Get to Know a Buffalonian

You know Newell Nussbaumer, a.k.a. queenseyes, via Buffalo Rising, the Web site he founded. Nussbaumer’s latest venture is www.estudentnetwork.com, a community-edited site that guides its users to shops and bars and cultural institutions around the region. Its intended audience is the thousands of college students who flood the city each fall. Buffalo, Nussbaumer says, is a college town, and he imagines eStudent Network, or eSN, acting as a matchmaker between those students and their new home.

Are you trying to put us out of business?

No. I love you guys. And it’s just me really. eSN is an online community resource and search engine. It won’t replace the daily or weekly news sources.

So you say Buffalo is a college town. Prove it.

University/college undergrads: 55,248. Grad students: 16,461. Faculty 6,021. Those are pretty impressive numbers when you consider that the sources for monetary injections that make their way into a city come primarily from a) new business b) tourism, and c) students. As Buffalo’s tourism numbers grow, we must also look to the incoming students as the only other dependable influx of people who will spend money on local businesses and hopefully come to know and love Buffalo.

Give us an example of how an incoming student might use this site.

An incoming student will find that by pulling search results from the tags instead of the threads, resources will surface that are fine-tuned to what they’re looking for. Want a pair of jeans? You’ll find out where to get them instead of finding out what jeans are fashionable. eSN Channels are meant to help people identify topics such as culturals, patios, or Allentown. The Hot Spots will tell you what to do on a cold or a warm day…or where to find a Rusty Chain beer around town. This is about mapping Buffalo by the people for the people. And it’s not just for students. It’s for anyone who wants to live in a young, vibrant atmosphere filled with passionate artists, entrepreneurs, learners, thinkers, doers, and dreamers.

How many posts are there now? How many authors?

There are 491 posts and 213 authors. The site is really designed for an individual to post on one or two things that he or she feels passionate about, though there will always be people (like me) who get carried away.

How do you imagine the site evolving?

Growth will hopefully be quick if you consider that each of the posts on eSN is a micro Web site that is controlled by the person who plots a pin on the map. Each pin can be edited at any given time, thus making sure that content is current. Phase 2 is just around the corner. The site will be tweaked for smart applications such as iPhone. We’ll add features such as Tell a Friend, Bookmark, and Navigation Directions.