Beach website faces diversity problem

An all-new web site for Cal State Long Beach has been met with varying responses. The new design, which the University Public Affairs and Publications Office premiered in May, was the first complete web site revision since CSULB went online five years ago.

The familiar orange site with its "The Beach is Hot" motif was originally intended to be a placeholder until the real site could be implemented, according to Doug Cox, director of new media communications, but the redesign hasn't been a priority until this academic year.

One of the primary reasons for a new site was to allow for the integration over 400 individual pages, Cox said, versus the old site, which featured only six. The redesign was also intended to present what Art Director Janet Romain called a "cleaner, more elegant look," focusing more on the beach side of the Beach.

One of the features of the new site is a feedback form, where visitors can voice their opinion of the redesign.  The responses to the new look have varied, Cox said, but primarily focus on one of the prominent features of the site, individual faces of students that appear on the opening page.

The faces are in groups of eight, with a different group appearing each day. There are "a total of about 50 images," Cox said, which he hopes to soon have rotating on a completely random basis.

Some comments Cox has received on the faces have been positive, he said, but others are "nasty Ö the faces inspire quite a bit of passion." Most of the negative comments focus on the lack of diversity among the featured students.

"They write ëWhy aren't I on there?'" Cox said.

The featured students were chosen on a "catch-as-catch-can" basis, Cox said, and are primarily students who were walking by the public affairs offices on the second floor of Brotman Hall. Many of the students are members of Associated Students Inc., "but not all," he said.

Cox admitted that the pictures don't necessarily reflect the diversity of the CSULB campus. Because of the university administration, and "a general desire to get the new site up as soon as possible," he said, it was difficult to get a really diverse group of students.

Cox and Romain emphasized that the site is not done yet. They are in the process of implementing a some new features, including one that will take visitors on a virtual picture tour through the campus. Developing continuity with other CSULB sites is also a priority, Cox said.

"The site is a work in progress," Cox said. "I totally view it as an interim site."