I’m pleased to announce that the first of two major phases of the new News project is now complete.
This morning we launched the newly developed news article creation forms. This means that when you create a new article in the College news system, the input screens will look very different. There are now distinct input screens and new fields which you can choose to use to really improve the impact of your news stories with enhanced material and data.
Whilst the new article creation forms are live, the new News channel design will not be rolled out yet. So there will be no impact to the visual display of News articles until Phase two is implemented.
Phase two is the roll out of the new News website design. This will be launched in early 2013.
The launch of the article creation forms in the first phase of the project is necessary to ensure that there is enough News content containing the enhanced material and data to launch the new News design.
The new article creation functionality
Tags: news
Posted in Alert, Communication | 1 Comment »
I gave a short presentation at this week’s UCISA “Using social media to communicate” conference in Birmingham. I was asked to talk about how we get more out of our social media activities by integrating it in our wider communications outputs.
You can download my slides if you’d like to see the complete presentation – but I showed the group:
I wanted to share with you all that I received some really positive feedback about our activities from the UCISA delegates. I quote some of the twitter comments I received during and after the presentation below:
- Loving the Interactive Screensaver at @imperialcollege which pulls in their social media content!
- Twitter feed on managed desktop screensaver at imperial – love this idea!!
- Impressed by how Imperial College utilise various social media channels across website, including a wide range of twitter feeds.
- Imperial.ac.uk/interact is an interesting page to check out
- Integrating social media with other communications channels at Imperial, i.e. print, bridges the gap between online & offline
- Wish all HEs would use social media like that
- Imperial Mobile looking good, using campusM
I can’t capture all the comments and questions I had in person, but I was really proud to present Imperial’s work – huge thanks to my team for creating some fabulous social media integration tools and to all of you for contributing some great content!
The event was excellent, with a really engaged audience made up of individuals from university IT services, marketing, library and alumni teams. If you’re interested in learning more, check out the full conference programme – you can see most of the presentations given this week. They covered everything from blogging to Google+ – it’s well worth a look! And I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on future events planned – anyone fancy coming with me?
Posted in Communication, Social Media | 1 Comment »
A review is underway of Professional Web Pages (PWPs), which are used on the College website to offer contact details and information about the activities of staff such as publications and awards. This will result in an initial refresh of design and functionality by Summer 2012 and an agreement on future projects to further enhance online academic profiles.
Tell us what you think!
To guide a redesign of PWPs, staff are invited to participate in a survey to help identify the content and features which are particularly important for current and future users of these online profiles. The survey should take about five minutes to complete, and all those who complete the survey will be entered into a draw to win a £100 Amazon voucher. Please complete the survey if you own a PWP – and encourage your colleagues to do so!
This survey is part of a three month consultation exercise which will:
- Confirm requirements for refresh of PWPs to ensure they meet user and audience needs
- Identify changes that could increase the usefulness of PWPs for both internal and external audiences
- Understand the drivers for maintaining a PWP
As well as the survey, a series of indepth interviews are taking place with key users and audiences –including academics, students, Research Councils, journalists, REF panelists and collaborators. If you have detailed feedback or suggestions, please contact Caroline Rouault, ICT who is leading the consultation exercise.
What next?
We’ll report on the results of the consultation at a Web Forum and on this blog in early 2012.
Tags: project, PWP, PWPs
Posted in Communication | No Comments »
One of the web team’s current priorities is delivering a new online approach to College news. Led by the Communications & Development Division, with Caroline Davis project managing, this revamp will change how news is presented on the College website. At the very top level developments will include bringing together College news and Reporter online, and at departmental levels the new approach will offer enhanced presentation of news, better display of news highlights on local pages and improved functionality for all.
What’s new?
Enhanced functionality will include:
- News anytime, anywhere – using responsive web design to create mobile / tablet templates
- Comments – enabling discussion about our news (optional)
- Related information – providing an onward journey for readers, highlighting similar articles, related multimedia and media mentions
- Real time news highlights – latest news, latest comments, latest multimedia
- Enhanced search - tags and categories, plus site specific search
- Integration with PWPs – match articles to academics
- Social media integration – enable easy publishing
- Acknowledge funders and sponsors - build our relationship with funders and sponsors by showing where they have supported our work so publicly thanking them
Tags: news, project
Posted in Communication | 1 Comment »
I mentioned in last week’s Web Forum that we’d been working on the first College smartphone app – Imperial Mobile. I’m pleased to confirm that this will launch in the App Store and Android Marketplace this evening, ready for new and returning students joining Imperial at the start of October.
Users of Imperial Mobile will be able to:
- Search campus maps
- View current PC availability in the Central Library clusters
- Search for books and articles
- Find students and staff in the people search – call or email them directly, or add them straight to your address book.
- See where your friends are on campus and contact them to meet up
- Get the latest College and Union news and find out what’s on
- Follow the College on Twitter and read the latest student blogs
- Hear about student announcements and promotions
- Explore a guide to College services and facilities
- Get help and support
- Alerts – receive alerts and information
Find out more about Imperial Mobile, including FAQs and installation advice.
We’ve prepared some online adverts for Imperial Mobile – if you would like us to add an ad for the app onto your College website, please email me with the URL and I will add that for you.
Tell us what you think
Posted in Apps, Communication, Web Forum | No Comments »
