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Web Professionals Catch Up – October 2023 Recap

This will be a low-key town-hall style Zoom meeting to discuss the future of the UNC Web Professionals Group and to share a little of what Team members learned at last week’s HighEdWeb conference in Buffalo.

Date: Friday, October 27
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Zoom
Hosts: Rachell Underhill, Gia Branciforte, Paul Cardillo, Daniel Reeves

Presentation Recap and Notes

Agenda

  • Welcome – Rachell
  • We’re still here – Daniel
    • Depth and Breadth of group, goals
    • Previous presentations
  • Who are you? – Gia
  • High Ed Web Recap – Paul
  • Questions and Feedback

Meeting Items

During Meeting

Notes

  • Attendees
    • Count: 42
  • Rachell Underhill: Intro
    • History
    • Web Redesign for the Graduate School
    • History
      • Group History
        • UNC History
        • UNC Web History
      • Current Group
  • Daniel Reeves: What we do
    • What we do overview
    • Examples of past presentations (see list above for more information)
  • Gia Branciforte: Introduction
    • History
    • Current Engagement
      • No leadership level person currently
      • More collaborative
    • Polls and Survey
  • Paul Cardillo: Introduction
    • History
    • Provides Office Hours for any Web.UNC issues
    • Teams and membership logistics
      • Information about how to get access to the team
    • High Ed Web Conference – Buffalo
      • The conference was the impetus for this meeting
      • We are all in a similar boat and trying to do much with few resources
      • Steering the Circus Presentation
      • Rachell Underhill’s Presentation
        • 6 minute video of the process she used in her redesign of the website
      • General Conversation about the conference
  • Open Floor
    • Providing a space for all to talk about the conference or anything relevant
    • Group sharing
      • Networking groups around campus are coming back together
      • Web Professionals would love to connect with and collaborate on value to campus

Questions

  • Question about scope of this group: As a custom web developer, will this group be beneficial for him?
    • Daniel Reeves described how the group has helped him in his role as a custom application developer.

Web-based Survey Design – March 2020 Recap

If you’ve ever been tasked with writing survey questions, you know it’s harder than you might expect. For our March session, Teresa Edwards from the Odum Institute will present on writing effective questions and best practices for web-based surveys.

Date: Thursday, March 5th
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Graduate Student Center
Presenter: Teresa Edwards, Odum Institute

Survey Design Best Practices (pdf)

 

Presentation Recap and Notes

Presentation Overview

  • Writing questions
  • Response categories and scales
  • Questions to collect qualitative data
  • Ordering questions
  • Format and layout

Goals for writing

  • Each question interpreted the same way by all respondents
  • Minimize cognitive burden
  • Maximize accuracy

Response Task

  • Comprehension
  • Recall
  • Judgment
  • Formatting
  • Editing

Example

In the past 6 months, have you used Google or another search engine to look on the internet for information about an infectious disease?

  • Comprehend individual words (Google, “another search engine”, internet, infectious disease) and put them together to understand the question, reference period (past 6 months)
  • Recall any useful information/experiences (My mother got sick and we couldn’t figure out what it was, we got that note from the school about chicken pox)
  • Make a judgment based on information retrieved (Does googling “causes for cough” count? Was mother’s illness within the past 6 months?)
  • Format response using response options (Yes, No)
  • Edit answer, social desirability

Tips for question Writing

  • Keep questions short
  • Use simple words
  • Define key terms
  • Use a reference period
    • In the past 30 days
  • Be specific, but use examples carefully
  • Avoid “double-barreling”
    • Would you like to be rich and famous?
  • Avoid hidden assumptions
    • How old were you when you first smoked a cigarette?
  • Avoid negative grammatical structure
    • Women with young children should not work.

Tips for Writing Response Categories

  • Response categories should:
    • Match the format of the question
    • Be mutually exclusive (unless check all that apply)
    • Cover all circumstances
    • Not assume regularity of frequency
      • “In the past 6 months, how often did you visit the library” – might be a lot of variation in a long time period
  • Unsure/don’t know option
  • Don’t assume respondents understand percentages
  • Rethink ranking
    • only use if you want to know the ranking order really matters
  • Beware of anchoring
    • Respondents may assume that the “middle” means average or typical and choose/adjust their response accordingly.”Surely I don’t want more tv than the average person”
  • Scales
    • Label all points on a scale

Open Ended Responses

  • Specify the reporting unit
  • Size the answer space appropriately for the information being asked
  • Punctuate the answer space appropriately (for phone numbers, dates, etc.)

