MyU is a web portal. It will help you organize and navigate through the 1.6 million pages of electronic resources available from the U of M. Even better than that, the Portal allows you to get personalized information, interact with friends and colleagues, and create and distribute dynamic web content.

Every person who signs in to myU can utilize its powerful web page development toolkit to easily create and share bulletin board discussions, interactive forms, instant polls, shared calendars, as well as many other kinds of web-based materials and interactions. MyU allows you to view and interact with discussions, polls, and web pages created by other members of the myU community, as well as view a variety of news channels from around the world. In addition, myU accesses important information from dozens of databases from around the University of Minnesota, deciphers which information is pertinent to you, and displays that information in one convenient location.

A traditional web site presents the same content to all of its viewers, regardless of who they are, or what they want to see. It’s as if you were a freshman moving into your dorm room at the U, and your RA tells you to put your boxes and suitcases back in your car, because everything that you need is already in your room. When you get to your dorm room the furniture is already there, bolted to the floor. All of the clothes you are supposed to wear are in the closet (regardless of your tastes or size), the walls are covered with posters that someone else chose, and a hidden stereo is playing pre-selected music that someone thought you’d enjoy. You come to realize that all of the dorm rooms are laid out exactly the same as yours. Some committee decided to do you a favor and tell you how you will live, what you will see, and who you will be – no choices left for you to make.

MyU gives you the power to make choices for yourself. It offers you powerful tools to create your own content. It enables you to select news channels and discussions that are interesting to you. It also provides information that you can really use, and that will help you succeed in your work or studies. As a result, no two Portal views are exactly alike. They are personalized by the University, and customized by you, to meet your specific needs.

Students, faculty, and staff from the U of M community are highly mobile individuals. Students come to the University from all 50 states and dozens of nations around the globe. Faculty members travel widely, conducting research and attending conferences. Staff members sometimes need to stay in touch with their projects while they are at home (or at times even on vacation). MyU can be thought of as a kind of portable suitcase that contains many of the things you need to stay connected with your activities at the University. International students can upload copies of travel documents to myU so that they can be assured of access to vital information wherever they are in the world. Students have access to Webmail and personal web bookmarks when they are traveling or home for vacations. Faculty can have constant access to PowerPoint presentations, manuscripts, and research documents when they are attending conferences or conducting field research. Staff can avoid the occasional “trip in to work” on weekends by storing current project files in myU and accessing work materials while they are away from the office.