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THE ONLINE SUPPORT CENTER
(NOTE: This article details the thinking and considerations behind one of my Web projects -- the upgrading of the NAMAC Web site into an "Online Support Center for Independent Media")
It was only 2 or 3 years ago that many media groups created their first Web sites without being certain of their value, what response to expect, or even how to design them most effectively. For many, the results were disappointing, especially considering the investment of time or money. For others, it was simply an initial experiment with the expectation that this was only the beginning. Now, as more and more people are logging on to the Internet and becoming comfortable with the Web -- or even dependent upon it -- many media arts organizations are finding their sites of increasing value. The future holds even greater possibilities. For NAMAC, the evolution of the Web couldn't have come at a better time. Hit hard by government and other funding cuts over the last several years, NAMAC was forced to find less expensive ways to fulfill its mission and continue providing services to the field. The Internet introduced a vital new tool to sustain and strengthen member groups. Last year, NAMAC created its first Web site largely to make available and regularly update one of its most widely used resources -- the directory of member organizations -- without spending thousands of dollars on printing and mailing. NAMAC's new, recently expanded site (www.namac.org) goes well beyond this first foray. The upgraded site was designed specifically as an "online support center for independent media" -- a central place and communications system on the Web where media arts organizations and their constituents can connect, find current news and useful resources, share experiences and insights, and participate together in shaping the future of our field. Media arts organizations work largely in isolation from one another, yet share the same problems and experiences and have many of the same needs. This is also true for media artists and educators, the primary constituencies served by NAMAC member organizations. NAMAC's Online Support Center, in conjunction with the new member listserv, will help the media arts field overcome this isolation and create a "virtual community", more closely linking to one another in order to build mutual support. By building a central place on the vast Web to find out about the primary programs and resources of NAMAC members, the site will also create a stronger national presence for member organizations, making it easier for a wider range of people to find the organizations and available resources in their region or nationally. KEY ELEMENTS In order to fulfill the vision of creating an "Online Support Center" within a somewhat limited budget, these are some of the new elements we included and the thinking that went into them: DIRECTORY OF ORGANIZATIONS. The directory look, content and navigation have been revised to make it easier to find out about a particular group or service. Because funds were not available to add a searchable database at this time, we created new pages by type of service or program, making it possible, for example, to find which organizations provide exhibition venues, funding help or equipment access. CONFERENCE. This section will soon provide a regularly updated schedule and speakers list for the upcoming Conference `98, as well as all registration forms and information. It encourages members and other visitors to help shape the Conference by providing feedback to the planning committee by e-mail. Extensive reports on Conference `96 proceedings are also archived here, and future conferences will also be included. ANNOUNCEMENTS & RESOURCES/LINKS. These two sections were created to provide a place for NAMAC members to promote to a national/international audience news and resources of broad interest, such as new publications, job openings, events, funding opportunities and more. The Links section was designed to provide members easy access to the best Web resources on funding, non-profit management, advocacy, arts agencies, etc. MEMBER HELP. This is intended to provide a place to archive a wide range of information that will help member organizations develop and strengthen their capabilities. For now, it features organizational case studies, the latest on the Peer Technical Assistance Program, and helpful links. It is intended to work in conjunction with the member listserv, and in the future will archive by subject the most helpful listserv discussions for reference purposes. MEDIA CONSORTIUM. The Media and Democracy in Action (MeDIA) Consortium has a home on the NAMAC site. It provides a cross discipline and advocacy area for the seven consortium member organizations from the media arts, radio and public television groups. MAIN NEWSLETTER. NAMAC's newsletters provides a wealth of useful information and history, which can now be accessed online by subject area and by issue. This area also provides the framework for ongoing discussions online about the future of the media arts. ADVOCACY/ACTION. In order to encourage greater involvement in shaping the legislation and policies affecting our future, the advocacy and action section was created as a key part of the site. It will provide a central place on the Web to learn out about current media-related legislation and get more background information on these issues. Since many advocacy resources are available on other sites, we will link to these sites so as not to duplicate efforts. ABOUT NAMAC. This section will help visitors learn more about NAMAC's programs, history, staff and Board, with strong encouragement to join NAMAC, and a form to do so. Potential members will clearly see at least one major benefit of joining -- getting a detailed profile online. DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERATIONS There were several important considerations that guided the development of the NAMAC Online Support Center in our efforts to make it as useful as possible. Of course, the most important element is that the NAMAC site be content rich. Another primary consideration was that the site be a "living publication", not a static showcase or simply an archive of information. We anticipate a great deal of new information will be updated or added on a monthly basis. In order to make this changing