Information Technology Services (ITS) and Communications offices recently collaborated to revise Choate’s online directories, a feature in the school’s portal that provides information about all students and faculty on campus to the entire community.
A disclaimer now runs along the bottom of the Directories, warning users of what comprises improper usage, including but not limited to: “Reproducing and storing in a retrieval system by any means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying or using the addresses (electronic or otherwise) or other information contained in this directory for any private, commercial, or political mailing, and/or phone solicitation.” It goes on to note that transgressions may violate copyright and is “punishable by law.” Ms. Sarah Gordon, the Assistant Director of Communications, said, “This is a ‘Terms of Use’ statement used to protect members of the Directories. You will notice that this type of language is on many other directories. Its purpose is to ensure that all members are appropriately using this content.”
Additionally, members of the Choate community can no longer look up an individual by his or her official first name. Instead, they can now search by one’s “preferred name.” Ms. Gordan said, “We are trying to keep our systems on the cutting edge of societal changes.” She added, “There is a transition of using ‘preferred names’ as default within the data systems of the school. The idea of a nickname is much different than a preferred name. Your preferred name will stay with you during your Choate career. It is what your email is based off of, and how your information will be fed through certain systems on campus.” She explains that a preferred name is more official and therefore more widely used. Regardless of the differentiation between nicknames and preferred names, however, the Directories no longer allow users to search by given first names.
Addressing this change, Isabelle “Izzy” Peel ’19 said, “I know that people use the Directories a lot to look up people they don’t know and learn their faces and names. I think having to know their preferred name to look them up is going to make it really difficult. It’s a lot faster to be able to search up their name.” Changing the required information necessary to find someone in the Directories could prolong the process.
Other students had different opinions. Riley Choi ’18 added, “I don’t think it would hinder people from finding me in the Directories. No one calls me by my Korean name, Seung Hyun, so I think finding me by my preferred name would make things convenient.”
However, students whose preferred names begin with a different letter than their given name, like Choi, still have email addresses that begin with the first letter of their given name. Choi goes on to note that, “Everyone calls me Riley, and whenever my friends wanted to send me an email, they had trouble finding me in the email list.” The change in the Directories can make it difficult to find someone’s given name when needed.
It is unlikely, however, that people will stop using the Directories because of this adjustment. Samantha Rusnak ’18 said, “For me, the purpose of the Directories doesn’t really change.”
These changes were implemented without any announcement, and most students are currently not aware of the changes in the Directories. Anna Deitcher ’18 said, “I had no idea that the Directories changed.” On working with ITS to execute these changes, Ms. Gordon said, “ITS owns the data portion of the Directories. Communications, specifically myself and Mr. Drian Hillman, who are the web team, own where the data is fed to, which is the website portal.”
So, what next? Nicole McGuigan ’18 suggested, “I think we should be able to look people up by dorm.”
