Web Advisory Committee (WAC) Meeting

Dana Porter Library 428, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 at 8:30-10:00am

Attendees:

Paul Snyder, Allan Bell, Kelley Teahen, Sean Van Koughnett, Mary Lynn Benninger, Tammy Marcinko, Pat Lafranier, Geoff McBoyle (chair), Terry Stewart, Guillermo Fuentes, Marlon Griffith, Jaymis Goertz, Sarah Forgrave, Megan McDermott, Andrew Smith, Kevin Paxman, Cu Truong, Isaac Morland, Heather Wey (minutes).

Regrets:

Brenda MacDonald, Gary Ridley, Donald Duff-McCracken, Michelle Douglas-Mills, Penny Pudifin, Eva Grabinski, Karen Jack, MaryJane Jennings,

1. Presentation by Allan Bell on the use of Google Analytics

  • Allan gave a brief demonstration of Google Analytics.
  • Questions were raised regarding how it worked (java script on the bottom of each page); if there was a way to export data (yes, to pdf, xml, and csv); what privacy concerns there were (definitely an issue but there is currently no University of Waterloo policy in place; Google owns the data collected including IP addresses).
  • Committee needs to decide if and how this technology might be used on campus. Should we establish an ongoing research methodology? Should we provide training to potential users?

2. Opening discussion

  • Agenda proposed – passed.

3. Information items

  • Presentations on current topics will be organized with future meetings. This will take place either at the start or end of the meeting to accommodate optional attendance at the presentation. The presentation at January's meeting will be on the Contribute Publishing Server.
  • The University of Waterloo logo is getting a new 'slimmer' font.
  • The Campaign Waterloo logo is changing from 'building a talent trust' to 'seizing opportunities for Canada'.
  • The 50th Anniversary logo should be removed from all but historical web pages.
  • There will be a notice in the Daily Bulletin regarding all of the logo changes in January and WebOps will plan additional methods of disseminating this information.

4. Minutes

5. Follow-up on items from previous meeting

  • Summary of webinar on Content Management Systems (CMS) (Megan) - [Megan to add a link to her notes].
    • Copies of the web conference materials were available. 
    • Comments were made that St. Bonaventure is a very small University with a small web site (one site, one server, about 500 pages in all).
    • The open source software they were switching from (Far Cry) had a very small user community.
    • There was some discussion about the amount of work involved to move to a CMS and that web updates need to be done on both the old and the new system until it goes live.
    • It was noted that when looking at a CMS consideration should be given to how difficult it is to move content in and out of that system.
  • Organization and mandate of Web committees (Pat).
    • Pat distributed a handout showing the mandate of Web Steering, Web Advisory and Web Operations. Paul noted that the mandate of Web Steering had not been updated for some time and that changes may be initiated by the the new VP External.

6. Sub-group reports

  • Content Management (Sean)
    • The group has discussed the issues in regards to resources, technology, and work flow and would like to gain the input of web maintainers across campus by means of a survey.
    • A list of proposed survey questions is currently being compiled. Sean will submit a draft of the survey questions to the group.
    • Pat and Megan are working together to compile a current mailing list for web maintainers.
    • Other sub-groups are welcome to add questions to the survey.
    • SensusWeb software is being considered for the online survey, Neil Patterson will provide assistance.
  • Common Look and Feel (CLF) (Pat)
    • The CLF group is looking at the current standards to see what changes should be made in the short term and what changes could be made in a future implementation.
    • This should be completed by the end of the group's next meeting.
  • Audience Research (Allan)
    • Guillermo is investigating web analytics used on campus.
    • Alan Kirker is looking into what qualitative data is being collected on campus.
    • Sarah is looking at what other universities are doing.
    • Kelly is looking at web strategy.
    • Tammy will be joining the group.
  • Navigation (Terry)
    • The group is identifying issues and will be giving recommendations for improvements both in the short and long term.
    • The group's notes are available at Navigate Common Look & Feel
  • Committee reports by February 15th
    • Geoff asked if reports would be ready to present at the next Web Steering Committee meeting.
    • Paul will monitor and draft a report if requested.

--Heather Wey - 13 Dec 2007