ASA Web Site RedesignExplanations, screenshots and demonstrations

Questions?Hop Studios can be reached at sales@hopstudios.com, and between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. PST at 604.408.5722.

Feedback?Should be funneled through John Stephens (see final slide).

How to Use this Demonstration

Welcome to this demonstration of the future ASA Web site. This demonstration is designed to give you an overview of the project’s goals, process, and progress.

Think of viewing this demonstration as taking a guided tour through a building site; you can expect to get a sense of the finished structure even though there’s no drywall and some of the pipes aren’t yet connected.

This first part of the demonstration is this PowerPoint, which will walk you through the structure, content, design and functionality of the site. At the end of the PowerPoint we’ll give you some Web URLs where you can try out a few of the tools that are in development.

At any time, feel free to email or phone Hop Studios for clarification. We can be reached anytime at sales@hopstudios.com, and at 604.408.5722 between 10 am and 6 pm PST. Direct your comments and feedback through John Stephens (see final slide).

What You Need

Microsoft PowerPoint

A Web browser. For preference, please try to use either Internet Explorer 6 and above, or Firefox 2 and above. On the Macintosh, the best browser to use is Safari, and we support OS 10.3 and above.

About 30 minutes is needed to read through this demonstration, and

then test the tools.

To use the Web site tools, you will need Internet access.

Where We Started

Working with John Stephens, we identified several goals for the new ASA Web site:

Primary Redesign Goals• to create order from informational and visual chaos• to decrease duplicate and inconsistent information• to build community and connections among ASA members• to create context for future growth

In conjunction, we established these important usability and design goals:• to establish a clean, navigable look and feel• to represent the ASA visually without distracting from content• to create tools members and administrators can easily use to

keep the site vibrant and active

The Site From 10,000 Feet

The following techniques were employed to meet these goals:• assess and organize existing assets, keeping those with

informational value and currency• organize assets around existing membership groups:

committees, caucuses, projects, chapters, events, etc.• create assets to facilitate interaction, ranging from a viable

site architecture through to contact buttons on bio pages• encourage contributions from members at all site levels, but

with a special focus on member bio pages

The idea is information sharing, not information segregation. By putting tools for contribution into the right hands, we can ensure that the information available is current and pertinent for each member.

The Fundamentals

The most drastic change (besides the visual redesign) is the new approach to information and membership. Currently most content on the site is available to anyone, regardless of whether they are an ASA member, and there are no good tools for ASA members to find out about each other. The new site creates tiers of content and interaction:• information for everyone• information only members can access• information only some members can access

Membership in the ASA Web site is a direct benefit of being an ASA member – some tools and content will only be available to members.

It is this organization that addresses the goal of fostering community:• to build community and connections among ASA members

What Members Can Do

Members will be given multiple ways to contribute to the site, and to build additional and more useful site content, beginning with their own membership profile page.

There will be three types of members:• Site administrators• Group administrators• Members

All members can participate on the site throughout, and will be encouraged to join groups. Groups are the projects, committees, chapters, and caucuses active in the offline world of the ASA. Joining a group will allow them to contribute content to that group’s content area.

More About Groups

For example, a member who is part of a committee will be contribute content to that group page. Members who are not part of a committee can view the committee page and leave comments, but cannot contribute content. The same holds true for programs, projects, and so on.

Site Administrators

These super-admin level folks will be few in number but strong in power . They will have the ability to:• Add and remove content, comments, and members• Add and remove sections of content• Contribute content for the front page and other admin-only

content areas like the newsletter.

Think of the site administrators like gatekeepers or editors. Ultimately, they have the power to open and close doors, and address problems and issues that arise for members using the site. The ASA can choose to have as many or as few site administrators as necessary.

