Docsity
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2013) |
| File:Docsity Logo.png | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
Type of site | Social Software |
| Available in | English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian |
| Founded | Turin, Italy (Jan 2010) |
| Headquarters | Turin, Italy |
| Key people | Riccardo Oceleppo (CEO, co-founder), Corrado Pastore (CTO, co-founder), Emiliano Mancini (CIO, co-founder) |
| Services | Social reading, publishing and sharing platform |
| URL | http://www.docsity.com |
| Current status | Active |
Docsity is an online social-learning network for worldwide university students. Originally launched in 2010 exclusively for Italian students, it became an international website in late 2011 by opening to worldwide students, with a particular focus on India, United States and United Kingdom. It is advertisement-free and user-generated. Its features include document sharing, networking, news and blogs, video sharing, and a question and answer section.
History
Docsity started as an initiative by two boys from Turin, Italy who were displeased by the amount of time a student had to spend on finding the correct study notes for any course. This was a very common issue with university and college students. Trying to address the problem, they started Docsity.com where students could share and view notes for free and also could discuss them with one another. The idea was greatly appreciated by the education community in Italy[1] and later La Stampa called Docsity the fastest growing social network of students.[2]
Features
- Document sharing: students can share their study notes and all their university-related documents for other students to view and download.
- Networking: it allows students to create their own "student network" through friendships, interaction on each other's walls and notifications on friends' activities.
- News and Blogs: students can read various articles on everyday student life and become authors by submitting blog posts.
- Video sharing: students can share and catalog academic videos from Youtube or upload their own videos for other students to view.
- Q & A section: students from around the world can interact and help one another by answering questions and voting others contributions.
Docsity has around 300,000+ study notes shared by students, 200,000+ Questions and Answers, 500+ published articles, 10,000+ academic videos and 500,000+ university students.
Technology
Docsity allows its users to upload, download and share notes (including .doc, .pdf, .ppt and popular image formats). Its question and answer section allows students to ask and answer questions, and to vote, rate and comment on the answers. The video section offers videos catalogued or uploaded by students and can be searched by subject, course and type.[3] The news and blog section contains news articles by university students on numerous topics related to education and everyday student life.
The website offers a star rating and comments feature on all its content for the users for their feedback. These ratings are used to rank the content in the charts.[clarification needed] Docsity allows users to post on walls, reply to comments, request friendships, search users from specific universities and areas of interest. The user base not only consists of students from universities and colleges, but also faculty members, company professionals and formal students.[citation needed]
Points system
Docsity is free to use, but in order to increase the users' contributions it has a points management system.[4] Users are awarded points for sharing content and contributing to Docsity. These points are used to download content and gain a reputation on the website.
References
- ^ Marco Ferrando. "Facoltà DI CLICCARE". Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). Il Sole 24 Ore.
- ^ Alessandra C. "Web mistress". La Stampa (in Italian). Italy: LaStampa.
- ^ "Videos :Docsity.com". Docsity.com.
- ^ "Points Management System". Docsity.com.