WebTeam -- University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Minutes (Sept. 27, 2006) Web Advisory Committee

Present: Dr. Alison Beck, Ida Garcia, Debbie Valle, Dr. Keith Krolick, Nancy Arispe, Dr. Robert Badgett, Alan Miller, Dr. Frank Stafford, Tom Raymond, Doug Hartzler, Lydia Leos, Mary Yanes, and Jim Barrett.

The chair, Dr. Alison Beck, called the meeting to order. Committee members approved the July 26 minutes. Dr. Beck introduced a guest, Nancy Arispe, who was recently named executive director of communications.

Jim Barrett gave the webmaster's report. He said:

Server traffic in August rose 8 percent, to 1.9 million page views, over the same month in 2005.
The webcam at the Laredo campus went into operation in August.
Arrangements had been made with the University of Texas System office in Austin to host a "persistent" web site for the Health Science Center. The site would run on a server in Austin and be used in the event of an emergency that claimed the existing servers or network at the San Antonio campus.
Two web pages in Spanish were added in August as part of compliance with SB 216. Traffic to the pages has been modest.
A client survey of faculty and staff showed overall satisfaction with content on the university homepage, and the internal portal. Members discussed the survey results.

In new business, Ms. Arispe spoke about the university's plan to develop a branding and marketing strategy. She said bids on a consulting contract for the project would be received in October. Research, assessments, and surveys contributing to a strategy would be developed by January 2007. Implementation would take place by August 2007. She said she would keep the committee informed, and said Mr. Barrett is a member of the task force assigned to the project so he could further communicate with web developers.

In old business, Mr. Barrett asked the committee to formalize the methodology the Health Science Center would use to validate its web site for accessibility. He said the state's web-accessibility guidelines require that state agencies and higher-education institutions set a policy on how they monitor for compliance with the guidelines. The committee agreed to once-a-year validation of the first page, or home page, of selected web sites within the uthscsa.edu domain. The validation would use Watchfire WebXACT, an online validator. The first pages, or home pages, of any new sites, also would be validated.

There was no other business, and the meeting was adjourned.

-- Minutes prepared by Mary Yanes
-- Approved Nov. 7, 2006