Web Advisory Committee (WAC) Meeting

Dana Porter Library 428, Tuesday, October 17, 2007 at 10:30

Attendees:

Kevin Paxman, Allan Bell, Kelley Teahen, Sean Van Koughnett, Mary Lynn Benninger, Penny Pudifin, Tammy Marcinko, Paul Snyder (chair), Pat Lafranier, Geoff McBoyle, Terry Stewart, Guillermo Fuentes, Andrew Smith, Gary Ridley, Isaac Morland, Karen Jack, Sarah Forgrave, Jason Greatrex (minutes), Megan McDermott, Michelle Douglas-Mills.

Regrets:

Brenda MacDonald, Jaymis Goertz, Cu Truong, Eva Grabinski, Marlon Griffith, Donald Duff-McCracken, MaryJane Jennings.

1. Opening discussion

  • Agenda proposed – passed.

2. Information items

  1. Please review for next meeting award winning University Web Sites.
  2. Kelley’s reminder: CASE Webinar Online Speak Series, Hundreds of Web Sites, Countless Insights, November 8, 2007 – to ensure enough handouts are printed, please notify Kelley if attending.
  3. Welcome Megan McDermott, Manager, Web Communications, Communications and Public Affairs. Megan has 10 years web design experience, including work experience in Housing, Distance Education and LT3.
  4. Pat Lafranier provided a summary (PDF) of the Higher Ed Web Dev conference both her and Jason Greatrex attended.

3. Minutes

4. Sub-group reports

Audience Research Sub-group (Allan Bell)

  1. Will commence initially with the Library’s WebOps group and then later include the rest of the sub-group members to define the library’s audience. The project’s development cycle will conduct exercises to define its audiences and their related subgroups. This project will help with the Library’s purchases of:
    • An electronic resource management system
    • A search and discovery system – Trellis’s replacement
  2. Homework for all Web Advisory Committee members (please email Allan Bell):
    • Strategic web presence. Describe your website’s objectives, both what you and your users intend to get out of your website?
    • Analytical work: please submit pertinent qualitative and quantitative analysis.
  3. The Library will be investigating the services of a design firm to enhance the Library’s new search discovery interface. The change will not necessarily be orthogonal but help drive the existing standards-based Common Look and Feel (CLF).
  4. This project will start small and expand; focusing on better navigation space rather than the overall visual display of the University as a whole.

Navigation Sub-group (Terry Stewart)

  1. This group is investigating navigation functionality not its appearance. It will include all navigation elements: left and right navigation, header, footer, and the body.
  2. The group's list of tasks will include:
    • review the navigation description in the current CLF documentation
    • review the current navigation practices throughout the University of Waterloo domain, esp. with respect to identifying where and why the CLF is not being adhered to
    • review the navigation practices in place at other institutions (what can we 'borrow', what should we avoid, etc.)
    • identify areas in which the description needs to be enhanced
    • develop a set of recommendations for enhancements in the CLF navigation
  3. Investigation may extend to administrative applications (Quest, ACE, etc.), listing attributes, technology to use (toolbox), content management systems, portals and intranets. Exemptions include search engine, and Web 3.0 apps (Second life).
  • Does the CLF mandate extend to the Church Colleges? The Church Colleges are encouraged but not required to follow the University CLF. The minutes of these meetings will be made available to them.

CLF Definition Sub-group (Pat Lafranier)

  1. This group met on October 11th and has begun to identify unclear areas in the CLF. Topics under discussion are the template, specific areas within the template, usability, heading and font styles.
  2. Navigation areas were mentioned and overlap somewhat with the navigational sub-group.
  3. Possible suggested recommendations include mandatory code validator, styles guide, and multiple pre-designed template components.

5. New sub-group

  1. An additional sub-group created called Web Content Management Sub-group.
  2. Goal is to investigate web content management relating to the issues of content, training, and governance.
  3. Chaired by Sean Van Koughnett, members include Allan Bell, Gary Ridley, Isaac Morland, Sarah Forgrave, Penny Pudifin, Guillermo Fuentes. Contact Sean if you would like to participate.

6. Search engine

  • The Navigation sub-group felt the University "Search" function while an important navigational tool, it is a big enough topic to warrant a separate subcommittee of the whole.
  • The Search function remains a central consistent component across the University web presence and if future investigation is required, it would be dealt with by the WebOps team.

7. Overview

  • Brief overview of units using Contribute Publishing Server and related content management systems, will be given at the next meeting: Allan Bell, Isaac Morland, Gary Ridley.

8. Next meeting

  • Tuesday, November 20th at 10:30-noon, Dana Porter Library 428

-- Jason Greatrex - 24 Oct 2007