Page Comparison

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The Victoria University website represents a single organisation. A key aspect of this is that stand-alone sites are being phased out.  

The Victoria University website is topic, task and audience based. We're moving towards having all the website information organised on this basis, rather than by our organisational structure. 

There will be no content duplicates: all information will have a single source. However, the site will provide the ability to display some content in different locations when needed (eg, news, events, staff profiles).

• Information about subjects, programmes and courses will be located in ‘Future students’. The structure, presentation and content will be improved. 
• Information about diplomas, certificates and professional development courses will also be located in 'Future students'. Improving the content is out of scope for the current project.
• Information about research centres and institutes, research projects, research funding and research partnerships will be located in an improved 'Research' section. > Current example
• Information about student wellbeing and support is located in 'Current students'.

New initiatives

• The current information architecture (IA) is under review, including top menu items and second-level navigation options.
• Work to improve the site search is underway.
• Scoping work to improve staff profiles is underway. It is proposed that they are located in one 'repository', are easy for staff to update, are made up of relevant content fields, and are visually appealing. There is also the opportunity to make profiles available to postgraduate/research students. 
• Scoping work is underway to provide an information page that sits 'behind' every site page, and can be accessed by staff. This would provide detail on the page's purpose, target audiences, content owner, date last updated, analytics (eg, number of views of the page, average time spent on page) and similar things. The Web Team will start providing content owners with monthly analytics reports in the near future.
• A review of the Research section of the homesite will be carried out in phase 3 of the WIP2 project, which looks at Postgraduate information. 
• The effectiveness of both News and Events is being considered and solutions developed to bring about content and functional improvements.   
• The WIP2 Project Team is developing a short guide for faculties and schools about which channels to use for communicating with students.  

A new approach for faculty and school sites

Overview

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New initiatives

• The current information architecture (IA) is under review, including top menu items and second-level navigation options.
• Work to improve the site search is underway.
• Scoping work is underway to improve staff profiles. It is proposed that they are located in one 'repository', are easy for staff to update, are made up of relevant content fields, and are visually appealing. There is also the opportunity to make profiles available to postgraduate/research students. 
• Scoping work is underway to provide an information page that sits 'behind' every site page, and can be accessed by staff. This would provide detail on the page's purpose, target audiences, content owner, date last updated, analytics (eg, number of views of the page, average time spent on page) and similar things. The Web Team will start providing content owners with monthly analytics reports in the near future.
• The effectiveness of both News and Events is being considered and solutions discussed to bring about improvements.   
  
  

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A new approach for faculty and school sites

Structure

• There will no longer be distinct sites, but there will be an area or subsection for each faculty and each school (unless they are combined, or wish to be combined on the web, in which case there will be a blended area). See attachment for how these could be presented in a flattened IA. Combined areas could be provided for: Law, Engineering and CS, Architecture and Design, and Faculty of Education/School of Education: Te Kura Māori (to be discussed).
• The faculty and school areas will be located in About us > Faculties and schools. 
• Faculty areas and school areas will be different from each other: they won't have duplicate content, and each of the two types of area will be tightly focused on a clear purpose and identified target audiences. They will be much simpler than the current sites.
• Content won't be duplicated across faculty sites or school sites. Where it represents a standard approach, it will be located in a common area of the mainsite. 
• Content that is of high interest to Victoria's audiences will be centrally located on the mainsite. Strong linkages will ensure it remains findable for audiences from within the faculty and school areas. 
  • Information about subjects, programmes and courses will be located in ‘Future students’. The structure, presentation and content will be improved. 
  • Information about diplomas, certificates and professional development courses will also be located in 'Future students'. Improving the content is out of scope for the current project.
  • Information about research centres and institutes, research projects, research funding and research partnerships will be located in the 'Research' section. 
  • Information about student wellbeing and support is located in 'Current students': generic information in faculty and school sites will be integrated with this.

• Some content will be centrally 'authored', then pulled through to faculty areas and school areas (as appropriate). This content includes news, events and staff profiles. 

Design

• The faculty areas and school areas will have a new design that is engaging and appealing, matches the homesite and works well on mobile devices.

Content

• Content will be improved as part of the redevelopment. It will be written for online readers, have more visual elements and be more engaging. 
• Some content that is centrally 'authored' will be pulled through to faculty and school areas (as appropriate). This includes news, events and staff profiles. Courses, subjects and programmes will be 'discoverable' on school sites.
• There will be clear links to information that is centrally located, such as centres and institutes; research projects; and student wellbeing. 
• Content that is distinct to the school or faculty will be located in the faculty or school area.
• Features ('profiles') will be rationalised: we'll plan more carefully what they cover, align them more closely with News, and include more multimedia. 

The Faculty of Graduate Research will be addressed in the postgrad phase of WIP 2 (phase 3).

Content management

• Consideration is being given to the proposal that three full-time professional web writer/publishers (new roles) could work alongside the Comms 'account managers' and provide the web content writing and publishing services that faculties and schools need. (There could be room for staff who are currently web admins in F&S  to remain involved in web publishing, if they wished to do so.)
• The WIP2 Project Team are creating a 'best practice guide' to content management, which will include advice on content planning and tools and techniques for keeping content currentfocused on its target audiences, have more visual elements and be more engaging. 
• Consideration is being given to the proposal that three full-time professional web writer/publishers (new roles) could work alongside the Comms 'account managers' and provide the web content writing and publishing services that faculties and schools need. (There would be room for staff who are currently web admins in F&S to remain involved in web publishing, if they wished to do so.)
  
• Guidance will be provided to faculties and schools on which channels to use for different types of communication with current students. It will draw on effective practices identified in the workshops, our own knowledge of Victoria's channels, and sessions held with current students.   
• Guidance will be provided to faculties and schools on content management. It will include advice on content planning, and tools and techniques for keeping content current. It will draw on effective practices identified in the workshops, and expertise and prior experience within the project team.
• Features ('profiles') will be rationalised: we'll plan more carefully what they cover, align them more closely with News and include more multimedia. We'll ensure they're always recent.

The Faculty of Graduate Research will be addressed in the postgrad phase of WIP 2 (phase 3).

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School area

Purpose

• Provide a profile of the school and its activities, demonstrating its strengths and distinctiveness.
• Provide a base for school-specific study and research information and materials for current students.

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IA

Content

Home

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IA

Content

Home

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