A common model is to control content in the Marketing/Communications department, and then have IT responsible for implementing and maintaining the site. This ensures that look and feel, content maintenance, and the general "communications" of the website are overseen by the group that does similar work for the rest of the website, but also points to the need to have someone, probably in-house, who is adept at gathering requirements for the overall tools needed to support the site, prioritizing, managing, and then getting them implemented. Not everyone has one or both of those departments.
In the case of a museum or archive, you also need, as you mentioned, advocates to take responsibility for deciding what goes online and to work with that IT person to figure out how, when, how to sustain, etc. In ya'lls case, there is also the education component. Both the IT person and the communications person will regularly work with both a graphics person, and someone who understands interface. Although it is good to separate content from code; or communications from infrastructure, some of these roles can obviously be combined depending on the talents of the individuals involved, budget, etc. ari On 7/27/07, Perian Sully <psully at magnes.org> wrote: > > Dear Len: > > Thanks for your reply. As our current website is ca. 1997, and we're > about to lauch a capital campaign, the entire museum is very keen on > being involved with the production of the new website. However, the main > persons in charge of developing the site are all part of the Curatorial > and Education departments. Ideologically speaking, the majority of key > staff are in support of utilizing a number of Web 2.0 functions for the > site, so not only are we looking to support the capital campaign, but > also the general public and specialized researchers. > > Thus, we're thinking that we want to have point persons for each > department who will be in charge of developing the content, but that > there will be a main editor who will make sure that information from all > departments is consistent across the website. > > ~Perian > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of > Leonard Steinbach > Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 6:55 AM > To: Museum Computer Network Listserv > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Website workflow > > Perian, > > I know that this may not exactly be the type of answer you are looking > for, but before deciding on the workflow, and what seems to be the > internal "ownership" of the website, you way want to be clear on what i > believe are two important questions: > > Who are the most significant stakeholders (internal and external) for > the web site? > What are the paybacks --- financial and mission-related --- that you are > expecting from the website in its new manifestation? > > A clear understanding of the answers to these questions may help > identify where the website should live, and how the work should flow > (editorially if not technically). Clarity on these issues right up > front might also minimize the extent to which the website design and > priorities simply reflect the opinions of the department in which it > lives.. > > I hope this helps... > > Len Steinbach > > > On 7/26/07, Perian Sully <psully at magnes.org> wrote: > > > > Hi everyone - > > > > We're beginning a process of redesigning our website and we're trying > > to decide what the workflow will be to update the site. Because we > > don't have a web team or even an IT department, we're trying to figure > > > out who will be in charge of the overall tone of the site (we're not > > comfortable with housing it with the marketing department), and what > > the path is for various departments for contributing content. > > > > Would anyone be willing to share how your institution manages web > > information and processes? > > > > Thanks in advance! > > > > Perian Sully > > Collection Database & Records Administrator Judah L. Magnes Museum > > 2911 Russell St. > > Berkeley, CA 94705 > > 510-549-6950 x 335 > > http://www.magnes.org > > Contributor, http://www.musematic.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > > Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l >
