eric's blog

13 Tips to Make Redesigning Your Website Less Scary - Tech Tuesday

Submitted by eric on April 17, 2012 - 12:35pm

Design for Mobile First. This is a good idea not only because more and more people are accessing the web from mobile devices, but it will also force you to pare down your site to its core essential functions.
Create a Site that Uses Responsive Design. No one can make a single site that looks good on a 27" monitor and a handheld phone, so set up your site so that it changes depending on how it is being viewed. Good examples of responsive design can be found at mediaqueri.es.
Move to a CMS (Content Management System). Here are a few open source ones Content Management Systems, that we've either had a good experience with or have heard good things about: WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. WordPress and Drupal also have options that will host your content so you don't have to set-up your own server.
Integrate Social Media Tools into Your Site. Social media is a cheap and easy way for people to spread the word about your site. Giving people the tools to connect with and share your connect is a great way to increase user satisfaction and drive traffic to your site. There are several different ways to add social media to your site including widgets from sites such as Facebook or twitter, a third-party widget like ShareThis, a CMS module and Google Analytics code.
Create User Profiles or Stories. Figure out what your users want to do at your site by either looking at your website analytics or asking them through surveys. We like surveymonkey for online surveys. Creating stories will help you work through the way people tend to interact with your site and will help your developer get a clear picture of what you want.
Speaking of analytics, if you don't already, you should start to Use Analytics Software. Google Analytics is great, because it is powerful and free.
Get a Graphic Designer who has designed themes for the CMS your site will be created in. If your graphic designer can create something stunning that works, it will save you money when the coders go to build the actual site.
Check References and make sure if references speak well of the group that their site was built using the same technology you will be using.
Identify a Project Manager within your organization that can talk tech with your developers or make sure that someone on your development team is well versed in what your organization does. Think of this as the translator between the people that know your organization and that know how to build your site.
Start Getting Your Content Ready to Move Over as Soon as Possible. Remember when the shell of your site is done, you still need to add content. There have been many sites that have been delayed months because they waited to get the content ready for the new site until the site was 100% done.
Build in Some Additional Funds and Time in Your Budget and Timeline, so you can handle overages in both. Most projects go over budget and time. Be prepared and plan for it.
Test Your Site on your users or those who you hope to be your users. You don't need to spend a bunch of money. Don’t know who your users are? Look at the demographics of your Facebook Insights or ask in your survey mentioned above.Go to a community center or public place and bring a laptop and tablet for people to surf your site and give you feedback.
Don't Let the Great Be the Enemy of the Good and Remember that a Good Plan Today is Better than a Great Plan Tomorrow. The web is ever changing. Custom coding takes a while and maybe you can reach your goals with an existing module. Perhaps there is a theme for your site that already exists and that can look great with just a little tweak here or there. By keeping costs low and timelines short, you can create another iteration of you site based on real-world feedback from your users.

There are way more tips one could give, but these are the ones that are either new, really important or often overlooked.

The Digital Divide Hits Home - Tech Tuesday

Submitted by eric on April 10, 2012 - 1:15pm

In March, I was on a panel at SXSW called "Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide." Working with technology and culture in Indian Country, I have seen how the lack of Internet access can be a roadblock for people to share or even get information about their culture. Because of this reason, I am so passionate about doing what I can to help bridge the Digital Divide.

The panel went well. I was happy to see so many journalists attend and have their eyes opened to the problem that still exists today, especially in rural areas. There were a lot of tweets about the issue during the event and a couple of articles were even written as a result.

It was after SXSW, as I was putting together a recap of the panel, when the subject came full circle. I got a call from my father, he was having a problem. He was applying to give nature tours for the state of Texas in the gulf region and hill country. He had to pass a test online in order to get the job. Part of the test was to identify animals in videos on the site and he couldn't get the videos to play. I stayed on the phone with him for about 30 minutes to troubleshoot the problem -- helping him find the right plugins, etc.

I never really thought of my father on the other side of the Digital Divide. He'd always encouraged my interest in technology and I was off to college about the time the Internet started to take off. But here, he was trapped on one side of the Digital Divide, unable to get fully employeed and a job he loved without a little help.

You see, something that a lot of people don't realize, and that was part of panel's discussion was that the Digital Divide is not just about having an actual physical connection to the Internet. It is also about training people, who are new to the Internet or maybe don't use it that often, how to navigate Web 2.0.

So this is my plea to the people reading this blog post: Take time and help those people in your life, in your community, in your Tribe that might have a little problem with technology; be a bridge builder and help close the Digital Divide.

I'll be putting up new posts on technology every Tuesday. I encourage you to share them in whatever way you wish, including non-digital media, like newspapers or Tribal radio.

Additional Resources About the Digital Divide:

"Innovating News in Native Communities" from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism "The State of the News Media 2012"

"Digital Nation: 21st Century America's Progress Towards Universal Broadband Internet Access"

"Scholars' Roundtable: The Effects of Expanding Broadband to Rural Areas"

FCC Eyes Broadband For Indian Reservations

Panel Recap for "Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide"

Listen to "Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide"

Questions:

Who in your life do you want to help cross the Digital Divide?

What do you think the biggest roadblock to people accessing the Internet is today?

Sharing Information from SXSW

Submitted by eric on February 13, 2012 - 1:19pm

I will be going to SXSW Interactive this year to moderate the panel "Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide".

While I am there I will also be live tweeting information I learn at the pre-conference meeting of public media geeks (a.k.a. Integrated Media Association (iMA) conference) and from the sessions that I attend as Interactive Media Specialist for NAPT.

Let's Talk Video for Social Change
Storytelling Beyond Words: New Forms of Journalism
No Brochures: Digital Storytelling for Nonprofits
Designing Games for Documentary
CrowdTV: Crowd-Sourcing Documentaries

If you want to get my notes on the sessions, just follow our twitter account @nativemedia March 7-13.

This is a list of sessions that I am going to attend for sure. I have others that I have penciled in, but feel free to recommend a session that you'd love to get tweets about by tweeting us at @nativemedia and using the sessions hashtag.