Blink Refresh

Transcript

1. Blink Refresh Allisa Becker Brett Pollak Chris Stuart
2. A History of Blink Allisa Becker Campus Web Office
3. UC in the 90’s-as if! •In the early '90s, UC leadership, anticipating less state support, proposed a new blueprint for UC administration. •They introduced strategies to reduce overhead and complexity, increase collaboration, and use information technology to improve services. •By 2000, many processes had been streamlined and automated, but more needed to be done to handle unprecedented growth.
4. A new business architecture UC 2010: A New Business Architecture for the University of California proposed strategies to continue to deliver high quality administrative services and support in an environment of rapid growth. The New Business Architecture would create: • A collaborative environment where staff have ready access to the tools necessary to do their job efficiently and effectively • A workplace that allows University staff to maintain high levels of job satisfaction while providing the highest levels of customer service • An environment where technology solutions minimize time spent processing mundane, routine transactions
5. What did this mean for UCSD? Unprecedented growth of enrollments in 2000-2010: • Enrollment growth will generate faculty growth • Faculty growth will generate sponsored research • Business transactions will increase Admin resources won’t increase in proportion to campus growth: • Departments & central administrative units won’t be adequately staffed • New staff will not have adequate skills and training
6. A new business architecture is needed to: •Reduce department workload •Reduce cycle time of transactions •Get new staff up-to-speed as quickly as possible
8. The old way Most Web sites are billboards or advertisements about an organization: • Mission/ Vision About us What we do Who we are • Services are located within
9. The customer’s perspective •Can I easily find what I’m looking for? •Is all the information directly accessible to me? •Is it clear and understandable?
10. The new way Material is oriented to the specific interests of the user • Know your clients • Address their specific needs • Provide all necessary information Ask the Client if the material makes sense and meets their needs • Remove organizational boundaries • Provide a consistent information resource • Integrate delivery of services
13. Blink’s champion Or, a history of Steve’s Hawaiian shirt collection
14. Blink’s champion More Steve…
15. Blink launches March 29, 2000
16. Blink philosophy •Content is organized by topic rather than department •Target user is new or less-experienced campus staff •More experienced staff can drill directly to detailed information and use Blink to stay on top of changes in process and policy •Content aims to be accurate, up-to-date, easy to read and understand (avoids legalese and uses “plain English”) •Site is easy to search and navigate, and oriented to the user’s point of view •Blink is constantly evolving based on user feedback and usability analysis
17. Blink content process •Blink followed a central publishing model •Professional writers worked with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to write and review content •Workflow included 2-step editing process
18. Innovation for higher ed • Blink launches with 2 subject areas: HR (People) and Technology • Over the next few years, topics are added: Buying, Facilities, Finance, Research, Safety, and Travel • Other UCs use Blink as a resource •Blink SMEs become leaders in the interpretation of UC policies and procedures
19. A portal for students •After the success of Blink, ACT partners with Student Affairs to create a student portal •StudentLink is divided into content for students (TritonLink) and Faculty and Staff (Student Class/Info in Blink) •The Blink team becomes Portal Services
20. Blink gets a makeover and introduces audience tabs
21. Portal Services collaborates •In 2007, we move into a new content management system (CMS) •Portal Services works with campus partners to move UCSD home and supporting pages into the CMS •Many important meetings are conducted
22. Fun at Sharecase
23. Does anyone have more fun than Mark Cunningham?
24. Blink 2.0 •Blink gets a major makeover in 2009 •It looks good but CMS is hard to use •Portal Services enters all the content for SMEs
25. An award-winning site The Larry L. Sautter Award for Innovation in Information Technology recognizes innovative deployment of information technology in support of the University’s mission. It honors projects developed at the ten UC campuses, UCOP, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Blink 2.0 wins a silver award for its redesign that features staff and faculty-focused news, direct links to the most frequently used tools, and the ability to personalize the home page.
26. UCSD hires a campus web manager The new campus web manager promises to rescue us with a better CMS We purchase Cascade Server and start to train other users
27. We thank him by redecorating his office
28. Transition of roles •Lean budget years lead to the difficult decision to disband Portal Services •The Campus Web Office is born •CWO starts to build CMS sites for other campus units
29. The power of SMEs •Subject Matter Experts are trained and let loose within the CMS •CWO supports SMEs with training, ongoing technical support, SEO, and broken link reporting and maintenance
30. Blink Refresh ‘13 – ‘14
31. Blink Survey: Summer ‘13 What do you like about Blink? Are there specific pages you find particular useful? If so, please list them. How could Blink be improved? Are there specific pages you find hard to understand, incorrect, or out of date? If so, please list them.
