See intergalactically syndicated media mogul, Tom Joyner’s keynote address of our Spring 2010 ceremony this past weekend.

We think you’ll enjoy it, as it presents a great opportunity for NCCU Web Services to take our video presentations like these to the next level. We look to ascend to the brave new world of HTML5, making this video (and hopefully, all that will follow) viewable on *all* video-enabled web devices. If you’re accessing the video via smart phone, please let us know how it works, on your end. Include the type of phone and internet service you use, if possible.

Playback Options:

• Our conventional embed video webpage
• A tiny XML file that automatically opens QuickTime
• Paste this URL into your player’s “Open Network Stream/Location”: rtsp://mediaserver.nccu.edu/convocation/2010.mov

NCCU’s Campus Echo, where Mr. Suggs served as Editor-In-Chief, has further details of the event.

We thank NCCU’s PR department, who created the graphics of the most recent print version of the Map.
We are also thankful for Map Tiler and Warper, very useful tools that helped us with the Google Map API.

Coming Soon:
Next, we integrate this demo version into our live Campus Map. So, how should this thing look and feel and function (from the standpoint of the enduser)? Hmmmm…  We appreciate your input.

I’ve just discovered how insanely cool Feedburner is.
If you like RSS feeds, you’ll LOVE FeedBurner.
What’s in it for you? This short explanation is well-written.
Or, for more NCCU-specific info, see our previous post.

Now, NCCU is Publicizing, Analyzing, and Optimizing our content, hopeful that Feedburner will eventually help us Monetize those feeds, too.

• http://feeds.feedburner.com/nccuwebservices
• http://feeds.feedburner.com/nccutopstories
• http://feeds.feedburner.com/nccusports
• http://feeds.feedburner.com/nccuevents

Recommended Further Reading:
Google (Feedburner’s host) presents Feed 101
How Feedburner Works

Let us know how you feel about all of this.

You want the latest NCCU’s Sports scores sent to your phone, the very second they are updated? And, perhaps you just can’t wait for the very latest stories from our award-winning Campus Echo, but you’re too busy to stay anchored front of your computer, constantly hitting the web page Refresh key?

You do not need a fancy web-enabled smartphone to get it, as one of the benefits of the newly enhanced NCCU Mobile portal. Of course, you can get all our newly added RSS-powered content from http://www.nccu.edu/m on any web device, now with minimal text formatting so that even the pickiest, most proprietary archaic mobile device can receive our content “out-of-the-box”… even if you’re using a bare-bones text-only phone. But there’s much more to it, than that, thanks to miraculous, ever-underutilized RSS feed.

Get RSS feeds sent to you as a text message (SMS) or even via e-mail. This includes the latest NCCU Athletics updates, our award-winning Campus Echo student paper, and the most up-to-date external campus news from our Office of Public Relations. Internal NCCU news is also available upon log-in.

Even if you’re just not up for costs of 24/7 mobile web services and/or the hardware, getting NCCU scores sent to you via text message (or if you prefer, as e-mail) is super-easy. The best way is to let Twitter do the work. Log in to your Twitter account, simply *Follow* the NCCU news source(s) of you choice from there, as http://twitter.com/nccuwebservices, http://twitter.com/nccuathletics, http://twitter.com/nccu, and http://twitter.com/campusecho already exist. Twitter provides you with the appropriate option to receive the updates you want via SMS message (AKA text message) to your cellphone number and/or e-mail address.

You can also get the same results without a Twitter account, using any number of free RSS-to-SMS and RSS-to-EMail services like Yahoo Alerts (http://alerts.yahoo.com/myalerts.php), from the UK, the very ornate txttools (http://www.txttools.co.uk/preloginjsp/txttools/index.jsp), Web-alerts.com, and Pingie.com. All you need is the URL of the RSS content you want (listed at the end of this article), and a phone number (or email address) to which the message will be sent.

Let us know what methods suit you best.

Disclaimer: Be sure to check with your cellular service provider regarding charges that you may incur as the recipient of text messages.

