The idea of inventorying NC State's web presence came from the community, and I would like to help push that through in 2010.  My friend and coworker Nick started championing the idea in 2009, so I want to help support his effort and do what I can on my end.

I won't really get technical here and talk about implementation strategies, but I will tell you what I would like to see.  I'd like an online repository of all the websites and applications that are owned and operated out of the ncsu.edu domain.  This would have critical information about the site like who it belongs to, who is the technical contact, where do the files live, etc.  Basically, a who's-who of NC State websites.

Just putting this in writing is scaring the bejeezus out of me.  I instantly go to that place where this is impossible.  What are the challenges?  Oh lemme see...

• How do you gather all this data the first time?
• How do you keep it all up-to-date and relevant?
• There are tens of thousands of websites under ncsu.edu, how do you even get in touch with all those people?
• I'm sure there are more....

I'm not going to pretend that these questions are easy to answer, but I think we can get part of the way there.  Nick is actively working on a locker renewal system, which will force everyone on campus who purchases web space from OIT to renew that space once a year.  Perfect time to get some good information about who they are and the sites in that webspace!  Will that be a complete list?  No, but it will be better than what we have now which is nothing.  And since there is a yearly renewal cycle, at least the data won't be years out of date...just months

So what are the possible benefits to having this data?

• We can track down sites that are orphaned or out of date
• Find a broken link on a web-page?  We can easily automatically contact the right person so it gets fixed.
• We can see who is developing what on campus
• Easily transition ownership or responsibility of web space
• And again, I'm sure there are more...

At the end of the day, the best benefit I can find is related to a previous post of mine talking about branding at NC State.  I am a firm believer that you can't start to improve on your brand until you know who is speaking on behalf of you, and right now we have no idea who is speaking, or what they are speaking about.  This system will help us get a better grip on that.

I think this will be something that we can definitely achieve in 2010.  This is also a goal where I am not really the lead guy on, but I will try to help Nick and the rest of the folks on campus working on the problem.  What do you guys think?  Good idea or foolish?

DISCLAIMER: These are my personal goals for NC State in 2010. None of this has been signed off on or anything like that, it is just what I hope to accomplish in the new year.

To accomplish this goal, I believe it starts with developers and designers.  Our campus has an awesome community of web developers and designers.  I have been the key organizer for the group for the past year, and my continuance with that will be a focus in 2010.

More Meetups, More Topics

The plan for 2010 is to have monthly meetups that are a bit more structured than years past.  The goal is to come up with a few presentations about web-like stuff, and have the community vote on what presentations they want to hear for the next month (similar to how IgniteRaleigh selects talks).  The idea would be, after a while, people would start submitting their own talks so that a few of us don't have to do them every month.  Every meetup, we'd have one or two topics, then use the rest of the time for socializing and general Q&A.  We are also going to be trying to give equal representation to the designers among us.  The better informed our developers and designers can be, the better they will be able to execute the goals of the brand book.  And an active community, is (hopefully) a productive, happy one.

Social Media Push

Last year, we launched http://twitter.ncsu.edu and it was a massive hit.  I have no facts to back it up, but we HAVE to be the most actively tweeting campus around.  We have 74 official NC State accounts for goodness sake!  I also helped teach a class last year on "Tweeting for NC State University", which made it to the home page of slideshare.net (way cool).  In 2010, I'd like to continue our momentum and tap the Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, whatever-social-media-outlet-you-want-to-name markets as well.  I'd like to see us expand on the NCSU twitter site to also pull feeds from other social media outlets.  I think it would provide a great resource to incoming students, allowing them ways to connect with new people on campus.  I'd also like to organize some additional training for people on how to effectively use social media on behalf of the University.  This will help us spread the brand to new and prospective students.

Certified Developer/Designer Program

This one is something that I have been thinking about for a while, and it may seem a little bit out of left field, but hear me out.  I'd like to setup a system where designers and developers are rewarded for knowing and executing the brand book the way it should be.  It would involve a bit of work on behalf of the employee, but the rewards could be tremendous for them and for the department or college they work for, especially in our resource-starved environment.

Here's the gist.  We setup a curriculum which involves classes on the brand book, effective design principles, Photoshop, accessibility, usability, etc.  This would be a lot of work to get started, but we already have a lot of good people who are already doing most of these classes already.  As an employee completes the curriculum, they are accepted as a certified developer or designer for NC State.  Part of them keeping this designation would be for them to turn around and help teach others.  Blog, teach workshops, answer questions on the forums and mailing lists.  It is a communal-like approach which may or may not work, but it would give employees the chance to add "teacher" to their toolbox of skills.

That sounds like a lot of work, right?  So what's in it for the employee or department?  Here is where I need to secure funding, but I do have a vision.  First off, free software.  Adobe Creative Suite, Zend Studio, Dreamweaver, whatever.  Right now, colleges and departments have to purchase individual licenses for each employee that wants to use it.  If you are a certified developer or designer, we will give you a license to use for free.  Secondly, access to pre-made templates, logos, fonts, layouts, and all sorts of brand-related goodies.  It will make the employees job easier, and they will have more time to focus on other things.  Third, a conference lottery.  Conferences are great ways to improve on your profession, but the sad thing is that we have very little funding to send people to conferences.  All certified developers and designers would be put in a lottery once a year to win a "scholarship" to the conference of their choice.  It will give people who don't typically have the opportunity the chance to branch out and attend events like An Event Apart, DrupalCon, ZendCon, or whatever they want.

