- Next meeting Sept 15
- Tom Lewis - UW computing plans
- Admissions Web site tour
- HR major overhaul
- 150th Anniversary Interactive Timeline
- Being built by Dane Odekirk and Kilian Frey
- Still under development, the site is available at http://www.washington.edu/150/timeline
- Working on search and the ability to link to specific tiles
- Stories on the timeline are pulled out of Story Bank
- Currently in Beta, still working out details
- Anticipated 100-200 stories, thought they could load it all at once
- However, immediately got over 500 stories
- Had to streamline the system to get it to work with so many stories
- Once submitted, story goes to curator in Marketing who approves and posts
- Has tell-your-story feature. Visitors can add their own story to stories on the timeline.
- Got ideas for some of the timeline functionality from Google
- Also using JQuery
- Can sort by units, themes, decade
- Going public with launch of 150th campaign in mid September
- Will invite anybody who has a memory to add it to the Timeline
- UW Web people are invited to link to it wherever they like, spread the word that it is there to enjoy, and to contribute their stories to it
- Feel free to go look at Beta, send a note to uweb@uw.edu if you have any ideas
- UW WordPress Network - Nikky Southerland
- A UW WordPress Network is being set up.
- Wordpress is popular, 14% of websites worldwide, easy to use, extremely popular on UW servers
- There are 340 Wordpress blogs on UW central servers
- Problems with current system
- Potential users get stuck at MySQL procedure, procedure can be frustrating
- Abandoned installs get out of date, security risks
- Duplicated effort
- Large numbers of concurrent MySQL installations
- Solution: Set up a WordPress Network similar to Wordpress.com
- URLS will be http://blogs.uw.edu/uwnetid
- Easy for users to start creating
- Site creation takes one click
- Each user has his/her own blog
- UW Branded
- Audience
- Users with light-duty blogging needs or without special requirements
- Timeline
- September start testing
- Winter rollout
- Plugins and themes
- All centrally installed
- Individual blog administrator can choose to activate plugins as desired
- Cannot install plugins and themes themselves
- Will be a process for requesting new plugins
- Initial testing using just one theme
- Want to be able to add headers so you can have department logs, or other brand elements, on your blog
- Discussion
- Intended for simple blogs
- Not meant to replace people running their own if they want to, have the skills, and have additional needs not provided by blogs.uw.edu
- Will be supporting uploads
- Could also keep files in your own space and link to them
- UW Home site is interesting in aggregating more input from UW blogs
- Are looking for early adopters
- Will be building a UW Wordpress emailing list
- Send questions to nikky@uw.edu for more information, or send to help@uw.edu
- QR Code Issues - Harry Hayward and Elise Daniel
- QR Code Issues Powerpoint slides
- Harry working with others on a best practices statement
- Want to be sure Web Developers are well equipped if asked to use QR codes
- QR codes need to point to mobile optimized pages
- Want to avoid looking like we do not know what we are doing
- Want to be sure Web Developers are well equipped if asked to use QR codes
- Using QR codes
- Download any QR code reader application
- Scan the QR code
- Takes you to a Web page, compose an email message, make a phone call, generate other actions
- QR codes are just 2D bar codes
- QR codes contain much more information that bar code
- Why use QR codes
- Enhance user's experience
- Target audiences that are on the go
- Capture target audience information
- Free to use
- Novel in US market
- Easier for users to scan rather than type URL
- Overcome space limitations on marketing materials
- QR codes should be at least 1 inch by 1 inch in size
- Why not user QR codes
- User must have smartphone
- No standards, may require specific readers
- Not shareable, just be in the vicinity
- Often misused - point to pages not mobile friendly
- Measuring success
- Number of times the code was scanned
- Number of click throughs
- What actions were taken
- Why measure?
- Gives insight into users
- QR Study Group
- Looking at how QR codes are being used at the UW
- Example of poor practice: QR codes that point to a PDF result in an awful experience
- Many companies for generating QR codes
- Redlaser - http://redlaser.com/qrcode/
- Microsoft Tag - http://tag.microsoft.com/what-is-tag/home.aspx
- SparQ Code - http://www.sparqcode.com/
- Bit.ly - http://appscout.pcmag.com/google/269402-bit-ly-to-generate-qr-codes
- QR Tag - http://www.qrtag.net/
- QRarts - http://qrarts.com/
- Engineering considering using QR codes for their open house
- QR codes used at community centers to bring up schedule of events
- Contact Harry Hayward or Elise Daniel
- Looking at how QR codes are being used at the UW
- QR Use at the UW now
- Henry Art Gallery
- In process of launching mobile app for the museum
- Will be available in iTunes store in two weeks
- ISchool grad students helped design the app
- Named "Henry Hi"
- iPhone this fall, other platforms in November
- Using Google generator, expression engine; do not use MS Tags, seems to be limiting
- betsy@henryartgallery.org
- Using QR codes to offer a deeper experience; want to extend the time visitors spend with each work of art
- Good practice - give potential scanners an idea of where the QR code will take them
- Scan this code to learn about the history of the building
- Good practice - provide a way people can save information they want to remember
- Images, Video, audio share, Related - options
- Built QR scanner into the app
- Same materials in the app will be available online
- App consolidates materials they have
- In process of launching mobile app for the museum
- Karen Mulgamer, U Book Store
- QR codes to get you to hang around in the store
- Our Hi-Tech Scavenger Hunt using QR codes
- Help staff engage in departments elsewhere in the store
- Use QR codes to give clues in a scavenger hunt
- Provided URLs next to QR code for those without smartphone
- Worked, many people participated, helped people understand what else is available in the Bookstore
- Using QR codes around the store to provide useful information to customers
- Careful to make them valuable, useful to
- Curious examples
- Senior guide book has QR code on virtually every page
- Aimed at children of seniors
- Quiring Monuments will put a brass QR code on your headstone that will take visitors to a Web site about you
- Can use to have visitors Friend your event/business on Facebook
- Washington DOT QR code launches download of their mobile app to show where traffic is heavy
- Senior guide book has QR code on virtually every page
- Henry Art Gallery
- Hot Web Site Projects Around the UW
- Global Health - Melinda McRae
- New site available at http://globalhealth.washington.edu/
- Moved to Drupal
- Appearance-wise much the same , Drupal provides much more functionality
- Added World map, can click on country and see what UW people and organizations are doing in that country
- Added breadcrumbs to navigation
- Newsletter items integrated into Drupal - each article is an element node, items also available on RSS feed
- Automates a lot of getting news content out there
- Also considered accessibility
- Skip-to-nav
- Good heading structure on each page
- Avoided using tables for layout
- Admissions - Joel Walters
- The Purple Brick Road, a redesign of the UW admissions pages
- Old site was outdated and static
- Soon to be available, but not yet
- Goal
- Improve the admissions journey
- Building the site with Drupal 7 and the Zen template
- Accessibility focused on at early stage
- Made sure everything was accessible with the keyboard
- Headers to indicate page content structure
- Avoided using tables for layout
- Tested in all major browsers
- Built on the principle of progressive disclosure, in order to not overwhelm people with text
- Six main portals of Web site, can click on arrows to go between or slide them
- Helping people navigate
- Tag cloud shows on key pages
- Created Freshman, Transfer, International, Postbaccalaureate (FTIP) access categories
- FTIP icons show on each page, indicating what page is relevant to and how to get to other categories
- Global Health - Melinda McRae
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