November 6, 2009
Want some insight on how to improve your e-mail communications in the next year? Or, at least, figure out how you might go about it? Lyris is sponsoring a webinar next Thursday, November 12, from 1-2 p.m. on just this subject.
See the webinar registration page for more information.
We have gotten some of the documentation done for the new Events Calendar. They are:
Adding Users to the Events Calendar
Editing Unit Categories within the Events Calendar
Adding Events
Revising Events
November 5, 2009
U Relations has been working with the Google Apps pilot team to create U templates for Google sites. We're working on a solution that will allow us to use the full template header - including all the links and the search bar - within Google Sites. It's a little challenging, but I think we're close.
A template should be ready for pilot groups sometime next week (the second week of November). Watch this blog for updates!
November 3, 2009
Although none of us were fortunate enough to attend the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) summit in October, High Point Creative pointed out three of their big takeaways, specific to the From and Subject fields.
Much of the summit appears to have been focused on social media. You can find presentations on MIMA's For [Summit] Attendees page.
October 30, 2009
Social networking sites rank 13 out of 15 for reaching prospective students. Woa. Is that right? Yup.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
"Last month at NACAC, I got my hands on a copy of the Hobsons Domestic Research Report 2009-2010. It's a fantastic report that every admissions professional should get their hands on, but one set of numbers specifically stood out to me. Hobsons asked sophomores, juniors and seniors about their perceptions of the credibility of college search tools. All you social media cool kids may find the results surprising."
Read more on social network statistics.
I just received my newsletter from a small local agency called High Point Creative. One of the topics featured is "Writing for the Web" and I thought there were some good nuggets to share. I'm sure you have heard this before about writing tighter, in shorter blurbs, and making copy easy to scan. Nevertheless, I don't think it hurts to repeat the concepts. I know I easily fall into the trap of verboseness and am constantly challenging myself to write succinctly.
Enjoy!
P.S. Check out Gerry McGovern's Links are New Yorkers
Business writing, like life, is better kept simple. From web content to sales presentations, the fewer the words, the stronger your message. Today, when people are more likely to scan than read, your words have to pop with purpose. Each well-chosen word has to compel your impatient reader to click or call ... to buy or believe. In short, when you want to amplify, simplify.
Good writing serves your readers well and gets to the point quickly and clearly. But how do you write simply and powerfully? Here are four tips.
1. Jump right in. Take a page from fiction writers - start right where the action is. No need for long explanations and backstory. Instead of, "There is another topic to cover here..." simply go with "Our next topic is year-end revenue projections."
2. Choose your words wisely. Make sure the language fits your audience. If you are writing for doctors or researchers, highly technical words can be the right choice. If you are writing for a general audience, you don't have to dumb it down, but pick shorter or familiar words that get right to the point.
3. Remove the passive voice. Look for sentence construction using "is" and "was." For example, "The employee was acknowledged by her boss for excellent work." Tighten it up by focusing on the people instead of the action. "The boss acknowledged the employee's excellent work."
4. Cut unnecessary words. By removing excessive modifiers like "very," "a lot," "somewhat" or "too," you can streamline your writing. Cut vague words like "area," "thing" or "aspect." And of course, avoid redundancy. "At this point in time" is "now."
And a bonus tip...if you have the time, put your writing aside, then come back to review it later. You'll find it easier to edit with fresh eyes. If you don't have time, ask someone to do a quick review for you.
October 29, 2009
Below is the list of units that have submitted Events Calendar Unit Agreement forms and the key contacts:
- Academic Health Center
* Brent Engebretson (engeb013@umn.edu)
* Jacob Portnoy (port0179@umn.edu)
- CFANS
* Honey VanderVenter (hvander@umn.edu)
* Holly Klinger (kling175@umn.edu)
- College of Biological Sciences
* Sue Martinez (suem@umn.edu)
* Katie Hoffman (hoff0530@umn.edu)
- College of Design
* Laura Weber (l-webe@umn.edu)
* Lori Mollberg (lmollber@umn.edu)
- College of Education and Human Development
* Jeff Abuzzahab (jeff@umn.edu)
* Nathan Kopka (kopka003@umn.edu)
- College of Liberal Arts -
* Karen Swoverland (karenb@umn.edu)
* Dan Kunitz (kunitz@umn.edu)
- College of Pharmacy
* Amy L. Olson (olson017@umn.edu)
* Amy Leslie (johns423@umn.edu)
- Human Resources
* Wendy Volkman (volkm007@umn.edu)
* Caryn Lantz (ward0115@umn.edu)
- Humphrey Institute
* Julie Lund (julie@umn.edu)
* Anne Mason (amason@umn.edu)
- Institute of Technology
* Peter Riemenschneider (priemen@umn.edu)
* Rhonda Zurn (rzurn@umn.edu)
- Office of Information Technology
* KT Cragg (crag0006@umn.edu)
* Ben Neeser (nees0019@umn.edu)
- Office of International Programs
* Jennifer Schulz (schul160@umn.edu)
* Antonia Lortis (lorti001@umn.edu)
- Office of the VP for Research
* John Merritt (merri205@umn.edu)
* Amy Danielson (dani0139@umn.edu)
- School of Public Health
* Mark Engebretson (enge@umn.edu)
* Barb Cook (barbcook@umn.edu)
- Student Unions
* Zach Johnson (john4338@umn.edu)
* Collette Litzinger (collette@umn.edu)
- The Graduate School
* Gayla Marty (marty001@umn.edu)
* Marci Freundschuh (m-freu@umn.edu)
- University Libraries
* Marlo Welshons (welsh066@umn.edu)
* Timothy Cronin (cron0083@umn.edu)
- Vice Provost for Faculty & Academic Affairs
* Jeremy Hernandez (herna220@umn.edu)
* Cynthia Murdoch (macal001@umn.edu)
October 28, 2009
Hello! Just a quick reminder the new events calendar will be launched starting at 8 a.m. on October 29. Please be sure to enter any upcoming events in the new calendar. The current calendar will no longer be available once the new one is launched.
