I’m going to try to use this blog to post ideas & receive feedback on the SVSUFA website redesign. I’ll be updating it as time goes on (this is a ‘work in progress’), so feel free to comment if you happen to stumble across it!
In general, there seem to be very few dynamic ‘blog’ like FA websites out there. Most are bare bones and quite bland. Our site needs to serve at least two slightly different purposes. The first is to serve as an informational site, where the other is to be a community building site for the association.
In relation to the informational aspect we should have (* means we do have):
*list of officers and executive committee members & other officials/appointees
*search-able contract
*calendar of events
*announcements
*messaging system
-meeting minutes
-officer reports (available to registered users - not general view)
-walk-throughs for new faculty (re: benefits [association and HR], PPC procedures, service opportunities and the like, etc.)
-links to MEA & NEA? (I also like the SIUC FA page related to union expenditures: http://www.ieanea.org/local/siucfa/content.asp?active_page_id=198 )
In relation to the community building aspect I think that we’ll need (* means we do have)
*forums open to all registered users
*messaging service that allows an alternative to the SVSU e-mail
*letters from the president and/or other officers
*- regular newsletter & general interest features
- features relevant to faculty a teaching institution (these could be links to articles in the chronicle/RSS feeds/excerpts from relevant journals / websites/ etc.)
In terms of general site improvements I was wondering if we need a more dynamic ‘splash’ page when folks first come to the page, a la the CSU webpage (http://www.calfac.org/). Although their design choices leave much to be desired, there is a certain simplicity.