information obvious and easily accessible to visitors, the opening or home page was designed to highlight what's new, along with more standard navigation graphics and text. The opening page was also designed to accommodate both regular users and first time visitors through a variety of purposefully redundant navigation elements and the "Site in Brief" section, which provides a quick overview of what's inside. The home page is especially important for any Web site. It should be the primary guide to the rest of the site, encourage visitors to go to the next level, and clearly promote what the organization most wants visitors to know or find. It should also enable frequent users to quickly get to where they know they want to go. In order to encourage frequent and effective use, another essential consideration was that the site be fast to download and very easy to navigate, even for people with older browsers (Netscape 2 and below). The site also needed to be simple to manage and update considering NAMAC's limited staff and budget. Thus we avoided frames and Java script, dense graphics that take too long to download, and other more complicated elements that can often be an unhelpful distraction. However, because we still wanted a site that would be visually pleasing to visit, creating an interesting overall graphic look was important. We asked graphic artist Leslie Chamberlain, who designs NAMAC's print publications, to develop a new logo that would work both online and in print. We also brought in experienced Web designers and programmers (Lina Hoshino and Derek Chung of Tactile Pictures) to create Web graphics and forms, to setup the basic navigational elements, and to design a template for each page. These templates were developed so that pages could be easily updated in-house by NAMAC staff using Adobe PageMill. We consciously avoided including pages for bulletin boards and discussion groups. These have failed to generate much traffic on other media and arts related sites. Most people apparently just don't want to take the time to visit these areas. Instead, a more effective tool for discussion among members is a listserv, a tool which has become indispensable for other associations (i.e., media librarians regularly use their listserv to help each other locate media programs or seek guidance on management issues). One of the biggest challenges for any Web site is publicity. You can build the fanciest site in the world, but unless people know about it, they won't come. And even if they do visit once, getting them to come back frequently is the next challenge. Investing in wide ranging publicity online and in print is one of the keys to getting people to stop by. NAMAC has developed an initial publicity plan for the new site, which partly relies upon help from its members. To encourage people to return, regularly updating the site and continuing to add new information that site visitors will find of value is important. Ongoing publicity, again both in print and online, then becomes essential to promote these updates and additions. One important though often overlooked method to regularly publicize a site is the addition of an e-mail listserv or newsletter, a kind of low-end "push" technology. At NAMAC's site, visitors are encouraged to sign-up free for NAMAC E-NEWS, which will periodically send them e-mail announcements about the latest additions to the site and other new information they can find at WWW.NAMAC.ORG. The new NAMAC Online Support Center puts in place a flexible framework for participation by NAMAC members and others who visit the site. It has been designed as a responsive work-in-progress, which can be further developed and expanded in the future in order to add whatever new services are needed and new technologies that might be useful. It's ultimate value depends upon regular use by NAMAC members and communicating to NAMAC staff whatever ideas may emerge for how the site could better serve the needs of each organization and the media arts field at large. THE FUTURE In the immediate future, when funding permits, a number of new elements will be added to enhance NAMAC's Online Support Center: a search engine to make it easier to find information on the site; a searchable database of directory profiles; downloadable organizational case studies; more in-depth advocacy news and information and a rapid response network for members; an archive of useful support information generated by the member listserv; and more ways for members to interact online through the site. As the Web and its use grow and evolve, I believe it will become an indispensable tool for the entire media arts field that will open up previously undreamed of possibilities. When inevitable breakthroughs in bandwidth eliminate the current slow data transfer rates and enable full screen, real time video, media arts organizations may find the Web literally transforms the services they can offer. Their Web sites may even become the local channels that help independent media voices reach beyond their current limited audience. The thoughtful and innovative use of this evolving medium can already provide many great and immediate benefits to all media arts organizations. In the short term, the Web provides financially strapped groups with a way to create "virtual offices" open 24 hours a day. These sites can house all relevant program information and forms, and other useful archives, cutting down the staff time and expense needed to send out requested printed materials and answer common questions -- not to mention reduce the time it takes people to receive them. These sites can also enable more direct, ongoing contact with members on a daily and weekly basis, strengthening the allegiance of the existing membership base. In addition, they will increasingly become important tools for outreach and membership development, as more people browse the Web in search of help and resources. Now, if only someone could program a site to serve real coffee, too...
STEVE LADD (steve@laddmedia.com) is an independent media consultant based in Oakland, California, who managed the upgrade of NAMAC's Web site. A primary focus of his work is assisting producers and organizations with developing their Web sites and Internet strategies. (Excerpted with permission from MAIN, the newsletter of NAMAC -- |
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STEVE LADD MEDIA CONSULTING www.LaddMedia.com |