[Linux-aus] Media Team report for 2015

[Kathy Reid]

Hi David,

Thanks for your feedback and for your question.

The LA website was an excellent choice when it was developed around 5 
years ago. It made key information for visitors clear and easily 
accessible, and had a lot of functions that allows Members to easily 
interact with the site - such as a login which worked between MemberDB 
and the website.

Website design and development has evolved in that time, and the LA 
digital presence needs to evolve as well.

- Firstly, the site is currently on Drupal 6. It requires an 
infrastructure upgrade.
- The content could be better architected to suit the need of current - 
and future user cohorts. For example, Jobs are one of the most visited 
pages on the site, yet this content is not surfaced through the landing 
page. There are opportunities to better surface social media presence 
through the site as well, for instance through the use of a Twitter feed.
- From a site design perspective, this hasn't been UX tested at all, and 
this is something that would be useful to improve its value. From an 
accessibility point of view, it's not terrible, but like all sites could 
be better.

Rather than consider the website in isolation, there are some 'bigger 
picture' pieces that are touchpoints for the website;

- Redoing the infrastructure for the site should be done as part of an 
Admin Team / Server / Infrastructure plan or strategy. Like all the 
subcommittees and Teams, the Admin team is strapped for time and 
resources, and writing a plan takes away from the time to actually keep 
things running. So, if anyone has a few hours' time to donate ....

- Redoing the content should be considered in line with a move to a 
replacement for MemberDB. Presumably, the MemberDB and website would 
work hand in glove to provide content for Members and Non-Members. This 
requires the formation of a Membership Team to drive the replacement of 
MemberDB.

- Redoing the site design itself is tied to a rebranding of Linux 
Australia (whether under that moniker or not).

So, what can we do as an interim or tactical measure with the website?

1. The frontrunner candidate for MemberDB replacement is CiviCRM - so 
I'd recommend a Drupal upgrade to be in line with the recommended specs 
to run CiviCRM backended on to Drupal

2. We can easily surface more content through the home page such as Jobs 
and Twitter information

3. We can use tools such as Optimize.ly to A/B test various minor design 
changes / layout changes to see what works.

Of course, all the above is really within Web Team's remit - and I'd 
welcome their advice and thoughts.

With kind regards,
Kathy

On 21/12/15 18:46, David Lloyd wrote:
> When you say the "site is somewhat out of date" on the last page, you
> follow this up with a technical content.
>
> This implies that the report isn't saying the design is outdated, needs
> urgent artistic/usability updating [1] but that's an assumption.
>
> So the document means that the site could be upgraded.
>
> APART from obvious security fixes, would this help the media team / LA
> in the future?
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: linux-aus [mailto:linux-aus-bounces at lists.linux.org.au] On
> Behalf Of
>> Kathy Reid
>> Sent: Monday, 21 December 2015 2:23 PM
>> To: Linux Australia <linux-aus at lists.linux.org.au>
>> Subject: [Linux-aus] Media Team report for 2015
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> Please find att'd the Media Team report for 2015.
>>
>> As always your questions, concerns and feedback are warmly welcomed,
>>
>> Kind regards,
>> Kathy Reid
>>
>> On behalf of the Media and Communications Subcommittee
>