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news
Beachpride site
gets makeover
By Sé J.
Reed
On-line Forty-Niner
The new look of
beach pride is online today. Beachpride.com, the Cal State
Long Beach students' Web site, has been revamped, revised
and redone.
"It was always
intended to be redesigned," said A.S.I. President Robert
Garcia, who created the idea as part of his presidential campaign
last year. "It's a work in progress and it will continue
to be updated."
The redesign was
based on feedback from students on the site, with the intention
of making it a primary resource for CSULB students.
"We wanted
to make it easier to use, to look better and have more features,"
Garcia said. "Now we've established a really good look
and system."
One of the more
notable features planned for the new site is an online-voting
system for next year's A.S.I. election. Other universities
that have implemented online voting have had a significant
increase in voter turnout. When Iowa State University took
its student government elections online, for example, the
voter turnout doubled to 25 percent. In contrast, only 10.3
percent of CSULB's student body voted in the 2001 elections.
The new site will
also feature an extended calendar section, with a listing
of all A.S.I. events. Student organizations will have their
own section to post events and meetings, along with links
to the group's Web sites.
A separate sports
section will contain upcoming games for all 49er sports. Additionally,
up-to-date 49er scores will be posted.
The bookswap program
will also be a high-profile component of the site. Garcia
originally envisioned the program as a way for students to
get used books directly from other students. Eventually, the
program will evolve into a fully developed classifieds section,
or what Garcia calls a "Web kiosk."
The Beach Patrol
program will also be operated through beachpride.com, with
registration and updates available online. All Beach Patrol
members will receive a sticker for their student ID card,
enabling them to swipe the card at CSULB events to receive
points for attendance. Prizes will be awarded as various point
levels.
Not all of the
site's features are operational with this week's launch, but
will be phased in over the summer and next school year.
Beachpride.com
is funded through the Beach Pride Referendum as part of the
Beach Pride Center's activities. The center receives about
7 percent of the $21-per-student fee increase that took effect
in fall 2000. The site was redesigned by the newly hired permanent
webmaster, Svaar Svaarson, who works out of the center.
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