Make sure your department is handling Prospective Eagles as effectively as possible. How? Go to NCCU’s Prospective Student Portal (PSP) and create your own account [via http://www.nccu.edu/intranet/prospective/signup.cfm] with your off-campus e-mail address.  When filling out the short sign-up form, make sure to check your own department as an “Area of Interest”.  Then, see what happens. Let us know how to make it better.

Through your valuable input at our Application Demonstrations, we discovered that personal follow-up contact with those who have expressed interest in NCCU (through the PSP), is one factor that has significant and positive effect on our recruitment efforts. We knew we could improve our PSP to make that process better more inclusive, easier to do, thus more effective. So, we did, because recruitment, the process of turning Prospective Eagles into enrolled Eagles, really is what it’s all about.

Prospective Student Portal (PSP) Enhancements: 10/19/2009

A. We improved the way the PSP system notifies individuals within each department who would follow-up with Student Prospects. Now upon sign-up, individual departmental contacts are dynamically determined.

1) First, the PSP tries to e-mail the official Web Liaisons (if they exist within Web Services’ list), when a prospective student expresses an interest in the appropriate department.

2) The system now accommodates non-Liaison contacts (when the Liaison or Department head assigns a different person to follow-up with their student prospects).

3) If a departmental Web Liaison does *not* exist, the system contacts the Department Head, whenever prospective student expresses interests in the appropriate department.

The new myNavigation Pane via NCCU's Intranet Prospective Student Portal

B. NEW myIntrests Pane - Provides Prospective Students with instant details for each departments in which they have selected as an interest.

1) Contacts - Even if those Departmental Contact lists do NOT usually display in our Online Campus Directory [OCD]. Example: Try to find http://www.nccu.edu/directory/?department=Campus Echo. Then, find in the PSP, as a Prospective Student having expressed interest in the Portal.

2) Links to Scholarships and Curricula specific to users’ academic areas of interest.

3) Departmental Web sites - Now, it includes our Graduate-only programs, those those sites NOT within Web Services’ CMS, or even those outside of the nccu.edu domain (e.g., www.nccuslis.org)

Future Considerations and Enhancements:

• Implement the Business Practices for exiting faculty and staff employees that allow systems to automatically determine and contact the Department Head, as necessary (e.g., if the initial/Web Liaison message is not deliverable). Right now, Department Heads, Directors, Chairpersons, et. al., are administered manually within our database.

Log In to NCCU's Intranet Prospective Student Portal

What Is It:

A tool to facilitate more effective customer service for those interested in applying for NCCU enrollment providing assistance with any of our application-related

processes. This Portal is open-ended to serve as the framework for NCCU’s Customer Intranet throughout the student’s scholastic career (and beyond), in the same way

myEOL currently serves enrolled students and Faculty/Staff, using many of the same features and functions.

Usage:

• Go to the Log-In Page (https://www.nccu.edu/intranet/prospective/login.cfm)

• Click “Sign Up Now” and create an PSP account, with the typical user/contact info (particularly, a user-specified E-Mail and Password). It looks and acts just like the Intranet for Students, Faculty and Staff. It requires a seperate (non-AD) account to get specifically for Prospective Students.

• The PSP collects all user-provided info in a database, and authenticates users via the E-Mail and PW fields specified in the previous “Sign Up Now” process.

• Upon proper Log-In, the PSP displays

1) Targeted “To-Do List” tasks, based on users’ “Applicant Type” (e.g., Freshman, Transfer, Int’l, etc. from the “Sign Up Now” process)

2) Intranet Panes appropriate for the user’s level of access.

Future Considerations and Enhancements:

• Front-end enforcement of Password Strength requirements. Helpful later, when PSP Accounts are integrated into Banner and/or AD.

• Tighter Integration into Banner, with automated propagation of user data (coming from Banner, based on Business Practices which are now being formulated).

• Smooth migration into AD (based on the appropriate Business Practices to be clarified in the future).

Bug Fixes:

• Not Applicable

Known Issues:

• None

What is EagleBook? And why?
Administrators and Decision-makers might already realize that Facebook become the de-facto Nexus of Social Networking sites, and the most effective way to reach students and prospective students.

