F.A.Q.

About OpenCUNY

Founded in 2008 by GC student Greg Donovan, OpenCUNY is a DGSC-sponsored, student-run, open-source WordPress platform that is free and open to all students at the Graduate Center, CUNY. It is ideal for professional portfolios (using your own domain, if you have one), academic blogs, community organizations, research projects, and more.

What Makes OpenCUNY Unique?

• OpenCUNY is student-run and student-funded.
  OpenCUNY is a professional digital platform run by students, for students. Three student coordinators manage the day-to-day operations and provide personal support for users. The Coordinators also work with a DGSC-elected board of OpenCUNY users to develop and improve the OpenCUNY platform annually.
• OpenCUNY helps you keep control of your own work
  Data ownership and copyright are tricky issues online. Even free-to-use proprietary sites often have policies which allow them to exert ownership and control over your data because its hosted on their servers. This can also be true of school-sponsored platforms. Because OpenCUNY is not hosted on school servers and because we make every effort to protect your digital rights (see our terms of service), you can feel safe hosting your personal, professional, or organization’s data on this platform.
• OpenCUNY uses open source software
  Using free and open source software is a political and ethical choice. Free software is accessible and open source software is free to study, customize, and distribute. OpenCUNY uses the open source version of WordPress (wordpress.com is not open source), and works to find open source plugins and solutions whenever possible in an effort to protect the digital rights of students.

What You can do with OpenCUNY?

To date, GC students have used OpenCUNY to develop websites for DGSC chartered organizations, program student associations, courses, conferences, research, health initiatives, student and community organizing, personal and professional websites, and an array of DGSC initiatives.

If you have an idea for a project or site and are not sure if OpenCUNY is the best tool, ask us! Email us at info@opencuny.org and one of our coordinators will be in touch to discuss your idea and ways to make it work.