IDATI

Now assuming the mantle of navigations improvements combined with the former templating project, this Integrated Design and Technical Improvements project will reflect a host of changes needed to improve upon our redesign over two years ago to keep us competitive. (David, Morgan, Lawrence, Nick)

1. Mid-Apr: First set of milestones.
2. End-Feb: Release plan for the expanded project as it commences.
3. 21 Feb: New Media team meeting to plan project.
4. 15 Feb: Meet with Martha/Lawrence regarding the Law Website.
5. 10 Jan: Meet with Graduate Web Team (Janet, Becky, Curt, Matsya, and Hanna) regarding the Graduate Website.
6. 12 Dec: Release plan for extensive navigational and content changes.

Parents eNewsletter

Being fast-tracked so that we can begin communications with this audience, this is a concerted effort to use BBNC to send an email newsletter on a monthly basis. (David)

1. 29 Mar: Design presented to IA.
2. 22 Mar: Reviewed design with Amy/Joe.
3. 8 Mar: Discussed sketchs with Amy.
4. 1 Mar: Met with Angela, Amy and Joe regarding the project.

Alumni Connectivity

New Media is part of a three-school effort to enhance alumni connectivity via software that will serve as a bridge between our alumni/donors and us. It will replace some antiquated software and allow us to better manage bulk email marketing. New Media will administer the software once launched. (David, working with Stephen and Melody)

1. 26 Mar: Launch myLC donation pages.
2. 22 Mar: Soft-launched myLC Directories.
3. 7 Dec: Directory review ready for Robin.
4. 30 Nov: Demo of myLC to Alumni stakeholders.
5. 18 Nov: Demo of myLC to IA stakeholders.

Server Infrastructure

Use scripts to make our systems more secure, replicate-able and quickly deployable either on campus or off to better allow for development and reduce the risks of server load spikes or disaster situations from taking the server offline. (Nick)

1. End-Spring: Have initial ability to deploy search engine to any blank server container.

Visit

This application is designed for undergraduate admissions to help them manage the process of getting interested prospective students to all the events (tours, informational sessions, interviews and overnights) that they’d like to do while here.

We are building a web application prototype as a go-between for two Google calendars with the admission visit dates/options and the main website. (Ben)

Advocate

The Advocate online is in the process of being created based on the design/function that we setup for the Chronicle. The new design resembles a modified magazine format, with some nods to the recent change in styles driven by the iPad. (Lawrence and David)

Online Help

Training you to maintain your site’s content is central to our work. As part of the content project, we are revamping our online support materials, in structure and style. We’ve hired Lawrence (law web developer) to help us with additional training materials. (Morgan and Lawrence)

1. 30 Aug: Add help tab and update welcome message to be feeds-only.
2. 8 Jul: New LiveWhale support site soft-launched.

Legacy Archiving and Removal

We are archiving and removing content located on the legacy.lclark.edu web server on our way to dismantling Trillium in October. This process follows a specific protocol in order to maintain as many redirects for users and search engine authority as possible. Please note that this work does not include any of the ~tilde web content that is also served from legacy.lclark.edu. (Morgan and Lawrence)

1. 3 Jan: Begin removing trillium cgi/perl code.
2. 29 Sep: We completed the removal of all Trillium-edited content from legacy, except special cases.
3. 29 Sep: Excluding select applications, all caps Trillium sites removed.
4. 15 Sep: /faculty/ sites removed and /objects folders in sites are removed.
5. 30 Aug: All /org/ sites were removed (excluding select exceptions).

The Source

The Source is our Lewis & Clark internal news outlet. It’s currently produced by PR for faculty and staff members, but we’re looking to expand it to students with more self-created content and new user-centric features. (David)

Calendar

The events calendar is the public-facing calendar dedicated to events promotion. It automatically assembles and displays events entered into LiveWhale websites across all three campuses. (David)

Several upgrades to the user interface need to take place to help with user understanding and training. (Milestone: none)

Directory

The directory is the replacement for the old phone directory. It will be a robust new service, serving both offices/departments and individuals with the ability to manage their public (personal) information. (David and Robb)

The directory is already launched and handling office/department information, but needs to merge with the search engine for its next upgrade. (Milestone: none)

The Green

The Green is our modern, Lewis & Clark version of a forum. We’re converting and upgrading its underpinnings before adding new features. (Robb)

This is upgrade is nearly complete, but has been set aside for work on the search engine and the source. (Milestone: none)

Home Pages

We’re listening to our home page curators and making some changes to better reflect their needs, the flow of information and some changes in marketing tactics. (David, Lawrence and WhiteWhale’s Tonya Moyle)

1. 22 Dec: Completed immediate changes.
2. 12 Dec: In conjunction with IDATI, released plan for immediate navigational changes.
3. 1 Dec: WhiteWhale IA/Navigation report due.
4. 21 Oct > 26 Oct: Launched new home page design.
5. 20 Oct: Reviewed new home page with design group.

Search Redesign

We actively maintain and update the search engine to build in better features and produce more usable results. More recently, we have embarked upon a new prototype for the search engine that will change it’s look and feel and improve how it delivers results. We will be testing the updates with on campus and off campus users to ensure that the improvements are beneficial. (Nick and David)

1. 23 Jan: Launched new search engine.
2. 16 Jan: User-testing continues.
3. 5 Dec: User-testing beings today.
4. 7-11 Nov: User testing with PubCom staff.
5. 1 Nov: Soft launch the search engine prototype with a better layout and new features for beta and user testing. Interested in being a test subject?

Digital Displays

Utilize LiveWhale (our web content management system) to drive news/events digital signs across the three campuses. As the content already lives in LiveWhale, this is a much less expensive alternative to the commercial systems available. It does however require some custom coding to foster the real-time deliver of content to the screens as well as additional coding for the screens. (David)

1. 9 Dec: Completed memory health check to make system more resilient.
2. 18 Nov: Refined event buffer to have a minimum number of events even if they go out more than 12 days, due to breaks and vacations.
3. 11 Nov: Tested two methods of user interaction: Kinect and smart phone.
4. 10 Nov: Completed duplicate event filtering.
5. 7/10 Oct: Titling and length improvements (smaller of 12 days or 20 items).