The Web Communication Department is soliciting feedback from students, faculty and staff to assist in future plans for the University’s official YouTube site.

The YouTube page, which has been in the planning stages since the end of spring semester, officially launched last week, according to N.C. State Web writer, editor and producer Dave Pond.

Pond said the site highlights many of the qualities and characteristics of the school through videos, and has been geared to reach an audience that would not necessarily visit the school’s homepage otherwise.

The “soft launch” will give the web staff a chance to build upon the early feedback of site visitors before increased advertising, which will begin in the fall, he said.

“We’re hoping to use the rest of the summer to continue to develop the site — work out any kinks and solicit feedback,” Pond said. “We really want to know what people think and like about the site.”

Chris Bowman, a junior in microbiology said he thinks the site could be a good thing for students and nonstudents.

“If it is thoroughly done, it could give new students as well as prospective students a first-hand account on what N.C. State is all about and possibly attract outside attention,” he said.

All of the content on the N.C. State homepage is also posted on the YouTube site. The creators are hoping that the new YouTube site will give the public an opportunity to see what NCSU has to offer in a more creative and technology savvy way, according to Pond.

“We want everyone to take ownership of the Web site, and now is the time,” Pond said. “We want help in shaping the site to be what [contributors] want through feedback and submitted stories or videos.”

The Web Communication staff will help any faculty member or student who wishes to submit videos to the site as they work out “kinks” during the rest of the summer.

Walt Wolfram, a William C. Friday Distinguished professor in English, said he hopes the YouTube site will offer a wide variety of resources for students and staff.

“It’s an incredibly valuable resource,” he said of the site. “One of the things I would like to see it [have] would be not so much event-oriented material but a little ‘sexier’ in terms of its appeal — a full array of representation.”

Pond said the push for staff and students to submit content will help the page continue to grow and gain more popularity.

“We want to be able to expand people’s perception of N.C State,” he said. “State is more than just an engineering school or a football school.”

Charlie Kirchhoff, a junior in business management, said prospective students could definitely benefit from the site.

“I hope that new and potential students have the opportunity to view things they wouldn’t normally see through the campus Web site, giving them a whole new perspective of the University,” he said.