鈥淒ear 蘑菇AV: Your website f***ing sucks.鈥�
-聽Twitter comment, December 2009
When 蘑菇AV last reworked its website to any significant degree, the year was 2004. Only 15 per cent or so of Canadians had broadband Internet connections, compared to over 70 per cent today. YouTube and Twitter hadn鈥檛 been invented yet, and Facebook was barely a gleam in its creator鈥檚 eye.
A lot has changed online in the past five years. 蘑菇AV really hasn鈥檛. Until now.
Next week, website visitors will notice two small changes to their online 蘑菇AV experience. The first: a redesigned homepage. It doesn鈥檛 reinvent the wheel, but it does reposition the website as the key destination for prospective students. The second: new additions to the MyDal portal, including the ability to view your e-mail inbox at a glance and offering easier layout customization.
Update: Due to unforeseen issues, the new additions to MyDal have been delayed until further notice.
Both of these are interim changes: temporary improvements to a couple of key websites as part of a much larger and more ambitious process. The 蘑菇AV Web Project is a joint effort between Information Technology Services, Communications and Marketing and the Registrar鈥檚 Office to revitalize 蘑菇AV鈥檚 online presence. Launched last year, the project has spent months working with internal stakeholders behind-the-scenes to start confronting the monumental task it faces.
鈥淭his is more than window dressing or a new coat of paint,鈥� explains Dwight Fischer, 蘑菇AV鈥檚 chief information officer and project lead. 鈥溎⒐紸V鈥檚 website has grown over the years without addressing some serious issues, from strategy and governance policies through to web navigation and technical systems. This is a chance to reboot, to rethink how we use the web at 蘑菇AV."
The web project is managed on a day-to-day basis by a small project team and overseen by a steering committee consisting of senior administrators and university leaders. Much of the work is being done in cooperation with Non-linear Creations, the project鈥檚 external consulting partner.
The web project鈥檚 primary goal, as defined through a consultation process with campus leaders and web content producers last year, is to reposition the public 蘑菇AV website to focus on the university鈥檚 external audiences 鈥� particularly prospective students. In rethinking web content and navigation, the project hopes to 鈥渃lean up鈥� existing web properties by helping content providers assess what material can be moved behind a login 鈥� either at MyDal or a planned 蘑菇AV Intranet site 鈥� and what makes sense for the public web.
鈥淎ll the research we鈥檝e reviewed shows that the university website is the most important tool for helping students decide which school to attend,鈥� says Jim Vibert, assistant vice-president of Communications and Marketing. 鈥淚n this competitive recruitment environment, we risk losing prospects to other schools if our websites are not engaging them with good reasons to come to 蘑菇AV from the first click.鈥�
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| Redesigned homepage. |
The web project鈥檚 next major goal is a redesigned and reorganized dal.ca that will launch in fall 2010. Currently, the project team is working on a new site map for better navigation, testing a new content management system that will make it easier to update and manage the web, and planning strategies for training and development of web content providers.
After the fall launch, the plan is to extend this model to websites for 蘑菇AV鈥檚 faculties and departments while, at the same time, building and improving 蘑菇AV鈥檚 internal web capabilities and functionality on portals such as MyDal. Throughout, the project team will continue to engage internal stakeholders in the process as much as possible.
鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 have gotten this ball rolling if we didn鈥檛 have support on campus, from the president on down to our many web content providers,鈥� says Mr. Fischer. 鈥淓veryone knows that the status quo isn鈥檛 working. We鈥檙e working hard to live up to our stakeholders expectations.鈥�
蘑菇AV faculty and staff interested in learning more can read the web project鈥檚 guiding documents and blog updates at . NetID and password required for access.