Life before the U-where did you work?

ROI and social media

Check out these slides breaking down how to identify ROI for social media: http://www.slideshare.net/thebrandbuilder/olivier-blanchard-basics-of-social-media-roi

Good food for thought!

Monday Link Roundup, 10-26-09

I feel lucky that my work in the College of Liberal Arts allows me to dig into current issues in the arts, humanities and social sciences. In particular, I get to interact with faculty working in ethnic studies, human rights and global cultural literacy, among many others. Therefore, I try to keep up on higher ed issues that intersect with the lives and work of our faculty. Some picks:

The Academy Speaks: Current Affairs and Issues in Higher Education and its partner Web site, Diverse Issues in Higher Education

I also like to follow blogs that connect me to media and public relations practitioners, with an eye to both best and worst practices. Being a typical snarky Gen Xer, I especially enjoy Bad Pitch.

And writing! It's true when they say in order to get better you just have to keep doing it. I
think these are great:

You better be reading Writing Matters! We've had Leslie O'Flahavan of E-Write here for our conference, and we loved her!

Copyblogger: Copywriting tips for online marketing success

10,000 Words: Where Journalism and Technology Meet

Staying connected on vacation

I've been known to sneak a peek at my email while I'm on vacation, what about you?

Communicating for good

Saturday is Make a Difference Day, one of several events throughout the year aimed at getting more people to volunteer. It got me thinking about the ways we as communicators can use our talents for good.

Finding a way to volunteer your skills can be as easy as contacting non-profits you support and asking if they could use your assistance. Or, maybe you'll find like-minded people in these networks:

Proofread for good: I've been volunteer proofing for Distributed Proofreaders for a while and found it to be a well-run and supportive network. Volunteers go through scanned-in text of public domain works to help convert them to e-books for sites like Project Gutenberg.

Account plan for good: Planning for Good is a network of account planners who volunteer to solve problems for causes and non-profits.

Design for good: There are many volunteer design opportunities posted on sites like VolunteerMatch and HandsOn Twin Cities.

What volunteering have you done? Are there other sites or networks you recommend?

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/livealittle/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Today: The U celebrates National Day on Writing

Now here is a mid-October holiday I can get behind! National Day on Writing, founded by the intrepid National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), celebrates writing of all ilks and advocates for us all to be better writers.

The University's Center for Writing has some sweet stuff planned, including an opportunity to celebrate this oft-private activity in front of webcams in... the Writing Pod [see photo on right for how I am picturing this...]. If any of you Forum members go into the pod, please take pictures to share!

Also, any UThink entries tagged dayonwriting will be pulled into a special Day on Writing blog set up by the good (and patient...hi Shane!) people at UThink.

Links to more info:

• Events happening throughout the day on campus
  
• National Day on Writing at NCTE
• UThink's Day on Writing blog
• U of M Gallery of Writing

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brostad/ / CC BY 2.0

Update: I HAVE BEEN TO THE POD!

Monday link roundup 10-19-09

Every Monday we post a roundup of interesting communications news and articles from the past week. Here are a few I was intrigued by.

This is an interesting article about e-mail usage: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203803904574431151489408372.html  

A friend posted a link to slides from an MIMA presentation on Web content: http://www.slideshare.net/rlovinger/content-gone-wild

Check out this article on social networking and gender. Interesting stats: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/stephanie-schomer/write/more-women-use-social-networking-sites 

Need a break -- check out music news, etc... at: http://pitchfork.com/

 

What have you been reading, listening to, and watching? Add a comment or suggest a link for next week.

Poll: How many browser tabs do you have open?

I used to think I used a lot of tabs, but I've since met some truly epic tab users. So, no cheating:

Interview: Office of Classroom Management site redesign

Office of Classroom Management (OCM) is one of the many units with recently redesigned Web sites. I talked to Toni Pangborn, OCM support manager, about the process.

What were your reasons for redesigning the site?

Our original site was put together as our department developed and expanded services, and we considered the site "home-grown." Over time, we added sections and new content within a basic design shell, but had not developed objectives regarding specific architecture on how best to present our content. During the same time frame (8 years) the visitors to the site also evolved, and the information they needed was not easy to locate. Since we had written and added the content, we could find the information, but often the users could not. We also did not do a good job of introducing what was available on the site, or how our organizational units worked to support them. They often could not find the solutions to issues that we knew were included on the site.

Also during this time, Web site search tools were becoming more enhanced, and U Relations was more proactive in determining what each site should, or should not include. It was within this context that we started a project to redesign the site.


What kind of user research did you do?

In addition to candid comments from staff and users via direct communications or survey results, we gathered data from our post-service incident reviews. (A service ticket is created for any classroom issue that requires repair or additional action. Upon resolution, we complete a post-service review with the original caller.) We also invited faculty to participate in a focus group in which the web site was the only topic of discussion.

Armed with user feedback, we researched web site resources and obtained good information regarding best practices, and then melded this with the course work our lead staff member completed.

How were keywords and navigation chosen/developed?

Navigation is through a combination of functional and organizational outlines. Keywords are from customer/user feedback and staff experience. In keeping with the project objectives, we wanted the headers and the navigation to use the wording that our customers use.

What did you learn from the process?

We needed to have strong web programming resources available to make the desired changes. Without this we'd have a great plan, and wonderful content, but we wouldn't be in a position to implement it. In order to get this done well, the additional ASR resources were a key part of our team.

Another learning moment was that it took much more time to implement than we originally expected. In order to apply the new University templates, we would not be simply modifying the current pages, and the new design meant a much longer process was required.

And lastly, not everyone on the team had the same definition or impression of "good writing" or "good design." Our layouts and content was revised more than once, but by having the project plan established at the beginning, we were able to steer decisions back to the original objectives and stay on track.

Thanks, Toni! Readers: What is your experience with site redesigns? Discuss in the comments.

Also, if there's someone you think we should interview, or a project we should feature, let us know.

Monday link roundup, 10.12.09

From board member Tricia Conway:

Every Monday we'll post a roundup of interesting communications
news and articles from the past week. What have you been reading,
listening to, and watching? Add a comment or suggest a link for next week. This week, I'm escaping reality
through writing and though I'd share some sites I've found. Happy
writing!

Writing links

• National Novel Writing Month


• Writing.com


• WritersCafe.org

What are you reading?

• Herta Müller

Helpful link

• The Loft Literary Center

Member recommendation

• Forum member Jake LaSota recommends Prezi, saying "It's like powerpoint...on crack." Thanks Jake!

Query: How do you relieve stress?

A quick pulse check on campus tells me that this is a busy time for communicators and students alike. A quick look in the mirror tells me I have not escaped this stressful week unscathed.

So, are you feeling stressed? What do you do to relieve it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sundazed/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Monday link roundup, 10.5.09

Every Monday we'll post a roundup of interesting communications news and articles from the past week. What have you been reading, listening to, and watching? Add a comment or suggest a link for next week.

Time management

• Email management: 10 rules for taking back control of your inbox
  

Web

• Things to ask before you redo your website
• Using named anchors to identify sections on your pages
  

Social media

• Who blogs?

Fun

• The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

Poll: How Networked Are You?

We've been discussing the importance of social networking related to work, but I'm curious how networked you are personally?  How important is your online social community to you?  Have you made friendships that started online, but now exist in "real life"?