2018-10-24 Meeting notes
- Gabe Galson
Blacklight website strategic partners 10/24/18
@Jasmine Clark
1. A year in review
The group’s been active for a year!
Q’s: What changes are in order? Do people feel it’s a valuable use of their time? Is there anyone who at this point wants to rotate off the group?
Amending the charge-
Q: Does everyone here spend five hours a week? A: No, realistically some simply attend, others spend far more than five. Originally the group was intended to be a working group, but it’s evolved into an advisory group.
Cynthia’s take on the project:
It’s been incredibly complex (a walk in the park compared to the Alma migration); the ways the work ended up happening couldn’t have been anticipated at the outset.
Emily’s take:
It was great to have a team that had pre-committed time. Helped her, as a project manager, have a pool of talent on which to draw. Having a solid group with a clearly defined charge removed some of the political maneuvering that could have overwhelmed the work itself.
The project will start winding down at this point. She wonders if having the group in place is still necessary.
Jasmine: The group could continue to exist and provide support without meeting bi-weekly. Team members could be called on as-needed.
Erin: Doesn’t feel she needs to be involved directly as it shifts more towards website design.
Lauri: The bigger decisions happen towards the front of a project. As the process proceeds the decisions get progressively less important.
Participants are torn on the value of the group.
Decision: It will become a monthly meeting
Decision: Anyone who wants to leave the group or switch with someone else w/ a similar skill set that’s fine. Email Cynthia or Emily after the meeting to make an adjustment.
2. Blacklight/Library Search updates
Updates:
The work will be structured going forward via monthly releases.
A new tabbed interface for the Bento has been developed and will be tested for usability by the UX group on 10/24.
Next steps: Databases A-Z will be indexed and added to Bento interface
Any questions from the group on the structure of the project team following the introduction of the ‘product owner’ role?
Q: How will the insights gained during the UX testing process be integrated into the system’s structure by the ‘product owner’.
3. Website updates
Buildings entity page template. Elements:
Consistent search box
Name of building/description
Logistical info- contact, hours, map
List of spaces within the building
Collections
Space entity page template. Elements:
Title/description
Services
Logistical info- contact, hours, map
Q: How will ‘collections’ be defined?
Each will be linked to a search, hopefully.
There’s an intellectual gap between the archival conception of a collection and the standard conception of a ‘collection’ on a website. SCRC’s will be defined by collecting areas. As ArchvesSpace takes shape how will each individual scrc collection be differentiated from the top-level ‘collections’ featured on the website? An open question.
Website back end. Elements:
A CMS that displays entities in a list.
The services group defined each service extremely comprehensively. This work slowed down, but it will pick back up soon now that the design work is coalescing.
Q: What’s the best workflow for entering the service descriptions into the site’s back end? A google doc? Direct entry into the CMS?
Reviewing all the site text as a body could be useful. Ditto standardizing terms, standardizing the scope of a service and a policy, etc.
A workshop on good web writing/editing will be held by Cynthia and Jackie.
Could content creator and content editor role be bundled? Perhaps. Some group members see a need for another role: top level editor for site content. This could be related to UX testing performed on terms, or it could be done by someone like Becky Dashiel and conducted from a marketing/communications perspective.