If having old events viewable to the public is important, you may want to consider back-filling events in the new calendar.
Finally, if you are having difficulty setting up users, training staff, or entering in events for the next couple of weeks, please let us know by sending an e-mail to events@umn.edu. We understand launching a new system can be time-consuming and are here to help.
October 26, 2009
University Relations is gathering links to official social networking pages developed by University colleges, departments, centers, and units. Our goal is to provide a single Web page, like a directory, that will allow our visitors to quickly find and link to all the great social networking pages that the U has to offer.
If your unit has developed an official social networking page, please send the name of the page and the link to webdepot@umn.edu. We will publish this social networking directory page (we're working out just where) and link to it from the newly created social networking standards page on the eCommunication Standards site here: http://www.webdepot.umn.edu/social_guidelines.php
The tabbed search application is now available as a beta service offering. The code isn't ready for distribution and other projects have sidelined some cleanup and documentation, but you can give it a try and we welcome all feedback. Three "front ends" are currently in use, and you can search using these front ends from the following sites:
Want to give it a try? We'll setup a front end for you. For a new front end, or if you have comments, suggestions, or other feedback, please write to search@umn.edu. A few quick notes:
A front end is a collection search result sets (tabs), and breadcrumbs. Each tab utilizes the Google Search Appliance (GSA) and may be configured independently. Configuration options include:
Tabbed search is offered only as a service during the the beta, but the code will be available for download later. The code requires PHP5. Not every unit has PHP5 available, nor is it common to central, shared hosting, which is why the service is being offered. The service will also ease code updates; when bug fixes need to be deployed, template changes made, or new functionality added, this can be done centrally.
October 23, 2009
Lyris ListManager will be unavailable for the duration of the IT Outage this weekend, but will become unavailable earlier than initially planned. A change has been scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight, Friday, that will redirect users clicking on tracked links to a general information page and will also prevent administrators from logging in. The information page may be intermittently unavailable before 6 p.m. today due to other work.
Please be sure to log out prior to 6 p.m. If you are sending mailings today, note that the outgoing mail queue may become backed up and result in your message not being sent to all recipients. If you have a mailing to send, please do so sooner than later. This excludes large, internal mailings which generally should not go out before 5 p.m. due to the load it places on central mail servers.
October 22, 2009
I just returned from the New Media Research Breakfast hosted by the Institute for New Media Studies. Yoshikazu Suzuki, a School of Journalism and Mass Communication graduate student, shared his perspective on "Seeing the Internet Through the Eyes of a Young Scholar." To simply state -- IT WAS GREAT!
One of the most intriguing parts of his presentation was this video. It is a MUST SEE if you think about social networking, dabble in it online, or consider it one of your main food groups.
Take a moment to look at the Social Media Revolution video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVXKI506w-E
Some of the figures are mind-blowing and definitely started my brain to head into overdrive. I'd love to know what you think about the video. Please feel free to comment.
The other extremely mind-blowing topic Yoshi spoke about was Japan's fascination with anime. He shared one example of how computer-generated music spurred real musicians to cover the songs and it resulted in a concert of 50,000+. In addition, Yoshi noted how there's a game in Japan where people develop relationships with avatars and questioned if that could be considered "true love."
While I was sitting there, I couldn't help but ponder the future of interpersonal relationships in the workplace. If the basis of relationships is not with "real" people in face-to-face situations, how will tomorrow's generation deal with conflict resolution, learn to empathize, and compromise with their colleagues?
A lot to think about.
October 21, 2009
We have updated the categories that are used for the new events calendar. The categories are:
These will be the categories that the events calendar is launched with.
We are very close to rolling out the beta version of the new interactive campus maps. If you'd like to see how things are progressing, take a look at these pages:
http://campusmaps-test.umn.edu/tc/
http://campusmaps-test.umn.edu/tc/map.php
Keep in mind, we are still working on them, so at times it may be slow to respond.
Questions? Concerns? Comments? We'd love to hear from you!
~Jennie
October 16, 2009
We stumbled on this article recently, which itemizes areas of CSS that differ between IE6, IE7, and IE8. We also have the sneaking suspicion that some developers aren't doing much in the way of browser testing, say looking at their sites in IE6. For anyone not dealing with the IEs regularly, it's a worthwhile read. IE6 users represent 12% of home page visitors; IE7 and IE8 add another 40%.
On the subject of browser testing, we've been moving toward YUI Graded Browser Support (GBS), checking content in the A-grade browsers, plus a smattering of other browsers. Although it doesn't agree with GBS (IE6 in XP is considered A-grade), I'm pushing for "aggressive graceful degradation" for IE6.
If you don't think you should be browser testing, visit the eCommunications Standards Web site in IE6, then visit the IE6 No More campaign.