uwstudent.org

uwstudent.org is an organization founded and operated by students and committed to informing and educating students at the University of Waterloo about news and information, and media and technology. We are incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in the Province of Ontario under the name "The uwstudent.org Media Corporation."

uwstudent.org provides a website that delivers relevant news and information to University of Waterloo students and the University of Waterloo community. Apart from this strong outward news presence, uwstudent.org is committed to both the professional development of the organisers and "participants" within the organization and the development of the organization itself.

Meeting this commitment requires a strong educational programme for both organisers and "participants", which serves to develop both the individuals involved and the organization. Additionally, exploring and studying new and existing media and related technologies will expand existing projects and produce new projects thereby developing the organization.

Originally, uwstudent.org ran on a home-rolled system, but in March 2003, switched to a significantly modified version of Geeklog. Most recently, uwstudent.org switched over to a modified version of Drupal in April 2006.

(The archives are currently unavailable)
When uwstudent.org switched software in March 2003, all of the old comment was brought forward to the new site. Because the old software had no concept of users, all of the content is now ostensibly posted by the archive user. For posterity, we also set up an archive site that shows how uws was just before the software change.

Since the content was all going to appear to be posted by the 'archive' user (see the question above) it was difficult to quickly skim threads of comments without seeing the author in the title.

As termed above, the "participants" are the "doers" within the organization. The actual roles of students who volunteer their time to uwstudent.org can range from writing of articles to applications programming, however, they are all participating in furthering the goals of uwstudent.org.

uwstudent.org can deliver news as-it-happens, thereby being the first source of information. Conversely, other media publications at the University of Waterloo are restricted by a publication schedule, and thus, cover news issues at a later date in a more retrospective way.

Additionally, uwstudent.org has an inherent accountability in that readers are provided the opportunity to comment instantly on any coverage, creating a convenient forum for discussion.

uwstudent.org is a not-for-profit corporation distinct from the University of Waterloo but includes all University of Waterloo students as members. Students' Council officially recognized uwstudent.org in Winter 2002.