WDN Board 2/23/15 Meeting Notes

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2015 - 10:00AM

WDN Shared Governance Board Biweekly Meeting
Monday, Feb. 23, 2015

AGENDA:
WDN Website Implementers Survey (Erin Chambers)
WDN Monthly Meeting, Call for Agenda Items

  • Demo and Documentation on UNL Webaudit

Review a few of board members' sites

Draft procedure/process based on the steps we take

WDN Website Implementers Survey - Working Draft

We recognize our need to better understand the varied roles and experience levels of UNL website administrators, editors and content creators. Knowing our user base will positively impact our efforts to encourage collaboration, our decisions about the site review process, the kinds of opportunities we offer, and the way we structure the board's overall efforts.

The survey should be ready to go by end-of-meeting on Monday, March 2nd so it can be presented at the March WDN meeting (March 3rd). We'll be promoting the survey at the March meeting; it will be open for two weeks, and will close the morning of the 16th so that we can review and analyze the results at the mid-month board meeting. A full report will be given at the April WDN Meeting.

WDN Survey: Tell Us More About Yourself!

  1. Are you faculty, staff, or student? If student, graduate or undergraduate?
  2. How many UNL websites do you currently administer or edit?
  3. In what capacity do you work on these websites?
  • Number of websites for which I am an Administrator: ____
  • Number of websites for which I am an Editor or Content Editor: ____
  • Number of websites for which I am a Content Contributer: ____
  1. With your best estimate, how many hours per week do you spend on those websites?
  2. What is your level of experience with web development? (Check all that apply)
    • I create pages using a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor
    • I write a blog
    • I manage a blog
    • I edit pages using HTML
    • I know how to validate HTML
    • I edit themes and styles using CSS
    • I know how to validate CSS
    • I can build a website from scratch using HTML, CSS, and Javascript
    • I can build a website using server-side programming (Ruby, Perl, Java, PHP, etc.)
    • I know how to create ADA accessible content
  3. Considering only the UNL websites you administer or edit, which of the following statements are true for you? (Check all that apply)
Discussion about UNLcms users' varied experiences
  • The survey above will help us better understand the range of experience of our fellow website administrators, editors and developers
  • For UNLcms users with limited experience with HTML and/or CSS - how can we improve their experience
  • To Do: Implement WDN content (colors, typography, bands, image frames, etc) into the WYSIWYG editor
Discussion: Use of Monthly WDN Meeting and the Meeting Time that Follows

Goals for Monthly WDN Meetings:

  • Monthly report from Shared Governance board
  • Continued streaming via AdobeConnect, and meeting notes posted online
  • Make meetings more friendly/accessible for users that aren't as advanced.  How can we make this hour a better use of their time?
  • Continue use of demonstrations and content examples
  • Possible topics of focus? (Accessibility day? Webaudit day? Media day? etc.)

Discussion of 3pm Meeting (Currently UNLcms User Group)

  • Can this time be utilized more effectively?
  • We have received feedback from users that they don't attend because the subject matter is above their level of experience/understanding
  • This could be a good opportunity for the Shared Governance Board and WDN as a whole to provide training and learning opportunities
  • Users with limited time should feel comfortable attending this session even if they're unable to make the 2pm WDN Meeting.

Ideas:
Perhaps this time could be used for breakout sessions.
Retain UNLcms User Group, but include additional Tutorials and Q&A sessions for things like:

  • UNLcms
  • WDN Content Examples (Bands, Images, Carousels; perhaps these can be separate sessions?)
  • MediaHub
  • HTML Validation
  • Novice Web Dev topics, too, like CSS classes, basic attributes that affect accessibility, etc.
  • Video Captioning 101
  • Content Types in UNLcms
  • Drupal modules, including Views, TIMS/Twig Templates, Feeds
  • Other training/refresher topics
Demo and Documentation on UNL Webaudit

What documentation is needed to make UNL Webaudit easier to learn/use/understand?

  • Next Step: Collect feedback from Webaudit users

Suggestions brainstormed by the Shared Governance Board:

  • "Start a New Site Scan" vs. "Start a New Page Scan"
  • Remove "Start a New Site Scan" button from Page-specific view ("Scanned Page") and move "Start a New Page Scan" up.
  • Redirects: Hard redirects vs. javascript redirects, and what to do with the audit reports produced (example: http://english.unl.edu/)
  • How to archive a site (or WHEN to archive a site)
  • How to add or edit members (this is done through CMS - but Webaudit should provide brief instructions on the Add/Edit Members page, for clarification)
  • "Why is my page failing?" - one page failing causes the whole site to fail (0% overall score). This information should be displayed prominently for failing sites, since this is most likely the cause of the 0%.
  • Error: "Attribute size not allowed on element at this point" from Webform file upload field - needs to be fixed in UNLcms so that the field HTML is valid
  • Most sites are unable to attain a 100% score. What score range is ideal? Should an "ideal range" be publicized, or should it at least be made known to all users that a 100% is, in some cases, not necessary? (Due to bugs, elements of the CMS, etc.)
Discussion: Site Review Process/Procedures
  • Should audits be done by email or in-person? A: In Person whenever possible. We'd like to have admins/editors present with us to talk about their site
  • Are people available for 10am/11am Monday mornings?
  • Should we look over the site before we invite the administrators/managers?

We discussed the importance of a number of details:

  • Site owners/managers should be involved in the review process right from the beginning
  • Opportunities for self-reporting: Yes. How and when? This would give the site owners/managers a chance to request feedback on specific areas, or explain areas of interest that may be set up differently than a typical UNL site
  • Reviews should never take the form of a report card unless specifically requested by the site owners/managers. Instead, they will reflect the following goals:
  • Feedback from the board on self-reported areas needing a fresh perspective
  • Consultation on areas of the website that are experiencing issues
  • Guidance for and assistance with alleviating pressing issues (to be outlined in the forthcoming site-review procedures
  • Meeting with the full board is probably not the best option. In most cases, it might be beneficial to have the board do a review based on the self-reported information we receive, and then have only one or two board members meet with the site owners/managers. This way, we can meet them at a time and place that's convenient for them.
  • Outlining the process is the top agenda item for our next meeting. Transparency through the whole process will be our number one goal.
  • We will begin by reviewing sites that belong to Shared Governance Board members (next meeting). Once we have drafted an outline for the process, we would like to work with at least one or two site owners who (a) would like to review one of their sites with us and (b) are willing to give us feedback and constructive criticism as we progress through the review process. Then, we will set the process in stone and begin with sites that rank in the top 25 most-visited of all UNL sites.
Accessibility

How do we approach accessible content (such as captioning videos to provide subtitles), and at what point does the University need to set strict guidelines for accessibility?

  • Few colleges/departments/offices have the time or resources to caption large volumes of online video content. How can we work to increase the resources available?
  • Accessibility is laid out by federal law, not just UNL web standards
  • Other Universities have been sued for inaccessible web content (Penn State, Harvard, etc.)
  • Further discussion needed