Collecting Qualitative Data

  • Be clear what you seek
    • What do you think of this webpage? vs. What aspects of this webpage are helpful in your daily work
  • Size the answer space appropriately
    • If you’re asking open ended questions, ensure that the response boxes are sized appropriately
  • Only one question per answer space
  • Have a plan for analyzing/summarizing the data

Recommended Readings

Accessibility & the Digital Accessibility Office – September 2019 Recap

The Digital Accessibility Office (DAO) will join us to share an overview of their initiatives, service catalog, and resource offerings. This meeting will be a great foundation for an open conversation about creating a culture of accessibility at Carolina. The DAO hopes to listen to your concerns, identify your priorities, and work with you to develop an action plan toward an accessible digital presence.

  • Location: Graduate Student Center (211A W. Cameron Ave.)
  • Date: Friday, September 20, 2019
  • Time: 1:00 – 2:00 PM
  • Presenters:
    • Brad Held, Team Lead
    • Kat Moore, Development and Design Consultant
    • Sarah Arnold, User Experience and Development Consultant
    • Doug Schepers, Training and Application Consultant

Presentation Files
(courtesy of the Digital Accessibility Office )

Meeting Recap and Notes

Notes coming soon…..

Podcasts: What you need to know when creating podcasts – June 2019 – Recap

June Webmasters Meeting Details:

Date:                                     Thursday, June 6th

Time:                                    2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (30 minutes of extra time if needed)

Location:                             Graduate Student Center (211-A W. Cameron Ave.)

Presenter(s):                    Brandon Bieltz from University Communication and Winifred Metz from the Undergraduate Library’s Media Resources Center.

Presentation Topic:     Our June Webmasters session will be devoted to podcasts and best practices when creating them. You will also learn about equipment, resources, and studio space available to the UNC community.

Presentations and links:

Meeting Recap and Notes:

Part 1: Well Said Podcast

How it was launched – pitched by Brandon as

  • Cheap
  • Quick and high quality (turned out NOT to be quick – 15 minutes took about six hours of work)
  • A way to reach new audiences (audience turned out to be exactly the same as before)
  • An additional asset to add to the current strategy
  • A way to highlight university experts – a way to create/demonstrate news readiness

Initial Plan

  • TIP: Get high quality equipment for best sound
  • Used soundbox and cheap condenser microphones
  • Laptop computer
  • Created a regular schedule so people know what to expect
  • Needed several episodes before launch
  • Hosting in SoundCloud (there are better options out there, BlueBerry)
  • Published on several platforms (Stitcher, iTunes, SoundCloud)

Early Stages

  • Practiced audio editing by watching YouTube videos
  • Created bad audio situations (test episodes) that would need editing to practice solutions
  • First podcast was Bubba Cunningham – 1 week before NCAA tourney. – easy to sell

Challenges

  • No space (mobile technology came in handy, but no podcast was the same because locations changed every time)
  • Can fit all equipment needed into a milk-crate if needed
  • Promoting a podcast is a nightmare (took a lot of trial and error to figure it out)

Things learned

  • Algorithms ignore you unless/until you have several podcasts published
  • Needed more defined goals to base growth off of
  • Thought the podcast could “talk” to everybody, but ended up focusing on UNC students, faculty, staff, etc.
  • First season had 2,659 listeners – increased by 94% by making changes
  • Went from interviewing to storytelling (scriptwriting, sound effects, music – this increased production time to approx 12 hrs)
  • If you can’t explain why this will benefit you, then it’s probably not worth it
  • The first season will be bad, you have to be willing to stick it out to get it up and going
  • Went from a team of 1 to a team of 4 to sustain and grow the podcast, with a significant increase in the financial investment

Part 2: MRC Overview

  • Focuses on faculty and students, but also supports staff when time permits
  • Is an Adobe partner so software is used/supported
  • Has a suite of audio/video editing stations
  • Has a podcast studio for audio capture with mixer and multiple microphones – users bring their own laptops
  • Has audio/video equipment available for checkout (recommend that you reserve equipment weeks in advance)
  • Mid-range quality on technology with a blend of old (dependable) and new
  • Provide skillful tech classes
  • Provide tutorials and guides to help with developing and producing audio/video/digital design products
  • Has an online podcast storyboard template to walk users through the development process
  • Provide in-person help with story arc and digital story creation
  • Can visit their website to learn more about equipment, trainings, support, etc. and to make reservations or appointments: https://library.unc.edu/house/mrc/

Questions and Answers

How long is the basic podcast training?

