The University has come up with one more welcome use for the internet that is bound to make students’ lives easier. Gone are the days of camping out in J Street for an uncomfortable day of waiting, crammed together like barnyard animals. Housing selection on the Web has arrived!

The hope surrounding this new use of the internet is that it will be as successful as registering for classes on GWeb has been. Few people miss telephone registration, where frustration and mishaps were common emotions when it came time to register. Now, students will sit at home and select their room for next year with a click of a mouse

As with any new use of technology, registering online is susceptible to bugs. But this time, a bug could render future students homeless, misinformed about what rooms are left or just unable to access the site because of high traffic. Making a mistake while selecting a room carries with it more serious consequences than landing in the second-choice Spanish class.

That is why it would make sense to use something similar to an online chat program where housing officials are standing by ready to field questions in an AOL Instant Messenger style. This way, students can ask about building specifics without leaving the session or picking up the telephone only to listen to hold music while prospects for housing dim by the second. The human aspect of the J Street housing experience cannot be lost in the shift to the Web. Housing officials should not rely solely on the internet, especially on the first go-round, because complications are hard to foresee.

The use of real-time updates would be invaluable to those about to select their housing. Last year’s lottery was broadcast on cable TV with a 20-minute time delay, making the process difficult for students. Better information faster will lead to better decisions, most likely leading to a more enjoyable online experience.

Unfortunately, using the internet in this fashion gives us one more excuse to stay at home. But if staying home prevents us from having to spend precious time wasting a perfectly good weekend at J Street, then this will be a success.