Present: Dr. Raymond Palmer, Dr. Keith Krolick, Thomas Anthony, Heather Cura, Dr. Robert Badgett, Alan Miller, Dr. Joseph Lucke, Tom Raymond, Susan Hallmark, Mary Yanes, Jim Barrett
Dr. Raymond Palmer, the chair, asked for and received approval of the Nov. 19 minutes. Jim Barrett presented the webmaster's report. He said:- Server traffic rose 25 percent in 2003, to 11.4 million page views.
- The Jan. 5-6 validation of web sites for accessibility compliance showed an increase in the number of sites that meet standards.
- The recommended policy on web advertising had been adopted by the Executive Committee, and would be included in the Handbook of Operating Procedures shortly.
The webcam is situated on top of the School of Medicine building, and its images will become available through the internal web portal, Mr. Barrett said. He showed the webcam page, and demonstrated how the camera can be moved to show different views. Dr. Keith Krolick suggested the camera would be a useful tool to help potential students and faculty see the campus. Mr. Barrett said the server is limited to 10 connects when it is under control of outside users, and for security reasons the camera control would stay with the webmaster. But he said low-cost cameras are available to provide fixed live images, and could give a variety of views. Dr. Robert Badgett said offering live cameras for viewing would be an effective recruiting tool. He suggested providing feeds from key areas on campus so schools could use them as "virtual tour" images. The committee agreed to pursue the idea and funding for the cameras.
Mr. Barrett demonstrated the campus calendar in the roles of a public user and a calendar administrator. He said departments will be invited to create calendars. Events would be pooled into a unified campus-wide calendar, but departments also would have individual calendars so users could view events for single departments as well as the campus as a whole. In addition, the software is able to sort events by their nature such as "lecture," "training," and "fundraiser." The calendar is a new product from WebEvent, a vendor with several years experience in calendaring software, he said. Mr. Barrett said the Department of Medicine and University Relations Office would begin using the calendar in February on a test basis, and other departments would be added based on the success of the test. He said he expected the calendar to be operational within six months.
Dr. Palmer asked if there was any other business. There was none, and the meeting adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for 9:30-10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
-- Minutes prepared by Jim Barrett
-- Approved Feb. 25, 2004