Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website for Your Hillel

Developing a More Strategic and Effective Website for Your Hillel

2008 Hillel InternationalStaff Conference

Wednesday, December 17, 200810:15 AM


Hillel at Syracuse’s University’s Website Dilemma

Hillel’s Goals for the Website Redesign

Worked with ICTG LLC to develop site goals:

1. Create an easily edited website with interchangeable parts

2. Update the aesthetics of the website while maintaining readability and usability

3. Add innovative technology to the website

4. Incorporate multimedia features

5. Add interesting new features

6. Generate updated statistics on website visitors

Editable Website

Moved to module system on DotNetNuke / DNN

I can edit the website from any computer connected to the internet

Created page templates for consistency

Allowed for an Integrated E-mail system

Site Aesthetics

Created consistent color design scheme

Updated banners and menu structure

Added more pictures

Innovative Technology

Added “Live Schmooze” using open development tool on AOL

Added “Birthright Scrap Book” and readable newsletters using “Live Content” technology

Added embedded code provided by Google Maps

Multimedia Features

Alternative Spring Break Movie

James Conlon Introduction

Link to YouTube video of the Shticks

New Features

New and improved events calendar

Virtual building tour Online Nosh Box

ordering

General Tips

Consider third party programs and open-source programs and codes (but be aware of the risks and the bugs)

“Can I do it myself?” Contractor “24-hour E-Mail” rule “We’ll find a way to make it happen” attitude Free training manual and training sessions for you

and your staff No charges for website content changes Learn just a little HTML code at www.quackit.com


Practical and Useful Links for Hosting and Creating Your Site

Content Management Systems

Web Design vs. Building a Site Wild Apricot: www.wildapricot.com Joomla: www.joomla.org Accrisoft: http://accrisoft.com/

Web hosting Go Daddy: www.godaddy.com

Support Students School of Communications Taproot Foundation: www.taprootfoundation.org BeeDragon.com: Lori Berkowitz


Why What the Public Sees is Only a Fraction of the Concern When

Constructing a Website:

Different components of a website

Public Information Pages (information for students, parents, donors, etc.)

Jewish content (d’var torah’s, Jewish links, etc.) Calendar

Profiles (staff, student leaders, board, etc.) e-Commerce (donations, event payment, purchasing

merchandise, etc) Links to other organizations (TBRI, SIC, Federation, local

Jewish orgs, Jewish studies, etc.) Surveys and evaluative tools Announcements Listserve Sign ups (events, e-communication, etc.)

Allows and Encourages Interaction By the Public

People can post their own events and announcements Student leaders Student interns (CEI, etc) University officials (Jewish studies, etc.) Community partners

Comment on content Share content

E-mail Social networking sites (facebook, etc.)

Internal Information Student tracking information

What events they came to What categories of events they came to What are their interests Notes about them Staff member primarily responsible

Event tracking information Category of event

Externally storable (i.e. social, Israel, etc) Internally storable (based on donor reporting requirements)

Total number of students in attendance Cost Number of first timers Planning information

How many did you expect? What were your goals?

Staff member primarily responsible


Collecting and Managing Data:

The (Unattainable)

One-Record Theory

One student record that…

Can be entered by the student or Hillel staff Receives your listserve (click tracking data) Can RSVP (and pay) for your events Has their events tracked Has their interests tracked Has their personal information tracked (school

address, phone, etc) Multiple e-mail addresses / unique ID

Becomes an alumni/parent/donor DonorPerfect ID #

One Event That… Is automatically fed into our listserve Students can RSVP (and pay (in different amounts)) for Students records are associated with for tracking purposes Is used for space reservations in a Hillel facility

Set up / clean up time Room set up Supplies needed Tied in with in house kosher caterer (where available)

Can be sorted according to external and internal categories Events can be on the calendar and just viewable to staff (i.e. coffee

dates, leadership meetings, etc) Is tied to evaluation data

Staff Student leaders Participants (tied to the student record through click tracking)

Extracting Data

Should have queries centered around events and ones centered around students

Allow staff and student interns to easily access students, events and initiatives they are working on

Ability to write your own queries Retain student record even if they

unsubscribe from the listserve

Example Student McLovin came to a Latke Study Break run by one of your

student interns in their dorm. The student intern adds them to the attendance list of the program

