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- Over the past years, the UoM website has become an
important communication channel for prospective and current students,
staff and external audiences seeking information about the University.
The
existing website, now hosting in excess of 20,000 web pages, was
launched in 1998. The University's website required a 'fresh look'
along with improved organisation of online information. To this end,
a Web Advisory Committee
(WAC), chaired by Prof. Josef Lauri and with representatives from
various academic, administrative and support departments, was set up to
review the existing website and make recommendations on its
redevelopment.
A
number of meetings were held to discuss web policies, the requirements
of the revamped website, the web publishing software to be implemented
etc. The WAC has established two key objectives for the UoM Web
Redevelopment Project:
- To adopt a web design that represents the
University's identity, clearly, consistently, and with distinction. A
consistent user interface improves navigation making it easier for
users to access online information on the University website. To
achieve this aim, all departmental websites will be required to adhere
to the design adopted by the University. The design will however allow
flexibility for each department to customise its content.
- To implement a technical solution that facilitates
the maintenance of online content without requiring technical
programming background. The new website will be built using a Content
Management System (CMS). Use of the CMS will therefore enable
departments to easily maintain their own websites with accurate and
up-to-date information within the University design template. The CMS
will also serve as a central content repository that will facilitate
sharing of content between different departments.
Implementation
Schedule
The
project is being implemented in stages under the coordination of IT
Services. The work on the designs for the new University website have
been
contracted to a web design company. The new University
homepage and faculty
template designs are
now finalised and have been approved by WAC. Following an evaluation
study that was carried out by IT Services on possible CMS solutions, WAC has
also approved the use of an open source CMS known as MySource
Matrix for the University website.
The
new University homepage and faculty/academic department templates have
been deployed on the CMS and the functionalities of the CMS are
currently being tested. It is anticipated that the newly designed
University homepage and the top level web pages will be online by the
beginning of the academic year 2007/8.
The
next phase will involve all academic, administrative and support
departments which will be assisted with the migration of their
websites. IT Services is currently preparing training material and courses that
will assist departments with the use of the CMS and will be contacting
all heads of departments to plan a schedule for the migration. It is
envisaged that all departmental websites would have been migrated to
the CMS by the start of academic year 2008/9.
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Departments will of course need to continue
to maintain their websites in the current manner until the migration to
use the CMS is completed.
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Queries about the project should be directed here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Last
updated: 31-Aug-07
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