Group Administrators

Group administrators oversee the content and members in a particular group. They can:• Add or remove members from a group• Moderate content submissions from group members• Moderate comments on group content• Edit navigation and content display of the group page

Members

Members of the site can:• update their own profile page in the membership directory• contribute to committee, program, project, chapter and event

groups they are part of• view member-only content

The membership directory will be the primary tool for making connections between existing members, allowing you to search the member data by any criteria included in the profile. Looking for someone to give a talk in your geographic region on a particular area of research? The membership directory will be able to tell you who is nearby with expertise on the right subject.

And let’s not forget the public!

At the time a new page is created, it can be marked for public access or member-only access. Anything marked member-only will be visible on the screen only when the site visitor is logged in to the site. This will allow the site to serve two purposes:• To provide general access to public resources• To protect content and discussion intended for actual members of the

ASA.

In addition to member-contributed content, the public visiting the site can look at:• Dissertation abstracts• Projects list• About ASA information, including contact and info on joining• General news and announcements• Informational articles• Search• ASA Resources Guide

The public can also leave comments on any content they can view on the site.

Structure and Organization

Step 1 has been to deal with understanding what is on the current ASA site, decide what needs to be retained and what needs to be added, and then to build a structure for its presentation. This allowed us to deal with the first two goals for the site:• to create order from informational and visual chaos• to decrease duplicate and inconsistent information

Combining the concepts just outlined with a streamlined navigation allows us to meet this goal:• to create context for future growth

The Current Architecture

• About • Membership • Resolutions

• Annual Meeting • Registering • Program • Getting on the Program • etc.

• Communities • Projects • Chapters • Caucuses • Committees

• Prizes and Grants • Community Partnership

Grants • International Initiative • etc.

• Publications (including links to EAS Online, AQ, GASR, etc)

• Newsletter • Resources

• International Journals Directory

• Distinguished Speaker’s Bureau

• Dissertation Abstracts • Contact Us

Look and Feel

The site design process has included developing a new logo (see upper right) and translating the concepts and organization work into a prototype for the site design. In the next slides you will see the full proposed home page presented in the design we have developed (it is a picture, so nothing in it is yet clickable or functional), followed by pages where we zoom in on specific areas and explore them more fully.

NEXT: The home page as it will appear to someone who is not logged in!

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If you would like to see the home page image full-size, visit:http://tinyurl.com/2sg57z

NEXT: The home page as it will appear to someone who is logged in!

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If you would like to see the home page image full-size, visit:http://tinyurl.com/32r3ds

NEXT: Let’s break down the page.

The Header• The visual header will appear on every page of the site. Several treatments

are being considered, among them: • Displaying a single panorama selected randomly from an available set

• Displaying a series of images “film strip” style selected randomly from an available set

• Displaying a single image that is animated to fade into another imageClick photo to watch

Introductory text

• When members of the site or of the public come to the home page, they will be able to see this introductory text describing the ASA site, with links to pertinent interior pages. For example, this text can be used to briefly state the ASA’s mission, and to urge visitors to join the ASA.

• Once the visitor has registered and logged in to the site this message is no longer visible.

Content From the Editors

• The home page will display the most recent editor-contributed content marked for home page display. If the site visitor is logged in, this may be either a public-viewable piece of content, or a members-only piece of content. If the site visitor is not logged in, they will see the most recent piece of public-viewable content.

• Editors of the Web site (the site administrators) have the option of contributing content that is important enough to be displayed on the home page. This area might be used for everything from announcing the location of the next annual to pointing out a pertinent news article to reminding members about a call for papers.

What’s New in the Community

• This area will display the most recent member-contributed content (i.e. the freshest and newest content on the site) from any section of the site. For example, you might find the latest paper from the International Initiative being announced, or a recent contribution to the International Journals Directory.

• If the site visitor is logged in, this may be either a public-viewable piece of content, or a members-only piece of content. If the site visitor is not logged in, they will see the most recent piece of public-viewable content.

Quick Links

• This box on the home page will hold important Web sites and resources that should be easily available to members and visitors. Site administrators can add and remove links as needed throughout the life of the site.

Site Navigation

• Every page of the site will include the overall site navigation, which has been designed for quick access to the many areas of site content.