Winifred: It takes about 2.5 hours for us to train you from conceptualization to creation.

Equipment recommendations? 

Winifred and Brandon: Use directional microphones. You get what you pay for.

How do you target audiences?

Brandon: We use targeted marketing based on interests and age level. We use Facebook to target specific groups by topic.

Do you use cover art?

Brandon: Cover art is very important, students said they often choose podcasts based on cover art

Do you use sound dampening?

Brandon: No we remove excess sound in post production. Egg crate type foam can make a big difference.

Do you use scripts?

Brandon: No I refer to an outline in my notebook. The guest does not use a script.

Do you ever have problems with verbal tics?

Brandon: Biggest problem is when speakers “roll” through sentences without breaks. We ask them to repeat themselves slowly and carefully.

The F Word: Communication with Feeling – January 2019 Recap

Our students and alumni are bombarded. Every day, they visit dozens of web pages, receive hundreds of emails, and see thousands of social media posts float across their screens. But we can break through the noise and make meaningful connections.

Brendan Foley, from the Morehead-Cain Foundation, will join us to talk about building the foundation for better digital communications and the small things you can do now to produce immediate results. We’ll cover some practical examples related to better social media, email and web engagement.

  • Location: Graduate Student Center (211A W. Cameron Ave.)
  • Date: Thursday, January 17, 2019
  • Time: 2:00 – 3:00 PM

Presentation Files
(courtesy of Brendan Foley)

The F Word: Communication with Feeling (PowerPoint)

The F Word: Communication with Feeling (PDF)

