Minutes (Jan. 26, 2005) Web Advisory Committee
Present: Dr. Raymond Palmer, Thomas Anthony, Alan Miller, Gilbert Sosa, Dr. Robert Badgett, Doug Hartzler, Tom Raymond, Heather Cura, Jim Barrett and Mary Yanes.
The chair, Dr. Raymond Palmer, called the meeting to order. Committee members approved the Dec. 22 minutes.
Jim Barrett gave the webmaster's report. He said:
- Server traffic in December rose 61 percent, to 1,352,167 page views over the same month in 2003. He also published a three-year comparison, which showed a 49 percent increase in web traffic in 2004. He attributed the increase to the introduction of a webcam, mapping system, calendar of events, searchable clinical studies database, and growing usage of the university portal.
- A validation of university web sites for web accessibility was completed at the end of December. Most sites complied or needed only slight modifications
of code
- Five information boards have been purchased as part of a web-based network to show campus events and messages.
The boards, part of a commercial system called AxisTV, will carry separate content, with the first to be installed in the Academic Administrative Building.
Others will be added in Laredo, Harlingen, Edinburg and the Barshop institute at later dates.
In new business, Dr. Palmer asked for a discussion about enforcing web accessibility standards.
Suggestions varied: Remove links to non-compliant sites, block sites entirely, use persuasion. Mr. Thomas Anthony
suggested giving website owners a deadline to meet standards, and urging the owners to contact Multimedia and Web Services
for code fixes, which would be done for a fee. Mr. Tom Raymond said departments may need professional assistance
because of turnover among employees who create departmental websites. Dr. Palmer said the best procedure, based on the
discussion, would be to notify the owner, give a deadline for compliance, explain what needs to be done to comply, give a rationale
for enforcing the standards, and recommend that the owner contact Multimedia and Web Services for help.
In old business, Mr. Barrett reported that three uthscsa.edu domains had been removed based on the committee's
recommendations from April 28, 2004. The sites contained archives of listserve discussions about indigenous
peoples, and now run in separate .org domains.
In other discussion, the committee agreed to ask Dr. Robert Badgett to demonstrate an application he
has developed to search for and list the faculty's academic papers published on the web or cited by the media. Dr. Badgett
said he would show the application at the committee's February meeting. Mr. Gilbert Sosa also was
asked to demonstrate a content management system his department has developed. He said he would so
at the March meeting.
There was no other business, and the meeting was adjourned.
-- Minutes prepared by Mary Yanes
-- Approved Feb. 23, 2005
