Writing for the web workshop

Communications & Marketing will present a Writing for the Web workshop for JIBC staff involved in writing or editing content for the new website.

The workshop, to be given by Lori Bodin & Krista Lambert, will focus on:

• Creating content for the web versus content for print
• Techniques to make content more effective
• Using content templates and the style guide
• Hands-on writing practice

The workshop will take place Wednesday, July 21, and be repeated Monday, July 26 for those who can’t attend the first session. An additional session with the same content will likely be held in early August.

For more information, contact Krista Lambert.

Getting back to structure

Back in April, the Web Steering Committee devoted a meeting to brainstorming about the structure of our new website. As explained in a blog post called Building a solid structure, we worked on structure for three areas: main navigation, one sub-navigation area (About JIBC) and utilities (buttons like Contact Us).

We’ve been fine-tuning that work and expanding the structure to include navigation for each department. Now we’re ready to start meeting with JIBC departments on structure. Beginning June 22, Communications & Marketing staff (Krista Lambert, Lori Bodin and Chris Wong) will meet with staff from departments to go over structure for their areas. These meetings will contribute to a detailed site map showing overall navigation for our new website. After the work on structure is complete, the next step will be preparing content for pages.

We have a shortlist

JIBC has identified a shortlist of web vendors to be considered for our project. They were chosen from vendors that submitted a response to our RFP for web development services that will include:

• Implementing a web content management system (CMS) that will be used by JIBC staff to maintain our new website
• Building the site’s core structure with the CMS

The JIBC Web Working Group is now focusing on a selection process involving the shortlisted vendors. The following elements will factor in to our decision:

• Quality of proposals submitted by vendors
• Demos of CMS solutions proposed by vendors
• Interviews with vendors
• JIBC testing of proposed CMS solutions
• Reference checks

Stay tuned for updates on the process.

Where we’re at with the web project

June has arrived, and it’s a good time to take stock of where we’re at with the JIBC web redesign project.

RFP submissions
Yesterday was the deadline for submissions to our request for proposal (RFP) for web vendors to work on our project. There was a very good response to the RFP – a number of submissions were received before the deadline. The Web Working Group, a sub-committee of the Web Steering Committee, is now launching the selection process to choose a web vendor and content management system (CMS) for JIBC. Our goal is to choose a vendor and a CMS by July.

Content planning
Web Editor Krista Lambert is wrapping up the first round of meetings with JIBC departments on content. By the end of this week, Krista will have met with the following: Student Services/Registration, School of Community & Social Justice, School of Health Sciences, Emergency Management Division, Police Academy, Sheriff Academy, Fire & Safety Division, Corrections & Community Justice Division, Pacific Traffic Education Centre, JIBC Foundation, Office of Applied Research, JIBC Library, JIBC Store, Human Resources, Facilities and Academic Services. While the first round revolved around conducting a content audit, the second round will focus on developing a navigational structure and content templates. Krista and other members of the Communications & Marketing Department will start the second round of meetings with area reps by the second week of June.

Post Secondary Web Conference
Last week Chris Wong, Senior Manager, Web Communications & Corporate Marketing, attended the first Canadian Post Secondary Web Conference. Held at Brock University in St. Catharines, the conference was an opportunity for people working in communications/marketing, student services, IT and other areas of Canadian post-secondary institutions to learn about best practices in web and social media. It was an excellent conference that provided many insights and tips that can be applied to our web redesign project. It was especially good to meet with people who manage websites and social media at other institutions, and to talk about strategies for meeting the similar challenges that we face.

Here are links to slides for two of the best sessions at the conference:

• Canadian Style: The good, bad and easily improved of Canadian Higher-Ed Websites
• Content Strategy: The Key to Effective Web Content

Plus two posts from other blogs about the conference:

• PSE Web Conference
• Canada’s 1st highered web conference a success: a foreigner’s perspective

The sound of content planning

If you walk down the hallway on the second floor where JIBC Communications and Marketing staff work and hear animated discussion from behind a cubicle, that’s probably the sound of content planning.

