Applet To Link Students on Net

Harvard has just made it easier for students to get in touch with their classmates—whether they are in an eight-person seminar or a 1,000-student lecture.

A new Facebook application developed by the provost’s office, called H-Link, will connect students to others in their courses by providing easy access to class rosters and the capability to send and receive group e-mails.

Harvard created the applet in response to the growing popularity of the social networking site, as well as the evolving need for simpler ways to link students through technology.

According to Daniel D. Moriarty, the chief information officer (CIO) for the University, the idea was first introduced by Rachel K. Popkin ’08 and Sameer Lakha ’09 at last year’s annual Academic Computing Workshop in May.

“The premise of this pilot was really based on this fact that so many undergraduates were already [using Facebook],” Moriarty said. “It just seemed to make a lot of sense to leverage what was already there.”

Popkin said that she had not expected to see anything tangible come out of the discussions that she had with staff in the provost’s office.

“I’m excited that they saw a student need and met it in a way that is going to be very useful for students,” she said in an interview yesterday.

Educational and Multimedia Technology Architect for Harvard University Information Systems Laurence P. Bouthillier, who was responsible for developing the application, said that security and privacy were major concerns for the University.

“We tried to architect this so that it is as secure as any of the applications that are on the Harvard platform,” he said.

H-Link connects the public information stored on Facebook profiles and the private course and contact information that are available on Harvard’s servers.

Students will be able to contact their classmates and access Harvard course Web sites through the application.

While H-Link is supported by Facebook’s third-party application platform, the course data will come from the official files of the Harvard registrar.

Lakha, who also advised Bouthillier’s team throughout the development process, said that he is confident that all of the security concerns had been addressed.

“They’ve put a lot of thought into this, so every stage is opt-in,” he said. “Facebook does not see any of your Harvard information, and Harvard doesn’t see any of your Facebook information.”

H-Link is not intended to replace regular course sites that are developed by the University, according to a press release on the Harvard Gazette’s Web site. To this end, it will not include functions like discussion groups or other forms of official course communication.

The beta version will be released on Feb. 25 for trial use during the spring term, according to the press release.

“We are really anxious to learn,” Moriarty said, “and one of the major communities that we want to hear back from are students.”

—Staff writer Abby D. Phillip can be reached at adphill@fas.harvard.edu.