Every semester when course registration rolls around, I, like most students, quickly become frustrated using the University’s $58.9 million integrated Student Information System (SIS) to register and browse for classes. Most who have encountered SIS realize it is clumsy and awkward, often requiring many more clicks than necessary to accomplish a simple task. I will not pulp SIS any further, but rather propose some changes I believe should be made to the University’s online presence.

Where SIS fails, namely in usability and speed, third party solutions — systems created independently from the University administration — have sprung up and become commonplace. Some students currently make use of Physics Prof. Lou Bloomfield’s “Lou’s List” to browse for and select courses, after which they actually register for them on SIS. This de facto system seems to work well, so I wondered why more “add ons” for SIS have not been so successful.

Planning and registering for courses is a fraction of the potential for University-wide online integration. Besides class selection, there are textbooks to be bought, courses to be taught and roommates to be found. There is a surprising contrast between the success students have with University-planned initiatives Collab, SIS or atUVa, and third party systems, such as Amazon, Lou’s List and Cramster. These third-party websites allow for exchanging textbooks, searching the University course catalog, and getting homework help. In addition to these websites, there are many others students rely on, proving that the task of creating a better integrated online ecosystem surrounding the University’s Academical Village should be left to a third party.

Over winter break I began work on a website called UVaMarket.com, which allows students to buy textbooks directly from other students. By eliminating the middleman, such as Amazon or the Bookstore, I figured students would be able to save money on their textbooks. The site works by finding all the books one needs for the classes he or she plans on taking, and then finding another University student who already took the same class or classes in order to organize the exchange.

After the beta launch of this website, which was surprisingly successful, I received a few suggestions for improvements. It is beautiful having third parties develop solutions addressing University problems because they are forced to ship their products — or update their sites — more often. A University-developed system, like SIS, is forced onto students. But in the case of a website which students use by choice, unless I ship high quality products as fast as my competitors, people will flock from my system to another, since they are free to do so.

Some of the suggestions included changes which were so overarching they would require a complete redesign of the site, which is what I have been working on finishing for the end of the semester. The potential changes include better organizing the layout of some pages, integrating course reviews and commentary, matching students with peer tutors and matching open apartment spaces with renters.

Some may argue that if all of these features could be integrated into one comprehensive package, someone would have already done so. These skeptics are correct in asserting that there are similar solutions which do exist online. The problem is that none of them are tailored specifically for the University, and so they actually suit our needs worse than the current myriad of boards scattered around grounds. Also, since no single solution accomplishes integrating University course data with class reviews, peer tutoring and a dynamic marketplace, none are appealing enough for most students to adopt.

The University uses SIS because PeopleSoft developed a secure platform which meets the University’s needs. I believe an online community dedicated to exchanging textbooks, finding tutors, reviewing courses and matching apartments with renters could be a successful augmentation to SIS if developed specifically for the University community.

Is there an ethical concern in relying on a third party to maintain websites related to University life? Unlike SIS, which guards financial and personal data, none of the four pieces of extra online functionality we need require any more personal information than one’s email address. Since third-party systems are opt-in by definition, the user does have a say in what information, if any, he or she wishes to disclose.

Further, the concern over reliability is subverted by the tendency of the mobile vulgus, or “fickle crowd.” If the site were to experience an unacceptable amount of down time, the fickle users would join the next best competitor. While in theory this point may seem to show that third party systems lend to dispersion of users, the fact is that the site’s upkeepers will realize the criticality of the situation, and place emphasis on maintaining a reliable and secure website.

Some think it is immoral to make a profit off a system which is tied tightly to the University community of students. Given that most websites marketed to the world wide web never realize enough revenue to break even, turning a maximum audience of under 20,000 students into a profitable venture has even lower probability.

Although it may not be a profitable business venture, I still believe that adding a third party option for an online functionality to solve Univeristy needs would be a worthwhile endeavor.

Andrew Kouri’s column appears biweekly Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at a.kouri@cavalierdaily.com

Rocket Pops
Everyone remembers those red, white and blue Popsicles we always begged our parents to buy. Looking back, I don’t know why I ever asked for those things. They were sticky, melty and oddly shaped, and they didn’t even taste good. But I was a return customer summer after summer, and I have no regrets. After all, what would summer be without the disappointment which comes from eating a Rocket Pop?

