Changes Announced Regarding Content Organization and Site Publishing Timeframes
The following e-mail was sent to all Saint Anselm College faculty and staff on April 26, 2010.
If you are like most people, you’d rather do almost anything than read a long e-mail with more information about the new Web site. We know that, but even so, we’re asking you to please read this one. It deals with important changes in how the content on the new Web site is organized and some tweaks in the publishing process. Your willingness to read these updates as we send them will minimize some confusion when we take the new site live, a time when we will be less able to answer your immediate questions or concerns.
Change in How Content is Organized on the New Web Site
One thing we heard repeatedly from our Web firm as well as other firms that had bid on our redesign project, is how the college’s current Web site architecture (site navigation) was very compartmentalized in its organization, meaning that it was organized according to how the college is set up rather than how the average visitor seeks information while navigating the site. For example, in the current site, visitors must visit a particular administrative or academic department to get information and must have some level of knowledge about what that department does in order to know where to go. While this works relatively well for our own faculty and staff, it is quite confusing to prospective students and their families who are less well versed in the vernacular of higher education.
The new Web site’s architecture (how content is organized or housed) has changed and will be driven by best practices and proven strategies in how users interface with our site. In most instances, the content is the same, but it may be located in a different place or in multiple places when the information is of interest to more than one segment of our audience. The one exception to this is academic departments, which will continue to be organized as they are on the current site, but can be found with fewer clicks. A new header of “majors,” which is the word choice used by prospective students, is given more prominence in the new site.
Web Redesign Update: Strategy, Staffing/Web Management Assessment, and CMS Recommendations
Since BarkleyREI’s three days of on-site discovery meetings in late January we’ve been busy. We reviewed pages and pages of discovery notes and other information compiled during their time on campus. We’ve provided BarkleyREI with additional college research, Web analytics data, findings from campus listening sessions and Web redesign survey, and finalized a project schedule.
The BarkleyREI team has been a joy to work with. They have a very talented team and we are very pleased with the progress made so far.
Last week BarkleyREI presented their initial Web redesign strategy via conference call and Web presentation. We’re currently reviewing the document with internal stakeholders and will include an overview of the site strategy in this blog in the next couple of weeks.
BarkleyREI began their strategy presentation by saying the following:
“Arriving on campus we had certain perceptions about a small, Catholic, liberal arts college, but after hearing the many stories and experiences of faculty, staff, and students, you blew us away. Saint Anselm College is truly a special place. I want my kids to go there.”
So What’s Next?
As part of BarkleyREI’s work, we’ve asked them to review our current Web staffing level, how the site is currently managed and supported, adequacy of training provided to faculty and staff, and current Web budget. The goal of this exercise is to better understand the resources required to maintain and support an interactive, engaging Web site that incorporates multimedia technologies and content. BarkleyREI will present their recommendations to us later this week.
We’ve also asked BarkleyREI to recommend three content management systems (CMS), based on what they’ve learned during the discovery and strategy phases. In the coming weeks, we will seek the assistance of a core group of faculty, staff, and students to help us with CMS review and selection. The review and demonstration of each CMS product will be done through an open process. Once the CMS demonstrations are scheduled, campus-wide e-mails will be sent to faculty and staff inviting people to participate in each session. We’re also hopeful people will use the commenting features of this blog to provide feedback during the CMS selection process.