Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students

Hello student organizations!

Google is offering, via ODUS, each student a Google Voice number. What is Google Voice? I defer to Wikipedia [1] for a full explanation, but here's the summary:

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Voice

* Your student group gets a single Google voice number. When someone calls it, it will ring all the phones tied to that number. Imagine, for example, you run the group Parachuting Without Safety Equipment. When someone calls 609-PDANGER, that number could ring the PR guy, the president, and the treasurer.

* Google Voice numbers will store all the voicemail and text messages online and you can view them any time. Think Gmail for voice and texting.

* Voicemails are transcribed. You read that correctly: Voicemails are transcribed so you can read them quickly when you're in a hurry. Knowledge bomb.

* The most important feature is that your student group gets a phone number that remains the same from administration to administration. You can then customize which personal numbers your Google Voice number should ring instead of giving out new numbers. For example, suppose 609-PDANGER is supposed to ring up your PR guy. When he leaves or dies in a gruesome parachuting accident, you can simply go into Google Voice and take out his number and replace it with someone else's. Bam. 609-PDANGER still reaches your PR department.

* Other features that sound cool: Call blocking, send text messages online, forward voicemails, voicemail notification via email or text, call screening, call recording with online archiving, and the ability to change a number with a fee.

Interested? Yes you are. I can sense it with my limited-invitation Google ESP. If you are, please fill out this form:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFBSamM5ckd5QlBqWUEydTZsNDNzV0E6MA

and we will contact you with more information once we pass on your interest to Google. Once we have your Google Voice number, we'll start listing it from the ODUS student group directory:

http://www.princeton.edu/odus/activities/organizations/directory/

Thanks everybody!

Hao Lian

ODUS Weblogs Coordinator

Computer Scientist in Training.