By
Misty Wells, UNT Central Web Support
I
am back to announce
that I am no longer a foreigner by status quo of the working world.
I have acquired my UNT citizenship.
Becoming a
permanent citizen at UNT has proved to be a wonderful learning
experience. Since the last time we
spoke, I have taken on and
conquered many challenges. One that stands out is
learning how a Portal works and getting it to function in relation to
how the community here at UNT currently uses the Web and electronic
media.
You may be
sitting there wondering what is a portal, why is it such a big deal
that we have a portal and how will that benefit me? Well,
hopefully I can share a couple of the things that I have learned and
maybe some other key questions about the Portal.
What is a
Portal?
According to
www.WhatIs.com, the term
portal is synonymous for gateway a World Wide Web site that is or
proposes to be a major starting site for users when they get connected
to the Web or that users tend to visit as an anchor site. This
closely describes how UNT will be using MyUNT Portal. MyUNT
will consist of class information, links to E-mail, calendaring,
events, the latest news as well as many other beneficial features. Additional services will be added as time goes on.
How is the
Portal beneficial to the University?
A simple way
to think of the benefits for having the portal is to think about the
things that you would like to see improved. The University
stands to gain enhanced services, a more efficient as well as
secure online communication medium, which can be useful for official
University notices.
Is the portal
replacing the current UNT Website?
The portal is
completely independent of the University Web site. The portal is not
intended to recreate the content of the Web pages. There will be links
to UNT Web pages from within the portal and a link to the
portal from the UNT home page. The University pages will
continue to have the bulk of the general informational content about
the University.
Is it a
requirement to use the Portal to handle official UNT business?
No. The
use of the portal will be voluntary.
Will the
Portal be accessible from any computer?
Yes. Any
person within the UNT community that has a valid Enterprise User ID
(EUID) and password can access the portal from any computer.
Will it be
necessary to take a class on how to use the portal?
No. There will be Help pages for users
not familiar with using Portals. Also, before the portal
actually rolls out for extensive use, a public announcement with
instructions will be delivered to the UNT community.
Will the user
be able to customize their individual portal pages?
That is one of
the many great things about the portal; it allows individuals to
customize certain portions of the page layout to their discretion.
In addition, the user has a choice on most of the pagelets they choose
to see and access in their portal. Furthermore, content will be
customized based on that particular target audience, which will
provide more effective communication.
Conclusion
I hope this
little Q & A gives you a little more insight about Portals and how we
plan to use it here at UNT. There will be more details to come,
as we get closer to rolling out the MyUNT portal. However, if
you have any questions or concerns before then, please feel free to
send me an email at
mwells@unt.edu.
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