, use your Penn State Access Account "userid" (user ID) and password to access the Portal at: http://portal.psu.edu/. Students, staff, and faculty interested in providing content for the Portal can direct any inquiries to portal-feedback@psu.edu or review the "Tools for Content Providers" section of the Penn State Portal Project Web site at: http://www.psu.edu/portalproject/.
Comments, questions, and content ideas are always welcome and can be directed to portal-feedback@psu.edu.