UC Davis CMS Survey

Dear all - I’m excited that we have David on board and are moving forward with this strategic communications initiative. I think David’s approach of inclusiveness and use of the blog are great.

As we move forward let me take this opportunity to encourage all of us to be sure that we focus as much attention on the “C” of “CMS” as we do the “MS” part. What we buy will be a “Management System” which will give us much better flexibility and connectivity. It will not create the “C” (Content) and that is where I feel we can make the most improvement. Web presence across programs, offices and departments is very uneven right now. Some are terrific.

To get the best return on our investment in the redesign and CMS purchase, we have to populate the web with dynamic, relevant, up-to-date content. So, in a distributed model of authorship we have to be sure those responsible for content and updating know exactly how important those tasks are to the success of the College.

Almost 95% of our applicant applied on-line and an increasing number of them were “secret shoppers.” By that, I mean they first came to our attention when the on-line application appeared. They bypassed the traditional process of getting on our mailing list, reading the viewbook, etc. and did all of their preliminary research via the web.

I’m sure prospective faculty and staff applicants, as well as alumni and donor/friends use the web the same way. And, the metaphor of “surfing the web” is not appropriate for many of these folks or students. Most of them are “drilling down” for the good stuff that differentiates us from other fine institutions. It is our new front door with which to make a lasting first impression.

I’m off my soapbox. Thx for listening. I look forward to working on the project.

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for your comments — I completely agree that the creation and maintenance of content is what really makes a website valuable. For example, we could buy ourselves the best consultants with the best design and build the best web site as of this moment, but if the system/processes used to maintain the site are too complex, inefficient or ineffective, the site will quickly deteriorate. So I completely agree that simple and effective site editing is absolutely key to any long-term success of our website.

Thanks for getting on your soapbox.

David

Thought you guys might be interested in this site of Meyer Memorial Trust: http://newmedia.mmt.org/index.php/Main_Page

Erik