In view there are two issues here: the practicality and desirability of
'branding', and the technical methodology required to enforce and monitor
such 'CVI' imposition.
I think as web managers we should play our full part in the discussions that
lead to a University taking the decision to want to 'brand' every page on
the web site. For me the most important thing for departmental/faculty web
pages is that they find a distinctive, sustainable identity that reflects
their ethos, USPs etc while acknowledging being part of the 'corporation'.
After all, this is more important to prospective students that corporate
values, which largely only exist in the mind of senior university
administrators anyway! I feel I have to try and get this across to external
affairs, public relations committees etc. whenever I can.
As far as technical means go, I have inherited a system of server side
includes, which, when used correctly, are pretty effective and make limited
global changes easy to accomplish. However, my web strategy predicates that
this is a 'baseline' for web contributors; the web team is here to work with
schools and departments to get them to develop a balanced, distinctive look
which they feel they own. Thus, they will hopefully move away from the
SSI/template starting point to a higher level of sophistication, while still
indicating their place in the College as a whole.
It's early days, though.
Andrew
******************************************
Andrew R. Aird
Director of Web Services
King's College, University of London
Tel: +44 (0)207 848 1346
Mobile: 0776 866 4550
located at:
Room 13b, Chesham Building
King's College
London WC2R 2LS, UK
'per ardua ad alta'
******************************************
> -----Original Message-----
> From: List for the UK HE community to discuss all aspects of
> managing an
> institut [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Richard
> Tammar
> Sent: 01 November 2001 08:54
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Cross-site branding on distributed academic websites - any
> success stories?
>
>
> Hello there!
>
> I've been asked by senior management at the University of
> Sussex to ensure
> that all University web-pages cohere with 'the corporate
> identity'. To this
> end I've been attempting to compose a policy document delineating a
> (minimum) level of 'branding' that must appear on every page
> by a certain
> date (likely to be in 2003).
>
> The University's servers hold over 30 000 pages of
> open-access information,
> and, whilst a proportion of these are managed by the central
> web team or
> happy-to-cohere information providers, the majority are owned by
> enthusiastic - and often iconoclastic - individuals across
> well over 100
> separate academic departments and research projects.
>
> My question is this: have any colleagues at UK universities
> implemented
> visual identity or branding policies across a large,
> distributed site such
> as this... and if so, how successful have they been? I would
> absolutely love
> to hear from you!
>
> Richard Tammar
> Website Manager
> University of Sussex
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