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As we move forward in our development of myUChicago, we have received a lot of great feedback from our users—along with some very intriguing content requests. As a result, you will see several revisions as well as some new additions to myUChicago in the coming months.

One of the upcoming changes worthy of note is the inclusion of University Housing information. If you live in campus housing you will soon be able to see all of your housing related information in the Housing portlet. From address to roommates to meal plan information, it’s all in there: no more paper, no more waiting, no more hassle.

In line with this change, the Housing portlet will also be moved to the top left corner of the Services tab; if you’ve recently deleted the Housing portlet, and you live in University housing, you may want to add it back to your layout.

The new information will be available in late spring; but this is just the first of many changes being rolled out over the next several months, so stay tuned … you won’t be disappointed.

It’s been almost 2 months since we began rolling myUChicago out to students across the University and in that time we’ve received many comments, suggestions, and recommendations.

A recurring theme in many of your comments is the desire to have more functionality integrated into myUChicago itself, rather than just aggregate links that launch to other University sites. There are 2 responses to this and I want to use this post to address them both.

1: We’re not reinventing the wheel, just making it run smoother
Part of myUChicago’ s function is to make it easier to find and access University information and systems that already exist. It is not the goal of myUChicago to replace robust systems already designed to perform a range of important tasks (like registration, email, and calendaring). Rather, the goal is to make it easier to use the resources that are already out there.

We want you to be able to find exactly what you need without searching, digging, hitting dead ends, or opening twenty tabs to complete a single task. And myUChicago was designed to be a big piece of that puzzle.

So will the links stay? In a word: yes. Are they going to be the only way to access information in myUChicago? Well … no. Which brings us to point number two.

2: This is only the beginning
One of the most important things to remember about myUChicago is that it is in its infancy. The recent launch for students—and forthcoming faculty and staff launches—marks the beginning of a project with a long life expectancy and equally long development cycle. So what’s that mean in English? It means that we will continue to measure user feedback and statistics to determine what integrated functionality will be most useful to the most people, and then put the things that make the most sense in over time.

Right now there are several portlets with some form of integrated functionality, including RSS feeds, Bookmarks, Course Information, Personal contact information, Weather, Announcements, and Alerts, to name a few. We are working to get even more dynamic content into myUChicago and will keep you updated as development progresses.

Your input makes a difference
A big part of the development process is the feedback we get from you as a user. So feel free to tell us what you think. Continue to share what you like, what you don’t, and what we can do to make myUChicago even more useful. We aren’t promising every request will make it into the site, but we can guaranty your voice will be heard.

It’s official! As of Thursday, December 10th, myUChicago has launched to all University of Chicago students. The process began in mid-November with students in The College, and concluded just last week as we brought the last of the professional and graduate students online.

Content Updates

With the site up and running, we have already received a lot of great feedback and are working to implement some of your comments and suggestions. This includes adding links to sites not previously represented in the portal, updating missing or incorrect information, as well as taking new content requests to the stakeholders committee for review.

Upcoming Launches

While we are currently live with students, we want to remind faculty and staff that their versions of myUChicago are still in development and will be released to them in the coming months. Specifically, faculty will get access to the portal on February 3rd, 2010, and staff a few months later, on June 16th. There will be various communications from the Portal Project Team as we approach the target dates.

Finding Help

We know the answers aren’t always obvious. And we understand that many faculty and staff members are the first line of support for students who have access to myUChicago. A comprehensive help site has been developed to help you answer questions and troubleshoot issues that may arise, even before everyone has full access to the site.

Screen shots have also been created so faculty and staff can see firsthand what a student will see once logged into myUChicago.

If these resources don’t provide you the answers you’re looking for, [4-TECH] is always available to help troubleshoot problems, errors, and issues. They can be reached at 773-834-8324 or support@uchicago.edu.

If all else fails and you still have questions that need an answer, feel free to contact the Portal Project Team at portal@cticket.uchicago.edu.

For the past several weeks many groups across campus have been busy putting the final touches on the University’s new Web portal, myUChicago. If you haven’t heard about it already, you will soon.

The plan is to begin a phased rollout of myUChicago beta, beginning November 18. Over a three-week period (Nov. 18-Dec. 7) College, graduate and professional students will gain access to the site.

Resources for faculty are scheduled to launch in winter quarter, with a staff launch planned for spring quarter.

So, why the blog?

Throughout the development process we’ve fielded a lot of questions surrounding myUChicago—what it is, what it does, why you should care—and we thought it might be useful to have a venue to provide some answers, as well as updates on the project, tips for using the site, along with other timely, relevant information.

With that in mind, we are using this first post to address some of the most commonly asked questions.

What’s a portal?

Chances are, you’re already using one. A portal is essentially a framework for aggregating content relevant to your unique interests. Its main purpose is to provide easier access to information from a range of sources. Portals you may be familiar with include iGoogle, My Yahoo, and the MSN homepage.

Why is it called myUChicago?

The University’s portal project was driven by the notion that every member of the University community has specific needs based on who they are. Students need one set of tools, faculty another, staff yet another. Even within those groups, the tools you need change as the year progresses or your career evolves. myUChicago gives you access to what you need; it also gives you the flexibility to change what you see and how you see it. So it’s not just “a” portal; it’s “my” portal. That’s why it’s myUChicago.

What will I find in myUChicago?

myUChicago is meant to be a stepping stone to some of the most commonly used University websites. You can use the portal to find:

• Personalized content and information
• Contacts for various offices and services
• Links to dozens of sites from around campus
• Single sign on access to select University resources
• Custom search tools
• And more

In fact, you can see a full list of the custom content built specifically for the university here.

Will myUChicago replace Chalk?

No. myUChicago is intended to be a doorway to a range of University and community content. It will not replace other systems that are currently in use, rather it will provide simplified access to many of the tools you need on a day-to-day basis, including Chalk.

Why do I need another website?

myUChicago is built to be more than just a website; and the beta version we’re launching soon is just the beginning. Future plans include building better tools for managing your academics or your career at the University and consolidating outdated sites and applications into a more cohesive suite of services. The result will be a robust toolkit that minimizes the need to remember more than a single URL: my.uchicago.edu.

Where can I get more information?

Over the next several weeks you will see increased communication about the portal all over campus. As we get closer to launch, you will receive email with specific information about individual access. Over the next several months, this blog will serve as a resource to the campus community, as well as a forum to voice your opinion, suggestions, and thoughts about myUChicago.

An article about the portal—published in the September edition if iNSITe—can be found here. You should also feel free to browse the myUChicago help site.