In my opinion, the website has room for additional resources for:
How to study for and where to find study material for courses that are often challenging. Often, in some of the harder second-year courses students may feel a little stuck. Instead of waiting for study session events to run on their specific course, this would be a permanent resource to help them get back on track.
Getting and preparing for internships. One of the FAQs I see all the time is “How do I get my first internship?” or “How do I prepare for an Interview?” and while we do run events specifically addressing these questions, having a dedicated page to answer your questions when you need it is nothing but a bonus.
How to get involved in open-source. Other than all the amazing benefits of open-source projects they are also an amazing spot for people to get started with development experience as there is no barrier to entry; There is no time wasted wondering what project to do; And there is something to do for any skill level.
I would take the lead on getting these resources available to students, and with the help of volunteers looking for development experience, it would be well maintained as well as knowledge transferred to future years.
Email System:
There has been talk about getting an email system running in the past for one reason or another it has been pushed to the wayside. Over the summer I plan on getting an email system laid out to support:
Weekly (or biweekly) emails sent out informing everyone “What is Going on with CCSS Next Week”. This creates another channel for people to learn about upcoming events which goes directly into their Carleton inbox to boost attendance at events.
Email lists reminding everyone about events they have signed up for, lowering our no-show rate on some free-to-sign-up events.
A Volunteer Email list, although we already have a volunteer email list its upkeep has been almost non-existent. I plan to incorporate it into this email system allowing for easier upkeep.
Blog Posts:
On the CCSS website, there is a blog section which is extremely infrequently updated (currently once every 2 years). This section of our site has a lot of potential to act like a time capsule where all the info from an event can be condensed and preserved for future years.
How Could Volunteers Help With the Above?
Both the email system and the blog posts are the type of project that need continued support and while I will be doing my best to make sure they are the best they can be, every bit of help makes it even better. Throughout the school year we would be needing people to write and edit both blog posts and “What is Going on with CCSS Next Week” emails.
Some small changes to the website would also be needed to reflect the new email system (adding somewhere to sign up and updating the volunteer email list info), this would open the door for some volunteers to get started with web development.
