Arts Is...

How Do I Get an Event Listed on the A&S Website?

jen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:58:24 +0000

How do I get my event featured on the event list on the Arts and Sciences homepage?

Begin by entering the event in the university calendar.

Here’s How to Enter an Event

1. Look in the lower left hand column of the calendar page and find the area to add or update events. Enter your event by choosing “Add an Event” or if you are registered, use the “Administrative Interface.” Being a registered user is helpful if you have many events during the year, but it isn’t necessary if you have only a few events each semester.*

University Calendar

2. Then fill out the information about your event and be sure to “flag” the event to show up on the A&S page by checking the ArtsSci flag.

Common Add-Event Interface

Administrative Add-Event Interface

3. After the event is submitted and flagged, the event will show up on the university calendar as well as in the A&S event list.

Event on University Calendar

Event on A&S Homepage

Please note that events may not show up immediately.

Here’s where you get started: University Calendar

* To get administrator access, contact Karen Trask (kst32@cornell.edu).

Deciphering the Majors

jen — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:02:21 +0000

One goal of the new website is to create a better way for students to explore the diversity of majors available in the college. To that end we are busy designing a tool that allows students to select an interest area. Then they will be presented with a selection of majors. There’s lots of overlap and lots of opportunity for exploration. After they are presented with the smaller list of relevant majors, they can dig deeper and get a quick overview of the major by reviewing each major’s “card.” An example is presented here. Note that a link to the department or program is featured on the card so that they can dig even deeper. All the departments and programs are reviewing the descriptions now. Thanks those of you who have gotten them back so quickly!

Sample "major card" for music

We’ve Started Building!

jen — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:47:09 +0000

We have an approved design and we are now starting to build out the website. So we are still on target to launch the new site around the time that the acceptance letters go out. Here’s a sneak peek at the design.

Story Carousel (click on the image to see the full screen)

The story carousel shown here enables us to illustrate the depth and breadth of the college’s offerings at a glance. As we pull the pages together, I’m sure we will be asking for more input and more content from some of you. Stay tuned!

Visual Design

jen — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:39:53 +0000

From a functionality point of view, we want to achieve the goals outlined in the project description, but we also had some specific design expectations to meet. Making things easy to find is a priority so we need the design to be clean and orderly. But we also want people to be able to see the breadth and depth of the College’s offerings at a glance. So we wanted to use plenty of visuals to tell the story.

Arts & Sciences Palette

With the variety of visuals flowing through the page, the background of the page must form a beautiful frame for the projects, people and research that we showcase. We are opting for a warm and dignified palette that is complementary to Cornell’s color scheme yet puts an Arts & Sciences spin on things.

Stay tuned as we roll out the new design. We invite your comments! As you will hear me say often, a website is never “done.” It should continue to grow and change as our audience grows and changes and as our communications needs develop.

Project Goals for the Website Redesign

jen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:53:31 +0000

The fundamental goals of the new web site for the College of Arts & Sciences are to tell the wonderfully rich story of the college through images, stories, multimedia and more, and to increase the functionality and usability of the site.

Telling the Story

Show the depth and breadth of Arts & Sciences
Unbury the “special options” (such as the amount and sophistication of student research)
Create a page that is timely
- update often
- bring in feeds from elsewhere (events, student blogs)
- use the power of the medium to publish once and distribute multiple places on the site
Make site rich with content
- take advantage of multiple content sources (Cornell Chronicle, external press, our own features)
- create feature sites for big projects (such as the Baroque Organ and the Physical Sciences Building)
Add depth with multi-media
Create an authentic voice by featuring:
- blogs
- curated flickr
- curated youtube
- gateways to popular social networking

Improving Functionality

Make technical functionality operate more smoothly
Put things where people can find them
Label things in ways that make sense
Offer multiple gateways for people to find what they are looking for
Because research shows students think in terms of “majors,” create a better way for students to learn about our majors and minors
Make it easier for faculty to find what they want through department sites (their preferred route)
Whenever possible, replace long lists with more focused clusters of information

Welcome!

jen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:51:52 +0000

Welcome to A&S Is, the Arts & Sciences Web Development Team’s communication hub. The purpose of this site is to share updates about the college’s website redesign process and provide a central location to share information about best practices and new tools and opportunities that will be may be of use to departments.