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Web Content Managers Forum – Conference Call Archive

July 17, 2008

Date/Time: Thursday, July 17, 2008; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Social Media: Creating a Government–Wide Strategy and Developing Best Practices
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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April 17, 2008

Date/Time: Thursday, April 17, 2008; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Web Records
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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March 20, 2008

Date/Time: Thursday, March 20, 2008; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Enabling Access to Web Content via Mobile Devices
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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February 21, 2008

Date/Time: Thursday, February 21, 2008; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Reduce Duplication by Aggregating and Coordinating Content Within and Across Agencies
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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January 17, 2008

Date/Time: Thursday, January 17, 2008; 11 am –12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Preparing for the Change in Administration
Contact: Sheila Campbell

Please contact us for notes from the January 17 call. We'll need to send out the attached word doc for anyone who requests.

November 15, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, August 16, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Your training needs for 2008 and beyond
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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October 18, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, August 16, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: New Tools to Identify and Measure Your Customers' Top Tasks
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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September 20, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, September 20, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Plans for the Future
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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August 16, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, August 16, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Open Mic—Questions from Forum Members
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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July 19, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, July 19, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: How Can We Prioritize Our Content?
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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June 21, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, June 21, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Link Management & Linking Policies
Contact: Sheila Campbell

The focus of the call was Management and Linking Policies: how should we manage internal and external links as a key part of having an effective content review process? Also, how can we use links to more effectively get found on major search engines?

This is a topic that we covered briefly in a Web Manager University class, but many participants said they wanted to devote much more time to it. A Linking Policy is one of the requirements of OMB's Policies for Federal Public Websites. So this will be an important discussion for our community. We hope you can join us!

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May 17, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, May 17, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Top Tasks
Contact: Sheila Campbell

The focus of the call was to review the extensive results from the Critical Tasks survey that many of you completed last month. We talked about the percentage of you who've identified your customers' top tasks (only one-third of you), how you're measuring your top tasks, and the challenges you're having. Since "improving our customers' most critical tasks online" is our community's rallying cry for the next year and beyond, we want to be sure you're all on board with what that means and what you should be doing at your agency to accomplish this goal.

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March 15, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, March 15, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Top Tasks
Contact: Sheila Campbell

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February 15, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, February 15, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Using Sitemaps to Help Search Engines Find Your Content
Contact: Sheila Campbell

Sitemaps is a new, industry-standard tool for helping search engines do a better job of crawling websites and finding your content. Sitemaps are an easy way for web managers to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.

Implementing Sitemaps has the potential to improve how the public accesses government information and services via search, especially information that is now hidden in databases and is difficult for engines to crawl. Although the tool was developed by Google, all the large commercial search engines (including Yahoo and MSN) jointly support it as an industry-neutral standard that can help improve results on all the major search engines. Read more about the Sitemaps tool.

On the call, the following questions were discussed:

  • What is the Sitemaps tool?
  • Why was it created? What problems does it address? What are the key benefits?
  • How will Sitemaps help the public get better access to government information and services?
  • When is it most important to use Sitemaps?
  • How can agencies implement Sitemaps? What are the requirements, resources, challenges?
  • Which agencies have implemented Sitemaps and what was their experience?

Read minutes from this call

January 18, 2007

Date/Time: Thursday, January 18, 2007; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Consolidating Government Websites
Contact: Sheila Campbell

The UK government announced that hundreds of their websites are to be consolidated or shut down to "make access to information easier" for people. The goal is to streamline government information and services through two main "supersites" -- Directgov (their portal for citizens) and Business Link.

Reading Material:

UK Annual Report, “Transformational Government”

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November 16, 2006

Date/Time: Thursday, November 16, 2006; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: Blogs: How Can They Be Used on Government Websites
Contact: Sheila Campbell

Many of us have read about how blogs are all the rage on the Web. Some of us are probably bloggers ourselves. They've become an incredibly powerful communications tool and a key factor in driving web traffic.

