MashED Up: Mashups and Higher Education
Attendees at this summer’s EduWeb conference in Chicago will have a great roster of speakers to choose from, including our own Doug Gapinski and Laurel Hechanova. Doug and Laurel will be discussing the use of mashups in higher and secondary education.
Here’s an abstract for the presentation:
With the proliferation of gigantic media repositories such as Flickr and Youtube, social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, and new ideas about open source data, mashups that allow people to repurpose data on one site for use somewhere else are becoming more and more common.
We’ll look at several examples of what mashups are used for, including changing context of data, resurfacing content, visualization, way finding, entertainment, and more. We’ll even look at how some institutions are using mashups to support their brands. Specific examples will be shown inside and outside of higher education, and we will touch briefly on a couple of common tools for creating mashups.
Look for more about the EduWeb conference, which is scheduled for late July.
Welcome!
Our staff meeting was a little quiet this morning, and we realized that it’s because nearly half our team members are rocketing around the country, meeting with clients, and collaborating on some great new projects.
Hofstra Law (Hempstead, NY): Some of the projects we’re most proud of (we’re looking at you, Oakton) have involved working with our clients to find new ways to express who they are and bring their stories to life online. So we jumped at the opportunity to work this year with Hofstra Law on both branding and website redesign. We’ll be helping with admissions communications as well. You can see some of the already-completed video work at http://www.youtube.com/user/HofstraLawSchool#g/u.
Brown University (Providence, RI): Global reputation for excellence? Check. Engaged and engaging project team? Check. Willingness to take risks and look beyond to obvious? Check. We couldn’t be more pleased to have Brown University as a new partner. We’re working with them to redesign the top levels of their website.
University of Chicago (Chicago, IL): Many of our clients are (wisely) focused on admissions communications: how to attract the right students to apply and enroll. Sometimes it’s interesting to take a step in the other direction and look closely at how you can connect with alumni. We’re working with the University of Chicago on a research project right now to help understand the alumni communications landscape among some of its peer schools.
Middlesex School (Concord, MA): We love our independent school clients—George School, Kent School, NMH. There’s something about the spirit of the independent school that inspires passion in its students, its faculty and staff, and in us. So we’re very pleased to be starting a new project with Middlesex, a hundred-year-old school outside Boston. We’ll be helping Middlesex to tackle a website redesign.
Alverno College (Milwaukee, WI): Our work with Alverno College provides us an opportunity to shine a light onto a truly unique learning experience. At Alverno, evaluations are based on work assessments instead of grades, and there’s a focus on group learning and relationships between students and faculty. Our challenge in working with Alverno is to provide insight into the advantages and opportunities that this style of learning can provide to both students and faculty.
Mount Mercy College (Cedar Rapids, IA): We started talking to the team at Mount Mercy in the spring of last year, and right away, we knew they were our kind of people. This is a dynamic, compelling institution with an interesting story to tell, and we’re very glad to have an opportunity to help them tell it. We can’t wait to help them bring their new site to life.
A Great Start to 2010
It seems like just yesterday that we were bidding a not-so-fond farewell to 2009 and looking ahead to some exciting milestones in 2010. Somehow the first quarter of the new year is already behind us, and it’s been a busy one with new clients and go-lives. Before we let too much time pass, we want to congratulate clients on their recently launched sites, and thank them for choosing us as their partner.
Roosevelt University<http://www.roosevelt.edu>: When we first began working with Roosevelt, the university was in the early stages of creating a new identity and marketing campaign. We were fortunate to be part of those research and creative meetings. Being a part of that process gave us to bring a deeper understanding of the university and its community. We refocused feature content around students, using their stories to illustrate the new brand and underscoring the fact that these students are truly driven by Roosevelt’s focus on social justice.
Converse College <http://www.converse.edu>: We worked with Converse College to simplify navigation and structure in order to create a new site that’s much easier to navigate. We also love the fact that Converse wanted the spirit of the college shine through the design and content. It might have been easy to go a little bit more mainstream, but we feel like this site really looks and feels like Converse. It’s a fairly big change, but with a small (and dedicated) team, Converse managed to pull it off.
The American Dental Association <http://www.ada.org>: The American Dental Association isn’t a typical mStoner client, but we found many similarities between this membership organization and the education institutions we often work with. Specifically, the ADA’s site is large and complex, and it must connect with a very diverse set of audiences. The new site balances member-facing information and engaging content for the general public. We worked with the ADA on design, content, and information architecture to ensure that both regular and first-time visitors can find the information that they’re looking for.
Oakton Community College<http://www.oakton.edu>: No matter what the education needs of the individual—just starting out, ongoing professional education, or personal development—Oakton is there. The college’s sense of community and purpose is almost palpable when you’re on campus. We feel the site conveys that same sense of warmth and commitment to each person’s success. The information architecture, navigation, and specialized search features are calibrated to serve Oakton’s very diverse audiences. And under the hood, the CMS implementation and template suite accommodate a broad range of department, office, and unit needs.
The University of Windsor <http://www.uwindsor.ca>: We worked with the Windsor University team to create a main site and templates with a number of stylesheet-driven color scheme options for individual departments. We also created two subsites for the business and law schools that are true to each school’s identity but that remain harmonious with the overall university brand.
Asking the Right Questions, Finding the Right Partner
Sometimes the biggest challenge in your website redesign is just figuring out how to get started. In our latest white paper, we share some insight that might help you through these first steps. For those who need outside help with the project, we’ll also give you some ideas about how to find the right partner for your institution.
If you’re interested in receiving a copy of our white paper, please email our director of business development, Katie Jennings.
39th Annual UCDA Design Competition
The University and College Designers Association announced its 2009 design awards this week, and we’re very pleased to share some good news for two of our web clients! The College of William & Mary received a Silver Award in the overall website category, and Boston College Graduate School of Social Work received an Award of Excellence for the same. The Fashion Institute of Technology, which recently launched a new website with mStoner, also won an award for their LookBook. Congratulations!
FIT Has a New Look
Congratulations to the Fashion Institute of Technology on the launch of their new site! We’ve enjoyed working with FIT on strategy, design, and content development as well as CMS selection and implementation. Their home page features a brand-based flash unit and the site is packed with student galleries, profiles, and video. They also have a brand new look for The Museum At FIT. Check it out!
Congratulations to the College of Charleston on Their Site Launch
Congratulations to the College of Charleston on the launch of their new website today. We’ve enjoyed working with the College of Charleston and could not be more pleased with the redesigned site. Check out their sparkling new design today!
Congratulations to W&M
A big round of applause to our friends at the College of William & Mary for taking home two awards at the 2nd annual eduStyle Higher Ed Web Awards. Recognized for Best Use of Photography and Best Redesign, we could not be more proud of W&M’s achievements since their re-launch in 2008. Congratulations to the W&M team for your continued success!
Michael Stoner on Social Media
Michael Stoner just returned from CASE 2009 Summit for Advancement Leaders where he spoke alongside Elizabeth Allen, associate director of alumni relations at Caltech Alumni Association, about the growing impact of social media, including six common social media myths. Their presentation was referenced today in the July 2009 BriefCASE newsletter.
New Clients
We are delighted and absolutely thrilled to welcome Trinity College (Hartford, CT) and Union College (Schenectady, NY) to our family of clients and friends. Each of these institutions has incredible potential, and we look forward to collaborating with them in the months to come.