Funnel cake
Summer means fairs, and fairs mean funnel cakes. Who can resist a twisted mess of doughy, powdery goodness served on a flimsy paper plate which soaks through with grease after about two minutes? Summer wouldn’t be summer without eating at least one of these delightfully disgusting treats.

Barbecue
The second your last exam ends, it’s time to break out the grill and bro-becue every night. There’s nothing more relaxing than grilling out, drinking a beer if you’re of legal age, and having a grand old time with your friends and family. That is, until you get too much smoke in your face and end up crying out of one eye for the rest of the night.

Snow cones
Snow cones are an especially summery treat, rarely offered in any other season. The best thing about these icy treats is you can choose from what seems like a thousand flavors, all equally obscure. Tiger’s blood (I see you, Charlie Sheen) was always my flavor of choice.

Lemonade
Although this is a beverage, not a food, lemonade is a universal summer treat. I never had a lemonade stand ­— mostly because I was too lazy to make my own lemonade — but some of my friends did, and I was always jealous of the $2 or so they made all summer. I did, however, drink a lot of lemonade. There is nothing more refreshing in the world than a cold glass of this delightful beverage on a sweltering summer day.

Hot dogs
When I think of summer, I think of sweating my butt off at Fenway Park, happy as a clam with a Ball Park Frank in my hand. Ketchup, mustard, relish, chili — you name it, I had it. Hot dogs have become a year-round thing, but there is no time I enjoy them more than when I am sitting on bleachers which feel like they’re made out of lava, cheering on my Bo’ Sox.

Watermelon
Watermelon is the ultimate summer food for two reasons: It grows during the summer, and it’s super messy. I have countless pictures of me as a kid eating watermelon with juice and pieces of fruit all over my face. It’s sweet, juicy and cold, and it is the ideal summer treat.

Travelers’ diarrhea
Let’s start small. Travelers’ diarrhea is a common yet uncomfortable ailment. To avoid it, make sure everything you eat is sanitary and thoroughly cooked. Poor hygiene in foreign restaurants could cause problems later. The risk of diarrhea is higher in most of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Mexico and Central and South America, so plan your trip wisely and think before you eat.

Altitude illness
Do you plan on climbing the great Mount Kilimanjaro? Be cautious, or you could experience altitude illness, which is often accompanied by difficulty breathing. Venturing into high altitudes is not the only culprit. Harsh temperatures, increased ultraviolet radiation and decreased air pressure can also harm travelers. To prevent altitude sickness avoid drinking alcohol for the first 48 hours as you venture uphill and avoid ascending abruptly.

Mumps
Mumps is a virus transmitted through respiratory droplets or saliva. If you are traveling, the risk of exposing yourself to mumps remains high in industrialized nations such as the United Kingdom, which has had various outbreaks since 2004, and Japan, which does not mandate mumps vaccinations. Fever, headache and a swollen parotid salivary gland are some of the symptoms you might expect to have. Children younger than 12 months are more susceptible to the disease, so leave your cherished, younger siblings at home.

Schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis is a waterborne disease contracted through water infected with parasitic worms. Eighty-five percent of cases have been in Africa, specifically sub-Saharan Africa. You can become infected by swimming or bathing in contaminated water. Symptoms include fever, headache, diarrhea and more. No vaccine is currently available, so avoid swimming in sketchy bodies of water.

Histoplasmosis
What if you could contract a nasty disease just by breathing? You can contract histoplasmosis from inhaling spores from soil contaminated by bat guano or bird droppings. Cases have been reported in North, Central and South America. The severity of symptoms depends on how many spores the individual has inhaled. Flu-like symptoms, including high fever, headache and chills, characterize many cases. So avoid bat-inhabited caves, or you might find yourself in a crappy situation in more than one sense.

Amebiasis
Histoplasmosis is gross, but it’s nothing compared to amebiasis, which is transmitted through fecal matter. Amebiasis is most common in tropical areas with poor sanitation, so protect yourself with adequate footwear when traveling on muddy surfaces. Amebiasis is most commonly diagnosed in travelers returning from South Asia, South America and the Middle East. Symptoms include cramps, watery or bloody diarrhea and weight loss.

Dengue fever
“Tropic Thunder” may have been hilarious, but this tropic fever is no joke. Dengue fever is transmitted through a bite from an infected mosquito. People infected with the dengue virus often exhibit no symptoms, but dengue fever can be life-threatening in some cases. Fifty to 100 million people contract dengue worldwide each year, so watch out for those mosquitos.

