Project Spotlight: Wisga Student Review Database

By Seong Jong Hong     11/15/11 6:00pm

There's a saying that goes: It's not what you know, it's who you know that counts. Many students have used their connections advantageously by gaining insider information on everything from which professor is preferable for an Economics course to how to get that internship.

Wisga plans to level the playing field by giving every Rice University student free access to student-written reviews of internships, research and volunteering opportunities.

Wisga is a database that students contribute to by submitting reviews of the internships, research or volunteering opportunities they've had so that other students may access insider information usually not given at information sessions, Will Rice College junior Akash Morrison said.

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This summer, three Rice University students and a University of Texas at Austin student worked to create a website that would help students find internships, research and volunteering opportunities.

Sid Richardson College junior Eric Li is one of the four founding members of Wisga. The other three are Morrison, Lovett College junior Ani Sen, and University of Texas at Austin junior Alan Nguyen.

Wisga members have talked with the directors of Rice Center for Career Development and Rice Peer Academic Advising system to better serve the Rice community.

"They seemed really receptive to our idea, and so Wisga is searching for ways on how we can cooperate with CCD and PAA," Morrison said.

Director of Rice CCD Nicole Van Der Heuvel stated her views on the matter.

"If properly used, Wisga can be an additional tool to gather and disseminate information about students' work experiences," Van Der Heuvel said. "It's important to stress that one experience from one student, be it positive or negative, should never be the only source from which to make a decision."

However, this project is not without difficulties. One difficulty that Wisga faces currently is how to respect the anonymity of submitters while still maximizing the wealth of information sharing. According to Sen, one solution that the team came up with is hyperlocality.

This solution incorporates the idea of social networks, in which students from the Rice network can view information submitted by others in the Rice network. Sen said that this was done to protect the privacy of the submitters.

Moreover, students from different colleges can still share information via mutual social networks such as the Houston network; any submitter can choose to submit reviews anonymously should they desire, Sen said.

A fifth member of Wisga, Sid Richardson junior Scott Norgaard, is mainly responsible for marketing and development. Although Wisga is still undergoing development, Wisga will reach out to the Rice community next semester, Morrison said.

"For now, we are still aggregating student reviews and student inputs," Sen stated. "Next semester will be our big push toward reaching out to Rice."

This should help many college students struggling to find internships or research opportunities. Wisga differentiates itself from other resources such as the Rice Center for Career Development by allowing students to access their peers' opinions of the opportunities.

While in the immediate future Wisga will operate for Texas college students, Wisga hopes to expand to other campuses after opening Wisga to Rice and UT students.

"Our initial marketing focus will be at Rice and UT. We want to expand to Texas A&M and University of Houston as well," Morrison stated. "We want to become the one-stop shop for internships, research and volunteering opportunities and jobs."

Students who are interested in working with Wisga can contact the Wisga team at contact@wisga.com.

"Project Spotlight" is a weekly feature that looks at student projects that are making a difference in the Rice community.

 

 

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