AASHTO RAC Website Subcommittee Meeting
Friday, December 20, 2013
MEETING NOTES
Participants: Cynthia Gerst, Natassja Linzau, Chris Hedges, Rick Kreider, Sue Sillick, Jennifer Slesinger.
I. Previous notes accepted by motion (Sue/Jennifer). These can be posted on the web.
II. Action Items:
A. Peer Exchange Availability Survey—David was not able to be on the call and will provide sample survey questions prior to our next meeting.
It was decided not to include a list of which states plan to host a Peer Exchange in the coming year. This decision will be revisited if we get additional requests for this information and we have a volunteer to put the list together.
B. Icons—Rick Kreider presented several designs of button-like icons.
1. We will have one design each for the Peer Exchange Reports and RAC Surveys buttons. See attached mockup of final designs. Buttons on the homepage and individual pages will all include text.
“Peer Exchanges” will be the text on Homepage icon button, link to Peer Exchanges page
“Peer Exchange Reports” will be the text on button for Peer Exchanges page, link to database
“RAC Surveys” will be the text on button for Homepage, link to RAC Surveys page
“RAC Survey Results” will be the text on button for RAC Surveys page, link to Surveys database
2. The three Icons on the homepage will be located across the top, horizontally, just below the Welcome text and just above the “What’s New” list.
3. It was decided to keep the chalkboard graphic for the “New to RAC?”link.
4. All three icons will be in landscape orientation.
C. Homework—Discussion of New Member Handbook, RAC 101 Presentation, FAQ, and Popular Pages.
1. There was a discussion of whether or not to include a link to the FAQs page at the top of the RAC New Member Handbook. The decision was made to include a link; Natassja will add this link to the page.
2. It was decided that the FAQ and the New Member Handbook present information in different formats and both are useful to RAC members so they shouldn’t be combined.
3. For the New Member Handbook page, several revisions were requested:
a. In the paragraph titled “First things first” that discusses the RAC Member appointment process, mention should be made that a person can be added to the listserv once he/she has been nominated and prior to receiving the official appointment letter. A person can also be added to the RAC Roster prior to receipt of the appointment letter, but his/her designation will be “unofficial member” until the official letter is received.
b. Also in the first paragraph, include a sample official appointment letter so people can see what that looks like.
c. Just above the heading “Straining the alphabet soup,” a link to the Value of Research Task Force Document Library should replace the current two links to individual documents.
d. Under “Straining the alphabet soup,” there is a broken link to the National Research Council that needs to be fixed.
e. Under the heading “What are my responsibilities as a RAC Member,” the link to “Surveys” should go to the RAC Surveys page rather than directly to the surveys database.
4. Popular Pages—It was decided to remove the Popular Pages list from the homepage.
a. Natassja will work to get rid of all the extra whitespace on the homepage so the design changes to the page will be more evident.
D. Meeting Dates and Times for 2014—It was decided to keep the same date and time as last year for our meetings in 2014. The Website Subcommittee will meet on the fourth Monday of each month, from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Eastern Time, except for holidays. Natassja will schedule these meetings and send a notification to the group.
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MEETING ADJOURNED
Peer Exchanges – text on Homepage icon button, link to Peer Exchanges page
Peer Exchange Reports –texton button for Peer Exchanges page, link to database
RAC Surveys—text on button for Homepage, link to RAC Surveys page
RAC Survey Results—text on button for RAC Surveys page, link to Surveys database