Managing Higher Education Web Development: Traps and Tips. Towards the success of any higher education web project.

1. Managing Higher education web development: traps and tips Towards the success of any higher education web project Ryan dellolio Web program manager The george washington university Columbian college of arts and sciences Washington, dc Given At Eduweb 2010 July 28 2010 Chicago, IL

2. The george washington university

3. Web activity at gw Columbian College of Arts and Sciences 500+ faculty & researchers 3000 students 100+ staff University’s largest academic unit (Liberal Arts)

4. Africana StudiesAmerican StudiesAnthropologyApplied Quantitative Risk AnalysisArt TherapyBiochemistryBiological SciencesBiomedical SciencesBiostatisticsChemistryClassical and Semitic Languages and LiteraturesClassical ActingCounselingEarly Modern European StudiesEast Asian Languages and LiteraturesEconomics EnglishEnvironmental StudiesEnvironmental Resource PolicyEpidemiologyFilm Studies Fine Arts and Art HistoryForensic Sciences GeographyGeological SciencesGenomics and BioinformaticsGlobal CommunicationsHistoryHominid PaleobiologyInterior DesignJudaic StudiesLinguisticsMathematicsMedia and Public AffairsMedicine, Society and CultureMuseum StudiesMusicOrganizational Sciences and CommunicationPhilosophyPhysicsPolitical ScienceProfessional Psychology PsychologyPublic Policy and Public AdministrationReligionRomance, German, Slavic Languages and LiteraturesSociologySpeech and Hearing SciencesStatisticsTheatre and DanceUniversity Writing ProgramWomen's Studies 50+ Departments and Programs

5. 52 informational sites, 1200+ pages at last audit

6. Web properties

8. Redevelopment

9. Information architecture

10. Web marketing

11. Social media

12. Web strategy and consultingOUR pipeline

13. higher education…

14. higher education…

15. Staffing Marketing and Communication

16. Lessons learned: traps

17. Trap #1 Saying: “The web is a marketing tool.”

18. User experience drives web success Marketing is just one component of a successful web strategy

19. Instead…

20. Trap #2 Saying: “Everything must live in-house.”

22. “We must place this behind our firewall”

23. “The content management system must live here”

24. “SaaS is not reliable”

26. Smithsonian, other University partnerships

28. PBS partnership

29. Basic content management plus online community needsExternally hosted managed CMS and online community Internal CMS implementation

31. Development resources

32. In-house expertise

33. Availability needs

36. “Strategy, not sparring”

37. Educate upwardsBake people, process and technology into existing bureaucratic structures, establishing web governance.

38. Trap #4 Seizing all control

40. Web traditionally distant from the core mission (or is it? will revisit this point)

41. Revenue/enrollment model complicates requirementsControl is difficult in the academic community, and misguided

43. “Our office must approve everything before it goes live”

44. “Here are web content the requirements”

47. Advise, don’t insist

48. Make compliance easy (e.g. Newsletter generator)

51. Prospective students browsing information for current students

52. Prospective partner institutions browsing information for current students

53. Prospective students browsing internal department websites

54. “Navigation-phobia” – the chronic Googlers

56. “We prefer large, expensive enterprise-class systems that have been in production in other Universities for at least 2 years”

58. The web has its roots in academia, and open source has been there every step of the way

59. Open source should be embraced, and evaluated along with other technologies

61. Tip #1 Empowerment is key

63. Collaborative issue tracking

64. The illusion of control

65. “If you build it, they will come”

68. Should be undertaken at every step of the process

69. Is traditionally lacking from higher education web presences, which often grow from web talent within the academic community

71. Tip #3 Break the waterfall, be agile

72. Building the Web at the pace of research The traditional systems development lifecycle is not well suited to most higher education web projects

74. Rapid prototyping

75. Constant feedback

76. Continual defect resolution and enhancement

77. Reevaluate traditional production requirements

79. Tip #4 Lose control

81. Guidelines, governance and buy-in are as powerful as programmatic control

82. The web is organic

84. Where is the web in relation to a university's core mission?

85. “The George Washington University, an independent academic institution chartered by the Congress of the United States in 1821, dedicates itself to furthering human well-being. The University values a dynamic, student-focused community stimulated by cultural and intellectual diversity and built upon a foundation of integrity, creativity, and openness to the exploration of new ideas. The George Washington University, centered in the national and international crossroads of Washington, D.C., commits itself to excellence in the creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge.”

87. Competition extends to:

88. Student attention to university news and events

89. Alumni participation and development

90. Prestige, online and off line

91. Academic attention on the web

94. Build communities

95. Contributeto existing communities

96. Embrace the semantic web

98. It is a privilege to work on the web.

99. Contact information RYAN DELLOLIO THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON, DC (202) 994-5497 RYAN@GWU.EDU