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Objective: This committee will review all Computing
Services Web sites and recommend to the directors a plan to re-design all pages
that make up the Computing Services Web site. The new site design should
facilitate the exchange of information within, as well as from and to Computing
Services. The site should be attractive, easy to navigate, and provide our
various constituents with useful information. The site should improve people’s
interactions with Computing Services.
Participants: The committee membership will include one
individual from each area within Computing Services nominated by the director
of that area. The committee will be chaired by Rita Murdoch.
Scope: In the planning, the committee will address the
following issues:
Purpose: What is the purpose of the Computing Services Web
site? Potential purposes might include external marketing and communications
(Dartmouth and beyond), internal communications, education and training, or
access to resources. Our Web site should be a model to the rest of
Dartmouth.
Audience: Who is the intended audience? Are there multiple
audiences?
Architecture, Navigation, and Standards: What standards
will we put in place and under what circumstances will there be variances? What
will the guiding principal be for determining how pages will be interrelated
(e.g., Is our structure primarily based on departmental structures or
functions? What is the on-going mechanism for determining standards?).
Ongoing Maintenance: Once the site is created, how will the
content be managed? Should maintenance be done centrally or can some work be
de-centralized?
Universe: What is the scope of the content that will be
included within this structure?
Deliverables: At the completion of the project, the
following will be recommended to the directors:
- Clear definition of intended audiences and their objectives when
interacting with the site.
- Description of how content will be designed for each audience.
- A philosophy for general site structure. Including to what extent autonomy
will we incorporated into the structure.
- Consistent design and navigation standards.
- Procedure for ongoing maintenance (standards and content).
- Site map or schematic.
- A report defining next steps.
Constraints: The following are areas that may delay or
jeopardize the project.
- Inflexibility on the part of members of Computing Services.
- Perceived lack of support from Directors.
- Lack of resources, staffing, and funding.
Process: To facilitate this re-design effort, the group
will do the following:
- Talking with users of the system. These conversations can take place at
different points, both early to solicit ideas and later in the design phase to
test assumptions.
- Talking with content providers. Determine what content they provide, how
they provide it, and who they provide it for.
- Reviewing sites at other schools.
- Reviewing our current structure and hearing from each other the rational
for particular decisions.
Success Criteria: A proposal that addresses all areas
outlined in the scope section of this document that is approved by the
Computing Services' Directors on or before the timeline is set for the
project.
General Timeline: Director’s will approve the charge to the
group on January 21, 2001, including appointing a member to the committee. The
committee will have three months to work through its charge and will deliver a
proposal to the Directors by April 30, 2002.
Send comments and suggestions to the committee's group mailing
list.
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