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Project aims for cohesive Web presence
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“In the age of Google, every page is UB’s homepage; every single page of the UB Web site is a relationship-builder.”
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A group of university Web sites is being put under the microscope—subject to the kind of rigorous examination better known to campus research projects.
The idea of the Web Content Initiative (WCI) is to set standards for official campus sites to help them become more responsive to user needs, while helping UB achieve a more cohesive, organized online presence that’s better aligned to its brand and core messages.
WCI consists of eight pilot sites: two within the Chief Information Office’s presentation of IT-related themes and services; the medical school’s main page and three other sites within; and sites maintained by University Communications (UC) for UB 2020 and the Office of the President.
According to Richard H. Lesniak, CIT director of academic services and WCI project director, “the eight pilot sites were selected strategically to be representative of UB’s needs on factors such as breadth, function, complexity and audience.”
The project grew out of discussions last year in UB’s Communications Task Force, in which Elias G. Eldayrie, associate vice president and CIO, and Michael E. Cain, dean of the medical school, concluded that improving Web communications was urgently needed in their areas of responsibility. Cain and Eldayrie then reached out to Joseph A. Brennan, associate vice president for university communications, to partner in forming and sponsoring the WCI.
WCI’s approach, says Rebecca Bernstein, UC site producer and WCI creative Web team leader, is to “speak with one message, with one brand. We give our visitors an opportunity through fulfilling their needs for information, ideas or services that they may not have even known to ask for, thus building a perception of UB, cementing a closer relationship.”
Since this past fall, 14 functional teams and a total of 33 staff members from across campus have been working on the project. July 2010 is the scheduled completion date for the pilot, including new or revamped content for each selected site.
“I believe in what a diverse group of people, working collaboratively, can achieve,” says Cain. “Our work with University Communications and the Office of the Chief Information Officer has been an excellent partnership that will result in what I hope we accomplish: a collaboratively and thoughtfully designed Web site that positions UB and its schools and programs in a consistently branded way.”
WCI team efforts are being supplemented by an outside consultant, mStoner of Chicago. Over the next five months, mStoner will collaborate with UB’s teams to provide overall site structures, navigational schemes and information flows based on the business objectives of the sites and consultation with users’ needs and utilization patterns. “Getting nationally prominent expertise on board will both accelerate our project and ensure best possible results,” Lesniak notes.
WCI sponsors and team members agree the Web has enormous importance in portraying UB to the public and other constituents. “How many times have we gone into Web sites and we distrust it because the information is old or we can’t find what we’re looking for?” asks Bernstein. “In the age of Google, every page is UB’s homepage; every single page of the UB Web site is a relationship-builder.”
“The Web site is our school’s public face,” Cain says. “It plays an integral role in our image and identity, and our ability to recruit and retain the best students, residents, fellows, postdocs and faculty, as well as to forge optimum research collaborations. It is critical to our ability to fulfill our mission and vision, and I am pleased with the results I have seen so far. We are on the right trajectory for success, and I look forward to the final product.”
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