Posts filed under 'Web Development'
This is a problem that I am sure plagues many a university or most any large organization in general. Universities are very decentralized in nature. There are Departments, Colleges, Centers and Programs. Each of these has their own assets, and for this I will focus on images but it can apply to video, documents, etc.
How has this problem been handled in the past?
Each department has an internal server where files are stored all over. Many times there is very little logic as to how they will categorize information to find it later. You will have folder after folder of images all over the place with a simple descriptor of the event like “blankaward07″. After time you will build up a lot of assets and this scheme does very little to help you recover this.
Then someday a person from another department will call and say “Matt do you have images from blank and blank event two years ago?” My response is “Oh yeah I took pics at that”. Then I have to say “Where did I save those” many times it can be next to impossible to find them. When I am gone my replacement is left to his or her wits to find the file. BAD METHOD!!
How can you fix it?
How nice would it be to let the person that calls simply look for the asset on their own? What kind of a system would do this? Some sort of an asset management system. I think the ideal implementation of an asset management system is flickr: build a university wide flickr. I would love it if they would ever rolls their system out into some kind of a hosted, active directory authentication based system. But in the mean time you can learn a lot from simply looking at flickr. What is the main thing that makes flickr so great? TAGGING!!
Tagging is a great way of categorizing assets. Why? It is both personal and global. Just look at an image like the one below
Let’s say the Yankees pitcher “beaned” this Red Sox player in the pic.
So I want to tag it.
As a Red Sox fan I would tag it “jerk, poor sports, red sox, yankees”
As a Yankees fan I would tag it “crybaby, great play, red sox, yankees”
So “jerk, poor sports, crybaby, great play” are personal to the person tagging them. But “red sox, yankees” are agreed on and globally helpful tags. This is the power of tags. You can identify an object with lots of tags rather than the old way which is to simply store it in a certain folder.
The idea I am trying to get at here is that as the saying goes “An image is worth a thousand words”. Not a single folder name.
I don’t want to go into to much detail because I want tagging to be the thing that resonates from this post, but there is even more to be learned from flickr. I think many of the social aspects of the site would be useful. I think ratings would be useful so that you get the most useful pic of “graduation”. The idea of groups and pools would be useful so that you can have discussions and image pools based on certain areas of campus or parts of student life for example. Geotagging would be very nice so you know where exactly on campus a pic was taken. Just a few ideas to mull over. . .
At a university there are certain things like the football stadium, basketball arena, academic building, and the student union. The list goes on and on, but these places are of interest to all students. These pictures would be useful to communications / marketing people in all departments and a tool like this would be a great way to manage your universities abundant resources.
- Matt Herzberger -July Blogger
Previous Posts
July 17th, 2007
Let me be the first to admit that new technologies are at many times daunting for me. I don’t consider myself a programmer. I tend to hack at existing code and somehow string it together with duct tape. I thought microformats would be the same kind of undertaking. But it’s not. To begin, what are microformats? Well you can find a few definitions here . On the microformats.org homepage it says
Designed for humans first and machines second, microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards.
Even that is too complicated of a definition, for those of you who do standards based code (as we all should be) are more or less already doing it. You wrap ’s and ’s around data.
It took me awhile to wrap my head around how easy it was. I marked up my college’s directory in microformats in an hour one afternoon. After I was done I was sitting there asking, “Is that really it?”So onto the sell, how does this relate to higher ed? Many of the microformats standards relate to things we do daily.
- hCard
Do you have a directory listings on your site? Oh you do, me too.
- hCalendar
Do you have events / cal on your site? I thought so.
- rel-license
Are there people who need to license their works?
- hResume
Are there resumes on your site?
- course-catalog (still in development)
Do you list courses?
Others include citation, collections, directions, grouping, job listing, measurements, and meeting minutes.
I’m sure everyone would be hard pressed not to find a few of these on his or her site.
At microformats.org there is a site / wiki where you can find detailed info on all the specs. There are also creators to help you in the process. The creators are also open to new microformats and provide info on how to contribute on something that may not have been thought of yet. Still don’t get it? Here is a presentation called “What are microformats?” by Tantek Çelik one of the people behind Microformats.
