• http://www.union.rpi.edu/

– E-mail gmweek@rpi.edu. Deadline is February 18.

– Online Calender updated November 15, 2001.

• http://www.union.rpi.edu/building/

– Rensselaer Student Union - Fall 2001 hours

• http://sis.rpi.edu/stuclshr.htm

– Fall 01 Class Schedule

• http://www.rpi.edu/dept/catalog/calendar.html

– Fall Term 2001

• http://www.rpi.edu/dept/athletics/facilities/87.html

– Winter Break Hours for ’87 Gym

• http://www.rpi.edu/dept/dining/menus.htm

– Special Meal Schedules - Fall 2001 Opening

• http://www.rpi.edu/dept/health-services/public_html/new1.html

– Check out the 2000-2001 Student Health Center brochure (Valid 8/15/2000-8/14/2001)

The above is a sample of various pages on RPI’s website as of 3 pm on Sunday, March 10, 2002. This hunt for information began when I attempted to learn the Union Game Room hours for spring break. I did not find them. I later tried to discover when the ’87 Gym would be open during spring break. Again, the web was no help. The lack of these two simple pieces of information led me on the quest that returned the above pages, which took all of about 10 minutes. This is merely a sample, as I did not make a thorough search of the .rpi.edu domain.

It fascinates me that a school that prides itself on being techno-logically advanced, that contin-ually tries to compare itself with more famous schools like MIT, could be this delinquent in keeping its own website up to date. Editing a web page with current, relevant, and therefore useful information should be a relatively simple task. Yet as the above shows, there are several departments on this campus for which this seems to be either too difficult, or considered unnecessary. Personally, I consider this unac-ceptable.

The most logical question at this point is: Does RPI have an employee whose job it is to maintain www.rpi.edu with current information? I’m forced to assume it does not. We might next ask: Do the various departments have such a position? Well, I know for a fact that at least some of them do–many of pages on RPI’s site have a tagline resembling “For comments on this page, please e-mail webmaster@<something>.rpi.edu.” So what is the problem here? Are the people holding the title of webmaster not doing their jobs? Is webmastering just one of their many other tasks within their departments? I would guess that the latter is the case. Whatever the reason behind the lack of current and useful information, something needs to be done about it. I would request that all departments review their own web pages and determine what information is out of date and why. At that point, if individual departments do not have the ability to remedy the situation, I wonder if the Institute as a whole might consider hiring on a full-time webmaster to maintain and to update all of www.rpi.edu.

Paul Lalli