Please note: We are not able to “take over” the maintenance of an existing site that was not developed by our office. However, we can work with you to create and provide ongoing support of a fresh site to replace an outdated or abandoned one. Depending upon the demand for this service, we may have to establish a waiting list for development of new sites.

HOW THE PROCESS WORKS:

Academic departments and programs seeking a redesigned and supported Web site can first take a look at the example sites to get a feel for the type of content they will need to provide.

All academic sites will include:

1) A home page that provides an overview of the major or program. The descriptive text provided for your department or program under "Academic Divisions" at http://www.pomona.edu/academics/ can be copied or adapted to serve this purpose, or entirely fresh text may be created to replace it. The Communications Office may edit any new text to ensure that it is consistent with descriptions elsewhere in Pomona's Web.

2) Curriculum information (list of courses from the catalog, list of major/minor requirements, etc.)

3) Faculty/staff -- description of their subject areas and contact info

Other Web pages may be added on the agreement of the department and the Communications Office. Optional Web sections include such possibilities as:
1) useful links
2) events/announcements
3) fellowship info

The academic department or program is responsible for providing finished copy for all pages to be created. Once this information is gathered and submitted to our office as Word document e-mail attachments (no formatting of text needed), we will set up a short meeting to collaborate on the project plan. It's important to recognize that we will be balancing the time demands of your project with others, and there may be a queue. We've expanded into this area of work to make sure the College has the best possible Web, but we also have to handle the rest of our work flow.

Once your site is created, the department or program representative will be trained to take care of basic maintenance and updating with our easy-to-use Web Maintenance System and software called FrontPage. The Web rep becomes the sole person in your department with access to the site. No knowledge of Web coding is required, and the work involved in updating is little more than that in standard word-processing. The Web rep makes routine changes in a "mirror" site which is not viewable by the public. Those changes are then taken “live” to Pomona’s Web server by a member of our Web team. This provides an important safety net to ensure the changes are truly Web-ready. If you run into trouble, you can simply e-mail us for help.

Most changes are promptly posted on the day they are submitted. However, it’s important to realize that the system does not allow instantaneous access to your live site. This is not a problem for the vast majority of departments. There are cases, however, where a professor may need to be able to publish instantaneously to a Web site. In these situations, the professor should simply post items to his or her faculty Webspace, which can be linked to the department Web, or use one of the College's sponsored course related Web sites. Both the moodle learning management system (moodle.pomona.edu) and the newly announced portal-based learning management system (mynew.pomona.edu) offer faculty menu-driven access to automatically created course sites where faculty can post announcements, send e-mail to a class, host discussion boards, post links to scholarly materials, etc. The Web-served file system (wfs.pomona.edu) also offers faculty the ability to store materials in a shared Web space controlled by the faculty member.

It is important to note that the Web Maintenance System that your department's Web rep will use to update and your new Website cannot accommodate student workers or any other third party. This is mandated by an agreement between the five colleges preventing student access to the server, and no exceptions can be made. However, since the work involved in maintaining a site through the Web Maintenance System is little more than that involved in typing the information into a word processing program, the added workload generally is not a problem for whoever serves as Web rep.

A well-designed Website can actually ease your department’s workload by reducing phone and walk-in inquiries. Whether your anticipated audience consists of current students, professors or prospective applicants, we strive to present your work in the most useful and appealing manner. Collaborating with our department allows you to develop a Website that meshes effectively with the rest of Pomona’s Web, while still reflecting the unique aspects of your work. And once your site is created, you will have ongoing support to keep it fresh and up-to-date.

To request assistance with developing an official Website for a Pomona College academic department or program, please contact Whitney Hengesbach.

For information about the use of course Websites or faculty Webspace, please contact Mary McMahon, Director of Instructional Services in ITS (mary.mcmahon@pomona.edu or extension 18774).