Next question, how do you work with microformats? There is a plugin for Firefox (please tell me you use Firefox) called Operator . Operator leverages microformats that are already available on many web pages to provide new ways to interact with web services. You can export contact info, add google calendar events, find locations on google maps all just because things are marked up in microfomats. If you download and install the plugin and then go to my site there are microformats embedded and you can export my contact info. to your addressbook. So I leave you with:
The microformats principles
- solve a specific problem
- start as simple as possible
- design for human’s first, machines second
- reuse building blocks from widely adopted standards
- modularity / embeddability
- enable and encourage decentralized development, content, services
P.S. my first post “Mobile Web for Higher Ed ” was the 3rd of July so I thought I would mention it in case it got lost in the shuffle.
- Matt Herzberger -July Blogger
July 9th, 2007
There are lots of areas to talk about in mobile development but my reason for this post was the recent release of the iPhone. Not so much that the phone is cool(which it is) but what it could mean for the mobile industry and changes to come. I will not only hit on ways that mobile can relate to higher ed but mobile in general as well. I never thought much about mobile until an inspiring panel at SXSW this year.
First of all, a definition
mobile web - websites designed for viewing on mobile devices
Being that we are in higher ed it’s a pretty exciting market, most students have and are the most active users of mobile devices. Youths are always on the cutting edge. All throughout college I would buy the newest coolest phones, I’m trying to scrounge up money for an iPhone right now 
There are lots of cool things that most universities and colleges have that we can leverage online like:
- Directories
- Maps
- News and Events
- Calendars
- Communications
- Office hours, library hours, etc.
- Email
- Etc.
How great would it be as a student to be at one end of campus and know if your computer lab was open, or be in the lounge and check to see what time that game was at tonight?
Another very cool idea which is starting to show up but will only develop more in the future are location based services. This could be amazing in a community such as a campus! For example you could be walking by the chemistry building and be alerted that your TA is there for office hours. If your study partner for accounting happened to be around the dorms when you were you can meet to ask a few questions. These can also be used for location based marketing opportunities.
Crisis communications: In the aftermath of Virginia Tech it seems unanimous that mobile will be the best form of communications, while still coupled with other forms. SMS (text messages) can be used to send a message to every student in a very short time circumventing the many times slow and lagging university email servers that will only reach you if you are at a computer and checking your email at the time. You could also get updates throughout if you were stuck in a class.
Also not to forget, third party mobile sites. Many social networks such as facebook, twitter, etc now have mobile sites that you can figure into your marketing.
I will only touch shortly on the development of mobile sites since this isn’t higher ed specific. Mobile site development is essentially the same as development for regular sites as far as rules and standards go, BUT there are subtle differences. A few things to remember are the 3C’s of Mobile Web (Source : Blue Flavor)
- Cost
- If you don’t develop your mobile website responsibly, the user could get stuck with a big bill in order to view your content.
- Content
- Issues like navigation, image sizes, page weight and scripts all need to be considered when thinking about your website on mobile devices.
- Context
- What does your website add to the users mobility? How do you add value to their physical context? What is the context in which they will use your site? On a bus or train?
Here is an example of a university using mobile very well UT Mobile Services you can access their mobile site by going to http://mobile.utexas.edu/. For more technical information you can see my inspiration for the post the Blue Flavor presentation at SXSW and the dotMobi Mobile Web Guide
In the long run I think there will be a lot of development in this market. Right now there are constraints in the U.S. market from mobile providers and politicians which leave the U.S. mobile market years behind where it is in Europe and Japan. Mobile will change the way we gather and interact with information in the near future leaving us no longer chained to our computers.
- Matt Herzberger - July Blogger
July 2nd, 2007
When visiting Reed College (where Steve Jobs attended) in Portland year’s back, I also visited and fell in love with Powell’s Books, the largest independent bookstore going.
On Powell’s site, right below, “Company History” they’ve got a link for “Website History.” Most schools (and companies) list “About” or “History” but I really found this “Website History” unique, entertaining, and an excellent example of how accelerated (and short) the history of this thing called “the web” is.
Take a moment to read it. It will make you chuckle and perhaps rekindle some common shared experiences.
Why not draft a “Website History” of your institution’s site and add it for visitors to enjoy? How many times would the term “committee” be on your school’s website history? Click “comments” to share the count
Jeff Kallay
June Guest Blogger
Experience Evangelist
TargetX
kallay@targetx.com
June 28th, 2007
Today’s Chronicle Wired Campus reports about more schools integrating “interactive” features on their sites. (I use “interactive” because in my opinion not all technology or its use is “interactive” plenty of it is still “passive.”)
