[civsa] BEWARE! Virtual tour request

[Brandi Underwood]

Hi, all:

I just wanted to make everyone aware of a company, Georama, who recently submitted a request with us to do a virtual group tour of our campus. They indicated that the virtual tour would be a way to connect out-of-state and international students to our campus who do not have the means to travel to campus themselves, but neglected to mention that Georama was a tech company who currently has patent-pending software and a business model to charge for the "virtual campus tour" experience. Essentially, they want to send college Visitor Centers video technology they created (the rep I spoke to one the phone said that the college campus would be able to keep the technology 'for free' after the first tour) and use our tour guides to provide a virtual tour experience to prospective students who would in turn PAY GEORAMA for providing the virtual tour.

Here's the text they used in their request:

I would like to set up a tour for 10-12 out-of-state and international students interested in WVU that cannot physically visit the campus due to financial and visa reasons. The tour would be done via live video where the students can interact with the tour guide. We will provide the technology to you free of charge so the student guide can deliver the tour.

We would like to schedule the tour in early/mid June based on your availability. Please let me know when you have a chance to talk to your team so we can discuss to coordinate.

Thank you for your help!

I'm sure that most of you would agree that allowing others to use our tour guides and campus to profit for "virtual campus tours" is an unfair business model and a risky road to go down. Also, their language in the request was very innocuously worded and certainly wasn't a fair explanation of what the company was ultimately trying to accomplish. I just wanted to make everyone aware of it to be on the lookout for future requests from Georama.

/ Brandi Underwood
Admissions Counselor, University Relations
West Virginia University
(304) 293-8446 office
(304) 573-3609 mobile
Brandi.underwood at mail.wvu.edu

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