April 2006 Meetng Notes

April 25, 2006

Notes from the April 2006 meeting at UCC

Introduction

June marks our anniversary. July meeting at Ramapo. Outgrown the skybox, moving to Friends Hall – a good indicator of growth.

Introductions:

Name, institution and what you orriginaly wanted to do. 

• Matt Winkel – TCNJ – Archetect, Psychotherapist, Minister
• Simon Shi – Stevens – first job
• Mike Singer – Stevens – undecided
• Joyce Beck – FDU – math major/teacher/programmer/air traffic control programs
• Trish McGuire – Bloomfield
• Justin Jackson – Bloomfield – Videogame creator
• Gary Gordon – NJCU – Musician/Singer
• Melanie Gordon – Rutgers Law School Camden – FBI Agent
• Anthony Yang – UCC – Doctor
• Doug Hooper – Centenary – Film Director / Video Production
• Tryon Eggleston – Drew – Graphic Design
• Matt Pierce – Drew – Games Graphics Programmer
• Nick Truscuti – Hudson – Jack of all Trades Computer Guy
• Stephen Schur – Ramapo – Broadcaster/Radio Producer
• Jessica Kelly – Sussex – electronics, nursing

Presentation:

• Every site should have standards – Design policy and policy
• Clearly defined standards will help you be more efficient.
• Very few of us have official web standards.
• How many have those standards approved and/or reviewed by the administration and/or the campus community?
• Joyce: Are these sorts of standards necessary if you have a CMS that holds things together?
• Doug: In essence the CMS templates are a de-facto standard.
• Policy (Defining Websites in Higher Education)
  • Official Institution Websites (public image)
  • Community Websites (committees, organizations, student groups, etc …)
  • Personal Websites (student, faculty, staff sites merely hosted on the web server)
• Official sites are accountable to the college/university. Essential to be user-friendly, timely, accurate, and meaningful.
• Community sites are not directly accountable but should be periodically checked to be user-friendly, timely, accurate, and accessible … but you can merely urge the site’s owner to rectify any problems and offer them support on technical issues they may be having.
• Personal Sites: Disclaimer to notify that the person is leaving the official site. “The views expressed are not necessarily the views of the blah blah blah …” - May not be a complete “do-over” safety, but will provide the basis of a legal defense should the need for one arise.
• Remind Stephen to contact Asst. State AG Melissa regarding coming up with a single disclaimer that would apply well for all colleges and universities for the state of NJ. 609/292-4925
• Emphasize to constituents that the website is not a toy, it is a job duty. If they are unable to perform the function, it must be reassigned to somebody who will have the ability to perform the function.
• Interruption from Dr. Brown, President of UCC
  • College funded by FDR for unemployed professors in 1933
  • Oldest 2 yr college in state
  • Elizabeth , Cranford, Scotch Plains, and Plainfield
• Joyce: Is CMS even a good idea in the first place? If the liaisons are uninterested in updating, the site does not get updated as frequently as it would if the College writers were writing the content. Also, the content is often approved by “techies,” not marketing people, who don’t have the skills or knowledge to write good marketing material.
• Gary : Even though many of the department liaisons are ill equipped to provide content, the sections can be easily rearranged and an approval/collaborative process can be set up with marketing.
• Web Standards in Design:
  • Research and Planning
  • Archetecture
  • Design
  • Typography
  • Content
  • Graphics
  • Multimedia
  • Testing
• Limitations change over time, as do possibilities.
• Average shelf-life for a website design: 2 years
• Time to redesign website: 6 months to 1 year
• Therefore, time to start redesign process: 1 year after site launch.

Drupal Presentation

• Simple CMS framework
• Isn’t very clear how it organizes its content.
• What should the NJHEWA site be used for?
• Could Drupal be used for ePortfolios?
• Is anybody providing blogs for their constituents? What are the policies involved?
• Using blogs: the shill scholarship. How do you ensure a positive message without coming across as artificial?

Portal/Intranet Presentation

• Music, Philosophy & Religion, Classics, AA Studies need updates.
• Admissions “callout” blocks … included in certain places from central location.
• Student Portal:
  • News aggregated via RSS
  • Stores position and customization via cookies.
  • AJAX tabs to pull in extra data.
  • More RSS feeds can be added by students when logged in.
• How far should the portal integrate into critical backend systems? Have a secondary login for critical functions (i.e. linux style login for administrative functions)
• Shorter timeout needed for more critical information so that it becomes inaccessible when someone walks away.

Annual Meeting Discussion

• Potential Guests
  • Matt Winkel suggests: Mona Patel – usability consultant – free – Human Factors Intl.
  • Lawyers/Legal Issues – NJ State Attorney General’s Office (Stephen will request)
  • Target X – high-end recruitment (admissions) marketing company
  • iTunes University
  • Ektron
• Wednesday, June 7 th
• How do we get people to come?
  • Bring 2 friends.
  • Pull in people from Admissions & Marketing