After many meetings and long pondering sessions contemplating what Union needs to make an online calendar successful, the Office of Marketing and Communications has settled on Active Data Exchange.

The product is widely used by educational institutions (check out Temple’s calendar) and is very robust, with features allowing users to subscribe to event updates.

The key to success is not the product however, it’s the content…all of the content. To that end the calendar will launch with an automatic import of Athletics events. Our hope is to get Alumni and Resource Scheduling (R25) importing content automatically as well-but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There are significant hurdles to overcome when connecting different technologies with different business rules in place.

The calendar will launch with an “event request form.” You may have seen similar forms for our existing public calendar (events open to the general public) and the current Student Activities calendar.

The event request form is critical to the success of the new calendar. It users don’t don’t take advantage of it to submit events, then the calendar won’t be comprehensive and complete and visitors in turn won’t rely on it. It all starts with those responsible for publicizing events to complete the event request form. It’s then up to the Union community to habitually use the calendar.

In order to change the “push” culture and unclutter the email in-boxes it’ll take time and effort by content contributors and content consumers to use the tools and not rely on “the e-mail crutch.”

Jason Slater
Office of Marketing and Communications

The nearer to launch the more intense things can be expected to get in these warrens.

Ah, “launch day,” when is that you ask?

The complexity of this mammoth project exceeds my exceedingly impoverished prophetic gifts (I had the Pats by three in Super Bowl XLII). I traffic in ballpark estimates, not metaphysical certitudes. With that disclaimer out of the way, I feel reasonably comfortable predicting you should see significant chunks of union.edu completed by spring.

And as things can be expected to only accelerate as we inch closer to launch, it would be greatly appreciated you clue us in on any project you believe may have a Web-based component, so we can make room for it on our burgeoning “to-do” list. The way to do this is consult these series of detailed steps on how to collaborate with us, and then use this form to submit information about your project.

Thank you for your consideration and no comment on my prognostication of Sunday last.

Ken George
Office of Marketing and Communications

Last Thursday’s Web Advisory Meeting set records in attendance as well as in length (My apologies. I resolve to keep shorter next time).

Thank you to all who attended.

In addition to a review of the creative concepts mStoner, our Web design partner, proposed for union.edu, the group had a free-ranging discussion about online policies (and more specifically the lack thereof) and the way forward to a better Web-based events calendar. Sadly, by meeting’s end I was left with the unmistakable impression that aspects of the college’s culture presents a formidable hurtle to realizing either.

We’ve been down the policy road before, a participant in drafting the last set of Web guidelines back in 2003 observed. Adherence to the latter is apparently voluntary (though migrating folks to CMS has corralled some of the chaos, especially compared to that free-wheeling Frontpage era).

And an optimal calendar solution crashes head first into what one colleague in attendance dubbed the college’s “push culture,” the obvious manifestation of which is your stuffed-to-busting e-mail in-box. Since it is far too easy to send an event notification via e-mail to everyone at campus, what incentive is there to submit an event to a calendar?

If it is a matter of culture then, well, by Jove, let’s together work on changing it.

We can start by reminding folks that Union’s presentation in the digital space can profoundly affect its success. Here’s a tidbit you can throw out: Of 1,000 college-bound students surveyed, 57 percent concurred with the following: “If I notice that the content or text on a school site is out of date, incorrect, or unhelpful, I will probably take it off my list.” (Click here (pdf)).

And how about a gentle reminder to your peers that due to their frequency, event e-mails have almost become the digital equivalent of junk mail. You think I am seeing your message? Think again. I don’t know about you, but I reflexively hit the “delete” button shortly upon their arrival in my in-box.

Where do things stand with the Reboot? As mentioned above, the Web Advisory Group got to see the three mStoner mock-ups. Next steps: A new logo, which our other design partner, ID-29 is crafting in their hip Collar City brownstone.

Once our new logo is finalized and synced up with the mStoner designs, the Web designs will be tested quantitatively.

That’s a fancy way of saying it will be time for a survey.

Cheers!

