Web Communications Group>

Web Communications Group Meeting: 06-06-06
Meeting minutes

I. The discussion opened with a request for ideas for an enhanced version of the central Penn web (particularly the Penn homepage) and the Penn calendar. University Communications is not planning to make changes to the second tier templates at this time.

A. Summary of comments regarding changes group members would like to see made to the Penn homepage:

• Group members pointed out features they liked on other university web sites; such as the "Quick links" feature on the Princeton and Brown sites. This would require a look at upenn.edu traffic patterns to determine where site visitors are trying to go.
• Links on the bottom toolbar on the Penn homepage may be moved to a more prominent location—web statistics indicate these links are not registering well with users.
• The main image on the homepage may be changed to encourage community participation with photo submission contests (such as MIT's propose a graphic section).
• The committee may explore the possibility of enabling visitors to customize the homepage.
• The Penn Compact's positioning on the homepage may be changed.
• Penn's new homepage should have fixed widths and printable style sheets.

B. Summary of comments regarding changes group members would like to see made to the central Penn web:

• Some group members mentioned that they would like a better representation of the Penn experience that schools can link to from their sites; such as an improved Virtual Tour and/or combine existing material into a common site.
• Interest was shown in having a page that demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature of Penn's 12 schools.
• Some showed interest in faculty expertise database (such as databases at Penn Nursing and Harvard Business School). There have been past efforts along these lines but most have been aborted due to considerable maintenance and data entry issues.
• Possibly expand search feature to include a people search option—similar to the feature used at Stanford

C. Summary of comments regarding changes group members would like to see made to the Penn calendar:

• CalTech Today was cited as an example of a university site that combines news and events in an engaging and comprehensive format.
• There is a desire for dynamic calendar and news to come from the same source (ie. content management system).
• A suggestion was made to include a feature that emails users about particular events.
• We need a better way of categorizing events—possibly broken down by category and by school.
• Some group members mentioned the need to strive for inter-operability of local calendars feeding central calendar.
• A few group members felt that RSS could be used to enable user customization.

II. WCG members should keep an eye out for sites that contain features they like and send the URLs to Deni Kasrel.

III. If warranted, WCG meetings may take place with greater frequency and new working groups may be created to address proposed web enhancements.

IV. The College is considering re-designing their web site.

University web standards, guidelines, page templates and logos.

News feeds and RSS information.

View news feeds from around the University in a single, automatically updated page.

Images of the University of Pennsylvania for download.

Penn Perspectives is a series of ongoing conversations with people doing exciting, innovative work at the University of Pennsylvania.

TV Spots: Penn has developed three new TV spots that highlight the University’s long tradition of ingenuity and entrepreneurship.

• Penn Nursing
• School of Arts and Sciences
• Penn Veterinary Medicine
• Wharton School
• Athletics
• Penn Medicine
• Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology