Barring the D.C. Public Library system, which maintains about 600 free computers, or, not nearly enough to service the 40 percent of residents in City Wards 5, 7, and 8, WCP has put Georgetown’s Lauinger Library first in that guide:
“The best place in the area for virtually unlimited, unmonitored computer use. In what Georgetown officials say is ‘a conscious effort to reach out to the community and the city,’ the library is open daily from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. to anyone with a photo ID. On the main floor are 45 computers equipped with Windows Vista and available to anyone, though they tend to be for short-term use.
“The real sweet spot is downstairs. Open 24 hours most days (closed between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights), the basement’s Gelardin New Media Center has roughly 65 computers with a basic version of Windows; the chairs are soft, the lighting not too bright, and the computers all come with keyboard wrist pads.”
Flattering us further, reporter Amanda Abrams gives props to the Corp: “Best is the second-floor café, which is open until 2 a.m. many nights and offers dirt-cheap bagels with cream cheese,” she writes. While service can be notoriously slow at said café, Midnight Mug, we have to agree, those are some damn good, cheap bagels.
But a few points of information, D.C. residents: Not all 65 downstairs computers are available for anyone to use. Any computers that do extra stuff—video editing and scanning, for instance—required a Georgetown login that only students and employees have.
And Abrams incorrectly reports that through clever navigation of our “idiosyncratic entry scheme for outsiders,” you can enter the Library at 10:45 p.m., just before they start turning away outsiders, and “no one will care whether you’re a student or not.” In fact, the Department of Public Safety scours the Library almost every evening checking to see if you have a University ID once it’s time for outsiders to leave. If you don’t, adios.
Still, she closes with strong advice.
“[G]et ready for sensory deprivation—if you spend too much time in the windowless Gelardin Center, it will start to feel like a dungeon.”
While the kids at JHU assumed Hitler would be outraged by the cancellation of classes, the Georgetown version—created by Vox’s favorite Tweeter, King Georgetown—takes the meme a different direction, showing the Fuhrer’s response to Provost James O’Donnell’s decision to hold classes on President’s Day:
Georgetown Provost Jim O’Donnell is ever diligent in his (rather unpopular) efforts to keep Georgetown despite the record snowfalls that have forced campus to close for three days in a row. In an e-mail he just sent to Georgetown faculty, he has provided a link to a website created by the Georgetown Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship that has information and suggestions about how to keep in touch with students—even hold classes—via the Internet.
“Make the Most of the Closure,” the website reads on its main page. While some of its suggestions are pretty basic—e-mail students to review what would have been covered in class—there are instructions on how to hold digital class using the electronic blackboard on Blackboard, how to arrange online quizzes and exams, how to use audio conferencing to hold remote office hours with students, or how to use it to hold class remotely.
In addition Diana Owen’s real-time blog class, the website reveals that other professors have been holding class, too: so far, it boasts the story of physics professor Earl Skelton, who has “held class” every session despite the snow over the last few days.
“It’s still snowing,” O’Donnell wrote in his e-mail, which he shared with the Voice. “We don’t yet know just how much of this week’s face-to-face instruction we will lose, but we’ve lost a lot already. We are focused on safety as first priority and academic progress a very close second.”
In the e-mail, he also says he hopes to have an announcement ready about “tomorrow’s plans” by early evening.
Is Vox’s extensive blog roll not quite satisfying your Georgetown blogosphere needs? Well Laura Sortwell (MSB ‘10) and Jessica Lioon (MSB ‘10) are looking out for you. Sortwell and Lioon are starting up a Georgetown “blog hub” that will aggregate content from blogs run by Georgetown students, alums, and faculty.
We want to create a forum in which Hoyas can share their ideas, show their expertise on trends and topics in the industry, facilitate discussion, seek new career opportunities, establish business contacts, develop knowledge resources, showcase their work, seek advice, and meet other alumni/students with similar interests.
According to Sortwell, the website–inspired by the Mashable model—is their independent study project (both are studying marketing). The idea came to her after she took an advertising class that focused on marketing and social media.
“There aren’t many schools doing anything like this,” Sortwell said. “It would be a one-stop place to stay in touch with Georgetown. We kind of want it to be a continuation of the intellectual but fun conversations you have at Georgetown.”