So, NCCU ITS Web Services is integrating NCCU’s existing Prospective Student Portal with Facebook. We call it Eaglebook. Its HUGE potential impact on our recruitment and retention efforts, is are both obvious and exciting.

Eaglebook is built from the Facebook Connect API to provides an interface for both your myEOL Eagles *AND* Facebook friends. When you initially connect with Eaglebook, it sends an update to you Facebook feed, for all your friends to see. See?

Eaglebook Screenshot

But that’s only the beginning…

NCCU Admissions recruiters can communicate with NCCU prospects directly through their Facebook account, reaching prospective student where they already are.

Prospective Student will be able to log into myEOL using their Facebook username and password. They can invote their Facebook friends to come join us via the myEOL Prospective Student portal. And they’ll tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on…

1. You must get your password up-to-snuff. Our new Password Strength application explains the specifics more clearly.
2. This new application immediately informs you when your new password is compliant.
3. … Or, if not, then why.

Detailed Explanation:
We’ve re-built the “Change Your Network (AD) Password” page to feature a live Password Strength Meter. General Administration requires all NCCU’s network passwords meet minimal industry standards. If your password is not compliant, you will soon be routed to a Change Password page (before being allowed access to any of our other functions). Our built-in Password Strength Meter provides immediate feedback, as your prospective new password meets the crieteria.. Or, why it fails to do so.

The COD also displays the date founded, current President (whose contact info link is automatically created by the appliaction), Faculty Advisor/Department (whose contact info link is also created by the appliaction), Chapter, Colors and a graphic logo or seal. If any of the above details do not exist in the database, it is ignored thus not displayed.

How To Use It?

• Go to the bottom of the page, and enter your search for the name of an organization
• Click on the name of the Club/Organization for detailed info.
• You can also list all campus organizations by type (e.g., Social, Fraternity/Sorority, Honorary, Academic., etc.)
• Or, list organizations by the department associated with that organization.

NOTE: By default, organizations that are not associated with a specific Academic or Administrative department are listed under the Department of Student Affairs. Contact them to update and correct your club/organization’s data within the COD.

How to update or correct info about my Club/Org’s Info?
For now, simply contact NCCUs’ Department of Student Affairs.

How can Web Liaisons best utilize the COD (Clubs and Organizations Database) within NCCU’s departmental sites?  See our brief FAQ - http://www.nccu.edu/knowledgebase/faq.cfm?id=170

If there are no timely alerts, the web page will appear “normally”. Otherwise, look for the big green message block near the top of the page. You can’t miss it.

Sometimes we do these things just for us. We can hardly wait for the next snow day.

Usage:

• Choose one of multiple map views of campus - Map View, Satellite View, or (default) "Bird’s Eye" Hybrid View.
• Buildings are grouped by categories - Residence Halls, Classrooms, and Other (Offices and Misc.). Click on any one of those categories to see the list of building names within that category.
• Buildings now distinguished by colorful, semi-transparent overlays on the actual buildings (replacing the cluttered icons)
• Click on the building name text (on the right side list) or on the color-coded building overlay within the map display a picture and a description/details of the building. We call them "Building Profiles".
• Our OCD [Online Campus Directory], and Event Calendar now utilize direct links to these Building Profiles
• Some use these same URL to Building Profiles to e-mailing colleagues and within other web pages.

What’s New?

I. Interface and Content

A. For Users:

The Map looks better, now It’s less cluttered and easier to find specific buildings. Just click on “Classrooms” or “Residence Halls” or “Others/Offices” to see a list of all the buildings on campus. Then, click on the name of that building, which opens an “info-window/balloon” on the map with details about that building. You can also make a URL to send web users directly to that info-window/balloon. For example, we are here: http://www.nccu.edu/map/index.cfm?cat=other&num=11. More about direct links to buildings below.

B. For Us WebHead-types:

1) Added more and better content into the 3 XML files, replacing the clunky icons (representing campus buildings) with more elegant and intuitive semi-transparent color-coded polygons. 

2) Added code to parse the URL and programmatically click the appropriate building link, as needed.

