CIVR gives events calendar a fresh look, online

The new Cornell University Events Calendar (a portion of which is shown below) can be found at www.cornell.edu/Calendar.

By Sarah Cottet '01

Everyone at Cornell is familiar with what it is like to be "left out of the loop;" the never-ending flurry of activities at such a large university can make it difficult to pin down specific events. But not anymore. The department of Campus Information and Visitor Relations (CIVR) has come up with an aid for any, and all, who have wondered what was happening at Cornell on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

It's called the University Events Calendar, accessible directly at www.cornell.edu/Calendar or through the "Welcome to Cornell" home page, at www.cornell.edu for off-campus users or at www.info.cornell.edu for users on the Cornell network.

This newly conceptualized calendar presents a daily rundown of assorted campus events and is continually updated. It shouldn't be confused with its predecessor, which was taken off line in July 1998. The new CIVR calendar, the brainchild of a combined effort by CIVR and Cornell Information Technologies (CIT), went live Aug. 23 of this year.

So it's out with the old and in with the new -- with good reason. The old calendar, maintained exclusively by CIVR, proved to be too inefficient. "The first version was eliminated, not because we thought it wasn't necessary, but because we wanted to better put our efforts into designing a new [calendar] that would better serve Cornell," said Lisa Krakowka, CIVR's information technologies manager and web master for the "Welcome to Cornell" home page.

Having decided that a new calendar was necessary, CIVR was faced with two options: it could buy a calendar system or it could design its own. The staff discovered that for the same cost as buying a calendar system that would be "adequate," they could work with CIT to custom-build one that would directly suit Cornell's needs -- and so their choice became obvious. Chris Manly, CIT team leader for Unix and web services, and Gary Lupyan, a sophomore in Arts and Sciences, built the web site from CIT's end to CIVR's specifications.

Given the fact the calendar is linked to a web page that also caters to visitors outside Cornell seeking information, CIVR staff hopes the calendar will be useful to prospective students and others considering coming to Cornell, as well. It lists admissions events and campus tours and provides search areas suitable to the needs of visiting prospective students or staff members.

In addition to those features, the calendar also offers current Cornell community members, alumni and Ithaca residents a great deal of relevant information. It has a comprehensive listing of the present day's campus events, including the times of the events, the locations, sponsors and additional significant details. It also features specialized searches among categories such as general meetings, athletic events, workshops, performing arts, film and exhibits. Events can be cross-searched using specific keywords, such as "sponsor," "speaker" or "location." To obtain a broad overview of what is happening that day, that weekend, the next week, or on a specific day two months in advance, visitors to the site can simply click on a date, which will provide them with a full complement of events.

Said Krakowka: "The calendar was reinstated because we recognized there was a great need for it on campus." But she acknowledges that there is always room for improvement. Currently, a group of 30 tier-two test users -- that is, users affiliated with specific departments or event-based organizations, such as the Johnson Museum -- are the only ones able to submit items directly to the calendar. But beginning next month, more users will be able to register to submit items directly, and the casual, unregistered user will also be able to submit events. Events submitted by the casual user will first go into a queue to be edited for suitability and then may be posted on the calendar. Submitting events to the calendar will become increasingly important and are strongly encouraged, CIVR staff members say.

For additional information about the calendar, or suggestions about its improvement, please contact the CIVR office at 254-4636 or at info@cornell.edu.