Ken George
Web Communications Director
Office of Marketing and Communications

Referenced during the WAG Meeting:

• “Tribes” by Seth Godin (reading was taken from pages 16 – 17)
  
• Noel-Levitz: “Scrolling Toward Enrollment: Web Site Content and the E-Expectations of College-Bound Seniors” (Click here for pdf)

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!

The sage of Concord extolled it and it is now the governing philosophy behind the current, and soon to be gloriously improved, union.edu.

The mstoner mock-ups I’ve thus far seen are models of design economy, all the more so when contrasted with what you see now (And remember: “Simplicity in website design doesn’t necessarily equate with a minimalist design aesthetic.”)

In keeping with the spirit of the times, the Office of Marketing and Communications is taking the file to those prolific links, redundant pages, excessive text and gratuitous images that barnacle-like have consumed any defining visual aesthetic. Fear not. This site-wide clean-up is deft and focused; not of a bull in the China-shop variety. And you’ll certainly get a heads-up before our nimble hands make their way onto your little section of the Web.

How to best prepare you ask? Inventory your site. Put yourself in the user’s shoes. Would they be able to quickly find their way around? And remember: Redundancy is the enemy. How to prevent future messes you ask? Scaling back the number of hands in the content management system should corral the chaos. And at the next Web Advisory Group I will be unveiling online content policies to signal that the days of anything goes are now officially over.

And finally, I readily acknowledge that we’ve tantalized you with promises of a new site, for what must seem like years now. Keep the faith. Soon you’ll get to see a sample of what our mstoner artisans have been diligently crafting behind the scenes.

I promise.

Ken George
Office of Marketing and Communications

Yep, it’s that time.

This may go over like a skunk at the garden party in some warrens, but it’s long past time for a conversation about “Web site policies” to govern things like editorial style, design and information architecture among other things. No, I am not a control freak. But I resolutely believe that clear and enforceable content and design standards are vital if the integrity of a newly redesigned union.edu is to be preserved.

I know from past experience. I’ve had more than my share fair of front row seats to the havoc wreaked when folks are empowered to express their inner muse’s every creative whim and whimsy. When it comes to the Web, everyone is a designer. A steady stream of “Can’t-we-move-this-button-to-here?, Please-make-this-header-font bold, Let’s-sprinkle-in-a-dash-of-Flash-here, and Tweak-the-background-color-this-shade-please” is a recipe for frustrated end-users and depricated brands.

Expect this to consume much of the discussion at the next Web Advisory Group (day and time forthcoming).

Below are links to policies some of our peer institutions have established. What do they know that we don’t?

Skidmore Web Design Standards

Content Standards for Official Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Web Sites

Hamilton College Web Style Guide

It is challenge worthy of Sisyphus to even attempt to corral the chaos? Or is the Union College community ready to more diligently color between the lines?

Thanks!

Ken George

Office of Marketing and Communications

The echoes of corks popping (and carbonated apple cider being the beverage of choice) still reverberate, yet already noses are pressed firmly to the digital grindstone.

Here is a broad outline of our ambitious agenda. And much of the following is weighted towards the first part of the new year for completion.

1) A new, improved union.edu that should will outshine our peers. Realistically we can’t get give or take 10,000 pages up to snuff overnight, though I anticipate the site’s major sections will all be ship-shape sometime during the spring.

2) Continue the growth of our major social media outposts. We are Facebooking, Flickering, Tweeting, and of course blogging on a consistent basis, and I anticipate this to only accelerate throughout 2010. And it is critical that we more strategically tie all this social media-making into some of Union’s broader communications, fund-raising, recruitment and community-building initiatives.

3) Improve our understanding of “Web content management.” In addition to a more sophisticated and comprehensive understanding of web content methodologies, including best practices and pitfalls, we need to drill down deeper into the technology driving our “Web content management system.”

Okay that’s it (at least for now (whew!)).

What are some things you would like to see us accomplish in 2010?

Ken George
Office of Marketing and Communications

What better time than the waning days of winter break to re-read (or perhaps, read for the first time) the following posts that I think are especially relevant to the union.edu “Reboot?”