• When the visitor opens a page, all the navigation items will be “collapsed” as in the dark blue items in the example to the left.

• Clicking the + in a navigation item will open and display the sub-items in that section, as shown in the Communities navigation box on the left. This will allow the site visitor to quickly jump to an interior page, bringing down the number of clicks needed to get to valuable content.

• Clicking the – sign in an open navigation item will collapse that item again, so that sub-items are not visible.

Login and Register

• The Login box will be visible to site visitors who are currently not logged in to the system, and includes a “forgot your password” link. This box stops being visible when the site visitor has logged in.

• The Register box also appears when a site visitor is logged in. It explains briefly the benefits of registering, and provides access to begin that process. This box stops being visible when the site visitor has logged in.

Events

• This home page box of events shows upcoming events from the ASA site master calendar. This can be used for any time-based information, from nominations to suggestions to conferences.

Page Footer

• The page footer will appear on every page of the site providing unobtrusive but quick access to important links and contact information, and of course, displaying the copyright notice.

Quick Access to Member Tools

• This box, which only appears on the home page after a user logs in, is designed to encourage members to get involved in the site by contributing content and making connections. Exact phrasing is still being worked out, but the member will be able to link to the groups of which they are a member, and jump quickly to submitting events and finding other members.

Member-oriented Navigation

• Once logged in, two important tabs are added to the navigation. Your Communities and Your Profile are personalized to the member, and display only content in which the member is active and/or can contribute.

• When opened, the Your Communities tab displays groups the member has joined (Projects, Committees, Chapters and Caucuses), providing quick access to those areas that are most useful and pertinent to the member.

• Since the member directory is such a core component of the site, the Your Profile tab puts access to profile editing tools at the members’ fingertips, making it easy for members to keep that information current and accurate.

Member-only Content

• Logged in members, as you know, can view members-only content. The visual queue of the small ASA logo lets members know that the information in this content area is private, so comments and interactions about it will be safe-guarded from public view.

Functionality

Now that you’ve seen some visual representations of the site, we’d like to walk you through the functionality interaction that members will experience as they use the site. We have prepared a series of slides that show you the functionality interaction, and several URLs where you can “test drive” the development as it currently stands. Please keep in mind that you are seeing what amounts to the underpinnings of the site (remember the house tour metaphor and think of seeing a house framed and upright, but before any drywall or paint has been added). It is possible that you may experience what we call “bugs” in the process, which again are a result of getting to play with the site prior to it being fully developed.

NEXT: Logging in NOTE: While you will be seeing pages that look like Web pages, the ASA design has not yet been applied to them. Don’t worry about the

look, only the interaction.

Logging In and Out

This primary function is important for members of the site, and available on every page of the site. Here’s what will happen:• Regardless of what page the member starts from, they will see

a Login link on the page.

Logging In and Out

• Clicking “Login” will allow the member to enter a username and password (Remember, look and feel isn’t yet active on these pages!):

Logging In and Out

• After the member provides a user name and password, they will click Submit to login to the site.

Logging In and Out

• The member will then be returned to the page they started on, with member-only content and functionality now available:

Logging In and Out

• Logging out is as simple as clicking the Logout link. The member is then returned to the home page of the ASA Web site.

Would you like to try this for yourself? Here’s how:1. Go to http://www.theasa.net/caucus_science/2. Click the Login link3. Fill out the login box with the following information:

Username: Sally1Password: password

4. Click Submit.5. Finally, click the Logout link.

Joining a Group

• A logged-in member, before they can contribute content, must join a group. This process is still under development, but we can give you a taste of how it will work.

Once logged in, when the member visits a group page, like the caucus page shown, they will have the option to Join. Clicking this button will automatically add them to the group, and give them the privileges of group membership, like contributing content.

Group administrators will be able to review the members of a group, and remove anyone who should not actually be part of the group.

