Friday, 6 November 2009

A virtual Guild hub

Following on from discussions I had on Satellite Sites about ways in which students who are not based on Edgbaston campus can interact with and benefit from the Guild I am looking in to the ways in which we can make better use of our website to increase the reach of our services. The idea is to create a 'virtual hub' which allows students to access services from off campus. We're trying to develop something to start with that can then evolve based on your needs. I'd like to hear more from students who don't normally get to come to the Guild about what sort of services they would like to see integrated better on the website.
Posted by Fabian Guy Neuner at 14:28
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1 comment:

  1. Nick Petrie6 November 2009 at 17:50

    It seems to me that there are some underlying issues in the Guild's website that need to be addressed before it can be expanded to play a more significant role in the life if students who spend less time on campus and at the Guild.

    For instance at the moment there is nothing under the 'whats on' section and the calendar is too far down the page. The constant flow of information through the home page is somewhat disconcerting as well.

    The fact that the 'officer team' appears in both the 'Your Guild' and 'Your Support' menu items says that the structure of the website has not been thought through. Also in the 'Make your self heard' section it has some information on Student Reps and Guild Council - but it doesn't tell you how you can get in touch with your councillor or who they are.

    It could link to the list of councillors that comes under the Guild Council section - however - it doesn't tell you there how you can get in touch with them either.

    I appreciate that you were asking for some ideas, so i am not just going to make a long list of everything wrong with the site - however it should be noted that there are some fundamental issues with it and it structure.

    Ways to move forwards and make it a better service for all, especially those more disconnected students -

    Like the library has introduced the chat to a librarian feature on my.bham you could have a similar thing for the ARC, so that students that can't get to the Guild can make more of the advice available.

    You could also provide a campus area, which is broken down into all of Birmingham's sites, so Edgbaston, Selly Oak, Shakespeare Institute etc.. in these areas information can be re-organised in a way which prioritises that which is more relevant to those students.

    There should be a resources area that has everything from nomination forms through to the membership handbook and the Guild Council agendas and minutes available in PDF to download.

    Features should not come above many more important sections of the site, when the majority of the content in that section is games and horoscopes, it says you place less value on what comes below. (Your Guild, Your Voice, Your Support - all second rate to the more frivolous content - having the FAQ in there devalues it as well.

    You could have problems section, where satellite site students could discuss common issues faced and good ways to deal with them- it could also have knowledge base - with the best answers collated for new students.

    There could also be a campaigns area, where all campaigns are listed, with there progress and the relevant people to contact - this can be broken down by relevance to students on different campuses and a comments section that students can discuss how it is going, whether they think it is meeting their needs and what else should be included or tackled.

    I hope this is considered more constructive rather than negative - looking forward to other peoples ideas.

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