Talk:BE Board:Directory

So for a first draft of this, I just have to put all the students into an excel spreadsheet and then export as a csv file which I can import into OWW in table format using this tool.

I can sort the excel worksheet by the different columns so I can create OWW tables sorted by different columns. This hack will have to do until I see if this extension works.

Intro
On more than one occassion, particularly as a first year, I've been trying to work out who someone in BE is. For example, your talking to someone at BE.526 and you remember later they said they had a great protocol for a yeast fermentation, only you don't remember what their name was. Most other departments (e.g Chem. E) display the names and photos of all their grad and undergrad students. Seems like it would be useful for us too.

Basically, I'd like to see the info. we currently all have in the MIT directory, linked to photos and organized by class.

Action plan
I'd like to solicit feedback on this from the board and the students (I asked for a related question to be put on the student survey). If people thought it wasn't a terrible idea I will take it to Dalia, as they should have all the pictures and access to the data. If it isn't easy for them to do, we can do it ourselves given the data.

Ok, here comes a draft of the Directory.

Comments?
There was a comment by Samantha to create a directory of alumni from the department. I imagine that this directory would fall into such a category. --Sri Kosuri 22:42, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT)

A directory would be helpful, but the pictures we would get from the division would be our ID pictures, and as I recall, most people don't seem to like their pictures too much. Overall, I think we could setup the initial infrastructure with names, class year, and affiliated lab and then let individual people add their own picture, email if they want and other contact info. This would require that everyone in BE have an account on openwetware which may or may not be feasible. --Amy Nichols 23:46, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT)

I agree with Amy's comments. I hesitate about including pictures/contact information in a publicly accessible site without permission (not that it can't be searched for on the MIT website). --Diana Chai 15:59, 19 Sep 2005 (EDT)

I think the directory is a good idea. There may be some downfalls to listing names and pictures on a public access site, but I think that the benefits would far outweigh them. I certainly would have used it as a prospective student, and in my first year when looking for students in different labs I was interested in joining. And now I would use it to see exactly who those first years are who cannot be spotted outside the basements. We can always let people opt out of being listed. And we should include optional links to personal websites. --Danielle France 26 Sep 2005 (EDT)

cough undergrads cough
 * BC: I think a directory for cough undergrads cough would be great. The BE Board is a group whose goal is to serve the needs of the graduate students of BE (we've been around since before there were undergrads:)).  If you want, we'd be happy for you to steal the wiki-text being used for the graduate student directory and begin to build a BE undergrad directory, or you can ask the Biological Engineering-Biomedical Engineering Society (BE-BMES) to help you establish one.  Our experience has been that the department has been happy to provide all the necessary data.