Contributing Content

Once a member is logged in and has joined a group, they are able to contribute content to the group blog. This is a very open format, allowing group members to share information, research and ideas on any topic or in any way they see fit. We imagine that some groups may establish guidelines for the kinds of contributions they want from group members, and others will be more freeform. The flexibility for both approaches is available.

Once a member has contributed content, he or she will still be able to edit or update it, or to delete it.

Member-contributed content can be moderated after publication by group administrator, who has the discretion to delete or edit contributions from members that are inappropriate or perhaps just mislabeled. Group administrators will also be able to moderate – that is, remove or edit – comments left on a group blog post.

Contributing Content

• To contribute content, the member visits the page of the group. If the member is logged in, she or he will click the appropriate link.

Contributing Content

• This will bring up a page that they can fill out.

Contributing Content

• After typing in their content material, they can choose to allow comments, set a publication date, categorize the content, and pick whether the content should be visible to everyone or only to members. When everything is ready they will click Submit.

Contributing Content

• The entry is then displayed as the top item in the group blog, available for others to read and/or comment upon.

Contributing Content

Would you like to try this for yourself? Here’s how:1. Go to http://www.theasa.net/caucus_science/2. Click the Login link3. Fill out the login box with the following information:

Username: Sally2Password: password

4. Click Submit.5. Under the Science and Technology Caucus Member Tools section,

click the link to contribute content.6. Fill out the form – the only required fields are the title and the

date.7. Click Submit.8. Look for your entry in the Group Blog.

Commenting

• Nearly any page on the site can offer the opportunity for site visitors to leave comments. Anyone can leave a comment on the site, whether they are logged in or not. However, since a site visitor who is not logged in will not see members-only content, they will naturally also be excluded from leaving comments on those items.

• Comments can be moderated – edited or removed – by group and site administrators. Members who spot inappropriate or problematic comments will be given a tool to alert administrators to the comment, but will not be able to edit or remove that comment themselves.

Commenting

• The process of leaving a comment is quite simple. A page that allows comments will display a comment form. (Logged in members will not be asked for their name or email address, but members of the public will be.)

Commenting

• The site visitor fills out the form and then clicks Submit.

Commenting

• The comment is then added to the page, and visible to other visitors.

Commenting

Would you like to try this for yourself? Here’s how:1. Go to http://www.theasa.net/caucus_science/2. Click the title of the most recent blog post or find a page that

allows comments.3. Fill out the comment form.4. Click Submit.5. Look for your comment on the page.

A Final Note

This was a high-level overview of the site’s functionality and concepts, with demonstrations of elements that are working at this point. There will – of course – be much more involved in the final Web site. The following tasks have been addressed in our thinking about the site even if you haven’t seen them demonstrated here:

• Registration• Search mechanisms and results• Editing your member profile• Browsing member profiles• Administration tools for group and site administrators• Display of content in specialized areas like the Dissertation

abstracts and newsletter• Contact forms• ... You get the idea.

What’s Happening Next

• The server hosting the current ASA site, hosted at Georgetown, will be taken offline on June 15, 2007. The new site will be launched shortly before that.

• Immediate next steps are converting the design to working code and integrating it with the content management system that will run the new site. Additional design work is being done to lay out the individual group pages, the specialized areas like dissertation abstracts, and the member directory. All content from the old site that is being retained is being integrated and the pages displaying that content designed. Training materials for site administrators, group administrators and members are also being prepared.

Your Feedback and Comments

• Your feedback and suggestions are key to making this site work for you. We suggest that when you speak together as a group you bring your individual suggestions and, with your colleagues, build a list of anything you would like considered in our next steps. John Stephens will be collecting that feedback for dissemination to those of us working on the site:

John Stephens: john.stephens@theasa.net

• At any time, if something is unclear, feel free to email or phone Hop Studios. We can be reached at sales@hopstudios.com, and at 604.408.5722 between 10 am and 6 pm PST. If you can let us know in advance what time you will be discussing the Web site as a group, we can try to be available then as well. We’re happy to answer questions directly, but for general feedback, please communicate with John Stephens and he’ll be the funnel for us.

Thanks!