[Sigia-l] Re: University intranets

[Thompson, Weston]

I've been managing a small college web site for just over 5 years.
Here's my take on this.  (MLS, 5 years as an archivist/records manager
before this gig.)

* I know that some universities/colleges have intranets and that they
may default people to them at their campus workstations.

* From my library/archives background, I had a strong interest in the
notion of public access to records unless they absolutely need to be
confidential.  That influence has lessened as I've focused on the web
side ... and it is nearly gone: it can lead to cluttered web sites.  I
suspect this is part of the background overall: colleges/universities
are often used to publicly sharing everything they have to offer.

* Also, we have many groups on campus who focus their waking moments on
how other audiences interact with the institution.  Offices of
admission, financial aid, development (fund raising), alumni, off-campus
study, registrar, dean of students, dining hall, facilities -- they all
want to constantly view the campus from the perspective of the people
they serve. Shifting them too quickly over to an Intranet starting point
might cause some panic - that they are losing sight/control of the
interface that their constituents use.

* I think that the move to college/university Intranets is naturally
paired with the development of web-based tools (possibly campus portal)
for faculty/staff to interact with the student information system
(SIS/ERP).  In some ways, the SIS/ERP interface is the "killer app" for
the Intranet.  Our overriding internal concern for the past few years
was bringing to campus a web-based interface for faculty to get class
lists and enter grades, etc.  Now that we have that, I start to see how
we can evolve that system into a campus intranet.

I think this can be done and can be a good thing. In our case, I will
use our campus portal as the opening.

Weston Thompson
Associate Director / Web Editor
Information Systems and Technology
Claremont McKenna College
500 E. 9th Street
Claremont, CA 91711
Phone: 909-607-9245
weston.thompson at claremontmckenna.edu
http://ist.claremontmckenna.edu/webteam


-----Original Message-----
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 05:55:24 +1300
From: Justine Sanderson <justine at e3.co.nz>
Subject: [Sigia-l] University intranets

<snip>

1. Does anyone know the background or rationale to the above university
model? 2. Has anyone struggled with this model when developing
university intranets? What are the pros and cons? 3. Has anyone tried to
change this model, i.e develop an university intranet distinct from the
university's website? Is the cultural change required too big? What are
the issues?

###########################################

This message has been scanned by F-Secure Anti-Virus for Microsoft
Exchange.
For more information, connect to http://www.F-Secure.com/