(which automatically subscribes them to our listserve) The next weekly e-news they get is automatically created from:

Events that are posted on the site Announcements that are posted on the site A student written d’var torah posted to the site

When looking at the student’s click tracking data we see they clicked on a Taglit-Birthright Israel: Hillel Trip Humus Happy Hour

We add that as an interest in their record and send them a personalized reminder about the event the day before

They sign up for the trip, go on the trip, they have a powerful experience at Yad V’Shem, we track them as interested in Holocaust programming

Example The campus staff (who did not go on the trip) is planning a yom

HaShoah program. They look up students interested in holocaust programming and asks this student to help plan the program. It is tracked that he was on the planning committee of the program

The student graduates 15 years later the Hillel is looking for a donors to help fund

holocaust programming and contact this student saying “I know you were involved in planning this program as an undergrad, would you be interested in funding a similar program for our Hillel”


Making Your

Websites Accessible

What Is Accessibility, Anyway?

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web.

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web.

What Is a Disability?

There are 4 major categories of disability types that impact an individual’s ability to use the web:

1. VISUAL: Blindness, low vision, color-blindness

Blindnesshttp://www.vitelity.net

Blindnesshttp://google.com


2. Hearing Deafness/Hard of Hearing

Wayne has important things to say!YouTube's got captions!


3. Motor Inability to use a mouse, slow response time, Limited fine motor control

4. Cognitive Learning disabilities, distractibility, inability to

remember or focus on large amounts of informationBiting the hand that feeds me…

Who Cares?

Though estimates vary, most studies find that about one fifth (20%) of the population has some kind of disability.

Depending on the university, anywhere from 6 – 11% of students currently enrolled in college today have identified themselves as having a disability.

What Does the Law Say? Several federal laws protect college student with

disabilities from discrimination Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

(applies to all colleges that receive federal $$ assistance)

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (applies to employers, government entities, such as

state universities, and private entities that serve the public)

Religious institutions are often exempt from some of these laws, but…

Don’t we answer to a “Higher Authority?”

Adaptations

Each of the major categories of disabilities requires certain types of adaptations in the design of the web content.

Most of the time, these adaptations benefit nearly everyone, not just people with disabilities.

Almost everyone benefits from: helpful illustrations, properly-organized content and clear navigation.

While captions are a necessity for Deaf users, they can be helpful to others, including anyone who views a video without audio.

What Can I Do… Cheap?

Provide appropriate alternative text Alt Text provides a textual alternative to non-text

content in web pages. It’s especially helpful for people who are blind and rely on a screen reader to have the content of the website read to them.

Ensure users can complete and submit all forms Ensure that every form element (text field, checkbox,

dropdown list, etc.) has a label and make sure that label is associated to the correct form element using the <label> tag.


Caption and/or provide transcripts for media Videos and live audio must have captions and/or a

transcript. With archived audio, a transcript might be sufficient.

Ensure accessibility of non-HTML content, including pdf files, word documents, PowerPoint presentations and Adobe flash content. If you cannot make it accessible, consider using HTML

instead or, at the very least, provide an accessible alternative. PDF documents should also include a series of tags to make it more accessible. A tagged PDF file looks the same, but it is almost always more accessible to a person using a screen reader.


Do not rely on color alone to convey meaning The use of color can enhance comprehension,

but do not use color alone to convey information. That information may not be available to a person who is colorblind and will be unavailable to screen reader users.

Make sure content is clearly written and easy to read Write clearly, use clear fonts, and use headings

and lists appropriately.

To find more info…

Web Accessibility Initiativewww.w3/org/WAI

WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) Initiative of Utah State University, and Center for Persons with Disabilities

www.webaim.org


Future Trends

Future Model

Future Model

Infrastructure Technical environment (servers, security, etc)

Content Management System Diverse control

User Interface Navigation, graphics

Integration News feeds, databases, tools

Web 2.0+

Semantic web Beyond displaying words

Structured data Freebase

Mashups Dapper

Collaboration tools Second Life


Evaluating and Measuring Your Website with Effective Statistics

Your Website Statistics

Who visit your website? How long do they stay? Where are they

directed from? What keywords are

they using? Where are they visiting

from?

Google Analytics


2008 Hillel International Staff ConferenceWednesday, December 17, 2008

10:15 AM