The Government of the Student Body has replaced out dated information and created new means of interaction on its Web site, www.gsb.iastate.edu.

“We were very adamant about getting the Web site up to-date,” said President Mike Banasiak. “We think it’s a critical outreach toward our students, and we feel it’s an important way for them to keep in touch with us and find out what we’re doing.”

So far, most of the changes on the Web site have been focused on updating information, said Director of Information Technology Brandon Hurlburt, who is in charge of renovating the Web site.

Hurlburt, senior in computer science, said he has actively been updating current and archived bills and legislation, and current information and pictures for GSB members.

“We’re also implementing an online voting, polling and survey area. In fact, it’s up right now,” Hurlburt said. “We’ve already had a poll about the two proposed calendars and another on the couch ordinance.”

GSB is focused on learning what people know about GSB and what they think about issues, said Leslie Saporu, director of Public Information and senior in management information systems.

Lack of student awareness about the Web site is a concern of Banasiak’s as well, he said.

“[Currently, the Web site is] not used as much as I’d hoped, but I think by updating and adding features to it, it will be,” Banasiak said.

“We’d like it to be more useful and we’re looking at getting an icon that links from the main Iowa State page to the GSB Web site.

“We’re trying to take [the Web site] one step at a time, and Brandon has been doing a great job at that,” Banasiak said.

“For the amount of work it involves, I think the pace has been pretty good, and as things come up we’ve been trying to be pretty quick to react.”

Hurlburt has put in a great deal of time to improving the Web site, Saporu said.

“We now have many things on the site that we’ve never had before,” she said. “For example, the polls are completely new, and there’s much more information on lots of topics like the tax refund for textbooks purchased through the [University Book Store].”

Banasiak and Saporu said they are hoping the changes will continue, and students will provide some feedback.

“The biggest problem has been deciding what would be most useful to students,” Banasiak said. “Many people have already come up with ideas … but if students have any ideas or input, they’re extremely encouraged to get in touch with us.”