icarda.org :: web strategy
Version 0.4 published on 29 March by Ben Hack () 24 |36
icarda.org :: Web Strategy
ICARDA Website Strategic Plan 2010-11
Draft
Version 0.4
Published March 29, 2010
Created by Bernhard Hack, CODIS
ICARDA Website strategic plan 2010-2011
Table of contents
Change History 3
Roles & responsibilities 4
Executive summary 5
1. Introduction 6
1.1. Website objectives 6
1.1. Site Mission statement 7
1.2. Site goals 7
1.3. Design Objectives 7
1.4. Project scope 8
2. User research 9
2.1. Heuristic evaluation 9
2.2. Website statisitics 12
2.3. Audience Analysis 13
3. Design Vision 22
3.1. Functions / Functionality 22
3.2. Design 22
3.3. User experience 22
3.4. Site concept 22
3.5. Design considerations 22
3.6. High level site migration strategy of current sites 22
4. Content Management 23
4.1. Rules 23
4.2. Roles 23
4.3. Resources 23
4.4. Example publishing process: Report 24
4.5. Content Management System 26
4.6. Templates 28
4.7. Metadata 30
4.8. Content chunking 30
4.9. Search 31
4.10. Disaster Recovery 31
5. Project timeline 32
Facelift Sitemap 33
Facelift Wireframe 34
Timeline to launch 35
Glossary 36
Change History
Version 0.1 :: January 24, 2010
§ Draft Project plan developed
Version 0.2 :: January 31, 2010
§ Draft Project plan revised
§ Edited Design goals
§ Added design objectives
§ Edited Reviewers
Version 0.3 :: February 24, 2010
§ Site vision and mission added
§ Design objectives revised
§ Results of content analysis added
§ Content Management drafted
§ Project Plan revised
Version 0.4 :: March 29, 2010
§ Added glossary
§ Updated roles & responsibilities matrix
§ Updated timeline
Roles & responsibilities
Reviewer / Email Address / Role / GroupCore Team
Liz Clarke / / Head of Unit / CODIS
Ben Hack / / Project Manager / CODIS
Manaf Hamam / / Webmaster / CODIS
Hazem Fattal / / Organizer / CODIS
Ammar Halabi / / Intern / CODIS
Extended Team / Proposed
Dr. Zaid Abdul-Hadi / / Strategic Advisor / CBSU
Colin Webster / / Technology Advisor / CBSU
Siba Darouzi / / Publications Database Advisor / CODIS
Ahmad Al-Mously / / Intranet master / ITU
Focal Points / Proposed
Hani Simo / / Focal Point / BIGM
Focal Point / SEPRP
Rima Dabbagh / / Focal Point / IWLP
Marcus Tibbo / / Focal Point / DSIPS
Focal Point / GIS Unit
Focal Point / Farm Op
Advisory WG / Proposed
Enrica Porcari / / Advisor / ICT-KM
Johannes Keizer / / Advisor / FAO
Dr. Nihad Maliha / / Advisor / CODIS
Chris Adison / Advisor / IFPRI
Dima Kassab / / Advisor / student
Michael Rigg / Advisor / FAO
Johannes Schunter / / Advisor / UNDP
Peter Ballentyne / / Advisor / ILRI
Joanne Kane-Potaka / / Advisor / IWMI
Nadia Manning / / Advisor / IWMI
Michael Bosch / / Advisor / GTZ/BEAF
Executive summary
ICARDA’s website requires re-development based on formative user research and business requirements. In an effort to increase the impact of ICARDA’s knowledge products, the team looks to improve the overall usability, look and feel of www.icarda.org. By designing a dynamic website based on a cost-effective content management system overall usability will be improved.
