CDAA Redesigns Web Site, Adds Networking Feature to Database

By W. Michael Fagan
College Topics Staff Writer

The Cavalier Daily Alumni Association web site, www. cdalumni.org, has undergone a significant face lift that not only improves the accessibility of information on the site but also now allows CD alumni to use the association’s database as a career networking tool.

Although the bulk of the content remains unchanged, the look and feel of the site has been redesigned.

"The new look is a bit more streamlined and follows the newspaper theme of ‘Who, What, Why,’ etc.," said Kim Ramsey, CDAA communications director. "Hopefully alumni will find the new site easier to navigate.

"More important than the graphic changes, however, are the technical changes that were made," Ramsey noted. "Many improvements were made to the database and background programming that won’t be evident to the casual user but that should make the site more user-friendly and relevant."

The revamping of the site, the first since 1998, was conducted by Board of Directors members Matt Lane, Andrew Csontos and Ramsey. Lane, webmaster since the site’s inception in 1995, worked with Csontos to move the web pages from their original UNIX-based server to a Windows server. Csontos, who did the bulk of the programming work on the redesigned web pages, is also assuming the role of primary webmaster.

"The Cavalier Daily Alumni Association would like to formally thank Matt for the tremendous job he has done over the last five years keeping the site running and up-to-date," said CDAA President Diane DeBerry Krehmeyer.

"We would also like to acknowledge the amount of work that Andrew has put into bringing the revised site up," she added. "Since the new server is a different operating system from the old, much of the internal scripting on the site had to be completely redone."

Csontos noted that one side-effect of the database reprogramming is that old user names and passwords are no longer active. Alumni coming to the new site for the first time will need to reregister and pick a new user name and password, which can be the same as their old ones if they so choose.

Future improvements to the site are planned, including the reintroduction of the discussion boards, which were a popular feature of the old web site.

The most significant change in the site’s content, however, is the introduction of a "networking" database.

"For a number of years now, the CDAA has been criticized for not providing enough networking support to its alumni, especially those just graduating," Krehmeyer said. "This effort, while by no means complete, sets the framework for what I believe will be a very valuable tool and a powerful addition to the services we provide to our membership."

Csontos and Ramsey utilized alumni information from the old web site as the basis for the database.

"Rather than solicit new career information from our membership, we decided to use the information we had accumulated over the years," Ramsey noted. "By doing so, we are able to provide career information on nearly 40 percent of our 1,700-member database."

By using the database search engine, CD alumni can now find contact information in 18 career fields, including journalism. Searches are also allowed based on name, graduation year, city, state, or zip code.

"It was interesting to me to find, while going through the database, how diverse our membership is," Ramsey said. "When we first decided to undertake this project, we thought we’d only have a half-dozen or so viable career categories. Instead, we ended up with three times that many. It’s my hope that this networking database will be of use to alumni in a multitude of careers, not just those in journalism."

The web page notes that alumni listed have not volunteered to offer career advice or serve as mentors; they are simply listed as fellow CD alumni working in specific fields or living in a particular geographic area.

"It’s important that we stress that any alumni who does not wish to have his or her professional information made available as part of this networking project need only contact us to have that information hidden," Ramsey explained.

Alumni wishing to have their information removed can do so by emailing support@cdalumni.org.