Being in the loop in college can be rather challenging. Poster boards, walls of buildings and kiosks on campus overflow with flyers. Sorting through the dozens of notifications and posts on Brandeis' numerous Facebook groups can become overwhelming. Now, Brandeis students have an alternate option for community interaction they may choose to rely on.
Jigitt.com, commonly referred to as "Jigitt"-a meaningless collection of sounds to make the name easy to remember, is a website dedicated to consolidating a variety of information for college students. The website features user-produced content which covers the vast majority, if not all, of the information relevant to the daily functions and lives of the student body. On Jigitt, users can find housing, textbooks, event tickets, tutors, lost items, jobs and internships, transportation, household products and even parties.
Founder and New York University sophomore Ethan Lew described Jigitt as a "website that organize[s] college [advertisements] in a virtual marketplace" and "a platform to connect buyers, sellers and anyone who would like to interact in the community within the categories listed." As of now, the website is open only to Brandeis and NYU students.
This new resource is available on both desktop and mobile browsers. It is not, however, available as a downloadable mobile app, and is currently in beta-testing, indicating that Jigitt has yet to become a finished project. Adam Recht '16 and Nathaniel Britten '16 are students responsible for bringing it to the Brandeis campus. According to them, when the website plans to be opened up to the general public has yet to be determined and will depend on feedback and requests from interested schools.
Recht's participation in the project started in the summer of 2013. He helped Lew, a friend from his hometown of San Diego, reach out to other colleges. "[Lew] contacted me saying he want[ed] to start it, and he was thinking [of bringing it to] Brandeis since he [has] visited," he said. Soon after, Recht asked fellow a cappella member Britten to provide additional support and help advertise the website on campus by word of mouth.
Recht and Britten both agree that Jigitt is a vital resource at Brandeis. "Brandeis has a need for Jigitt because you go online trying to find something like, 'well, I need to buy this book and I need to do this,' so you end up having to post on a bunch of Facebook groups," Britten said. "If I'm trying to sell a textbook, I only post it on the Class of 2016 [Facebook] page, so I'm missing three fourths of the school population that I could potentially sell to," Recht said. "Sometimes, I forget when Global Brigades is having their grilled cheese [for example]. If it's all on one site, it makes it easier to see what's happening."
Jigitt enables its users to navigate its boards with ease. Although Recht and Britten were unable to provide specific statistics on user traffic, fortunately for Jigitt thus far, Brandeis students seem open to the idea. Janice Fernandez '17 and Maggie Lacwasan '17 have both visited the website and had positive experiences.
"The best thing about it is that it has all the options we actually care about, like the housing and internship boards," Fernandez said.
Lacwasan likes the convenience of having one website that promises everything. "It's a good way to have everything that a lot of college students are looking for all in one spot," she said.
Both students expressed an interest in Jigitt, but indicated that they would be more inclined to use it once more students become active on the website.
"At this point, I don't have much of a reason to join," Fernandez explained. "It's not that useful yet." In addition, Lacwasan noted that despite Jigitt's usefulness, the website has room for improvement. "I'd probably use Jigitt because I want a job and because I want to study abroad... it's convenient to use, but it's not up and running yet and the web design seems plain."
Despite these criticisms, Jigitt is currently only in its beginning stages, and Recht and Britten are hopeful. "I feel optimistic. I know that we had one person [at Brandeis] post trying to sell concert tickets the other day. I think Brandeis students will take advantage of it," Britten said.
Once it spreads to a wider range of schools, Jigitt may even be available as a downloadable smartphone application. "The website is brand new, but there's definitely potential to have a downloadable app," Britten said.
Both Britten and Recht are excited at the prospect and enthused to watch Jigitt grow. "The most exciting part was to see people's reactions," Recht said.
Britten agreed. "Being part of a new site is an exciting process. It could take off and be a big deal, or if it's not, then it's still fun to be a part of a good idea. We're very excited to offer a great new tool for our community that could give Brandeis a more organized web presence," he said.