Post on 17-Mar-2016
description
transcript
A briefing for staff in the School of Arts & Humanities
Audiences
Prospective
students
Media and
press
General
public
Research
partners
and
funders
Alumni
Current
students
Current
staff
Academic
community
Internal
audiences
The School and department websites
appeal to a mixed audience –content should therefore be
written to engage a broad range of audiences
However, our key
audience is prospective students. The website is
the most important decision making tool for
prospective students
King’s
homepage
Prospective
students Campus life
Research &
innovation
Academic
Schools
Arts &
Humanities
Academic
departments
Comp Lit
website
Giving to King’s Alumni online About King’s Prospectus Other homepage
links
Nu
mb
er
of
vis
its
• The number of visits decreases as you progress further from the King’s homepage • Far more prospective students will follow the path: King’s homepage Prospectus apply than: King’s homepage Academic Schools A&H Departments English Study Prospectus Apply
• It is therefore better for us to put content at a top level if possible e.g. within the Prospectus rather than on
the departmental website
• Our websites are edited by Professional Services staff who receive mandatory and regular training
• They receive guidance and policy through the School’s Web and Publicity Committee.
Information from the College’s IT and Brand Communications team is fed to the group • The group works to improve the consistency and effectiveness of our websites • Web editors are trained in the King’s house style, search engine optimisation and writing
for the web
• The network is used to cross promote news and feed information to other parts of the College
An up-to-date list of the lead website editors in the School can be found on our intranet pages
• Users scan content – often reading less than 20% and often only the first two words of a paragraph
• Users do not like to scroll
• Users do not read webpages in order or view many pages per visit – they will instead search for keywords to try and find the specific information they require
• Users do not navigate down through many levels within the website and expect
to find the information they need within one – two clicks from the homepage
This is particularly true of our key audience who are digital
natives and do not have a large attention span for content
‘F’ pattern of how most users scan a webpage
• Be succinct
• Consider your audience – think about what they want to know and not what you want them to know
• Use headings and sub-headings to break up content
• Use bullet points
• Avoid complex language and remember that our key audience is 17!
• Structure your content using the inverted pyramid format: most important: conclusion, less important: explanation, least important: details
• Use images
It is important to remember that some content shouldn’t be online – excess content complicates user journeys and can lead to information becoming lost
Homepage
About us People Study Research Alumni News Events Contact us
It is important that our websites are as consistent as possible to allow our users to know where to find the information they need
- Overview of
the department
- USPs
- Vision for the
future
- History of the
department
- Student /
research
community
-Cultural
partners / other
partnerships
- Location and
facilities
- Strategy /
aims
- Research
strengths
- Key research
areas / key
research
questions
- Collaborative
research areas
/ research
centres
- Significant
funding
successes
- Research
partnerships
- Public
engagement
and impact
- This page is
based on a set
template with
flexibility to add
in info about
dept activities
- Short staff
profiles with
links to more
detailed
information in
the Research
Portal / Pure
- This page
uses a set
template
- Overview of
UG, PGT and
PGR Study
with links to the
Prospectus
- Why study
the subject at
King’s?
