Every student at SUNY Buffalo State received an email titled, “You have been added as a member of a Doolli group!,” which was most likely ignored, like the other promotional emails a college student receives. This email wasn’t just a promotional email.

Buffalo State has entered into a four-year agreement with the data-management start-up company Doolli. Every student is encouraged to make the most out of the free access. More than 8,600 people are a member of the Buffalo State student group. However, most students don’t even know what Doolli is.

Doolli describes itself as a “cloud-based application platform for building and publishing databases, and different views into that data.”

So what does this mean for Buffalo State students?

Students can share their class schedule with others, sell their textbooks, hire tutors, and so much more. It also has the capability for blogging and picture-sharing as well.

“It’s a simple-to-use database for the non-programmer,” Information Commons Technology Administrator Andy Chambers said. “You don’t have to be a CIS major.”

Students and faculty can be a part of “Benji’s Board.” In this exclusive part of Doolli, students can do the following:

• buy and sell textbooks, musical instruments, clothes, and even concert tickets
• find and offer tutoring services
• post items you want to give away, such as furniture and room decor
• start a discussion about your favorite places in Buffalo, school politics, and topics of the like
• search for jobs and volunteer opportunities
• keep a daily blog
• organize notes and other class materials

At the top of their App Marketplace, students will see four tabs: Class Folio, Class Notes, Research Repository, and Photo Gallery.

The “Class Folio” allows students to keep track of their schedules, syllabi, and other class materials. It also allows for sharing with friends and family.

The “Class Notes” tab is where students can organize their notes and assignments. It is capable of storing audio and video files for those who record their lectures.

The “Research Repository” is a database for all research information that students collect for projects. If it is for a group project, they can share their research with others in their group.

The “Photo Gallery” allows students to share pictures with captions.

There are other apps as well, such as “Apartment Hunt,” “Art Collections,” “Beer List,” “Black Book,” “Blog,” “Diet and Exercise Log,” “Fashion Catalog,” and more.

Students can store information in a secure cloud —enabling them to retrieve it from anywhere, and on any device.

“File Room” is much like Google Drive in terms of file storage, but it has more collaborative features so students can share with other students in a more organized fashion.

Students have the option to make their profile public or keep it private, which only allows certain groups of people to view it.

“It’s Facebook-like,” Associate Vice President of Information Services and Systems at Buffalo State Maryruth Glogowski, said.

She describes Doolli as “a social media tool with database integration.”

Buffalo State hopes that students will make Doolli a part of their everyday life.

“Each student learns differently. What works for one student may not work for another student,” Daniel Lundquist, a senior at Buffalo State that also interned at Doolli, said. “This is why Doolli is so great, because you can create anything within the boundaries and the aspects of what you want it to be.”

Lundquist is the student most familiar with the capabilities of this new tool students get to try out.

“If anything, I recommend creating your own apps to truly learn the power of Doolli yourself,” Lundquist said.

The Art Department is starting to use Doolli this semester, and the Art Conservation Department has already started to use it to collect their data into one platform. The “find within” feature allows them to look up more specific results within the photos and reports they have stored, which is something they never were able to do before.

Doolli was started by Scott Baxter, a Buffalo State alumnus. Baxter now wants to give back to his alma mater by providing them free access to something that will help them stay organized in their busy college lives.

Students can follow the link in the invitation email they received to activate their account.

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