[IMC-Tech] Re: on UCIMC website, hard to find "how do I help in area X?"

[Barry Isralewitz]

Hello Danielle,

On Tue, May 29, 2007 at 03:19:08AM -0500, Danielle Chynoweth wrote:
> agreed.  thanks for the suggestion.  yes, as someone who gives tours every
> week, i hear frequently that the website doesn't reflect the organization as
> a whole - even folks who scour the website don't "get it" until they come to
> the space. 

   I received a similar impression from people who have only seen the site.
The 'Projects' upper link, and the list in the left hand panel you
propose below,  should help a lot with this.

> lots of folks complain about a lack of location and contact > info.
  Some suggestions on this:  Every page should have a footer with both
an "About/Contact us"-style link and a "Report technical problems with this web
site"-style link.   The "About/Contact us" link should go to a simple
page that provides building mailing address, open hours, simple travel
directions (links to map), names (or role/function-titles) of chief
contact people, their email addresses, and telephone number / room
numbers for specific people (names or role/function-title).  Phone numbers and
offices should list hours to call / visit.
     Consider setting some email addresses should go to a
function-title account (e.g.  For all Bike Project questions, email
thebikeproject at gmail.com).  A function-title email address might be
routed to a  pool of 3 people who commit to make sure a question is
answered quickly, e.g.  all 3 won't be out of town at the same time   
   



> 
> I have given this some thought, based on the best use of the upper site real
> estate.
> 
> the banner image should include the location. or if another navigation
> module can be added - location and open hours should be posted there.
If you really mean text in an "image":
Maybe limit the image (of course with ALT text) to just name/address 
Put open hours as actual text -- hours change enough that you
won't want to re-render bitmaps whenever they do.


> 
> i propose upper links called:
> news (which goes to home)
> about us
> projects
> calendar
> space
> donate
> search

> 
> and under "be the media" on the left hand side could be: - publish
> online - web group (which would include links to chat, RSS, forums and
> other things not used at all right now but taking up a lot of space) -
> public i newspaper - radio free urbana - books to prisoners - booking
> collective - video group - artist collective - community wireless -
> bike coop

  Sounds great, as long as the page is composed so all the links appear regardless of browser window width.
This is currently broken on ucimc.org. 
Details:
 For example. I  have an 861-pixel-wide Firefox window open on ucimc.org
right now, the top header silently hides "public i", "wrfu", "about us"
and "donate".  Even at  1034-pixels wide -- wider
than most laptops -- I still cannot see "donate".  We especially don't want "About
us" and "donate" to be invisible to many site visitors. 


> 
> And then put our address and contact info in the footer.

  See above, where I suggest to include a link to more complete more info (hours, etc.) 
Overall, one would have in footer: IMC name, IMC address, "About/Contact
us" link , and a (less emphasized)  link  -- probably a mailto: --  for Web technical questions.
See thebikeproject.org for an example (albeit one without in-footer name and address).


> 
> thoughts anyone?
  
   Somehow emphasize the importance and "aliveness" of the Working Groups' 
mail lists and associated post archives -- a newcomer might not know of the large
amount of deep, specific content in a mailing-group ongoing discussion
and in the (often un-googlable) archives.  (The "aliveness" could be
shown by displaying # posts to discussion group in past, say, 30 days.)


      Cheers,

      Barry


> 
> - Danielle
> 
> 
> On 5/27/07, Barry Isralewitz <barryi at ks.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> >
> >Hi Danie The UCIMC website makes it hard to find out the important  fact
> >that  are many specific, active groups (the Working Groups) working on
> >particular areas.  Perhaps something as simple as a "Projects" link in top
> >navbar of  http://ucimc.org, along with another mention at the top of
> >http://ucimc.org/info/volunteer.  Both links would point to the list of
> >working groups in the middle of the page of
> >http://ucimc.org/info/volunteer.
> >
> >Details
> >As it is, web site visitor asking "who at UCIMC cares about local video
> >production issues" will navigate to the ucimc.org site, maybe click
> >'volunteer' (alhough a much better nav-bar  link for this visitor might be
> >"Projects" or "Activities" or even the jargonny 'Working Groups") .
> >   Problem is, even  when this visitor reaches
> >http://ucimc.org/info/volunteer, she may not scroll down the page to the
> >"Plug into a working group project" part.  The details about joining all at
> >the top (initiially visible part) of the page all come before the important
> >fact:
> >    there are multiple, actiive specific groups one can contact by joining
> >their mailing lists / reading their mailing list archives.
> >Best might be putting all working group names on some front page nav
> >bar.
> >
> >Why do I say all this?  Two people came and visited the UCIMC and reported
> >such an experience; had a community action item (looking for partners for a
> >road trip to cable video access legislation event).  She could not find any
> >contacts on the web site they could write to.   Then when _I_ -- who knows
> >well the fact that there are multiple working groups, and ones directly
> >relevant here -- took several minutes to discover  find the list of working
> >groups
> >
> >Bonus sign suggestion: The people visiting came in the back way, to the
> >bike co-op entrance, perhaps confused by the front way's appearance. Maybe
> >UCIMC needs a nice "go back upstairs for most activities" sign for the
> >Cherry Alley entrance ; so confused visitors don't miss activities taking
> >place on the upper level -- should they go to the Cherry Alley entrance and
> >the  lower level doorbell goes unheard since nobody is on the lower level.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >Barry
> >
> >--
> >Barry Isralewitz   Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, UIUC
> >Beckman 3043   Office Phone: (217) 244-1612  Home Phone: (217) 337-6364
> >email: barryi at ks.uiuc.edu      
> >http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~barryi<http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/%7Ebarryi>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >

-- 
Barry Isralewitz   Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, UIUC  
Beckman 3043   Office Phone: (217) 244-1612  Home Phone: (217) 337-6364
email: barryi at ks.uiuc.edu      http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~barryi