Should Becadigi be opened to ALL BECA students?

[Becagrad]

It recently dawned on me that I can't think of a good reason why any BECA student, undergraduate or graduate, shouldn't be able to become a member of the BECA Digital Lounge. But this is a community website, so what do we think as a collective?

This website was founded because as the assistant to the Graduate Coordinator I didn't see the scope of my actions extending beyond the graduate student body. I wanted to create something that would act as a way for grad students and alumni to get a feel for the grad community (who we all are, etc.), to communicate, and share work.

However, this website allows us to form sub-groups that would still let us know who the other grad students are. Therefore, why not just let all BECA students join? Personally, I think we should open the gates. These days, this site gets a modest level of activity, but it could get far more if more people had access to it. But I'm just one member. There needs to be a majority vote by current becadigi members to make it happen. What do you think?

Here are what I see as pros and cons of opening the website to all BECA students:

Cons:
+ The "feel" of the grad community might be watered down or lost.
+ There is already a CSB Ning website.

Pros:
+ Many more students would benefit from this site's facilities.
+ Current members could build connections with all BECA students, not just other grads.
+ There might be far more activity on this website, including more videos, audio, and blogs.

In addition, I also suggest that the head of CSB, whoever that may be from semester to semester, is made co-moderator of this site to share the load with the graduate moderator.

Should we open Becadigi to ALL BECA students? Over to you. I'll weigh in on the discussion and, as administrator, make the final decision within 7 days.

[FoundObject]

Sense CSB has their own Ning website, let's keep it "Grad/GradAlum" only.

There are differences between the two camps, and rightly so; the grad program is far more intensive, personalized, and hyper-focused, and deserves its own Ning niche.

From a marketing perspective, I think keeping a clear line between BA & MA reminds people that there are two sides of the BECA program and encourages them to strive for a higher degree

[Kasia]

I agree.. Lounge should be for the grad community only.

[maddy]

I'd say open it up, just because there are so few of us. I think having more people involved would create a more active community. But I don't have especially strong feelings about this.

[Michele Ivanez]

I really enjoy the grad/alum feel of the digilounge, but I'd be open to allowing undergrads in as well if the need be.

:)

[Justin LaneLutter]

I don't think we need an iron clad set of rules about this. Terra and Alex have already been included, despite their standing as undergrads. I think it would be fine to allow a few qualified members, ie, invite only, to the grad level discussion. This could be extended to anyone that we might want to be a part of this community, professors, agents, whoever. This will keep it relevant in a few years when everyone has gone their separate ways.
More importantly, I think, is that people who are interested in making the group larger should join CSB and their ning. CSB is actually a school recognized organization that I got a lot out of during my time at state and grad students are pitifully underrepresented. That would allow us to have the big community we want and still keep this page fairly exclusive, which I think is the best of both worlds.
Just to put my money where my mouth is, I'm going to join the CSB ning right now. Best, everybody, J

[Adam Greenfield]

Thanks everyone for your input.

One big reason I was considering this idea was that the level of activity on this website is fairly modest nowadays, although I think it's still an important entity as far as being a focal point for the grad community. If becadigi members think this should stay just grad students and alumni, then I would ask: If you think so, then what are you doing to contribute to this website right now? If it's nothing or practically nothing then why do you care who can and can't join?

The other reason is that the undergrads don't have a community website of their own. However, that is not a clear-cut statement. The CSB Ning is for CSB members, not all BECA students. It's exclusive. There's no Ning site for all BECA students. However, in practice, perhaps the CSB site could be for all students - I don't know how stringent the entry requirements are. If the CSB is for all students then why not just call it a BECA Ning? If it's for just CSB members, then there could still potentially be a role for an all-students website.

I think at minimum, we should admit certain notable undergrads who have a significant connection with the goings-on of the grad community. For instance, undergrads in grad classes and undergrads who work on grad projects, such as Focal Point. If nobody objects, I will at least permit this.

Right now, not enough people have replied to this topic for me to ascertain what the community really thinks. By absence of opinion, I could infer that there is a lack of opposition to the idea of admitting undergrads, so I could go ahead and do so. On the other hand, I think what Alex, head of CSB, says will be very important so I'll try to get his opinion. There is also another student considering building a website using Drupal for all BECA students so this may all be conjecture in the long run if that effort is successful.

The biggest challenge is embedding the online community mentality in the BECA community. That mentality is not yet fully present in students or faculty even though there is a massive amount to gain from doing so. Focal Point has been a huge success and it might not have happened without becadigi. How many more awesome, possibly career-setting, projects could be going on right now if the internet was embraced more fully? I don't believe that people are too busy. Collaboration is what this department is all about.

[Alex]

Sorry, I am a little late to the dance. My viewpoint is the CSB Ning is open for everyone. We (Terra laying the foundation) started the site as an up-to-date community where members are able to communicate and share their projects with each other or recruit others to work on their projects, internship news, department news. It was certainly inspired from the lounge. It's my hope those who sign up through the CSB Ning are either active members of the club or alumni of CSB. A way to reach out to old club members. However, if people want to join, it's fine. If it can bring together more BECA students then the better. My original intention of asking for just Kyle to be allowed to join the lounge was because of all his efforts with Focal Point and you know him. I viewed this as more of you know us, work with us on productions and socialize from time to time. It wasn't just random undergrads that you didn't personally know. That being said I don't mind if the lounge isn't opened up. Based on the responses it appears that general census is to leave things the way they are and that is fine with me.