Anyhow, this post references Loyola Chicago. Take a moment to visit their site. I love the homepage experience. The design is clean and they’ve made four features dominate: 1) an interactive timeline, 2) an image gallery, 3) LUTube (videos), and 4) Blog around the world. I like how they use alumni, staff and students to blog vs. the standard “Freshmen Year Diaries.”
Loyola’s homepage and Boston University’s as well, do a great job keeping it clean, simple, easy, engaging/interactive, and both utilize storytelling. Less is more. Simplicity cuts through the clutter.
What other colleges have conquered their “design by committee” and created homepages that are clean and clutter free (but easy to navigate)? Click comments and share them.
Jeff Kallay
June Guest Blogger
Experience Evangelist
TargetX
kallay@targetx.com
June 21st, 2007
At Elliance, we try to stay on top of college and university change not just in admissions marketing and web development, but also how the campus environment is changing. I’ve watched how colleges and universities have been busy upgrading everything from cafeteria menus to campus visit events to web 2.0 sites, all in the hope of satisfying the “me-first” needs of millennials. All great things for your students, but the return on such investments (in numbers of applicants, student quality measures and overall awareness) can be hard to quantify.
Meanwhile, the low hanging enrollment fruit, in many instances, goes unpicked.
I’m referring to the role of search engine optimization or SEO in your overall enrollment management and institutional marketing efforts.
For-profit education sellers have known this for years and beaten endowment-driven college and universities to the punch. It’s time to punch back, and dedicate at least five percent of your marketing and enrollment budget to natural or organic search [defined].
I’d like to hear from those who’ve made search a priority, as well as those who remain search skeptics.
In a search-driven world, site rankings paired with a conversion-driven web site can lead your enrollment efforts. Elliance used a site redesign and aggressive search campaign to boost applications to a Carnegie Mellon University program 118 percent. Read more here.
In another case of integrated site redesign and search marketing, Elliance helped student-guide publisher College Prowler rise to number one on Google for critical keywords, boosting book sales and raising their national profile. Click here.
Organic search involves an ongoing effort, and a willingness to adapt. New developments, such as social search and mobile search, will play a growing role in your perspective student’s decision making. Elliance offers an ongoing series of infographics to help those trying to grasp the ever-changing search world. Click here.
March 8th, 2007
Supporting mobile devices is something that is becoming more important to North American schools as data costs come down for mobile plans and wifi enabled devices become more popular. You need to keep a few things in mind when developing for mobile devices, have a look at Cameron Moll’s The Mobile Web, Simplified to get you started. Then come back and have a read of this as Higher education is a bit more tricky (of course) when it comes to providing a solid mobile experience. The following are a couple things I think you need to consider.
You should consider the need to design a new page for the small screen. That well designed home page of yours just won’t translate well for the small screen and slow speeds. I would suggest you start with a page what includes a search function, headline summary, and access to links. If you are already using CSS for layout, a ‘handheld’ CSS won’t cut it, many mobile browsers don’t support it so need a different home page — current convention is that the page lives in mobile.site.edu or site.edu/mobile.
Target heavily used content and services. Don’t think you need to convert all your content into something mobile devices can use. It is likely the majority of mobile users are internal folks so focus on content for them. Make sure news and notices are available, exam schedules, event listings, and maybe even a campus map. This is where you might run into a bit of a challenge. It could be tricky if you need access to other people’s data from campus web services but it is also an opportunity to build some bridges with areas and encourage them to support some API’s.
Provide a simple way for mobile users to give you feedback and requests. This will give you a good idea how many people are using your mobile versions and what they would like. Encourage mobile users to make themselves known and let them know about the mobile version.
Finally I think you need to convince (or at least suggest) senior management it is important. That could be easy if they have a Blackberry (bet they do). I would recommend you use Opera and its small screen view for testing, it gives you a decent idea of what your content looks like.
Jesse Rodgers - January Guest Blogger
University of Waterloo
jrodgers@uwaterloo.ca
January 18th, 2007
Hello! Are you enjoying our guest blog authors? They’ve written some great posts so do take the time (during a lunch break, perhaps?) to read and learn some new things.