- Links to the
funding
database
- Meet our
students page
(links to more
testimonials in
Prospectus)
- Submit your
news via our
online form:
- Awards / Prizes
- Funding
announcement /
new research
project
- Media
appearance
- New
appointment
- Announcements
of research
findings
- Send details
of your events
to your lead
web editor:
- Talks
- Conferences
- Exhibitions
- Seminars etc
• The School has 10,000 webpages (twice as many as SSPP, four times that of NMS)
• Maintaining this content is resource intensive and some of our most important content gets lost
• Our websites need to showcase only the most important information and not duplicate content from other systems or parts of the King’s website
• Our websites act as a signpost pointing people towards the information they need
Prospective
students
Prospectus
College Funding database
Study abroad info
Department
website
Research
Portal
Prospectus
Modules
Intranet
KEATS
Department
student
handbook
https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ • Research repository • Staff profiles (research) • Research projects • Research publications • Other research outputs • PGR student profiles • Academic staff can edit info themselves
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/ • Prospective student information • List of programmes by level /
department • Description of programmes • Videos about specific programmes • Overall structure - module list • Entry requirements
• Application, selection procedure • Student testimonials
e.g. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/classics/modules/index.aspx • Module catalogue for current
students • Detailed descriptions of individual
modules in the department
e.g. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/classics/study/handbook/index.aspx • Information for current students
in the department • E.g. about the department,
starting the academic year, programmes, teaching & delivery, research, assessment and FAQs
• Links to School Handbook and College Handbook
http://keats.kcl.ac.uk/ • Virtual Learning Environment • Course notes for current
students
https://internal.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/index.aspx • Information for staff in the School • Committee admin, Finance, Health & Safety,
HR, IT, Learning & teaching, Publicity & marketing, Research, Supporting your students
Information should be kept in most appropriate system and linked to from department website – not duplicated
• The Prospectus is the main place for programme information for prospective students – information on departmental websites should not duplicate this information. This includes programme descriptions, entry requirements and application information
• The Research Portal is our research repository for all our publications, staff research information and PGR research profiles – this should not be duplicated
• The top level menu items on the departmental websites have been set by W&PC and some second level menu names and templates have also been set. If you have a query about the menu structure please ask your department website editor or the School Publicity Co-ordinator
• When content is duplicated (or there are two pages with very similar content) this causes the two pages to compete and the search rankings for both pages will be compromised as a result
• Duplicate versions of pages are very confusing for website visitors and complicates their user journeys
• There is also the risk that one version will not be updated and will contain out-of-date / inaccurate information
• An example are the programme pages which are on some of our department websites as well as in the Prospectus
Department homepages follow this template.
The three images at the bottom can be altered –
to request one of these slots please speak to
your department website editor
This is the most common template used on the
King’s website for content pages. The page
content in the centre of the page and the images
on the right can be altered
Most of our news and events pages are
displayed in listings like this one. All Department
news and events automatically feed up to the
School listing
Department website profiles
• All staff profiles follow this template, use the same
subheadings, contain contact details and a link to the
Research Portal
• Your staff profile on the department website is
designed to give an overview of your work and
cannot be regularly updated
Research Portal profiles
• Please keep your Research Portal profile up-to-date:
- Research interests
- Biography
- Research students and staff
- Research outputs
- Research funding (and projects)
- Theses
What do they want to know?
Prospective students
• What is unique about the department • Cultural partnerships / opportunities • Course reviews / satisfaction ratings (most of this info is fed in from the
Unistats website and appears in the Prospectus) • Careers and destinations of previous students (every website has an
automatically generated page on careers and destinations of UG students) • What life is like in the department • Study abroad opportunities • Programmes run by the department (this info is contained in the Prospectus) • Location / maps • Student success stories
What do they want to know? Notes
Current students
• Induction and enrolment information • Term dates • Contact details for staff • News and events
Info which is only for current students is kept in the Student Handbook area of the website: /depts/study/handbook
Research partners and funders
• Description of research areas and specialties • Quality of existing research • Research staff contact details
Detailed research information lives in the Research Portal
Academic community
• Staff areas of expertise and contact details Detailed research information lives in the Research Portal
Media and press • Areas of expertise • Contact details of staff
The majority of media and press will go to the PR pages rather than department websites
Current staff • News and events in the department • What information is being given to students • Policies, finance, committee, HR info
Info which is only for current staff is kept on the intranet
Alumni • Upcoming events for alumni • Department alumni initiatives or networks • How to get in contact with former alumni • How to donate
Our alumni pages act as a signpost to the main alumni area of the website
General public • Events which are open to the general public • Overview of research
Sophie Smith School Publicity Co-ordinator VB 2.19 020 7848 2689 sophie.smith@kcl.ac.uk https://internal.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/staff/pubmark/index.aspx