““Can You Hear the Whistle Blowin’?” September 11, 2009
“Wireframing” the elements we are thinking of including on the homepage.

“Don’t go there. . . (but we just might): September 21, 2009
A new day is dawning in our online marketing and branding initiatives.

“Painting Between the Lines” October 26, 2009
Anticipate greater empahsis on standardization in the new union.edu.

“Meetin’ Time” October 26, 2009
Slideshow on the status of the “Reboot” and new directions for the “Web Office.”

“A Long Overdue Update” November 30, 2009
It only seems like nothing is happening.

Ken George
Office of Marketing and Communications

Steve Dare’s (VP College Relations) gilded prose now lights up the blogosphere.

Alright…admittedly over-the-top, but I just can’t help myself.

Perhaps it’s all this holiday cheer that’s got me waxing so enthusiastically: The beauty of the winter-inflected campus, the college’s holiday parties, the soul-stirring music…

Seasonal tidings aside, Steve’s willingness to give blogging the old college try (groan) thrills me. Sure, there are likely senior administration at other liberal arts colleges that blog, but I’d wager not many, and I celebrate the college’s willingness to wade even deeper into the social media waters.

So please, first chance you get please join the conversation over at union2020.com.

And now on to other matters: Wither the reboot, the redesign, the re-branding, the re-whatchamacallit you ask? Rest assured things proceed apace. Our creative partner mStoner is furious at work behind hermetically sealed doors, putting finishing touches on a number of different “creative concepts.” Ah, but what’ are “creative concept?” you ask.

Essentially visual mock-ups of different designs for union.edu. Once complete, each of the different designs/”creative concepts” will be presented to key audiences for feedback. Feedback which will help inform which visual path we ultimately pursue.

Yes, slow deliberate work, but the end result will have been worth the journey. 2010 will herald some exiting things for union.edu.

Cheers!

Ken George
Office of Marketing and Communications

As in the case with higher education in general, cultural adaption of a Web content management system (“cms”) here at Union is a mixed bag: 1) Some have grudgingly come to terms with it. 2) For some dental surgery is a more attractive alternative. 3) And then there are the artistically-inclined among us (we are a liberal arts college after all) that view “cms” as an opportunity to give full expression to their inner muses (see my “Painting Between the Lines” post).

This post is directed at groups 1 and 2. We urgently need to talk, and to be frank we may not always agree, and that’s okay, as long as we continue speaking to one another. As grandma used to say: “The best way to get something done is to begin.” Consider this the beginning of our conversation.

I still consider myself “new” (heck, I only started three months ago) and I’m loaded with questions. Perhaps many of the following you’ve answered before. But indulge me: What are the barriers that get between you and content management? Training? The system itself? The lack of clear and consistent exceptions? Is the online instruction manual too dense?

Or does this issue cut deeper than that: You don’t feel managing your corner of the website is your responsibility?

Fire away!

Ken George
Web Communications Director
Office of Marketing and Communications

This post is addressed to you alumni out there, a group I have not involved nearly enough our conversation about Union’s digital future.

Today I’m going to try to rectify some of that.

So tell me: How can union.edu and the college’s other digital spaces better address our our alumni community’s specific needs and interests?

Here is what “Joe” (presumably a Union grad) had to say in the comments section of my previous post. I’ve included it here with the hope of stimulating feedback from other alumni readers of this blog (there are other readers out there…right?):

Please keep alumni in mind as you renovate the website. We keep the school alive though our donations, and there needs to be more attention on the site dedicated to alumni.

These changes should *at least* include:

1) An alumni community page that is more fluid and functional. There needs to be a more efficient way for alumni to network with each other through union.edu. Please do not rely on facebook for this!

2) A better alumni jobs bulletin, especially in this weak economy!

3) An alumni news page, or “Union Alumni in the news” and weekly blogs by alumni.

Do you agree with Joe? What specific changes would you like to see?

Thanks!

Ken George

Office of Marketing and Communications