Survey of Web Maintainers

The following survey was developed by members of the Web Advisory Committee and distributed to Web managers and maintainers across campus.

Note that the Office of Research was consulted and informed the committee that "If it is quality assurance/improvement with information collected from Waterloo faculty and staff and will not be used for research purposes (i.e., presenting at conferences, etc.) then it does not need to undergo ethics review and clearance."

The survey was distributed to 130 staff on January 22, 2008. Logon IDs were provided to prevent anonymous submissions. A total of 88 surveys were completed by the cut-off time, 4:30, Februrary 1.

The analysis of this survey will help form the basis of any recommendations we make to Web Steering Committee in February.

Survey questions/Results

Your role in supporting your web site - Section 1 of 6

The following questions will help us understand your site and the role you play in its support.

  1. What type of website do you support (check all that apply):
    • Faculty website (18%)
    • Academic department website (32%)
    • Academic sub-department (e.g. research group) website (18%)
    • Non-academic (e.g. Administrative department) website (61%)
  2. What level of responsibility do you have for the site:
    • Responsible for major decisions that affect the site (73%)
    • Responsible for a some areas or aspects of the site (e.g. updating content) (24%)
  3. What is your role in supporting your website? Select all that apply.
    • Determining what information should be available and how it should be organized (81%)
    • Creating and maintaining content (80%)
    • Technical support (e.g. managing Dreamweaver templates, supporting staff who maintain content) (64%)
    • Web development (e.g. creating forms and custom applications) (48%)
    • Design and/or marketing (e.g. colour schemes, graphics, marketing promotions) (50%)
    • Other comments S1Q3

Your audience - Section 2 of 6

The following questions relate to your understanding of the audience of your website.

  1. What sorts of tools, techniques and instruments have you used to collect data and inform decisions about your website's audience? Select all that apply.
    • Qualitative collection from usability studies (e.g. one-on-one oral feedback, talk-aloud protocols) (24%)
    • Qualitative collection from focus groups (e.g. facilitated feedback, organized group discussions) (13%)
    • Quantitative collection from usability studies (e.g. time on task, task error %'s) (7%)
    • Quantitative and/or qualitative collection from web or paper-based survey tools (e.g. online forms, Google Analytics, AWstats, Pstats) (33%)
    • Quantitative collection from server logs and records (e.g. total hits, hits over time, peak usage etc) (28%)
    • Anecdotal evidence and unsolicited feedback (e.g. user emails, communications) (72%)
    • Intuitive understanding (from yourself, colleagues, peers) (83%)
  2. Was any of the data collected as part of a formal project reviewed by the Office of Research Ethics? yes(10%)/no(80%)
  3. In the interest of developing a best practice for the collection and analysis of such user data in future web studies and surveys, are you willing to share these findings? yes(70%)/no(15%)

Your web site - Section 3 of 6

  1. How effective do you think your website has been in meeting the needs of its audience?
    • Very effective (19%)
    • Somewhat effective but could do more (64%)
    • Not very effective (10%)
    • Additional comments S3Q1
  2. We are interested in how the content of your website is managed. Select all that apply.
    • Content is updated directly by those responsible for it (55%)
    • Maintaining web content is generally only a part of a person's job responsibilities (80%)
    • Web content is generally current and well maintained (63%)
    • Feedback from clients is collected and changes are made where appropriate (53%)
    • New/updated web pages are reviewed before they are published on the web (41%)
  3. What issues limit your site's ability to meet the needs of its audience? Select from the most important (firstly) to the least of the following:
    • Not enough time to keep content up-to-date
    • Not enough time to assess and refine website organization and design
    • Content suffers because of a lack of clarity on who is responsible
    • The tools we use to maintain content are too complex and take too much time to learn
    • Little or no audience research to understand what is most important to audience(s)
    • Insufficient budget/commitment to providing training
    • Insufficient budget for software
Selection First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh
1. Time to maintain content 31% 33% 7% 5% 10% 1% 0%
2. Time to organize and design 9% 25% 9% 8% 13% 6% 2%
3. Clarity on Responsibility 10% 7% 10% 7% 18% 5% 2%
4. Tools too complex 7% 3% 11% 2% 7% 6% 3%
5. Lack of Audience research 5% 2% 6% 8% 2% 7% 2%
6. Training 1% 0% 2% 5% 2% 11% %
7. Budget for software 0% 0% 2% 9% 2% 2%

13%

Comments on other issues

The Waterloo Common Look and Feel (CLF) - Section 4 of 6

The CLF was introduced 2 years ago to standardize the look of University of Waterloo Web pages.

  1. How familiar are you with the the process of creating a CLF-compliant Web page: very familiar (44%), somewhat familiar (31%), not very familiar (14%)
  2. Has the introduction of the CLF simplified the job of maintaining the content of your site? Yes (40%)/No (18%)/Somewhat (30%)
  3. Has your site implemented the CLF using the CLF Dreamweaver Templates? Yes (63%)/No (16%)/Don't know (9%)
  4. If so, comment on your use of the templates:
    • Templates make it easy to develop and maintain Web pages (45%)
    • Templates made it easy to create the navigation for my site (30%)
    • Templates are difficult to use (19%) survey comments S4Q4
  5. Are you using some other method of implementing the CLF?
    • Using heavily revised or completely re-written CLF templates (16%)
    • Using "Server Side Includes" (23%)
    • Using a Content Management System (3%); survey comments S4Q5a
    • Other
  6. What software do you use for web development and maintenance in your department?
    check all that apply
  7. Are you satisfied with this software?
    Yes (52%)/No (5%)/Somewhat ( 27%)
  8. Please specify what you like or dislike about this software: comments on software
  9. Comment on the flexibility provided within the CLF.
    • Not familiar with what flexibility is permitted (22%)
    • Provides enough flexibility to meet our needs (41%)
    • The CLF is too rigid and has not allowed our Web site to meet its objectives (22%)
    • The CLF is too flexible, some of the Waterloo sites bear little resemblance with the others ( 2%)

Web support - Section 5 of 6

Web support is provided by Communications and Public Affairs (CPA), Information Systems & Technology (IST) and Graphics and by support staff in the faculties and departments. Comment on the level of support you receive.

  1. Which group provides you with your Web support?
    • Primary support is provided by IST, CPA or Graphics (38%)
    • Primary support is from my own faculty/department (49%)
  2. Do you feel that the support you receive is:
    • Adequate or better (59%)
    • Should be increased (31%)
  3. IST provides training for staff with Web responsibilities through its Skills for the Electronic Workplace (SEW) program. Check each of the following that you agree with.
    • I was not aware of this program (3%)
    • I haven't attended because I already have the skills covered by the courses (30%)
    • I have attended one or more of the Web training courses in the past year (40%)
    • The training program has/has not met my needs (13%). Survey comments S5Q3

Moving ahead - Section 6 of 6

We are interested in how you think the University should move ahead and advance its web profile.

  1. What level of changes to the CLF should be considered?
    • Only minor refinements should be considered (25%)
    • Refresh the current CLF (27%)
    • Time for a major facelift (26%)
  2. Comment on the use of Dreamweaver templates and Contribute for developing and maintaining Web pages:
    • This approach is working well and should be supported (49%)
    • Other templates should be provided (35%) survey comments S6Q2
    • other approaches such as Content Management Systems should be considered (13%).
  3. Please add any additional comment that has not been covered by the previous questions survey comments S6Q3
  4. May we contact you for clarification on your responses to this survey? Yes (73%)/ No (10%)

Congratulations. You've completed the survey. Thanks for your participation. We will be distributing a summary of the results of the survey to participants.