I spent much of last week at the HighEdWebDev conference in Rochester, NY. In addition to presenting on the pdPortfolio project that we launched recently in Student Affairs, I attended several other interesting discussions as well. I’ve created separate posts here for my favorite presentations (on JQuery, GoogleMaps and crisis communications at Virginia Tech, respectively). However, here is a brief discussion of other noteworthy presentations.
Making the Case for Resources for Web Services: Doug Ruschman from Xavier University described how the university established a web services department. The department’s success is due primarily to communicating achievements and progress in a newsletter and presentations to administration and committees, establishing quantifiable metrics of success, and building partnerships with the office of enrollment and other key stakeholders.
Game Changer: The Facebook Platform: Mike Richwalsky and Josh Tysiachney from Allegheny College introduced the Facebook API and how to create Facebook applications. It looks like anything with RSS is relatively easy to manage, so I brainstormed on a few possibilities for Duke Student Affairs applications: eFlyer? Events listing, once we get our events calendar situation straightened out? News from the Student Affairs blogs? Looks like webcams are easy to incorporate, too. A plazacam application would be theoretically cool; but we already have overuse issues sometimes, so that might not pan out well.
Marketing and Communications in Higher Education IT Organizations — Nuances, Challenges, Successes: Karen M. Hackett and Jim Leous from Penn State University led a discussion on communications strategy within IT departments. They shared how Penn State’s philosophy regarding end users changed from secrecy to one of full disclosure and how this strategy is much more effective because it keeps users informed and engaged. Overall, I think we communicate well to our end users. We alert them via email in advance of known down-times and as soon as possible during unexpected outages.
Supporting a Central Web Presence with a True Communications/IT Partnership: Diane Kubarek and Al Gonzalez from Cornell University discussed how responsibility for Cornell’s web presence shifted from a client/vendor model to one in which the two groups collaborate on projects. This has led to greater efficiency, higher quality websites and more cohesion to the university brand.
This presentation by Michael Dame from Virginia Tech was a fascinating account of how VT’s communications and IT staff enacted a high effective communications strategy immediately following the events. Many of the communication efforts were focused on the website; VT deployed a “lite” version of the site containing only crucial information about the crisis to cut down on bandwith. The university also set up a tasteful “We Remember” website to honor the victims and serve as a forum for friends of the university to offer sympathy.
Since the tragedy, Virginia Tech has rolled out VT Alert, a system to contact users via text message or phone in times of crisis. They also modified their main university homepage to automatically display an alert message over regular content to further convey the message.
Crisis communications has been a hot topic at universities across the country since the tragedy. However, one section of the presentation I found most interesting was the discussion on how Virginia Tech’s website returned to normalcy once the immediacy of the crisis had passed. While the web communications team realized that it was necessary to return to “business as usual” eventually, they also knew that the website should acknowledge the Virginia Tech community’s mourning and healing process.
To convey this, the web communications team brought back the regular website with a few modifications. While the website now listed “regular” news, events and other content, users noticed a few changes as well. The size of the university logo was increased so that the motto “Ut Prosum” (“That I may serve”) was more prominent, as the phrase was particularly apropos. The website also displayed a black column on the right side with the heading “We Remember” followed by a list of the victims’ names.
The Virginia Tech website has transitioned further to its “normal” look over time. Today, the website displays only a black “We Remember” ribbon logo in the upper right corner and a link to the “We Remember” website.
Paul Dempsey from Dickinson College presented an overview of GoogleMaps and how to use the API to embed maps in websites. Paul did a great job of systematically explaining how to get the API key, setting up parameters such as map area and the center starting point. We also talked about adding tabs and images to the information window and other advanced features. We talked briefly about TPhoto, which is an API extension that allows developers to embed or overlay zoomable images on maps. This would be useful for embedding campus buildings and other items that aren’t usually available on GoogleMaps.
We looked at an application that maps the zipcodes of Dickinson alumni, omitting real identifying information, which was an interesting visualization.
I’d like to integrate maps into our websites and applications more. We do use GoogleMaps on the Volunteer Opportunities database on the Community Service Center website to map the addresses of volunteer sites from the Duke campus. I wonder in what other places we could integrate GoogleMaps — possibly something for New Student and Family Programs mapping the hometowns of incoming students? Or, to take this one step further, a mashup with Facebook in which we mapped the zip codes of incoming students and linked to their Facebook profiles?
Jaclyn Whitehorn from the University of Alabama presented an introduction of the JQuery library. JQuery allows web developers to apply CSS, change the HTML, and add AJAX and certain behaviors to existing webpages by modifying the page’s HTML markup on the fly. In order to use JQuery, users must have strong HTML and CSS knowledge, but not necessarily extensive programming skills. After downloading the library and associated plugins, users can immediately get started in JQuery.
The first example we looked at — an accordion navigation menu constructed from an unordered list — was especially compelling. The example Jaclyn showed used only one line of code, compared to the rather extensive Javascript files I used to create similar functionality. We also looked at a function that creates zebra striping in tables, which is something else JQuery could make easier on our sites.
Overall, I think the AJAX functions would prove most useful for our purposes. I’ve started to introduce AJAX elements into some of our web applications, which usually involves cobbling together code from different sources and can be rather arduous. I’d like to see if JQuery can make this process any easier.
From the JetBlue Customer Satisfaction Survey:
How did having Dunkin’ Donuts coffee on your flight affect your likelihood of flying JetBlue in the future?
- More likely
- No change
- Less likely
Um, seriously?