SF State’s Associated Students, Inc. has begun funding for a school-specific social networking Web site expected to launch in March 2009. The network, Campus Remix, was created to enhance the student group interaction both online and on campus.

It will link the many branches of the university that normally wouldn’t cross paths. Features will include having student groups, forums, school event information and a way to know and interact with students in the same classes.

“It can be utilized by any group of students organizing for any reason,” senior class representative Sean Horan said.

“People will be able to come and see what groups are meeting before their classes. This way they can plan their day with activities on campus, especially if they are commuting from somewhere like the East Bay,” senior BECA student Alex Kessinger said.

Horan carried out a proposal for ASI to begin the Campus Remix site and it was introduced to the board for voting on Oct. 29. ASI approved the first phase of the project in the amount of $2,000. The project doesn’t come cheap. There are six phases total, with a proposed cost of $12,000 to $14,000, according to the proposal submitted to ASI.

“The ASI board has been very supportive,” Horan said. “The fact that they’ve actually allocated money means they believe in its success.”

Kessinger and Horan have played a major role in starting the social network. They worked together along with assistant BECA professor and advisor Marie Drennan on SEISMIC, a faculty-initiated social network developing connections for classes and community outreach.

“SEISMIC was sort of an inspiration for [Campus Remix],” Horan said. “It was a big help in connecting the people who started it.”

Kessinger explained that while iLearn is supposed to create an online classroom, the discussion forums only work if the teacher activates them. If they don’t, students aren’t able to interact within the virtual classrooms. The social network will allow student interaction without teacher activation.

While Campus Remix could easily link the campus together, issues of student confidentiality are a major issue. Penny Safford, vice president of student affairs and dean of students, asked about student confidentiality throughout all phases of the site in the Oct. 29 ASI meeting and was assured confidentiality would be kept.

“We know security is a hot button issue,” Horan said. “In order for this to be a useful tool there will have to be high confidentiality.”

The first outside consultants working on Campus Remix had software security programs that didn’t meet Horan’s standards, so he’s “gone back to the drawing board” to find one that will meet the security requirements.

In his proposal to ASI, Horan explained phase one as “designed to establish the bare-bones structure of the site, upload onto the server and test it.”

The initial set-up of phase one is completed and could be launched, however Horan opted not to because the site is still very plain and not what Horan wants Campus Remix to become. Once it is completed he hopes to promote Campus Remix by word of mouth, posters, pamphlets and e-mails to students.