Penn puts central directory on Web

For the first time, the University is offering a central directory on the World Wide Web, which will include addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for Penn students, faculty and staff. According to Ira Winston, head of the Online Directory Working Group, the directory maintains the desired privacy of students, faculty and staff. "Students have a way of going to the Registrar's Office and requesting that their address not be listed," he said. "And we decided that faculty and staff home addresses should not be in the on-line directory." Three departments combined their efforts in order to amass and organize this information into a single database. The Registrar's Office provided the student information previously listed in the printed directory. Business Services and Human Resources contributed the faculty and staff data. And e-mail addresses were provided by Data Communications and Computing Services. The Online Directory Working Group -- a subgroup of the E-mail Task Force -- coordinated the activity between departments. "We pushed to have this done," said Winston, director of computing for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. "We had to balance the needs of community and privacy issues." DCCS did much of the technical work. "Now you can find phone numbers and e-mail addresses without struggling to find the directory," said Dawn Clarke, lead programmer and analyst for DCCS. "We're not just e-mail anymore." Clarke added that it is about time that the University provide an all-encompassing directory. "Many other universities provide this service," she said. "It's quite common, and it's easier." The project was initiated in March. Users can access the directory by using Netscape or a similar web browser to go to the Penn home page at "http://www.upenn.edu". From there, select any "view" except "Prospective Students." Then select "Directory of Penn Faculty, Students and Staff." Finally, choose "Penn Directory."

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