Design Objectives· Refresh homepage design
· Enable dynamic reuse of content by implementing a content management system
· Develop templates to improve information design and distribute authorship
· Improve information architecture and navigation
· Enable online collaboration
· Improve and refine search
· Improve accessibility of website
Project Scope
· Research context, content and users
· Develop new information architecture
· Write web strategy
· Redesign Homepage
· Implement Content Management System
· Implement search function
· Bring www.icarda.org up to web 2.0 standards
· Build private collaboration space
· Rewrite and migrate content to new site
· Design blueprints and wireframes
· Develop 10 page templates (see Content management for details)
· Built and test prototype
· Provide training for use of CMS
Phase 1 Milestones / Date
Project Plan / 1 Feb
Web Strategy & Research Report / 5 Mar
Facelift of homepage / 12 Mar
Wireframes & Design Specifications / 2 Apr
Visual Design Specifications / 23 Apr
Usability Test Script
Prototype / 23 Apr
Usability Test Report / 21 May
Launch new site / 4 July
Phase 2 Milestones
Online collaboration space / 1 Sep
Projects database / 1 Dec
Searchable databases / 1 Feb
1. Introduction
Purpose of this document
The purpose of this document is to present a vision for ICARDA’s new website and to illustrate and explaing that vision to our stakeholders. It is intended as a bridge from the initial research phase to actual design and to inform the conceptual design of icarda.org.
Target Audience
The intended audience for this documentation include:
· Senior Management: Input on objectives and priorities, stay abreast of project progress, and sign-off.
· Design team: Confirm and collaborate on consensus design solution across roles.
· Focal Points: Form as a network in the process to establish continuous feedback loop, input on design, provide content
1.1. Website objectives
The website’s purpose needs to be in line with the overall vision and mission of ICARDA and should, therefore, be derived from ICARDA’s business objectives. ICARDA’s mission statement reads:
“To contribute to the improvement of livelihoods of the resource-poor in dry areas by enhancing food security and alleviating poverty through research and partnerships to achieve sustainable increases in agricultural productivity and income, while ensuring the efficient and more equitable use and conservation of natural resources (ICARDA’s Strategic Plan 2010-12).
ICARDA's mission is to improve the welfare of poor people and alleviate poverty through research and training in dry areas of the developing world, by increasing the production, productivity and nutritional quality of food, while preserving and enhancing the natural resource base.
The environment in dry areas is harsh, stressful and variable, and agriculture in these areas faces more complex challenges than in areas with adequate rainfall.
ICARDA is committed to the advancement of agricultural research; free exchange of germplasm and information for research; protection of intellectual property rights, including indigenous knowledge of farmers; human resources development; the sustainable use of natural resources; and poverty alleviation, particularly among women and children.
ICARDA pursues this mission in partnerships with national agricultural research systems in developing countries and with advanced research institutes in industrialized countries. The website’s mission needs to support ICARDA’s overall mission:
1.1. Site Mission statement
www.icarda.org will be the go-to place for dryland agriculture information on the Internet. As the dominant thought leader on dryland agricultural research on the Internet, www.icarda.org will provide relevant, up-to-date information about dryland agriculture to researchers, students, media, donors and any other users.
The primary focus of the site is to provide access to ICARDA's research ouputs and knowledge. By more effectively communicating ICARDA's knowledge, www.icarda.org will increase ICARDA's impact and, thus,contribute to improved livelihoods of the resource-poor in the dry areas. The website will employ technology that effectively enables conversations with ICARDA's key stakeholders, keeping them informed and involved.
1.2. Site goals
· Improve ICARDA’s external presence: Establish the ICARDA brand as the dominant thought leader on dryland agriucltural research.
· Ensure transparency to stakeholders: Open a window on ICARDA’s research impact and demonstrate effective use of resources.
· Increase usability: Provide effective access to ICARDA’s research outputs and knowledge
· Facilitate stakeholder interaction: Enable conversations and collaboration with key stakeholders
1.3. Design Objectives
Refresh homepage design
Updating the homepage design to incorporate recent trends and improvements in web design will improve ICARDA’s web presence and reflect its standing in the world as a thought leader in its field.
Enable dynamic reuse of content
By implementing a content management system (CMS) the site will move from static to dynamic. Systematic reuse of content will reduce maintenance costs and improve accuracy and consistency of content.
Develop templates to improve information design and distribute authorship
Templates for different content types will be developed to improve information design at page level – layout, readability and look. Templates will also simplify the publication process by decentralising content production while at the same time maintaining a central editorial capacity.
Improve information architecture and navigation
We need a more coherent information architecture, providing information in appropriate groupings and contexts and ensuring that information is easy to find for a variety of users. An improved information architecture will support a simpler, more usable navigation.
Enable online collaboration
Providing a seamless log-in area for researchers and other key stakeholders that is private and features online collaboration tools such as wikis and blogs.
