Webbed feat

They know that the virtual world is as important as the real world.

From placement stats to attendance, from college fests to city updates, Chandigarh8217;s students are putting it all online

They know that the virtual world is as important as the real world. Which is why, if they are not on the web their existence is a mere shadow. Owing to the web, students are able to keep themselves updated through a common platform. Other than the official websites of colleges and departments, now students can access information through the websites that their classmates, juniors or seniors have created.

8220;The web is a great help not only to display regular information but also the kind of urgent news that may not reach each and every student,8221; tells Anmol Batra, part of a five member team that has initiated uiet.info. The website has features like email service, placement statistics, reference projects, notice board, attendance and results imported from college server, news related to UIET or PU from newspapers, TV etc and information about other extra-curricular activities and groups. 8220;Recently an exam had been postponed, the information of which was put on the notice board and no student was informed personally. Through our website many students were saved from a trip to college to check the notice board,8221; shares Anmol. He adds that there is an average of 250 users per day and the number of email subscribers is on a daily rise.

While these are regular websites, even events and fests get a temporary space on the web. Every year Punjab Engineering College updates a website dedicated to the PEC-fest. Amit Khurana, fourth year Computer Science student tells us more, 8220;The website pecfest.in was a very dynamic website that had all the information about events of the fest. Each organizer had a log-in id so they could update on their own. We had information on the rules and regulations, registration, participation, accommodation et al.8221; Abhinav Kumar, fourth year IT gives us on dough on another website that8217;s being made with the integration of Google application. 8220;The dramatics club has a page on wikepedia, space has also been given to us by Yahoo. The new website aims to combine the academic and cultural activities. Till now we only have unofficial websites of dramatics, literary or the robotics club. Very soon they will all come under the same 8216;roof8217;.8221;

Chitkara Institute of Mass Communication is also working on making its presence felt online. Gitanjali Kalia shares, 8220;We are working a soon-to-be-launched portal that will have all the information on what8217;s happening in the city and the educational institutes.8221; PU based NGO Youth United8217;s youthunited.in helps the local members spread their message across the world. 8220;It has not only made us international, but has also helped us become dynamic,8221; Jyotindra Nath, president of the NGO remarks. Each member is trained for the compulsory we activities. Segregated into official and public sections, the website has features like blogs, event details and projects, social networking, 8216;classifinds8217;, gaming and picture zones et al.

8220;Creating a website is quite easy, but the real thing is to maintain it and make it grow,8221; Anmol muses. 8220;Many department websites have become redundant since they are not updated regularly or at all. It requires a lot of hard work and focus on the part of members to keep the wheel of innovation moving.8221; You heard him!