Website allows users see who is in classes, dorms

A new version of CampusLIVE, a website to help students navigate campus, will launch next week.

After six months of updates, CampusLIVE's new version will allow students to access campus restaurant menus, view who is in their classes, who is in their dorm, find a tutor or even talk to a professor, said Ryan Durkin, chief operating officer of CampusLIVE.

"It allows you to see who is in your class, in your dorm. If you wanted to know what the hot chick down the hall was doing on Friday night, you are able to," Durkin said.

The website will continue to combine various sites like Facebook, Google, weather, news and movie sites into one, he said.

CampusLIVE is not trying to create a new form of Facebook or compete with it, Durkin said.

"We are building a website where students are able to go find out information without being friends with the person or even knowing them," he said.

Durkin said CampusLIVE eliminates the "awkwardness" of friend requesting or searching for someone on Facebook.

The website tells you who on campus is using the site and what their plans are, he said.

"We are breaking it down," Durkin said. "We don't want to focus on the events. We want to show who's in the class, who is in the dorm and then make some discussion from that."

The site aims to get rid of the "clutter," he said.

"CampusLIVE will gear toward what is actually happening, the more important things on campus," Durkin said.

West Virginia University junior Curt Middleton, pre-business and economics major, thinks the site is a good idea for large college campuses.

"I just transferred here, so I really don't know a lot of people," Middleton said. "I feel like if I register for CampusLIVE, it will tell me the best places to go and maybe even let me meet some people."

Middleton said the site takes Facebook to the next step by making it easier to talk to and meet people in your class.

"Everyone is shy when they don't know anyone in class," Middleton said. "If someone is on CampusLIVE and doesn't know the homework assignment, they can find a

classmate, and now they have a friend in class."

Once the site is updated, current users will automatically be updated, Durkin said.

New users who register for the website will have information taken from Facebook and be asked questions about classes or housing, he said.

Unlike Facebook, CampusLIVE will stay restricted only for college students, Durkin said.

"The network is for students not to worry about anything and keeping it within college limits," he said.