Yellow fever
Like dengue fever, you can contract yellow fever through the bite of an infected mosquito. Yellow fever cases mainly occur in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical South America. To guard against yellow fever, make sure you have received the correct immunizations and avoid the rainy season.

Chikungunya virus
Chikungunya virus is yet another mosquito-borne virus which has roots in tropical Africa and Asia. The virus causes chikungunya fever, which often leads to severe joint pain. The disease is rarely life-threatening.

Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever may be the most serious illness on this list. The sometimes-fatal disease is often transmitted by the consumption of water or food contaminated by fecal matter. Major symptoms include high fever, headache, malaise and excessive weight loss. Consult a doctor about typhoid vaccinations before travelling, especially if you plan to visit Southeast Asia. Africa, the Caribbean or South America.

Eric Houpt, associate professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases, said in an email potential travelers should see a doctor or travel medicine specialist six weeks before travel to make sure their immunizations are up to date.

Meanwhile, the best advice The Cavalier Daily can give you is to avoid mosquitos and feces. We’ll do our best, too.

— Information for this article was obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

The University, through the Jefferson Public Citizens program, grants money to students who want to undertake a service-learning civic engagement project. Student must apply to the program to receive funding, but first must choose a topic, a community partner, a faculty advisor and take “topic-related courses and attend informational workshops,” according to the program’s website.

Five of the 59 University students who received the grant in 2012 will travel this summer to Venda, South Africa to research the effects of implementing more wood-efficient stoves in local communities, after receiving a $30,000 grant from the Jefferson Public Citizens program.

Second-year College student Nicholas Allen, a computer science and global development studies major, will return to South Africa for seven weeks to work on the project, titled “Rocket Power: Accessing Energy Poverty in Rural South Africa,” after a five-week study abroad trip last summer sparked his interest in the region.

The students will continue a project University students started two years ago, which Allen said involved building and implementing a “rocket stove” — an energy-efficient wood-burning stove.

Allen and his partners will spend the first part of their trip in Venda — where University students built the initial stoves at the Mashamba primary school — to observe how reduced cooking time and less wood burning has affected the Venda community.

“Cooking there is something seen as more of a community event [and] these stoves reduce the amount of wood you need to cook,” Allen said. “Typically, a school will spend around four hours per day cooking.”

Another pair of students will head to Guyana to live for six weeks in a Makushi village. Third-year College student Caio Setubal, a math and anthropology major originally from Brazil, and his research partner, third-year College student Elliott Oakley, received $6,000 in funding from two different grants. Along with 44 other undergraduate University students, they received the Harrison Undergraduate Research Award, which “funds outstanding undergraduate research projects to be carried out in the summer,” according to the award website. The pair received an additional $3,000 from the College Council Research Grant.

Setubal said he plans to study the differences between Western mathematical systems and the numerical systems of the Makushi, as well as how such differences “change the way [the Makushi] view the world, themselves, and their relationship to the world.”

“There are plenty of people in the world [who] don’t do math the way we do,” Setubal said. He added his study of Amazonian number systems suggested an emphasis on “community,” whereas Western math is “concerned with units; everything is individual.”

Another team of students who received a Jefferson Public Citizens Grant is working domestically to develop a Global Information Systems map to help NGOs collaborate on water-filtering efforts in the 12 communities around Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

Third-year Engineering student Lacey Williams made a six-week trip to the region last summer to observe how different communities filter water. During her visit she saw the gastrointestinal issues prevalent in Lake Atitlan’s hospitals.

“The seed that came out of that is just how little is known between communities or even within organizations within communities,” Williams said. “For the next year we are building a network map so that NGOs are able to see what each other is doing, so the local government will know which NGOs are working there.”

The map will show the size of the NGO, its location and the services it provides. The map will also serve as an online database of information for water-based NGOs, Williams said.

Williams and her team are unable to return to Guatemala this summer to continue their data collection for the map, which is set to be completed by the end of fall, because of a restriction placed by the International Studies Office on undergraduate travel to Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

“We were really surprised, but it allows us to work on a project [which] is even more collaborative,” Williams said. A graduate student on the team will visit the area this summer, so Williams said she and the other undergraduates will rely on him and other local community partners to collect data.