Improve and refine search
Improving the search facility to provide better results will assist users of the website to find the information they require. Providing search results for different content types such as publications, projects, news, and strategic documents will assist users.
Improve accessibility of website
Designing for accessibility issues:
· Providing for low bandwidth users and other user segments
· Offering an Arabic version of the information architecture
· Cater to the increasing use of mobile devices
· Complying with the Web Accessibility Initiative standard
1.4. Project scope
The scope of the project is limited to these requirements. The implementation of these requirements will be phased (see Project plan for details).
· Research context, content and users
· Develop new information architecture
· Write web strategy
· Redesign Homepage
· Implement Content Management System
· Implement search function
· Bring www.icarda.org up to web 2.0 standards
· Build private collaboration space
· Rewrite and migrate content to new site
· Design blueprints and wireframes
· Develop 10 page templates (see Content management for details)
· Built and test prototype
· Provide training for use of CMS
2. User research
Need to add a bit about the whys and hows of the research process
2.1. Heuristic evaluation
The London-based web publishing company Green Inc. conducted an informal heuristic assessment of www.icarda.org. Seven web designers evaluated ICARDA’s website according to a set of heuristics they chose themselves, as part of a job application procedure at Green Inc. The evaluators where asked to answer these questions:
· Does the website communicate well?
· Does it, for example, make it easy for you to gain basic information about ICARDA?
· What impressions does it give you of the organization?
· What advice would you give this client as to how to improve the website?
The heuristics that were used to assess the site can be summarised as navigation, ease of use, content, design & layout and functionality. Below is a summary of the more salient points raised:
Navigation
Navigation was described as clumsy and inconsistent and it was evaluated negatively throughout. Concrete points raised were too much duplication, left hand navigation bar is too long and complex, the Arabic menu is inconsistent with the English menu, menu headings are not executed accurately (donors page not for donors but list of donors, ICARDA in the news is actually media releases not selection of articles published about ICARDA, new publications presents outdated results)
Recommendations
· Simplify information architecture
· Unify navigation
· Use drop down menus
· Reorganize content to create synergies and KM exchange opportunites with fellow CGIAR centres
· Add category called “Our partners”
· Add small menu bar on the bottom: site map, privacy policy, terms of use
“It (the website) does not present the company as a dynamic progressive research focused unit with strong academic leanings but rather, as an old fashioned and inward-looking organization that is yet to embrace modern technology.”
Ease of use
Most assessments underlined that the homepage is too busy and cluttered and that it is extremely difficult to find information. The website generally does not communicate well.
Recommendations:
· Reduce homepage content by simplifying added content
· Remove redundant duplicate functions
· Highlight only latest events and media alerts as ‘teasers’ on front page
Content
Content is generally considered the actual strength of the site. The site is seen as rich in resources, offering a wealth of information resources and that this is a good basis to work with. The site is also seen as seeking to be exhaustive and encyclopaedic in scope.
On the negative side, it is considered text heavy and too wordy, driving users away quickly. The About page does not actually explain what ICARDA does and although the front-page is heavily focused on international cooperation, it is unclear if these are projects, general partnerships or donors.
Recommendations:
· Rewrite content according to web writing standards, more concise, crisp
· Reduce impression of complexity with a more simplistic approach
· Emphasize more effectively resources, projects and other timely information
“Gives impression of an organization that is a composite of many different parts which are not coherent or even communicating with each other.”
Design & layout
Several evaluations pointed out that the design of the main and sub-pages is incohesive. It was seen as unattractive, cluttered and too busy, weighed down by typographical confusion, an overloaded front page, and a wildly varying look and feel of pages.
Recommendations
· More consistency throughout
· Enlarge site to make use of white space left and right
· Use modern font families
· Settle on a one colour scheme
· Increase overall focus on branding
Functionality
Here the absence of almost all web2.0 features was noted. All noted that the Search function does not work.
Recommendations
· Integrate social media: online forums, twitter, delicious, online video and image sharing, podcasts
· Set up RSS tab and alert system
· Add online stakeholder section / log-in areas
· Streamline the three news sections
· Repair search function
“ICARDA site and organization would benefit greatly from a radical re-design to simplify both the look and usability. This would help clarify the organization’s goals, integrate the site with overall marketing efforts and corporate image, aid research, promote activities and enterprises, attract more users and, by changing onsite commerce practices, even increase income.”