For more details about some of the projects listed below and other web news and information, please read our blog, Webworks.
Status: active
Info: audio/podcast guidelines for site publishers, including house style, accessibility, record settings, file formats and uploading information.
Current activity: testing cross-browser performance
Expected launch: Summer 2011
Status: active
Info: The current CMS (Plone) is now eight years old and is no longer fit for purpose. If you are a regular user you'll realise it's often slow, this is because it was never designed to be used by so many publishers and to contain so much content. Terminal Four's Site Manager (T4) has been selected as the University's replacement CMS. The new T4 CMS is quite a few generations ahead of Plone and will be more flexible and offer new features. Moving into a new CMS also gives us the opportunity to completely restructure the current website (according to the results of our our market research, see User experience design for further details) and to work in a much more content-efficient way.
The project includes the new online prospectus and the 'User experience design' (UXD project). Regular updates will be posted on our blog, Webworks.
Current activity: IT Services are working on the technical specification before beginning implementation work. Full system implementation of the CMS will commence towards the end of 2012.
Expected launch: technical build starts spring 2012
Status: active
Info: a new corporate Facebook fan page has been created, primarily aimed at prospective students.
Current activity: making final page amends
Expected launch: Summer 2012
Status: active
Info: from September 2012, under HEFCE guidance, all universities will publish Key Information Sets about their undergraduate courses. The aim is to provide standardised comparable sets of data, eg employment and salary data, student satisfaction, fees etc. Some data will be provided by individual institutions, some from the National Student Survey (NSS) and some from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey. The project is being led by Lynn Robinson, Deputy Registrar but will involve considerable web development, which will be part of the prospectus and user experience design projects. More information can be found on HEFCE's KIS page.
Current activity: testing presentation of data as part of the user experience design project
Expected launch: 2012
Status: active
Info: iPod/smartphone friendly website (might be converted into an app in the future). Still in beta, MyMobileBristol is a JISC-funded project being developed by ILRT. Visit the My Mobile Bristol project website.
Current activity: the revised design has been approved and finishing touches being added prior to launch
Expected launch: ongoing
Status: active
Info: module that plugs into the CMS allowing local staff profiles to be created, as well as pulling in centrally held information from the Datahub. For examples of use, please see:
Current activity: contributing to the Working Group on standardising set up for schools/departments/groups and creating guidelines for implementation and use. Has overlap with the new Research Information Systems project.
Expected launch: ongoing
Status: active
Info: replacing existing system for producing web prospectus, integrating into new CMS.
Current activity: combined with CMS: new system
Expected launch: implementation 2014 edition (early 2013)
Status: active
Info: gathering requirements; reviewing options available; recommendations to be made around January 2012.
Current activity: ongoing
Expected launch: 2012
Status: active
Info: video guidelines for web publishers, including house style, accessibility, record settings, file formats and uploading information.
Current activity: finalising styling guidance
Expected launch: Spring 2012
Status: active
Info: an online tool, integrated with the new CMS, to check spelling mistakes, accessibility errors etc
Current activity: currently investigating options either as part of new CMS or as an additional tool
Expected launch: ongoing
Status: active
Info: formalising procedure and ownership of inter-departmental, inter-faculty, inter-institutional (with other HEs), inter-organistional sites. Draft process drawn up at initial meeting with central teams (July 2010)
Current activity: process almost finalised. It will be published on this site when approved.
Expected launch: Spring 2012
Status: paused
Info: improving the homepage and site design to give more emphasis to institutes.
Current activity: working on development site
Status: paused
Info: this group meet termly to discuss issues arising from the use of social media around the University. Members include staff from the student recruitment teams, Alumni, the Students' Union, Widening Participation and the Education Support Unit.
Status: planned
Info: merging Contact directory homepage with contacting people page. This will happen as part of the new CMS project.
Status: planned
Info: we have created a corporate account to showcase images from our archive.
Current activity: being populated with images from our archive
Status: planned
Info: Ability to tag current vacancies by school/faculty/dept so they can be displayed as a filtered list on local websites. This will happen as part of the new CMS and BORIS replacements projects.
Status: planned
Info: looking into feasibility of adding data to manipulate the Google Streetview direction. Using Estates data to automatically locate pins rather than manually inputting longitude and latitude co-ordinates.
