As the Internet becomes more integrated into society, residence hall floors are beginning to establish a cyber-presence.

Ten houses have constructed Web sites to give information about their floors to both residents and non-residents.

“It’s a great way to post house information and have a way for people who have left the floor to keep up with the house,” said David Johnson, president of Barker House in Lyon Hall.

Barker’s site includes phone lists, pictures, activity calendars, links to campus organizations and an alumni page.

Johnson, senior in industrial engineering, said the content of the Barker Web site can provide viewers with a good idea of what the floor is like.

“You get an idea about who they are really fast,” he said. “It can give you different opinions of floors very rapidly.”

Johnson said the floor’s page is especially useful for Barker House because it is a special floor: a substance-free house.

“It’s wonderful to let students on campus know about who we are, and hopefully, they’ll want to live here,” he said.

Johnson said the Web site also is a way for residents to get information that might be hard to find otherwise.

“It’s a resource where people can go and find documents that normally aren’t available, like phone lists and the house constitution,” he said.

Barker House’s Webmaster, Matt Schouten, updates the site about every week.

The residents of Miller House in Elm Hall began their own Web page last spring.

The page includes the names of floor cabinet members, pictures, floor activities and the floor layout.

Lisa Rosentreter, co-president of Miller, said the floor last year had several computer science majors who came up with the idea to have a Web page.

“Both people who live on our floor and those who do not can get a sense of the atmosphere of our floor,” she said.

Rosentreter, sophomore in apparel merchandising, design and production, said the site is mostly for Miller residents.

She said when residents were developing the page last spring, it gave the floor a feeling of unity.

“When we first got it, everyone was really excited about it,” she said. “It was a big thing on the floor.”

Although the site hasn’t been updated this semester, Rosentreter said it was especially useful this summer for incoming residents.

“It gave the incoming freshman something to look at,” she said. “It gave them an idea of the residence hall experience.”

Woodrow House in Helser Hall also has a Web site it regularly updates.

The house minutes are posted after every meeting.

The site also includes pictures, house history, the cabinet and house events.

Virgil Silhanek, one of the Webmasters for the floor, said the pictures are a good part of the site.

“We took roommate pictures,” said Silhanek, sophomore in management information systems. “It’s something neat to have in that way.”

Silhanek said many individuals are aware of the site, although they do not advertise the site in any way.

“There’s not really anything we do to promote it other than word of mouth,” he said.

A listing of all for the residence hall floor Web sites is posted at http://www.stuorg.iastate.edu/list-resi.html.