Meeting minute: June 27 with the WeST group

I met with Blyth, Barbara, and Ben in the morning of June 27. The meeting was delayed for about 3 weeks due to scheduling conflicts. We had a number of issues to resolve.

1. Possible delay of the launch date.
Blyth warned in an email prior to the meeting that the site is unlikely to completed by the original August deadline; it's more likely to be early October.

A number of factors contributed to the possibly delay. On the WeST group side, they are (as we speak) in the process of moving from East Campus to West, which will delay work for a number of weeks. On the PN side, we were not able to settle on major design issues around Graduate Training and Research before Summer began.

We discussed a number of options to try to recover the lost time. We agree that the #1 priority is to get the static contents up, particularly Graduate and Undergraduate sections. To this end, Ben will be working with the DGS and DUS in the structural design of these sections. Enhancements such as a dynamic event calendar may not be functional initially.

Another difficult discussion was Research, which at the time I had not a single "group" to showcase to the WeST team. We have a whole bunch now, thanking to everyone who responded to the request.

Fortunately, we are in agreement with the first-order structure of the site (main headers such as Graduate, Undergraduate, People, Research, etc.). WeST can start revise the graphical design. Also most textual information is either on our existing site or in the FDS. WeST is experienced in handling these sources.

2. Graphical Design
I shared with the WeST team feedbacks from the Web Committee about their first mock ups (see previous post on this). Barbara is the graphic designer, and she will be working on a revised design, based on a 2-column design (see Sample 2), with more prominent Dept title, a rotating "reseach profile" on the center stage, and additional (rotating) images at the upper-left corner.

We will be requesting research-related images from the faculty.

3. Event calendar, and additional features
One of the design goals of the web site is to reduce email announcements by providing a central place for departmental (and group) events. To this end Blyth suggests using dCal or other University-wide calendar systems. The advantages are obvious. What's not clear at this point is whether dCal can email individuals who "sign-up" for a particular event. Alternatively, Josh is working on a groupware program "Plone" which does have this and other desirable functionalities. We will have to come back to this.

4. A revised timeline
It's still sketchy now, in part because of the impending move of the design team. We set July 18 for revision of the graphic design. Static textual contents should also be compiled before then.

5. Action items

1. DGS and DUS's: materials to Ben
2. Research group info: forward our own mock up site to WeST.
3. Calendar: involve Josh in the discussion with WeST
4. Research images: ask faculty