Present: Dr. John Olson, Alan Miller, Dr. Bob Badgett, Dr. Anthony Firulli, Elaine Demps, Katharine Myers, Brian Neuenschwander, Anna Maloy, Jim Barrett
Dr. John Olson, the chair, opened the meeting, and received approval of the minutes from May 31. Jim Barrett presented the webmaster's report. Barrett reported on progress in preparing the web portal for user testing. He said he planned to allow a limited of users to test the portal beginning in August. He also reported on traffic for June on the institutional web servers. They received 90,873 visits, and had 623,236 page views. Dr. Olson asked the committee to consider a request for a front-page link to the web site about the university's Willed Body Program. The request had been submitted by Dr. Brian Herman, chair of the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology. The committee members viewed the web site, and discussed whether such a prominent link is justified. The committee agreed by consensus to decline the request. However the members suggested ways to list such sites in a less prominent way. The ideas included offering a front page "What's New" link to new web sites, a dropdown menu that lists many related sites behind a general title, or a link to a web site that would list ways the public can further the mission of the Health Science Center. Dr. Olson said web sites had been validated July 1-2 for web accessibility. He said the number of compliant sites rose to 62 percent from 50 percent in January. Barrett, who ran validations on the 153 web sites, distributed a list of the sites. Dr. Olson, with consent of the committee, asked Barrett to contact the web administrators of the non-compliant sites, request compliance within 60 to 90 days, and attempt to supply each administrator with a printout of the coding that needs to be changed to meet accessibility standards. At the request of Dr. Badgett and the chair, the committee resumed an earlier discussion about the rules for hosting .org web sites in the university's Internet domain. Drs. Badgett and Olson early had suggested requiring additional information before hosting such sites. In a brief discussion, the committee adopted the idea of asking the webmaster to ask future requesters to affirm their nonprofit nature, and explain why they want an .org site rather than one in the university's uthscsa.edu domain identification. Dr. Olson suggested a form that would require answers from the sponsors and the signature of their chair or director. He said chairs and directors currently are required to state in a letter that they know about the web site request, and that the site is consistent with the university's mission. The form would take the place of the letter, he said. Substituting for Bonnie O'Connor, who was absent, Barrett summarized results of a user satisfaction survey conducted by the library and webmaster. Barrett said the group had not decided how to include students and the public in the survey. The initial interviews involved faculty and staff. The committee suggested interviewing candidates for residency and faculty positions, in particular, because the survey ranked recruitment as a key goal for the institutional web site. Dr. Badgett said University Physicians Group would allow surveying patients in its waiting rooms. He also said prospective residents often have time to answer a survey when they visit the campus for applicant interviews, which are usually conducted from November to January. Dr. Firulli suggested putting a user satisfaction questionnaire on the main page of the web site. He also suggested that any web site redesign start by answering questions about what individual groups of users want. He cited groups such as scientists, patients, students, and the general public. Brian Neuenschwander suggested adding a feature on the bottom of some web pages that ask the user if he or she found what they wanted. The committee adjourned and will set its next meeting after the new academic year begins. -- Minutes prepared by Jim Barrett-- Approved Oct. 30, 2002