Newswise — American University today launched a new, redesigned Web site at www.american.edu featuring interactive, multimedia capabilities that provide dynamic content with state-of-the-art Web 2.0 communication.
The site features tagged and linked content including news, success stories and profiles, site-wide global navigation, a virtual campus tour, user-generated content through a wiki system called AUpedia, and a university master calendar. Each component is implemented with a consistent integrated design, look, and feel for an enhanced user experience.
"Our new site represents the promise of a new way of reaching many audiences, particularly prospective students," said Terry Flannery, executive director of communications and marketing at AU. "It will be the front door of our university for those coming to us for the first time and allow people to access the university from points near and far. As for our community, it's where we will announce good news, gather in a crisis, and keep each other updated on happenings and events."
DiscoverAU with its "Virtual Campus Experience," produced and streamed by Realview TV, is the site's cornerstone and pushes the boundaries of innovation for college videos and virtual tours. An interactive 3-D map, "My Five Faves" video segments, and an InsideAU view enable the university to connect to its audience online through a medium that all students crave—online video.
This Web 2.0 development is the result of a two-year campus-wide collaborative process, led by an expert group of leaders from the university's information technology and marketing communication areas. Assisted by more than 125 people in 20 departments across the university, AU's team spent 25,000 hours to create and redesign the 7,500 pages and counting migrated for launch.
The university turned to the New York"based firm HUGE to analyze the current site and produce a new vision for american.edu based on the user's experience and not the institution's organizational chart. HUGE produced a complete visual and structural redesign that incorporated the university's brand and sub brands and provided the shared tools need for consistent delivery.
"From day one, HUGE shared AU's commitment to raise the bar for higher education Web sites by developing an authentic, transparent online experience that truly surfaces the student voice. We focused on developing a template, modular system for AU which gives the school the flexibility to communicate with its audience in a very direct, open way. This redesign presents a much more powerful, accurate, and unifying picture of AU," says Aaron Shapiro, partner at HUGE.
To create the site's functionality, AU turned to content management company PaperThin, Inc. and Web technology consultant firm, North Highland. PaperThin's content management product, CommonSpotâ„¢, makes creating and sharing content and site management easier. North Highland assisted with the mapping and planning of content to be used across departments within the university.
In a first for AU, and rare among other universities, the site was tested pre-launch under a simulated load of thousands of concurrent users to optimize performance of the site before going live. In addition, AU's Office of Information Technology technical development and performance Web project team upgraded bandwidth in anticipation of increased demand coming from the multimedia and dynamic content components and used an innovative agile project methodology throughout the project to manage the breadth of the project.
"Students are craving a Web site that broadcasts what AU is to the world," said student government president Seth Cutter, who was a member of the Web calendar committee. "Our old Web site didn't reflect our values and our reputation "¦Students want a Web site they can be proud to share with friends and family and this new site delivers."
Located in Washington, D.C., American University is a leader in global education, enrolling a diverse student body from throughout the United States and nearly 140 countries and providing opportunities for academic excellence, public service, and internships in the nation's capital and around the world.
About our partners:HUGE is a leading independent interactive agency that specializes in building sustainable businesses online for some of the largest and most demanding companies in the world. Founded in 1999, HUGE has evolved a unique methodology and culture that combine the best aspects of research, user-centered design, product planning, and technology expertise.
Realview TV, headquartered in Atlanta, is an award-winning video agency that develops interactive video solutions for clients. Realview TV's education industry team consults with some of the most widely recognized colleges and universities in the country.
The North Highland Company, Inc. provides consultancy services in supply chain management, strategy definition, business intelligence, IT management, process management, and customer interaction. The company also offers consultancy services in marketing strategy and execution, customer relationship management, customer contact center, and Internet/intranet design and usability.
PaperThin, Inc. is a privately held Massachusetts"based company founded in 1993. PaperThin's flagship product, CommonSpotâ„¢, is a leading content management solution that empowers organizations of all sizes to improve productivity and derive more value from their Web strategies.
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