By Jacqueline Hlavenka
After a two month-long advertising campaign that created a campus-wide buzz, the secret behind ‘G is coming’ is now revealed-but students are still wondering when Gmail will arrive on the Hofstra Web site.
Administrators said the University’s own customized Google Mail service would launch on April 1 on the my.hofstra.edu portal alongside the current Novell NetMail service that would soon be eliminated once “G” came into effect.
Over spring break, Robert Juckiewicz, vice president of information technology, announced on the University’s Gmail Web site that the arrival of Hofstra Gmail will be “delayed” due to a resolution that needed to be finalized between Google Incorporated and the University.
“There were logistic issues between Google and Hofstra, mainly involving contracts,” said Laurie Harvey, director of student computing services. “We needed to make sure our ‘I’s are dotted and our ‘T’s crossed, per se.”
However, as of April 11, Harvey released to The Chronicle that Google has responded to the University and the final paperwork is on its way-marking its official entrance on the Web by the end of next week.
“Hofstra has over 100,000 e-mail accounts, including alumni and current students. Once the paperwork arrives from Google, we can launch ‘G’ in 48 hours to go live,” Harvey said.
The Hofstra Google Mail service has been tested by Student Computing Services since December 2006, and the delay in “G”‘s arrival was not a technological problem, but depended on Google to finalize its contract with the University. Additionally, the Google-based University mail system is only in its first-quarter as a beta service, providing e-mail without specialized features.
Other universities like Arizona State and Northwestern University were the first among college campuses to introduce Google’s beta campus e-mail service-and as Google Incorporated continues to emerge as an Internet power, the Google staff wanted to know how to better its e-mail service for the everyday student.
“Since e-mail is such a vital tool for managing academic careers-used to coordinate study groups, organize campus activities or communicate directly with their professors-this generation of college students includes some of the most knowledgeable consumers of online applications ever,” said Jeff Keltner, Google’s manager of collaboration products for education, in a prepared statement. “University students lead hectic lives and are ready for e-mail that helps them better organize themselves and communicate with others.”
In an effort to learn what students truly expect out of their e-mail service, Google has implemented a Web survey at http://www.google.com/studentsurvey for students across the country to fill-out based on their current satisfaction with university-based e-mail services, and whether new features, such as collaboration tools and spreadsheets, are desirable when checking mail.
After the delayed launch of “G” next week, the third phase of Gmail advertisements will read “G is here!” in blue, placed in high traffic areas on campus, such as the Student Center and academic buildings.