Belize
Visitors who travel to this Central American oasis can relax on sandy white beaches, snorkel along coastal reefs, explore the jungle or examine ancient Mayan ruins. Key attractions include relaxing on the laid-back island of Caye Caulker — which has banned cars — snorkeling at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, visiting the ancient Mayan sites at Altun Ha or Lamanai and seeing the exotic wildlife at the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary. Weather in Belize is normally hot and humid, so plan on packing light summer clothing. The country’s rainy season runs from June until November, so although you will have to bring an umbrella, the tourist traffic will be lighter and the prices will be slightly cheaper than during the dry season (February to April). Belize’s official language is English, but you may still hear locals speaking Mayan dialects.

Austin, Texas
Travel down south to enjoy the live music, exciting nightlife and natural beauty of the Lone Star State. Tourists can spend the day enjoying the many available outdoor activities, including tubing on the Guadalupe River, splashing around at Barton Springs, exploring the Zilker Botanical Gardens and climbing to the top of Mount Bonnell. Other must-see spots include the Austin Museum of Arts, the Mexic-Arte Museum and the Austin Zoo. At night, be sure to make some time to two-step at The Broken Spoke dancehall, dine at The Alamo Drafthouse while watching a movie or enjoy live music at one of the city’s 200 music venues. Summer in Austin is normally hot and humid, so pack accordingly.

Ocracoke Island, N.C.
Looking to escape the crowded beaches of Florida, Virginia or South Carolina? Seeking a road trip? Located six and a half hours from Charlottesville, Ocracoke Island is an often overlooked treasure. It is the most isolated Outer Banks village, so transportation to and from the island can be difficult: It is accessible only by ferry or private plane. But once you’re on the island you’ll find it is more peaceful and relaxing than your normal beach. Ocracoke is known for its sandy beaches and small-town feel. Visitors can spend their day lounging on the beach, exploring the local shops and boutiques, fishing in the harbor or parasailing off the coast. The Ocracoke Lighthouse, which was built in 1823 and is one of the oldest active lighthouses in the country, is also among the island’s well-loved tourist spots. Summer temperatures are high, but the evenings can be cooler, so dress in layers.

Midsummers
Midsummers is the party of the year you do not want to miss. In July, many students return to Grounds to unleash their Wahoo spirit and reconnect with friends they haven’t seen for months. Staying in Charlottesville means you are in a prime position to enjoy the event.

Hiking
The Blue Ridge Mountains frame Grounds, but they are far from the only place for outdoor adventure. Sherando Lake, Humpback Rock, Shenandoah National Park and the James River are all nearby if you are ready to brave the elements and test your physical stamina.

Summer jobs
There are plenty of summer jobs available in Charlottesville, since many student employees take the summer off to go home. If you work during the summer, you may be able to secure a job for the school year with more flexible hours. A steady job is always great for your résumé and can be a good way to connect with the greater Charlottesville community.

Summer classes
Taking classes during the summer gives you a head start for the school year, as you can accumulate credits while getting some of your course requirements out of the way. It is also less competitive to secure a spot in these classes since fewer students stay at school during the summer. Devoting more time to fewer classes leads to better grades, which is a great way to boost your GPA.

Leasing an apartment
Many students find themselves in a pinch when they realize their off-Grounds apartment comes with a yearlong lease, leaving them with the option of wasting three months of rent money or frantically searching for someone to sublet their apartment while they are gone. Help a friend by subletting.

Make friends with athletes
Most sports teams are required to stay on Grounds for part of the summer. If you decide to stick around, this time is a great opportunity to meet members of the football, swimming, rowing and soccer teams. If you’re brave, take them hiking.

Concerts
Charlottesville has a full lineup of notable artists coming to town this summer. The nTelos Wireless Pavilion, the Paramount Theater and the Jefferson Theater all have big-name artists on their rosters for June and July, including Lady Antebellum, Sheryl Crow, Death Cab for Cutie, Colbie Caillat and Dierks Bentley. Also be sure to catch free live music downtown at Fridays after Five.

Charlottesville City Market
The Charlottesville farmers’ market is your number one source for fresh, delicious local produce from April to December. Open Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon, the market features a wide variety of foods, including baked goods, fresh eggs, green vegetables, meats and summer fruits. Stop by for a taste of what Charlottesville has to offer.

Summer Programs at the AFC
You love the AFC during the school year, and you will love it even more during the summer months. Escape from the heat and workout indoors, or take one of the many drop-in classes offered. Other programs offered include certification courses, personal training, intramural sports and private instruction for swimming and racquet sports.

Contra dancing
Enjoy this lively folk dance, set to live music, every first and third Friday at the Municipal Arts Center on 5th Street. All experience levels are welcome.