WSU has invested $125,000 in the latest Internet craze.

MySite – a new function of the myWSU online registry service – offers students a way to collaborate on projects and classwork and build online portfolios, among other things. The service, which is similar to social networking sites MySpace and Facebook, is only available to WSU students and employees.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, there were 1,573 users with pages on mySite.

The site’s software and hardware will eventually run programs, said Debby Lawson, director of operation and system services for Information Technology Services. ITS and the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology will foot the $125,000 bill.

Although Lawson said funding did not come out of students’ pockets, some students felt the money could have been better spent. Many felt their education suffers when money is spent on extras such as mySite.

“You’re not paying for instruction anymore,” said Ricky Solitaire, a senior comparative ethnic studies major. “You’re paying for leisure.” Freshman biotechnology major Brenton Poirier said he couldn’t see a reason for such a site because there are so many similar ones on the Internet.

“People usually use MySpace or Facebook for stuff like that,” Poirier said.

One reason WSU built the site was so students and faculty could have a way to put together and publish portfolios, said Nils Peterson, assistant director for CTLT. The problem, however, is that users must have mySite accounts of their own to view any information on the site. This means potential employers would not likely be able to view a student’s portfolio without a mySite account.

First-year graduate student Matt Kushin, who has a mySite profile, said in an e-mail that he has not figured out how to take full advantage of the site. But he uses it to post some of his work and interests in hopes of finding like-minded students.

Peterson said he is looking for feedback from students to make the site easier to use, and to figure out what the students want from the service. Although there is no Web link for feedback, he said users will be able to access the “mySite users group” feedback forum once a profile is created.

As with all new technology, there are bugs to be worked out, Lawson said.

“I think it’s fair to say it’s not done,” he said. “[But] there will be more functionality as we get feedback.” ITS spent six months since March, using four full-time and six part-time employees, to create and test the site, Lawson said. There are currently seven servers being used to run mySite. There are five servers running myWSU. She said the full potential of the software and hardware isn’t being used, but plans are in the works. Another site, called myClass, is in development, and ITS expects the service to be available for students and faculty to use by spring semester.

Other programs similar to mySite were tested prior to its release, Peterson said. Those programs didn’t have the flexibility needed to create portfolios and allow students to store documents. In the end, he said, there were just more possibilities with mySite.