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.

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.