Web Editorial Committee

Minutes: Feb. 8, 2006

A preliminary meeting of a new, ad hoc Website Editorial Committee was held on Feb. 8, 2006. In attendance were Philip Rubin, Joseph Cardone, Richard Crane, Susan Galli, Yvonne Manning-Jones, Gerald McRoberts, Einar Mencl, and Christine Shadle. Philip Rubin provided an overview of features that are already planned, but not yet fully implemented and features that may be implemented at a future date

1. Planned features

a. Stories

Featured stories that appear randomly on the home page;

We will start with some of the stories that appear in the “Case statement,” but are open to additional features.

b. Publications. On-line access to PDF versions of all Haskins publications in our publication files is nearing completion.

c. Status Report Archive. We have just started a project that will result in a PDF archive of all of the contents of the Haskins Laboratories Status Reports. This project will take several months to complete.

d. Interactive editing of staff pages. (Staff members will be able to edit their staff pages using Contribute 3 software on a public machine. Those staff members who need to make more extensive and frequent changes to portions of the website will have this software installed on their computers, depending on availability and pricing.)

e. Intranet enhancements. The intranet is the portion of our website dedicated to internal, employee-related matters. This portion of the site was extensively discussed and is presently being revised. Planned features include.

i. Yale University and Univesity of Connecticut portals

ii. Easy access to logo, letterhead, forms, templates, etc.

iii. Personal and community announcements

(e.g. baby announcements, meetings, events such as races, etc.)

iv. Documentation of hardware and software

v. Conference room / workroom schedule

vi. Periodic updates related to: Business / Human Resource matters; Office; Development; Research; Technology

vii. Use of the intranet for internal surveys, etc., will be considered.

f. Information regarding affiliated groups and institutions

(ELF, Yale Reading Group, Dept. of Surgery-Otolaryngology, KKI, ETS, etc.)

g. International collaborators page. Under development.

h. Alumni page. Under development.

i. Enhanced graphics. Under development.

2. Possible features

a. Research Poster Gallery

b. Resources (such as Professional Societies, topic links, bibliographies, papers)

c. Data Repository

d. Haskins Newsletter (events; news; opinions; restaurant, book, movie, music reviews, etc.)

e. Haskins Archive: sounds, data, pictures, posters, etc.

f. Enhanced demos

3. Website design and technology

a. A search engine change is presently under way.

b. Website look and feel. Changes are being made related to link colors, etc. Other changes were discussed and will be taken into account after missing features are implemented.

c. ADA issues were discussed. Some changes are presently being made.

d. Printing. Longer articles will have options for improved printing.

e. Web indexing exclusion (robots.txt) areas. See Richard Crane.

f. Access restrictions to intranet. (For data, letterhead, etc.). Password will be implemented.

g. Haskins Mobile. A future feature allowing limited access to portions of the site from mobile phones.

h. RSS. Automatic publishing of news, etc. Will be considered in the future.

4. Website maintenance. At present, requests for changes, etc., should be emailed to Yvonne Manning-Jones. Eventually, other members of the staff will assist Yvonne on website maintenance. In addition, using the Contribute 3 software, staff members will be able to make changes to portions of the site.

5. Other business. Next month the Website Editorial Committee will meet again to discuss progress and plans. A date and time has not yet been set. If you would like to participate in this group, please contact Philip Rubin.