Members of the AU community gathered on Monday in the Katzen Arts Center to celebrate the unveiling of AU's newly redesigned Web site, which combines new technologies with user feedback to create a dynamic site that brings out the best aspects of AU.
President Neil Kerwin made the opening remarks, in which he thanked the AU community for coming together and making the site a collaborative effort.
"The campus came together in a spirit of collegiality to tackle a project so enormous that what that says about the inherent strength of [AU] makes me proud as its president," he said. "It talks about who we are as a community and what we can accomplish when we decide to work together."
One of the cornerstones of the development of the new site was feedback from members of the AU community, Kerwin said.
"What did our users expect?" he said. "Not what [the administration] thought we needed, but what the world outside told us we needed."
The feedback from students was one of the most important concerns of the Web team during the sites' development, according to David Taylor, Kerwin's chief of staff. Whenever there was a dispute between members of the administration and students over what design concepts were best, the Web team would most often side with the students, he said.
A new feature that allows students to further contribute to the new Web site is student profiles. Students can set up a basic profile in which they can submit their name, major and graduation year, according to University Communications and Marketing Executive Director Terry Flannery.
Taylor said he believes the unveiling event was a success because it showed the collaborative effort of many different people on the Web site project.
"It gives you a strong sense of community," he said. "You get a sense that everyone is sharing - it's not just one perspective coming out. When you view it, you feel like you're a part of it. It's reflective of how the whole project went - it wasn't just one department, it really was all corners of campus coming together."
Katie Neff, a sophomore in the School of Communication, said she felt that the organization of the new Web site will be a benefit to both current and prospective members of the AU community.
"The new Web site is good for prospective students because it gives them a good view of the campus," she said. "Overall the Web site is more organized. We've all had problems finding what we need on the Web site and I think AU's new Web site really improves on that."
Future developments on the site will focus on developing AU's web presence, Flannery said. Members of the Media Relations department sent out Facebook messages and announcements on Twitter about the Web site unveiling. Developments of AU's Web presence would help AU connect to other universities and to reach out to prospective students, she said.
Any and all new developments to the site will rely on user feedback, Taylor said. Student interactivity in the Web site would be crucial to its continued success.
"In multimedia we no longer have the set up of one-too-many, us telling you what you need to know," he said. "It's a conversation. I think this Web site helps us leap into the era of interactive communication."
Student Government President Seth Cutter gave feedback to the Web team during the site's development. He said he believed the event did an excellent job of premiering the new Web site to the AU community.
"[This event] really means a lot to the institution today," Cutter said. "It's taking AU's Web presence to new heights. It was long overdue."
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