But there are lots of questions when thinking about how to apply them to government websites and how to manage them effectively. During this Forum call, members talked about the potential benefits of using blogs, the challenges and pitfalls, and hear who's using them in the government space.

USA.gov (formerly Firstgov.gov) recently wrote a White Paper on Blogs and Government Websites.

Read minutes from this call

October 19, 2006

Date/Time: Thursday, October 19, 2006; 11 am – 12 pm (EDT)
Topic: How to Apply for Awards

Awards can be a great way to get visibility and recognition for your
website -- usually at low cost and relatively low effort. On the call,
several members of our community shared their experiences in applying for awards, including those who have won some of the most well-known awards (Webby awards, Harvard Innovations in American Government, our own Web Managers Best Practice Awards, etc.). The discussion included information about the application process and how to write a powerful nomination that highlights your achievements.

Read minutes from this call.

September 2006

There was no Forum call in September because of our annual Government Web Managers workshop.

August 17, 2006

Topic: Making PDF Files 508 Compliant Karen Reshkin and Jeffrey Levy, from EPA, discussed PDF Standards.

You can review EPA's PDF Standards documents

They include:

  • checklist for using PDFs on the web - a one-pager that's helpful to give contractors
  • new linking standards, including issues on accessibility
  • a recent white paper with Best Practices

EPA put significant effort into developing their PDF standards, and many agencies can take advantage of what EPA has accomplished.

Read meeting minutes from this call.

July 20, 2006

Topic: Usability.gov Redesign

The main agenda item was a tour of the newly designed Usability.gov website. The tour was conducted by Sanjay Koyani, Usability Specialist at the Department of Health and Human Services. Sanjay talked about some great new content they've developed on usability, usability testing, and the user-centered design process. We also talked about how Usability.gov and Webcontent.gov complement each other and discussed ideas for how both sites can better serve our community. Read meeting minutes from this call.

June 22, 2006

Topic: Interagency collaboration for pandemic flu and other potential emergencies

The main agenda item was a discussion of what agency web teams are doing to prepare for a potential pandemic flu outbreak and other emergency situations. Our guest speakers were Dick Stapleton, Co-Manager of the Web Management Team at the Department of Health and Human Services and David Almacy, Internet and E-Communications Director at the White House. They discussed the work of the Pandemic Flu Internet Communications Group, Pandemicflu.gov, and how agencies should coordinate their content and avoid duplication. Read meeting minutes from this call.

May 11, 2006

Topic: Search Engine Optimization

Our guest speaker was Bob Keating. Bob talked about the latest methods for getting found on major search crawlers such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and your own agency’s search engine. Read meeting minutes from this call.

Download the presentation from this call
(PDF, 636 KB, May, 2006 requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

April 20, 2006

Topics: Future Digital System (FDsys) and survey of Web Managers - Read meeting minutes from this call

March 16, 2006

Topic: Personas - Read meeting minutes from this call

The main agenda was a discussion about Personas. Personas have become an increasingly popular technique to help design websites based on audience needs and expectations. They’re sometimes also called “customer profiles” or “audience profiles.” Personas are hypothetical "stand-ins" for actual users that can help you envision real users, their goals, and expectations. Having these portraits is one way to help you (and your whole team) create web sites that really connect with your audience.

Our guest speaker was Carolyn Barranca, Web Content Specialist with GSA.gov. Carolyn talked about her recent experience as program manager for the USA.gov “refresh” project (formerly Firstgov.gov), where she helped develop personas for USA.gov.

Here are the USA.gov personas that were discussed on the call. (Please note these files are large and may take extra time to download):

Read more about personas on our "Knowing Your Audience" page and on Usability.gov.

February 16, 2006

Topic: Site Redesigns

The main agenda item was a discussion about site redesigns with speakers from IRS and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), who spoke about their recent site redesigns and lessons learned. If you missed the call, you can read the minutes that are mailed to the Forum ListServ.

 

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