students and re.web

It's no secret that students are the largest and most active group of web users here at the College. Our efforts to revitalize the W&M web presence will definitely include input from the student body-- in fact mStoner will talk with more than 40 students on their first campus visit in September. About 150 individuals will meet with the consultants over the course of three days-- that means more than one-fourth of the people mStoner speaks with will be students!

Names for these one-hour group sessions have come from a variety of campus leaders who regularly interact with students. Several students who work part-time will also attend; adding to what we believe is an eclectic mix of individuals.

Grad students will get their chance to share their opinion when mStoner makes a second campus visit to work more closely with our graduate programs later this fall.

There will be many other opportunities for students to participate, including during site design and usability testing. Of course, students can always provide feedback through the re.web site-- if you have opinions or questions, all of us on the project team would love to hear from you!

posted by Joel Pattison

W&M in a Box

A box of W&M goodies is on the way to the windy city. Over the past couple of weeks, we've been collecting items to send to the mStoner team.

To prep for their September visit to W&M, we've provided the following materials to mStoner:

• admission publications (view books, etc.)


• marketing and PR pieces (brochures, flyers)


• College publications (W&M News, Ideation, Swem Library newsletter, Catalog, and more)


• disc of campus photography (including some beautiful shots from our photographer Steve Salpukas)


• W&M strategic plan and mission statement


• List of our peer institutions


• web stats for www.wm.edu


• aannddd . . . a copy of the brand-new video shown during admission visits!

W&M in a box should keep the mStoner team busy for a bit.

posted by Susan Evans

Go Wolfpack?

After tomorrow, Tim Jones will leave William and Mary to accept a position at NC State. He's been a critical representative of Public Affairs on the re.web project, and we'll miss him.

This week, NC State launched a brand new web site at http://www.ncsu.edu and a new blog entry about hiring Tim as their Director of Web Communication.

posted by Susan Evans

They Came from Far and Wide . . . and from Chicago

Patrick DiMichele and I were guests at a recent retreat hosted by the Public Affairs Office. We had a great conversation about the web and the critical involvement of Public Affairs in the re.web project.

Patrick talked about using the web to convey the culture and personality of colleges and universities. Take a look at some of the sites he highlighted during the discussion:
Eckerd College: a neat microsite
MIT Blogs: the daily adventures of students
UVA: Campaign Site

posted by Susan Evans

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

There's no doubt the re.web project has landed in a new phase. Now that we have inked a contract with mStoner, we are preparing for three days chock-full of small group meetings between the mStoner team and members of the W&M community. Target dates are September 18, 19, and 20.

All told, mStoner reps will likely end up talking with nearly 150 people! Joel Pattison and I spent a lot of time on scheduling today. Oracle Calendar and color-coded spreadsheets help, but it's still a lot to manage.

"My! People come and go so quickly here!"

posted by Susan Evans

New Development Rep on the Advisory Committee

John Wallace of University Development is the newest member of the Web Redesign Advisory Committee. Welcome John!

posted by Susan Evans

And the award goes to . . .

mStoner

posted by Susan Evans