NEW WEBSITE CAUSES FRUSTRATION

Recently, Bridgewater State University launched its new website, and although it has caused

frustration for many students, the new website is more organized and user-friendly according to Director of Integrated Marketing and Communications, Eva Gaffney, and Vice President of Information Technology, Pat Cronin.

 

“Everything is newly formatted,” Gaffney said. “We added video components and included a lot more social media.”

 

The project for a new website got started over two years ago with planning, meetings, and discussions with users.

 

The website is now made of two parts. The intranet involves internal university business, while the extranet creates a relationship with the outside, including alumni, businesses, and parents.

 

“The original website was around for fifteen years,” Cronin said. “It was about 60,000 pages at one time. Before we launched the extranet, we had it down to about 20,000.”

 

The new website is newly organized, and is between 200 and 250 pages. It focuses more on the university’s external audience. The new website also uses a different kind of technology, so changes can easily be made.

 

With all the changes, there have been issues for students trying to adapt to the new website.

 

“The biggest issue people are facing is navigation,” Gaffney said. “Like any technology, you just have to keep working on it and make it work well for you.”

 

Even though Gaffney and Cronin believe the new website is better than the previous version, many students are unhappy with the change and find the new website hard to navigate.

 

“I have no idea how to find anything, like IT and teachers,” said sophomore Carley Taylor. “We’re not all computer savvy.”

 

Another student said it took him fifteen minutes to find his email.

 

“I don’t want to take the time to sit down and learn the new website, which could take hours,” said sophomore Seige Ferreira. “I like playing League of Legends, not looking for my email.”

 

Cronin added, “When you take the fifteen year way of operating and change it, there is going to be some angst and concern. I believe long term this is better for the university.”

Jennifer Christensen is a Comment news writer. Email her at jchristensen@student.bridgew.edu.

+ posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Mike Johnson addressing the US House of Representatives after being elected as Speaker (Win McNammy/Getty Images/Photo courtesy of CNN)

A Recent History of the Speaker of the House

With the election of the United States’ Speaker Of The House, Representative Mike Johnson (he/him)(R-LA-4), being finalized on October 25th, it’s important to understand the recent history of the position. While they have each been contentious, the previous three speakers present a fair analysis of what to expect out of a Republican-led House.  Johnson is […]

Fulton County Case

The racketeering case against Donald Trump (he/him) in Fulton County, Georgia, is picking up, going into November. Thus far, four of Trump’s 18 indicted co-conspirators have agreed to plea deals with the state for their involvement in a swath of criminal charges related to an array of election fraud attempts in the aftermath of the […]

Democrats Call For Term Limits

Senators Cory Booker (he/him)(D-NJ), Sheldon Whitehouse (he/him)(D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (he/him)(D-CT), and Alex Padilla (he/him)(D-CA), introduced a bill designed to impose term limits for the Supreme Court. Their bill states that every two years, the President would appoint a new justice that would hear every case for eighteen years before stepping back. The justice would be […]