Nearly two years ago, the Citrus Mobile application was renovated as a “one-stop-shop” for students. Now, due to COVID-19 and the daily pre-screening feature, an application that started as a luxury has become an integral part to the everyday lives of any student who ever has to get on campus.
The increased importance of the app has fostered an expanding platform for students taking part in the student feed feature. The student feed once had an audience of whoever happened to have the app. The increased need for the app meant increased visibility to this timeline.
The student feed is a unique blend of official posts and community banter.
In the span of a few posts, the user can see messages from tutoring and counseling services, followed by a post about rising chicken prices being a national security concern.
Chief Information Services Officer Robert Hughes said measures have been put in to make sure that the student feed remains a reliable place for students to gather information and interact with one another.
Hughes said while an administrator does have the ability to remove any inappropriate posts, users have the ability to mark down posts. Four “down votes” from various users and the post is removed from the student feed.
“Citrus Mobile is an open place for students to communicate with free speech and without moderation,” Hughes said. “But it’s up to the community, the students, to police it and make sure things are there that are appropriate.”
Any public forum, whether online or in person, is prone to its own idiosyncrasies.
Beverly Heasley is six months into the position of enterprise systems supervisor, with responsibilities including overseeing the operations of the Citrus Mobile app. Heasley said the student feed is more of an extension of student life.
“As long as (the students) are not violating a board policy or administrative procedure, it would be the same as if it was happening on campus,” Heasley said.
In an online world where anonymity is the main catalyst to the toxicity of the Internet, Hughes said the Citrus Mobile keeps the student feed a reflection of student life by assuring only students have the ability to post.
Hughes said all of the content that is seen on the app is produced by authenticated Citrus College users.