Right now, this is all a dream with no real push behind it.  But I think it would a great rewards program for our 100+ developers on campus.  I know this will involve the efforts of lots of people and myself.  But what do you folks think?  Is it crazy to expect already busy people to do even more, even though it is for the betterment of NC State?  Are the requirements too big?  Are the rewards too small?  What kind of challenges do you see?

Heavy stuff, but I will leave you with a bit of Dilbert humor about certifications...

DISCLAIMER: These are my personal goals for NC State in 2010. None of this has been signed off on or anything like that, it is just what I hope to accomplish in the new year.

Pro-tip: Despite popular belief, you don't need an official initiative or bloated requirements to do something worthwhile at NC State.  This mobile project is proof that with a little imagination, a lot of hard work, a community-driven attitude and the RIGHT people in the RIGHT place, you can make a HUGE impact.  Being willing to take a risk doesn't hurt either.

Later on in the year, the library launched their own mobile site at http://m.lib.ncsu.edu.  They have a lot of very interesting apps that help out library patrons and are using the same code and design principles that the main mobile site is using.  And because I am the coordinator for the project, I get to hear from lots of other people who are wanting to do mobile sites.  Those voices have gotten much louder towards the end of 2009 and subsequently into 2010.  And while what we have done already is important, this post is about what we will do in the future, so on to the goals!

Acquire an iPhone Developer License for NC State University

I worked really hard to get this goal realized in 2009, but Apple and NC State couldn't seem to come to terms with the contract.  It sounds so simple.  Just pay your $99 and you get to put apps in the app store, right?  Nope, not when you are a state organization with some (in my opinion) overly cautious laws and lawyers.  Then you have Apple who was unwilling to modify any language in the contract to get us on board (thanks Cupertino...really?  You guys dropped the ball on this one).  While both sides failed to connect in 2009, we have a new plan for 2010 and are moving forward with it.  We WILL get this done in 2010!

Complete our Mobile Best Practices Guide

My vision is to have a resource that developers can use when they want to make their site or web application mobile friendly.  Part of this will also be a guide for administrators to consider when dedicating resources (people and money) to mobile projects.  The University is desperately in need of some continuity and consistency in branding, and since the mobile presence is very small so far, I think this is an excellent place to start.  Best practices, user-interface design, approval procedures, etc. can really help NC State becoming a leader in mobile resources for higher education.  Of course I am not going to do this by myself, but if I can continue to be a catalyst for this, I will work hard to see this goal realized.

Collect Mobile Apps and Sites

It's always good to know what kind of resources you currently have.  If you don't know what you have, you don't know what you need.  I'd like to see us collect the existing (and future) mobile applications and websites into a great, accessible resource that our current students, alumni, faculty, staff, and future students can use to get the info they need about NC State.  This includes collecting our future iPhone apps, Android apps, mobile-friendly websites, everything.  A one-stop shop for mobile at NC State.

Launch the new version of m.ncsu.edu

By trade, I am a programmer.  I see a problem, envision a solution in my head, and can sit down and write the code to solve the problem.  In this case, the problem is that we need a mobile framework so that people all across our campus (and others like, UNC) can develop code that can be specific to them, but also be maintained and re-used.  It would include much of what the current website does, including device detection, but would also entail much much more.  It would give us an awesome foundation to build something really special, and I am totally pumped about it!  And of course, it will be Open Source, freely available to anyone and everyone that wants it (cause that's how I roll).

Funding and Acknowledgment

The mobile project from 2009 was really just an interested group of people that wanted to accomplish the same thing.  While we accomplished A LOT, in 2010, we are going to need to solidify the group and be acknowledged by the University as a working committee.  For anyone in higher ed, you probably hate that "committee" word, but it is a necessary evil to move the project where we want to.  We need to secure funding for employees, training, and resources.  To get that funding, we have to be more than "a group of people".  The make-up of the group will probably be very similar to what we have now, we will just be more official

Features, Features, Features

NC State needs more of it's tools to be mobile friendly.  In 2009, we started building a foundation to get the NCSU Dining menus on the mobile site.  We need to make that a reality in 2010.  We also planted the seed of innovation into a lot of people's minds as to what was possible on a mobile platform.  Gym hours and equipment availability, access to student's schedules, classes and grades.  The possibilities are endless, and we need to follow through.  A lot of these features will be easier with an official committee in place.  The mobile presence of the University will only be as good as the resources we provide, so we need to provide more stuff.

With all that said, what are your thoughts on this project?  Anything you would like to see NC State work on with the mobile presence?  So far, the community has driven the project, and I doubt it will be much different in 2010.  So let's have it, what do you folks wanna see?

DISCLAIMER: These are my personal goals for NC State in 2010. None of this has been signed off on or anything like that, it is just what I hope to accomplish in the new year.