By Matthew Laurrie
Features Editor
The Notice Board is that carefully-crafted beacon of information found in the inboxes of thousands of Bonnies every morning. And starting Monday, members of the campus community will be able to take advantage of a few changes in the system.
Brandon Kowalski, a junior computer science major, recently approached the Office of Marketing and Communications with a product he designed that would make the Notice Board more user-friendly and mobile-accessible.
“In the beginning of November, I was playing around with ideas for a web application for universities,” Kowalski said. “Granted, Facebook started out for universities, but it kind of broadened out so anybody could share their life online. I condensed it back down to something that I found kind of lacking with most university campuses.”
The result was a three-component system that would help deliver notices to the Bonaventure campus in a variety of different formats – a desktop application, an email and a mobile module. The new system will draw upon the technology of univFeed, a software program that will help organize the information contained in the familiar Notice Board.
Beth Eberth, director of university communications, admitted the Office of Marketing and Communications had intentions of revamping the Notice Board for quite some time, but was unable to find or develop a service adhering to its expectations – until Kowalski contacted them, that is.
“We’ve had discussions on campus previously and talked with Technology Services about the Notice Board,” Eberth said. “We really hadn’t found a product that we thought fit our needs. (Kowalski) just came along and did this on his own; he actually sought us out with this system that he developed and we’re absolutely thrilled.”
According to a university-wide email sent out on Tuesday, univFeed will let users employ the Notice Board in a multitude of formats based on their needs and capabilities. Notice Board emails will be more visually appealing, a mobile web application will be formatted to ensure users clearly receive information and a desktop version will give readers access to the Notice Board online.
Kowalski said one of the most noticeable changes in the upcoming system will be the categorization of announcements. The new format will allow workers to group announcements by category in order to guarantee students and faculty easily find messages that pertain to them.
“From talking to friends, peers and some faculty, they find that the current Notice Board is just cluttered,” he said. “A lot of students miss out on the notices on the sheer fact that they can’t find something that pertains to them. The goal is to make it something they’ll want to use and by giving them options, I think that’s what will happen.”
Patty Thibodeau, executive assistant to the vice president, is in charge of generating the Notice Board every single day. She hopes the new, more comprehensive system will encourage students and faculty to take advantage of what the Notice Board has to offer, and said the new software will simplify her workload.
“It’s easier for me to enter information (in the new system),” Thibodeau said. “We’re just trying to help everyone out and have the community get involved in what’s going on here.”
Ultimately, the new amenities offered to the campus will help users stay informed using whichever outlet they find most appealing.
Eberth explained that users will see a cleaner look when the new Notice Board pilot debuts. She said the reconstructed format aims to ensure users interact with and continue to receive information from the Notice Board.
“Initially what folks will see is a look that’s more streamlined, and … more user-friendly.”
According to Eberth, the Notice Board, which is sent to approximately 2,000 people every day, will be delivered twice each day next week: once in the old format and once in the new format using univFeed. At the conclusion of the week, the Office of Marketing and Communications will send out a survey to gauge the opinions of the campus community.
“We’ll distribute a brief survey asking for feedback,” Eberth said. “We wanted to be able to systematically give people the opportunity to offer their input anonymously. We’ll share that with (Kowalski) and evaluate how we think it works and if there are any modifications that need to be made switching over to the system.”
Kowalski said the new system has been and will continue to be a work in progress.
“My goal is that everyone that can participate hops on board,” he said. The more holes I find, the more refined it will be for its return if it turns out to be a feasible option,” he said.
Eberth concluded by saying the launch of the new Notice Board will aid campus officials in highlighting everything Bonaventure has to offer.
“There’s so many wonderful events and activities going on, and it’s just a very vibrant campus,” she said. “We’re hoping the new format will help the campus community better find events and items of interest to themselves.”