3) Hammered out some javascript bugs so that the apps behaves similarly in both IE and FF. This included pre-loading the images that appear within the info-window/balloon, so the info-window/balloon opens correctly.

II. Integration with other NCCU Web Apps

A. For Users:

Go to your campus profile [Yours includes a photo and updated content, right? Your Bio and Resume/Vita? How about your Publications?]. Click on the name of the building in which you work. Cool, eh? It works the same way for event within the University Events Calendar.

B. For Us WebHeads-types:

1) Created a proxy page to accommodate dynamic XML links for the OCD.

2) Utilized the pre-existing ability for automatic link to buildings within the ACD app by manually adding those links into the appropriate Admin interface.

Future Considerations/Modifications/Enhancements:

• Computer Labs locations
• Campus Parking and
  Emergency Blue Lights
• Bus Routes
• Directions To and From all buildings
• User generated routes
• Walking distances

Bug Fixes:

• Code now validates
• Default configurations and links now behave consistently within W3C standards-compliant browsers an IE5, 6 and 7

Known Issues:

• None - Let us know if you find some

Get more details about this and all of our applications, staying abreast of all of NCCU's latest site developments and updates via NCCU ITS Web Services' Eagle Blog.

In an effort to reduce clutter, we have removed the large gray links from the left side of most pages. These links have been replaced with a revamped “quicklinks” feature which will get you to NCCU.edu’s most popular pages. The large gray links remain on the home page, so they are never more than one click away.

It’s all in the game. Spam, that is… Unscrupulous marketers are as old as the marketplace, itself. In today’s digital marketplace, unscrupulous marketers use spam, attempting to draw attention to their products.

In a perfect world, no one would ever patronize any market or any merchant that uses spam, and the problem would go away. But until NCCU’s departmental web liaisons live in that perfect world, we have to endure spam, as part of the reality of utilizing and maintaining web forms.

But the game is not totally lost. You see, the world’s worst spammers don’t implement their scourge, manually. They use crafty web programming (AKA “bots”, “spiders” and such), to find and automatically submit spam, through those web forms. Enter ReCAPTCHA - a reasonably unobtrusive layer placed in between the “Submit Form” button, and the person who would receive the results of those forms.

ReCaptcha, a stalwart PHP code snippet, recently ported over to NCCU’s ColdFusion platform, asks the form submitter for to type in some specific semantic data that is particularly difficult to do if you’re an automated web program (instead of a human).

While the evil Spammers keep looking for ways to defeat ReCaptcha, it is not a perfect, nor permanent solution, but it’ll help… A lot.  Examples:

• http://www.nccu.edu/formsdocs/files/webforms/shepardSuggestions.cfm
• http://www.nccu.edu/formsdocs/files/webforms/shepardMaterialRequest.cfm

If you are having Spam problems, give Web Services a call and ask us to install ReCaptcha on your departmental web forms.

You will also find a customer service icon (”?”) which will take you to our customer service page, where (among other functions) you can notify us about any site difficulties you experience. You can also use our new Customer Service web application to make contact with any other department on campus.

NCCU Web Services is trying to roll with you. Specifically, we’re going mobile! Even more specifically, we’re in your mobile device - Your smart phone, your Blackberry, your iPhone/iPod Touch, your Windows Mobile gadget… Whatever you take with you, it allows you to take us with you.

For example, call up this site ( www.nccu.edu/eagleblog ) in your mobile web device. The site will automagically determine what type of device you’re using, and optimize the pages for your specific device. The site’s look and feel will be different from you PC web browser, yet providing access to all the same information. Give it a go, and let us know. More NCCU Mobile apps are coming soon… Very soon.

NOTE:
What about your not-so-smart phone? If you can send of receive cellular text messages, you can also receive this blog’s updates, instantly. Contact us for details about getting SMS (i.e., phone text) messages in your phone when this blog is updated (e.g., via RSS feed).

NCCU ITS Web Services has created a University Web Site Style Guide for our Web Liasions. This documents contains Do’s and Don’ts and best practices for how you should layout your page in the CMS.

Click here to see the document.

