We are writing to give you an update on where things stand with the web makeover project.

We are still on-schedule for a January launch of the new Web site. To get there, here’s what we’re doing this summer.

1. We are putting together a list of Web sites that need to be converted, and identifying the people in charge of those Web sites in order to connect them with a project manager from the project team who will guide them through the process of converting their site to the new platform. To support this process, we are also planning a series of workshops, training sessions, and work sessions. We are also developing a workbook that will help explain the process. The list of sites that we know need converting, and our understanding of who the contact person for that site is, can be found here. If you have a Web site that isn’t on that list, please let us know by sending email to jantonio@middlebury.edu.

2. Our design firm White Whale will share with us their designs for the new site on July 23rd, at McCullough Hall, 1pm.  If you aren’t on campus, we will be providing instructions to view the presentation online.  In addition, we’ll be posting links to these designs on the makeover blog. (For those who might be interested, you can see the preliminary designs for the Monterey Institute for International Studies).

We will need your help on both these efforts. For the Web site conversion, we’ll need each office, department, program, and group that maintains a Web site to carve out time in the coming months to think about their Web site and what they want to do to improve it. For the review of the designs, we very much welcome input from the community about the designs that White Whale provides us. It’s our Web site, and while we won’t all agree on the final design, we want to have an inclusive, rigorous, and thoughtful conversation about the ideas proposed.

Best wishes,

Mike Roy, on behalf of the Web Makeover Team