Status: planned
Info: looking at how we articulate what we offer prospective undergraduate students. This will take the form of case studies in the prospectuses. This will happen as part of the 'KIS' project.
Status: planned
Info: new web presence to acknowledge and celebrate our entrepreneurial alumni (at present this is in the Senate House). This might be done using the People Profiler and the new CMS so that departments could pull the information onto their sites.
Status: completed
Info: a site to complement the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) project. The applicants site provides supporting information for undergraduate applicants invited to interview and visit days.
Status: completed
Info: improving two-way communication of web developments to web publishers. Our new Webworks blog was launched in March 2011.
Status: completed
Info: overhaul of the corporate city of Bristol pages with new design and improved content
Status: completed
Info: new corporate website showcasing Bristol's international profile, international staff and students, research projects, partnerships, alumni etc. Visit the global site.
Status: completed
Info: we manage the University's profile on LinkedIn. We are looking at a paid subscription options to access extra features, eg advertising, vacancies, linking to other University groups etc.
Status: completed
Info: overhaul of the corporate maps and travel pages. Map holdings have been rationalised and several improvements to the Google precinct map:
Status: completed
Info: re-designed maps:
All new maps are available on the maps and travel website.
Status: completed
Info: update of plasmas screens flash-based showreel to include video, RSS and images in one presentation. If you would like to use the new showreel on your plasma screen, please contact us.
Status: completed
Info: updated social media information for web publishers including guidance on use and instructions for linking to channels using our standard social media icons.
Status: completed
Info: no changes to content but the layout and styling have been updated to be more consistent with other UoB high profile pages. Study at Bristol
Status: completed
Info: flexible design toolkit that we can be apply to school sites, providing better quality homepages and improved consistency between UoB websites. Examples in use:
If you'd like to know how you can make use of the toolkit, please contact us.
Status: completed
Info: a new area within the current students site providing information to students returning after the summer break. Information had previously been on the Academic Registry site but we were keen to move it into a student-facing area. Faculties now send in their registration and week one timetable information which is uploaded to the web. We have developed a script-based table to ensure a consistent format (helpful for joint honours students) and to allow students to filter their information by course and department.
Completed: August 2011
Status: completed
Info: standardising how social media logos, eg Facebook, Twitter, etc are displayed on webpages. Please see our making use of social media page.
Completed: September 2011
Status: completed
Info: reviewing web courses currently offered via Staff Development, ensuring future courses convey the aims, objectives and responsibilities of our web and marketing strategies.
Completed: Summer 2011
Status: completed
Info: we appointed an external agency to undertake user research to establish the needs and wants of our varied user groups. The results are guiding the new website design, functionality and site structure. The research included surveys, workshops and interviews with key user groups which have fed into the development of a interactive prototype. The prototype was reviewed by key internal stakeholders and user testing. Feedback from users and stakeholders was built into a revised versions of the prototype which, after further user testing was signed off.
Completed: September 2011
Status: completed
Info: we are working with a local digital media agency who provide a remote streaming service called Mvideo. This will improve global accessibility of our video content as the system allows audiences in countries where access to YouTube is either restricted or denied. Content can also be viewed on ipods/smartphones. The video content is similar to the University's YouTube channel and is centralised on the Bristol Channel site. Mvideo automatically generates embed code that can be used to easily publish uploaded videos onto webpages. If you have a video you'd like included, please get in touch.
Status: completed
Info: series of short podcasts providing a walking tour of the precinct's main buildings. Primarily aimed at prospective students (those who can't make an open day).
Completed: September 2011
Status: completed
Info: the Walking tour iPhone app includes pictures and videos about University life. The printed version of the walking tour has also been completed.
Completed: October 2011
Status: completed
Info: reviewing and reorganising information, guidance and best practice for web publishers. This new version of the Web guidelines and best practice site will contain information previously available on the IS site.
Completed: 2011
Status: completed
Info: improving the process for web publishers, ie combining forms, providing online forms and initiating web consultations with appropriate members of the team.
Completed: 2011
Status: completed
Info: we have reviewed the content of monthly reports sent to site administrators, based on feedback from web publishers. Reports show search terms and referrers (where website visitors come from, eg which search engines, external sites etc). For more information about web statistics and how to receive reports about your site, please see our web statistics page.
Completed: autumn 2011