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2.5 Current information
systems
spaces, how many people they fit, and
what equipment is available. As the survey
results show the need for students to dispose
of such information, the lack thereof may
result in reluctance with future users to make
a reservation: Students try to find a different
space. This undermines the booking
system, and shows its inconvenience.
The information regarding these facilities is
highly dispersed and because of this many
students are unaware of the possibilities.
The reservation system for the group working
spaces in the Otaniemi main library are
for example on the library website, while
reservations for the group working spaces
in the Design Factory are done manually.
can be made, students cannot reserve
a space for any activity by themselves.
They need to contact their amanuensis
and request a booking. Either the student
must know which room they desire, or
the amanuensis must have knowledge
about the facilities in each available
room in order to make a useful booking.
All of the available spaces within the campus
should be communicated uniformly and
complete in order to optimize their use. In order
to achieve this, this thesis proposes a webbased
information and reservation system.
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2.5.1 Online platforms
The University currently has approximately 6
commonly used web-based communication
or information distribution platforms. In total
there are about 10 different websites that
are used by different Schools, Departments
and courses. Occasionally Dropbox and
Facebook are also used to share information.
It is no surprise that students are confused
about which platforms they should consult to
find the information they need. Regardless
of the usability of individual platforms,
it would make matters more clear if all
information was accessible from a single
portal or platform. For employees there is
a separate set of platforms to work with,
among which is the booking page, from
where classrooms and meeting spaces can
be booked. This is a completely text-based
system, where the person doing the booking
must have previous knowledge regarding
the space they need: most spaces are
named by their room number, not revealing
any details about their size, available
equipment, or location inside the building.
2.5.1 Reservation
systems
Whereas employees of Aalto have access
to the website where such space bookings
The Learning Hub spaces are rather popular,
however, they have a small community
which expands very slow because of the
difficulties in finding the spaces. Because
of this diffuse situation, finding alternatives
to those spaces already known to the
community is difficult. When students don’t
know about the available work spaces, it
is likely that they are not used optimally.
This ultimately leads to remaining demands
in terms of workspaces. The usability of
each Learning Hub depends on the size,
the people who are already there, and
the equipment in the space. These are
presently not actively communicated.
The group working spaces in the Design
Factory and Media Factory can be reserved
in advance. The several smaller spaces in
the Design Factory are bookable through
marking the paper calendar next to the door
of the respective spaces. Its larger spaces can
be reserved through the website. The Media
Factory spaces, including the meeting room,
are to be booked online as well. The online
bookable spaces in these Factories can be
viewed on the website. Their information
sheet includes photographs of the spaces,
and a list of equipment, in order to get
an indication of what the space is like.
The group working rooms in the Otaniemi
main library can also be booked online.
A calendar contains information about
the timeslots the spaces are free, reserved
or unavailable. However, no information
is provided about the appearance of the
Img 21: Aalto Library group work room reservations webpage
Source: http://web.lib.aalto.fi/ryhmatyohuoneet/englanti/
groupworkrooms_reservation_front_page.php
Img 22: Design Factory group work room reservation sheets
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