32. 81 Responses Blink Survey
33. Blink Survey: response summary In general, people still love Blink!
34. Blink Survey: response summary “I just started here at UCSD and Blink is so much better than any intranet I’ve used.” -Blink user
35. Blink Survey: response summary “Pages are intuitive, refreshed often, and easy to scan.” -Blink user
36. Blink Survey: response summary “Blink keeps me in the know with what’s going on around campus.” -Blink user
37. Blink Survey: response summary “Blink has everything I need from one convenient dashboard. It usually contains the answer to any question I have.” -Blink user
38. Blink Survey: response summary Search doesn’t always give folks what they are looking for.
39. Blink Survey: response summary Many folks don’t understand where “Blink” ends & other UCSD systems or sites begin.
40. Blink Survey: response summary Folks go to the Blink home page for the news, events, shuttles, & map.
41. Blink Survey: response summary Some topical pages tend to be more out of date than others.
42. We support about 8,000 search queries per day across campus web properties Search is important
43. Recommendation #1 Upgrade search
44. Google Site Search
45. Google Site Search Google hosted technology “Autocomplete” capability Toggle between search collections Images from websites within search results
46. New Search launched Friday, September 13
47. The move to Google Site Search saves us around $20,000 per year.
48. Recommendation #2: Refresh look & apply responsive design
49. 1. Provide a cleaner, simpler layout 2. Optimize Blink for all devices using responsive web design 3. Modernize the color scheme & contrasts for accessibility conformance. 4. Boost the performance so the pages load quicker. 5. Keep the content organization the same so information is where folks already know to find it. Blink Refresh Goals
50. Refresh the home page first Add new logo and header to content pages Refresh the content pages next Baby steps…
51. New Blink home page launched end of October, 2013
52. Content migration tool automated 70% of the work Blink freeze: all hands on deck 3,400 pages reviewed and updated in 1 week. Content Pages
53. “Renewed commitment to Blink in support of the strategic plan.” - email from Steve Relyea Recommendation #3
54. Recommendation #4 Dedicate a full time staff member to working with key departments on their content layout and freshness.
55. Chris Stuart Campus Web Office Content Writer/Editor cstuart@ucsd.edu
56. Writing is a dangerous and and precarious thing.
57. Well, no…but…
59. I’m not the...
60. I’m your content helper.
61. I can help with… • identifying, • organizing, • editing, and • maintaining your content. • And with working in the Blink CMS.
62. The Five C’s of Communicating • Clear • Concise • Correct • Consistent • Compelling
63. Be Clear
64. Be Clear • Put important stuff first
65. Be Clear • Put important stuff first • Chunk information
66. Be Clear • Put important stuff first • Chunk information • Put the action in verbs, not nouns
67. Be Clear A conclusion was reached after the students performed the experiment that the indication of the results were that the substance was wet to the touch, fluid, and necessary to sustain life, and that the term “water” was deemed to be the most essential information derived from the process.
68. Be Clear The students found that water was: • Wet • Liquid • Essential
69. Be Concise
70. Be Concise • Cut unnecessary words
71. Be Concise • Cut unnecessary words • Write to be read
72. Be Concise • Cut unnecessary words • Write to be read • Keep sentences and paragraphs short (but let’s not be ridiculous about it).
73. Be Concise Many have made the wise observation that when a stone is in motion rolling down a hill or incline that that moving stone is not as likely to be covered all over with the kind of thick green moss that grows on stationary unmoving things and becomes a nuisance and suggests that those things haven’t moved in a long time and probably won’t move any time soon.
74. Be Concise A rolling stone gathers no moss.
75. Be Correct
76. Be Correct • Check facts
77. Be Correct • Check facts • Keep content up-to-date
78. Be Consistent
79. Be Consistent • Check the style guide
80. Be Compelling • Don’t be cute • Satisfy the hunters
81. Be Consistent • Check the style guide • Maintain a voice
82. Be Consistent • Check the style guide • Maintain a voice • Practice good writing habits
83. Be Compelling
84. Be Compelling • Don’t be cute
85. Be Compelling • Don’t be cute • Satisfy the hunters
87. Other Topics • Effective links • SEO • Print to Web • Titles, headings, lists • Legal information
88. Other Resources • Letting Go of the Words by Ginny Redish • Web Style Guide, 3rd edition (online) • Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) • APstylebook.com • Garner’s Modern American Usage
89. The Campus Web Office is here to help with your content.
90. Please drop by our table today. Thank you!