How to survive a website redesign

Karine Joly offers five timely tips for surviving a website redesign. from Ben Riseling of Duke University. Why timely? Because UMR is working on a redesign right now — not because it’s time, but because on July 1, 2007, our university will have a new organizational structure. We’re calling it the “zero-school” model. We’re in the process of eliminating the layer of three schools and one college to flatten the organization. This change will affect the current navigation significantly.

If you want even more tips for web redesign, read Joly’s latest University Business column: 10 Tips to a Successful Website Redesign.

What’s the value of a podcast?

Dan Karleen of Peterson’s higher ed blog ponders whether podcasts are passe — or worse, just a plain waste of time and resources. That is, for recruitment and admissions purposes.

Several commenters weigh in. From Morgan Davis of erelevant (who started the podcast discussion a week ago), suggests schools post audio along with news stories if it’s available. “If you have audio on hand, there’s no excuse not to make it into a podcast. I just don’t think there’s enough of an audience amidst college prospects to create new programs/staff positions/equipment around Admission-generated podcasts (audio campus tours, audio blogs, etc).”

The only thing we podcast on a regular basis is a monthly sci-tech radio program, TechnoFiles (now available on RSS). But that’s reusing existing material, and it’s for a broader audience.