This invitation only two day workshop discussed the key challenges faced by Higher Education websites in 2009. It took place in the heart of rural Hampshire, topics included effectively managing and writing content, making your website more user centric and implementing the new accessibility guidelines.
Workshop outline
Because the workshop was invite only we were keen to tailor the topics around challenges being faced by attendees. We will therefore gave attendees the opportunity to make suggestions of topics before the event. The final subjects included:
- Writing effective content - Most HE websites have vast amounts of content written by larger numbers of contributors. How do we ensure the quality of this copy and present a single unified voice? This discussion focused on subjects like site personas and writing for the web...view slides
- Managing your content - Many institutions hate their content management system. However, often it is not the technology that is the problem so much as the implementation. This session addressed issues of training, content migration and managerial issues surrounding content...download slides
- Becoming a user centric institution - We all pay lip service to usability and yet HE sites are hard to use. How do we ensure usability lies at the heart of everything we do and what practical steps can be taken to make our existing sites more welcoming to users...view slides
- Pragmatic accessibility - The release of WCAG 2 has made many of us rethink our approach to accessibility. How will WCAG 2 change the accessibility landscape and what accessibility improvements can be made within limited budget and resources? Most of all, how can accessibility become central to the culture of our institutions?... view slides
Who facilitated
The workshop was hosted by Headscape Ltd, who have worked extensively within the Higher Education sector for the past 7 years.
The sessions was primarily facilitated by Paul Boag, author of the Website Owners Manual and host of the Boagworld podcast on web design. As well as speaking at conferences such as the Future Of Web Design New York and SXSW, Paul has also spoken several times at the Institutional Web Managers Workshop.
Who attended
The 2 day workshop included attendees from University of Bath, University of Strathclyde, Edge Hill University, Open University, University of Exeter, St Johns Oxford, University of Aberdeen, City University, Keele University, and University of York.