NCCU Web Services has leveraged the power of Google Maps for your campus navigational needs. Whip together a heaping helping of XML (of the KML-flavoring to be specific), a healthy dose of Google’s famously developer-friendly API (Application Programming Interface), a smattering of Javascript, a dash of ColdFusion coding (cfinclude) to squeeze it into our CMS template, and Voila! There you have it (at http://www.nccu.edu/map)!

In case you were worried, the old-school printer-friendly PDF version is still available; but ours is easier to use, it’s more accurate, and just plain cooler. Get dynamicaly generated directions to or from wherever you may be, to or from anywhere on campus. Google provides some short videos to help you get the most out of our NCCU Google Map at http://www.google.com/help/maps/tour/

Next incarnations will include additional map overlays to display your campus parking options and Wi-Fi coverage, and tighter integration with mobile web devices. The possibilities are endless, but the rest is up to you.

There is so much that we can do from here, as clever samples of Google Maps’ capabilities are all over the web. Let us know specifically, what mapping features you’d like us to incorporate next, or of course, if you find any missing or inaccurate content.

Who are you? What do you do? And where? What are you about? Some might even inquire as “Eagles, where you at?” Your Eagle profile knows.

It’s all about you and it’s all there - Your academic areas of study, your resume/vita, and any additional biography info you wish to include. Plus, you can link your Eagle Profile to your favorite social networking web stuff (e.g., MySpace, Facebook and Twitter).

Initially released as the Faculty and Staff OCD (Online Campus Directory), Web Services has expanded it to include and accommodate Students‘ special needs. Eagles are looking to find you on the OCD, so make sure that your Profile properly represents you.

After logging-in to myEOL as usual, just click the “Profile” button (within the Personal Assistant pane), and jump on it.

Get additional online instructions on updating your Campus Directory Profile.

Our detailed Release Notes are also available.

It functions just like the current employee directory. Your Campus Profile is linked to your Eagle Status.
Whatever you enter in the myEOL Eagle Status pane, that’s what will show in the status, of your Campus Profile.

This means that users who have not logged into myEOL will only see forms and documents applicable to visitors. Logged in users will either see student forms and documents or employee forms and documents depending on his/her group membership.

Q: What’s the big deal? It’s just another “Web Log”, right?
A: Wrong. It’s YOUR blog! They’re our blogs… All of them in a single place, where the Eagle Family goes to find and to make stuff that affects our world.

For example:
* Students can easily journal their college experiences for family and friends, back home.
* Faculty can best utilize the “Websites for non-Techies” approach for which blogs has become famous. You can effortlessly and more effectively communicate  with students, colleagues and the world!
* Staff, use your EagleBlog to impress your friends (who don’t yet have one). And maybe your EagleBlog will work like many others, helping people with who share similar challenges, (of all kinds - big and small) to find each other, in order to work together overcoming those challenges.

It’ll work like this: Simply Log-In (via the Intranet, or at the EagleBlog-In page with your usual AD credentials). That will automatically activate your blog, sending you a confirmation e-mail with your EagleBlog address and instructions to get your started! Furthermore, you can easily import your existing blog into the family of EagleBlogs. Lose the ads and gain the esteemed “nccu.edu” Web address (URL).
We did.

See the prototype now online at http://web.nccu.edu/eagleblog

Then, learn about more Eagleblog’s features, and its boundless possibilities and tomorrow, at today’s edition NCCU Web Services’ Show and Tell Tuesday. It’s just one of several new web applications we’ll demo in an effort to make your life at NCCU a little bit…. eeerr cooler.

Perhaps you’re asking “What else you got”?
So glad you asked. For one, there a great update to the OCD (Online Campus Directory):
Student Profiles are now available [for those who are signed in to the Intranet].
While we were at it, we added Social Network links into Faculty-Staff Campus Profiles, too.

Student are already raveing about it. The Facebook comparisons are obvious and expected.
We look to integrate our apps even more tightly into the best social networks.
In WebWorld, it’s called Mashed-Up Social Networking… and it is NOT the “Future of the web…” It’s now.