Web Editor Krista Lambert has been meeting with staff from departments across the JIBC on their content. They’re identifying target audiences and objectives for their content, and working on content audits of their areas. The content audits involve looking at all of the existing pages of the current site, and making decisions about what needs to be edited, re-written or deleted, and what new content is required.

After content audits are completed, next steps are developing a structure for navigation and creating content templates. Krista will keep working closely with departments on content in the coming months as we prepare for a new JIBC website.

JIBC issues RFP for web vendors

The JIBC has reached a significant milestone in our project: last week we issued a request for proposal (RFP) for web vendors. The RFP is for web development services, including:

• Implementing a web content management system (CMS) for a new JIBC website
• Building the site’s core structure

The RFP has been posted on BC Bid. To view the RFP, go to the BC Bid website, click on “Browse for Bid Opportunities or Bid Results” on the right side of the homepage, click on “Browse opportunities by organization”, and click on “Justice Institute of BC”.

Developing content

At the Web Steering Committee meeting last week, Web Editor Krista Lambert presented a plan for developing content for the new website. While the plan assigns responsibility to JIBC educational and infrastructure departments  for developing their content on the website, it outlines content development steps that Krista will assist departments with:

• Completing an audit of existing content on the website
• Identifying target audiences and objectives for content
• Developing structure for navigation
• Identifying any special content requirements
• Identifying individuals responsible for developing and maintaining content
• Developing content templates
• Developing a schedule for content preparation

Krista will start working with departments on these steps in early May.

Building a solid structure

Today’s Web Steering Committee meeting was all about structure. Specifically, the committee started working on the structure, or site map, for the new JIBC website. We focused on three important areas:

• Main navigation: This is the set of buttons - running across the top of the website – that link to the site’s main sections, such as About JIBC and Programs & Courses.
• Utilities: This is a different set of buttons that link to pages such as Contact Us and Maps & Directions. Utilities are typically displayed in the upper right hand corner of a site, like they are on the Sheridan site.
• Sub-navigation: We looked at the sub-navigation of only one area: About JIBC.

Working in two groups, we wrote names of pages on sticky notes and arranged the stickies on a large sheet of paper to represent the site structure. There was lively discussion and debate about what pages should be included, how they should be labelled, and what order they should appear in.

This is just the beginning of work on structure; we will expand, tweak and fine-tune the structure in the coming months. But the committee’s work has provided a solid base for moving forward, particularly with the all-important task of organizing and preparing content for the site.

Welcoming a new team member

Krista Lambert has joined the team contributing to the JIBC web redesign project. Last week Krista began working in the Communications & Marketing department as Web Editor. She was previously in the JIBC’s Fire & Safety Division. Before JIBC, Krista worked at eBay Canada, where she gained experience in developing web content.

Krista and Chris Wong will work with JIBC educational and infrastructure departments on preparing content for the new website. The first step will be putting together a content plan. Stay tuned for news on the plan.

Welcome Krista!

Getting down to requirements

At last week’s Web Steering Committee meeting we started getting down to requirements. Gathering requirements is a fundamental step in any web project. While there are different approaches to requirements, the JIBC is taking this one: we’re gathering both “business requirements” (high-level, big-picture needs) and “functional requirements” (specific things that must be in place in order for the business requirements to be met). In other words, the requirements define what elements we want in our redesigned site (functional requirements) and why we want them (business requirements).

The business and functional requirements – based in part on the Discovery Session held at the last WSC meeting – are organized in seven categories:

• Content (Text & Graphics)
• Program & Course Information
• Design
• Navigation, Search & Tags
• User Interaction
• Content Management
• Technical Structure

There are too many requirements to list in this post, but here’s an example:

Category: Navigation, Search & Tags
Business requirement: The main search engine generates quality results, enabling users to find the information they’re looking for.
Functional requirement: The search engine can be configured with keywords, tags and other meta-data.

We’ll continue to fine-tune the requirements until we’re ready to collaborate with web development and design vendors. If you have any questions about this important phase of the project, please contact Chris Wong.