Online reservation for practice rooms in the Student Union Building went through a trial run during the summer break. The Club foundation Donghari announced in mid-June that from June 30 to Sept. 1, reservation results will no longer be posted on offline charts and all requests will be granted through its official reservation website.
Student staff currently in charge of reservations said the former system caused a lot of inconvenience for both Donghari staff and students.
“Prior to the change, club members had to come to school in person for every reservation,” said a staff member. “Student staff had to go to school every week, even during vacation. This August, our staff members could not cover all the workdays, which made us search for a better option.”
Previously, students made reservations through the club foundation’s official reservation website, ewhayeyak.net from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Friday. At 2 p.m. student staff would post the reservation results online and on the bulletin board outside the student council room. Students who failed to register during the online reservation period, or wanted to change their reservations for the rooms, had to visit the board in person.
From now on, any subsequent changes can be made in the comments section of ewhayeyak.net.
Ever since ewhayeyak.net first launched in 2012, fierce competition rose among students for the two practice rooms in the Student Union Building. Even through the summer, students held their phones, waiting for 11 a.m. sharp, as insufficient practice space continues to be a problem for many student clubs. The so-called “click war” remains a weekly routine for many students.
“Large clubs like us who use musical instruments tend to make more noise, so having access to a practice room is crucial,” said Lim Won-jin, a member of Hwimori, a traditional percussion club. “If not, we have to use an underground parking lot, where our practices are constantly interrupted by cars.”
Along with the Student Union Building’s lack of practice space, Donghari received student complaints regarding the accessibility of their website.
“When you are using the school’s Wi-Fi, you cannot upload comments on our website,” wrote Donghari in an announcement on June 19. “We have tried to solve this problem but have not yet been able to. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Privacy issues were also questioned, as students’ phone numbers are made public in order to make a reservation on the comment section. This was necessary because reservations made with an incorrect or fake phone number are automatically cancelled. The information is used by Donghari’s staff members to make sure reservations are not wasted, and by students who wanted to privately exchange practice hours. Student staff decided to resolve this problem by deleting personal data in reservations more than three weeks old.
Donghari says that they plan to keep their reservation process online after the fall semester begins on Sept. 1.
Donghari staff announced on their official reservation website to gather student complaints and ideas. The post was uploaded on June 19, but staff members were left with no comments.
“We were not able to receive comments, so we plan on getting feedback during the department meeting scheduled right before the new semester,” said the student staff member in charge of practice room reservations. “After we receive feedback from our users, we hope to continue with the new online system.”