Sortwell and Lioon wouldn’t say how many bloggers have approached them about participating, but Sortwell did say they have “gotten an even better response than we expected.” The two are still looking for a good name for the site–they’ve considered names like “Hoya Network,” “Red Square” and “The Front Gates”—but they hope to have it up and running within a month.
Last night, the tech doctors peeled back the bandages from the Voice’s web facelift and were pleased to find that they had successfully given the Georgetown Voice:
A redesigned, more navigable website that lets you view more of what the Voice has to offer in each issue
Georgetown is inching ever closer to a revamped website.
Last time we checked in, they were collecting input from campus on what students and faculty wanted to see in the site’s first makeover in seven years.
Now, the Office of Communications has finished the “research and discovery phase” of their project to redesign the outdated, unavigable georgetown.edu, and has their hands on a potential outline for a the new site, which it posted on the Georgetown Website Redesign blog yesterday.
The plans, shown above, are encouraging. From the looks of things, either proposed home page will provide access to more different parts of the site than it currently does, advertising heretofore buried links like “Libraries,” “Our Schools,” “Next Admission Deadline,” “Latest Sports Scores,” and, ahem, “Make a Gift.”
For those of you titillated by Blue & Gray, it seems there will be several different ways to organize University news.
The new website isn’t perfect—one can still hold out hope that the Office of Communications will at least think about making the homepages of the different schools more uniform—but there’s only one thing that has Vox truly confused: is the text on the “Subpage” slide placeholder text, or is Jack the Bulldog really going to get a page equal in space and prominence to “Residence Life” and “Diversity on Campus”?
A mockup of The Georgetown Dish, less tabloid-y than its Huffington muse
Ask Georgetown resident Beth Solomon what she envisions for The Georgetown Dish and she’ll tell you she’s looking to create “a cross between a local Huffington Post and Washington Life Magazine.” Specifically, on December 16, she and her partners will launch a website that’ll provide you with all the photos and coverage of Georgetown social events, aggregated and original neighborhood news content, and local listings you’ll ever need.
The scope of the site sounds pretty ambitious. Solomon, a former reporter and speechwriter and current communications consultant, said The Georgetown Dish will be divided into three verticals: ”The Scene” will cover social events in Georgetown. (She said the party she attended at Cafe Milano on Sunday for Kathleen Kennedy would be a good candidate for coverage).
“The Dish,” for which she already has several columnists lined up, will be for news and commentary, and “The Scoop” will have “informational and commercial listings,” like classifieds, sports schedules, and restaurant specials. Solomon also anticipates getting restaurant reviews from contributors and aggregating coverage “that’s already out there.”
As she announced yesterday, after a semester of terrific blogging, Juliana Brint is leaving Vox to become managing editor of the Voice. I’ve been elected blog editor in her place (some of you may remember that I was editor for Spring Semester ‘09).
I’m pleased to introduce Imani Tate and Hunter Kaplan, who will be joining me as assistant blog editors. Tate has been a member of the Voice’s editorial board and a frequent blog contributor for the past semester; Kaplan is a former editorial board member and cover editor. Both are capable writers and reporters and will go a long way toward helping me fill Brint’s big shoes.
I’ll never let go, blog readers, I’ll never let go…
Well guys, it’s been quite the semester, but my time as Blog Editor is coming to an end. Vox will be in the very capable and experienced hands of Molly Redden, who many of you will remember as last spring’s Blog Editor.
Before I leave to go back to the print edition as Managing Editor, though, let’s look back at some of the good times we’ve had this semester:
Vox Populi is the staff blog of the Georgetown Voice, a weekly newsmagazine at Georgetown University. Opinions expressed in posts are those of their author alone unless otherwise stated.
Pegged to the story of Eric Sheptock, a homeless man in D.C. who has blogged about homeless issues all the way to CNN, NPR, and the Washington Post, the Washington City Paper has put together a guide of where to go in the District to access the Internet for free if you don’t have a computer.
A mockup of The Georgetown Dish, less tabloid-y than its Huffington muse
From left: Tate, Kaplan, and Redden
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