In A Related Matter:
What’s up with the Eagle Status? Users are posting content like Bikes/Books for Sale.
Problem: That Classified Ads-type info is not retained in the Eagle Status pane for long.
The messages get pushed out quickly, as Eagle Status only hold 5 messages at a time.
Then, those ads are retained in the wrong place  - in that user’s Campus Profile, where it is both meaningless and ineffective. This problem demonstrated an obvious need for a bona fide Bulletin Board.
So, we’ve built one: http://web.nccu.edu/apps/phpBB.
Log in, poke around, and let us know what else needs to go there.

Furthermore, based on your feedback, we tweaked Intranet Log-In page a bit, with links to a demo video.
We feel like we got that one right, as the number of related Helpdesk phone calls plummeted, soon after.

We’ve also enhanced the Knowledge Base. Specifically, we’re pulling metadata from our site
template in such a way that each page dynamically produces links to the appropriate related FAQs (if they exist). This means two things for your department’s Web Liaisons:
1) Be sure to get your departmental FAQs into the Knowledge Base.
2) Entering the Keywords fields in your CMS pages becomes much more important.

And finally, at long last, NCCU sticks our toe in the waters of Business Intelligence.
We started with one little metric… Ours… Namely, counting the broken link on www.nccu.edu.
We run a nightly report, we pull a synopsis of that report results, and post it to a dashboard.
Then, we make it available to the appropriate personel. Once you see it, perhaps you can help us figure out how to extend the idea in a way that will work for your department. That’s what Show and Tell Tuesdays are all about.

See you then. Tell your friends.

Web Services has already migrated our previous BlogSpot/Blogger posts over here. You may have noticed the “Archives” on the right side of the page. We prefer the tons of new features, the flexibility and control. And we think that you will, too.

If you’ve logged in (the usual AD way), you can leave a comment on any post you see.

MOST IMPORTANTLY
The Walkaway - We want to join us! Get your very OWN EagleBlog site. Right here… Today.
It’s yours for the asking.

Q: What’s the big deal? It’s just a Blog, right?
A: Wrong. It’s YOUR blog! Our blog, a single place for the Eagle Family to go for stuff that affects our world.
It works like this: Simply Log-In (via the Intranet, or your usual AD credentials), and you’re all set! Often, blogs are the place where people who share similar challenges (of all kinds - big and small) find each other and work together to overcome those challenges. Your EagleBlog can work for you, no matter who you are:

• Students can easily journal their experiences for their family and friends back home.
• Faculty can best utilize the “Websites for non-Techies” approach for which blogging has become famous. Effortlessly and effectively communicate with your students, colleagues and the planet!
• Staff, use your EagleBlog to impress your friends (who don’t yet have one). Share your thoughts, your pictures, your interests, or any web nuggets you determine worthy of sharing. It’s all about you.

Meanwhile, this particular EagleBlog is where we’ll keep you posted here with ALL of our new developments.

“What? Didn’t you just finish launching y’all’s redesign” Well… Yes, we did that, over the Christmas holidays.

“So then, what up with your ‘upgrade’?” It’s a graphic/UI enhancement optimizing the template for 1024 x 768 screen resolutions.

“So, what does *that* mean? And why did you do it?”

Good question - Using our previous smaller screen optimization, users with larger screens, saw a site that looked “well, aiight, I guess… a little ’skrunched up’… ” You see, 800 x 600 was the standard several years ago. But today, that standard of 1024 x 768, is universally acknowledged within the Web Development/Usability communities [e.g., the W3C, among others].

While our initial impulse was to accommodate those with sub-standard computer gear, our analytics simply did not justify it, as only about 3% of our visitors used 800 x 600. By far, most of our site visitors, use today’s standard screen settings. We concluded that there were too many folks who ended up sacrificing the quality of their NCCU web site experience, for the benefit of too few. Is was a tough decision to swallow, but at the end of the day, that decision enhanced your overall web experience.

This way, we think the site looks a lot better… for a lot more people. Now, the content has a little room to breathe, as it were. More room for Mikey Render, our graphics ace wunderkind to blast you.

But what do YOU think? We really really do want to know. Go to the site www.nccu.edu and click the “Feedback” tab, always floating in the lower right corner of your screen.