Some info you need to know about the 2007 eduWeb Conference:
- Call for Papers: February 5 - March 16 (online form will be launched Feb. 5)
- Registration: Early Bird (April 1-May 25) — $450; Regular (May 26-July 22) — $550 (registration includes Sunday’s Welcoming Reception, Monday & Tuesday’s Continental Breakfasts and Break Munchies, and Monday’s Lunch)
- Walk & Talk … like to get some exercise in the morning? Well, we’ll have a “Walk & Talk” Monday morning to get out early for some fresh air and meet some of your colleagues.
- Special Interest Groups … would you like to meet other peers in your field? Well, we’ll have two opportunities for that … Sunday’s “dinner on your own” and a morning continental breakfast.
- Schedule Outline … it’s now up at: http://www.eduwebconference.com/schedule/07schedule.htm
“talk” to you soon!
Shelley Wetzel
Conference Director
January 9th, 2007
It is the end of the calendar year, which makes this a good time to recharge our batteries on content management, or CM. Although this topic was one of the more popular at every conference I attended this year (as has been the case over the past several years), it means different things to different people. So, for the sake of sanity, let’s bring out the basics:
- Content management is not technology. Although CM requires technology, it is a philosophy. It is process and people. Many colleges and universities emphasize the technical aspects of a content management system. As a CMS provider, I still see institutions asking too many nuts and bolts questions without identifying how CM is going to work on campus.
- One man does not control the Web site. The “webmaster” of yesteryear, as the architect, designer, content publisher, and server administrator, can no longer exist in the ever-changing world of content management…nor should he or she be expected to. University Web sites are some of the largest sites on the internet. It definitely takes a village to raise your Web presence.
- Content is king. I’m stealing (or borrowing, or flattering…however you want to put it) a quote from Gerry McGovern, but it is the ultimate reason that you have site visitors. Content is words, pictures, and media; not structure and design. Sites must be easy to navigate, but your key audiences don’t come to your site for that reason. They want to see, hear, and read.
- Sites don’t build themselves. A good content management system has automated navigation, content tagging, and syndication. These allow the structure of the site to be built based on administrator control and content relationships. For that to happen, you need good writers. You need authors that take their portion of the site seriously. You need content contributors that understand what readers want. Empower these people, and the site will come together.
Content management, in its most simple form, is no different than an automobile. There are manufacturers that build the car and mechanics that maintain the car, but the most important part of any car is the driver. Volkswagon had an ad series running that simply said “Drivers Wanted”. In our case: Authors wanted.
Eric Hodgson - December Guest Blogger
Estrada
eric.hodgson@estradacms.com
December 26th, 2006
We’re all getting up to speed on blogging. Many of you are already providing blogs for students, alumni, faculty, maintenance…you name it. Like any other feature on the Web that catches on, I believe it is time to take a step back and make sure we are using blogs correctly.
On my regular blog, we have been discussing an institution where a blog became a general audience attraction. You are thinking to yourself, “Awesome…what a way to get the word out.” This is true if you believe any publicity is good publicity. The concern that this institution now has is that the blog could become a skewed perception of the institution. I say that it is time to revisit the blog and the bloggers and make sure they keep focused.
A blog is nothing more than an opportunity for those to experience an institution through the eyes of those involved. With that being said, a blog should focus on those experiences, not the individuals. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Setting goals. It takes 10 minutes to set up a blog these days. It takes one post for readers to decide if the blog is going to be worthwhile to follow. If you are setting up an admission blog, everyone should understand that the goal is to recruit students.
- Selecting bloggers. It is not about the most dynamic person, it is about the person who can tell the stories. When selecting a blogger, diligence, creativity, and solid writing skills are much more important than amazing personality. We want readers to fall in love with the institution, not the blogger.
- Setting boundaries. You want to keep blogs as real as possible. That is absolutely a must. You want your writers to be honest and open. But you also want to accomplish goals. Don’t be afraid to say what should be written about and what shouldn’t. There are hundreds of blogging tools out there. If your bloggers want to talk about their personal lives, that is the place to do it. Your blog posts should be focused on recruiting students (or whatever the primary goal was).
- Allowing commenting. Do it…don’t be afraid.
- Reviewing and Improving. If done correctly, a blog grows every year. You add more students, more perspectives (parents blogs?), more topics, and more goals.
Our friends at Target X recently had An Email Minute entry about Mansfield University’s podcasts. The article stressed reality. This is absolutely correct, and I would like to add one more word…focused.
Eric Hodgson - December Guest Blogger
Estrada
eric.hodgson@estradacms.com
December 11th, 2006
Next Posts
Previous Posts