Presentation and Discussion Notes

Notes-Presentation

  • Content Focused Techniques
  • The F Word, communication with feeling
    • One thing to remember
      • We must try communicating with empathy, emotion, and efficiency
        • Understand where people are coming from
        • Be a person, be relatable
        • Communicate effectively, use the fewest, best-fit words
      • When joining UNC, he tried to find out how to communicate
  • People come to use needing solutions
    • 2 things we need to do
      • Be helpful
        • Builds trust
        • Leads to increased engagement with people
        • Helps establish us as a valuable source of information
        • Helpful in doing everything else we do
      • Be human
      • Addendum – 3 additional things
        • 3 things
          • Inform
          • Educate
          • Entertain
        • Still need to be helpful and human while we are doing these things
  • How can we be helpful
    • We need to consider our readers first
      • Often times, content creator focus on themselves or their colleagues
        • Need to consider the needs of the readers over the needs of the creators
        • Ex: Professor wants their work on the home page, but that only
      • 3 questions
        • What is our goal?
        • Who is this content for (email/page/post)?
        • Is the information easy to find and understand?
      • Quote: The responsibility [for creating understanding] really belongs to the person speaking, not the person listening” – Alan Alda
        • It is our job to communicate clearly and make sure consumers of content understand us
  • Let’s avoid Academic Speak
    • We exist in an environment where we are surrounded by brilliant people who discuss high-level concepts and projects in ways that most people do not understand
    • There is quite a bit of language that is used in higher-ed that most people do not hear/use on a regular basis
      • Though that language is accurate and familiar to us, it may not be
    • Flesch-Kincaid index
      • Scoring method for readability
      • Between 7th-9th grade level
  • Let’s avoid overwhelming our readers
    • Simply adding the information to the page is not effectively communicating
    • Avoid overly complex sentences and language formulations.
    • For example: Where you can use bullet points, use them
  • Reading Level
    • Communications need to sound smart
    • Communicating with really busy people, don’t have time to decipher complex speech
  • Let’s avoid the passive voice
    • Making an active sentence can make it more readable and understandable
  • What does all this mean
    • We need to embrace our roles as our reader’s friendly (but professional) advisors
    • Vision/scope: We serve the students, we serve the alumni, we serve the campus
    • Ask: Would I want to read this?
  • I’m getting emotional
    • Personality and emotion are great things
      • They make us relatable
    • Ask yourself: If your school, unit, or organization were a person…what type of person would it be?
      • Be aspirational
        • Ideally, if your organization was putting something out into the world as an individual, what are we trying to convey?
        • Ex: Morehead-Cain
          • Welcoming
          • Adventurous
          • Inspiring
          • Positive
          • Determined
  • identity.unc.edu
    • Guidelines for personality and tone
    • Helps define how we should present ourselves in our communication
  • Let’s create better web content
    • More than half of visitors spend less than 30 seconds on a webpage
    • Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to find the information they are looking for
    • Amount of time spent on a website is not a great measure of success
      • Ex: user spends 5 minutes on your site, but they do so because they cannot find what they want
  • Let’s create email messages people enjoy
    • One thing everyone hates
      • Promise value in your subject lines
      • Deliver (some) value in the email itself
    • Good emails should not be a series of breadcrumbs (links)
      • Even if I don’t click the link, I can learn something
    • Guidelines
      • Single column format (easy for mobile)
      • Provide content in the email itself
        • Provide
      • Use emoji if your guidelines allow for it
        • Used sparingly, they can work well
        • Shows playfulness if done in moderation
          • Overuse is gimmicky
  • Newsletter Subject Lines
    • Quick hit of 3 top stories
      • Short blurb of the stories covered in the letter
    • Picture of the top Instagram posts for the month in the email
  • Call to action
    • Want people to directly react to the call to action
    • If you put in the middle, people may not finish the email, but they may actually take the call more often
  • Let’s create engaging Social media
    • Every social network has its own audiences, quirks, and rules of engagement. Play with them
      • Give each its own mission statement
        • Establish a clear vision of what you are doing in each platform
      • Consistency is key
        • Consistent posts help set expectations for users
      • … but quality is crucial
        • Better to do fewer posts really well than just posting to post
  • Let’s get started right now
    • What can we do today?
      • Strive to understand your readers’ problems and offer solutions
        • Review your information and revise to make clearer to read and understand, are there ways we can make this clearer to understand
        • Keep an ear out for accounts of issues with the interface, and probe for details you can learn from
      • Personalize your drafts
        • Helps write from the heart
        • Ex: Brenden starts all drafts with Dear Jen, the name of his wife
          • This helps frame his mind when creating communication
        • Write clearer
          • Use contractions
            • Humanizes writing
            • It is how we talk
            • Easier to understand
            • Not for overly-formal content
          • Ditch adverbs
            • Usually, an adverb is a sign that someone is too lazy to find another verb
            • Find a better, more powerful verbs
  • Great Resources
    • readable.io
      • ~$3 per month
      • Score your text and URLs
      • Gives you readability score
    • Really Good Emails
      • Many email newsletter examples
      • Provides you HTML content for the example emails
    • Coschedule
      • Headline, Subject and Social Media Post Analyzer (Optimizer)

Notes – Discussion

  • Do you build your email messages in HTML and just send them?
    • Build them in an email platform that provides a WYSIWYG interface where you can build the email as you like
    • MailChimp’s editor is pretty good for this
    • iContact
      • Free for non-profits in NC
      • Up to 10K subscribers for free (may be more if ask about it)
  • Would you worry about people providing information that allows more precise content to be displayed (on the Morehead-Cain site)?
    • Short answer is not, given the way the process is structured
    • The nature of the site and information, it is unlikely that users choose the incorrect item
  • How do you deal with pushback from content suppliers who nitpick the content and set rules for how things are presented?
    • Having clear institution hierarchy over content control and rules
    • Make sure the final person who makes these decisions have both the knowledge of content strategy and the authority to enforce content rules
    • There is a larger question about institutional support
      • You need someone who understands the importance of clear and effective communication
    • Style guides help as well
    • Go back to the foundational goals as well
    • Data can help as well, depending on what we are doing, to define how effective our communication will be given various choices
    • Use the 3rd party tools to help enhance your argument
      • Blogs and articles about readability
  • Do you have any resources that would be helpful in explaining the analytics data you are getting?
    • Google has a “schools” feature for training, Google Analytics Academy
    • Morehead-Cain worked with an outside company who helped them identify meaningful analytic areas for them to review for the site design
  • Can you tell us how to sort the various needs of a department (student, alumni, faculty)?
    • Majority of visits are prospective students
      • Need to tailor the content to those situations
      • You may have to manage individuals who want to add content that is less relevant to your goal/mission/audience
      • Ask the question: Will anyone want to read this?
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