USM's New Website - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: May 2, 2005

RE: RE: USM's New Website

Date: May 2, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Sacs member
"The SACS seal and address is required to be posted on the front page."

Now you're just making things up. See p. 15 of the SACS Principles of Accreditation, http://www.sacscoc.org/principles.asp. The last paragraph is the kicker. But perhaps USM is seeking double secret probation?

REPRESENTATION OF STATUS

An institution must be accurate in reporting to the public its status with the Commission. In all official institutional publications, a member institution describes its status with the Commission only according with the following statement:

(Name of institution) is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award (name specific degree levels).

A candidate institution describes its status with the Commission only according to the following statement:

(Name of institution) is a candidate for accreditation with the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award (name specific degree levels).

No statement may be made about the possible future accreditation status with the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools nor may an institution use the logo or seal of the Southern Association in any of its publications or documents.

Date: May 2, 2005

i think the last paragraph refers to a candidate institution--meaning one that does not yet have SACS accreditation.

Date: May 2, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"i think the last paragraph refers to a candidate institution--meaning one that does not yet have SACS accreditation. "

I believe institutions are not supposed to use the SACS logo regardless of their status. I do know that institutions are not to use the SACS logo on printed self-study documents.

Just checking around: Ole Miss website ... no SACS logo ... Mississippi State website ... no SACS logo ... PRCC website ... no SACS logo but a link the "SACS information" (aren't they in the middle of self-study now?) ... Jones Co. Jr. College ... no SACS logo ... Miss. Gulf Coast CC ... no SACS logo ... Tulane ... no SACS logo ... South Alabama ... no SACS logo ... Auburn ... a 2005 USN&WR graphic but no SACS logo ... Alabama ... a 2006 USN&WR graphic but no SACS logo ...

I did see a few USN&WR logos, but no SACS logos. Hmm... Maybe they require institutions on probation to put a SACS logo on their website, sorta like those striped pants that the guys down at the county farm have to wear.

Seriously, I suspect that if this were an issue, someone would've already told the kollige webmeister to remove the offending artwork.

Date: May 2, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Sacs member
"The SACS seal and address is required to be posted on the front page."

Invictus's list of institutions that do NOT post the SACS logo on the home page strongly suggests that SACS member's assertion is wrong.

Date: May 2, 2005

Please forgive me, but that has to be the uglist website I've seen. I got a pic of two young men who were getting ready to engage in dodge ball. I thought that went out in the 6th grade.

Date: May 2, 2005

looks like a burnt grilled-cheese sandwich.

Date: May 2, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
" It's a different picture everytime you load the page...hit "refresh" if you don't like the Polymer Oven, and you'll get a pic of a Dixie Darling or some such... Truth"

truth, the Dixie Darling caption says the gal is smiling at the "packed house" in the football stadium. If you look closely, there is vacant seating in places behind her.

USM athletics officials must not have any understanding of what capacity crowd or packed house or sold out or any of these phrases mean (see our Nitchampburg sign report).

Date: May 2, 2005

There is a picture with a caption that actually shows and states students playing "freeze tag." WTF? Worst college website I've seen. I would put us on probation too, just for the horridness of the website.

Date: May 2, 2005

Even worse, there is a picture that comes up with students donating blood, probably to pay for tuition hikes. They actually show the needle appartus in the arms. Wow, makes me want to come to USM.

Date: May 2, 2005

Date: May 2, 2005

I got a picture of a teacher teaching Economic Development. Really terrible picture of the teacher. Looks more like an opera lesson - very dramatic and frightening. The students behind her look bored to death.

Date: May 2, 2005

quote:

Originally posted by: Kids and Games
"There is a picture with a caption that actually shows and states students playing "freeze tag." WTF? Worst college website I've seen. I would put us on probation too, just for the horridness of the website.

Using this message board to gripe, complain, and generally trash the new look for the university website does nothing but support the perception that all the faculty ever does is complain.

Please try to remember that the people who built the site are staff members who are doing their best to do their jobs under difficult circumstances, just like the rest of us. They need feedback and support. If you have a problem with the site take it up with the webmaster so the problem can be fixed. Otherwise , try adhering to that old adage, "If you can't say something nice,don't say anything at all."

Date: May 2, 2005

Best website I've seen. Keep up the good work! My only suggestion is to take Website Development for Dummies. This should only improve upon perfection.

Date: May 2, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: dizzy
"Using this message board to gripe, complain, and generally trash the new look for the university website does nothing but support the perception that all the faculty ever does is complain.

Please try to remember that the people who built the site are staff members who are doing their best to do their jobs under difficult circumstances, just like the rest of us. They need feedback and support. If you have a problem with the site take it up with the webmaster so the problem can be fixed. Otherwise , try adhering to that old adage, "If you can't say something nice,don't say anything at all."

People may be doing their dead level best. That's not the problem. The root of the problem seems to be an administration that runs off people who know what they are doing and not asking a wide range of appropriate folks for input.

does not ask a wide range of folks for input on much of anything.

Date: May 2, 2005

USM officials getting qualified, trained, degreed people to do the work? LAMO!
USM officials asking input from those qualified, trained and degreed in the field? LAMO!

Date: May 2, 2005

Using this message board to gripe, complain, and generally trash the new look for the university website does nothing but support the perception that all the faculty ever does is complain.

LMAO! I'm not faculty. And even if I was a faculty member, I would still have a right to comment on my university's site. It's not our fault the site doesn't look good. Someone must have said it DID look good since the thing's up.

Date: May 2, 2005

Nice...hummmm...wellllll...now that I think about it that bright yellow would wake me up, not perk me up, but wake me up. Think of something else...hummmm. All those pictures of ordinary campus life are kind of homey but I was trying to get away from home. That wasn't a very cheerful thought....think of something else... with I had't started this.

Date: May 3, 2005

Just my observation, but college & university websites are, as a general rule, uglier than bowling shoes. Go to Tulane's URL & you get a one line URL redirect, something that could be done completely invisibly by any webmaster with more than a rudimentary knowledge of server configurations.

Ole Miss' computing systems are so bad that they made the AP wire recently...

So don't whine too much about the appearance of the USM website.

Date: May 3, 2005

No, that's not true. Many college and university websites are extremely attractive and functional. The sites you specify are from colleges and universities that either don't have the resources to hire competent individuals to perform within these positions, or simply avoided doing so for whatever reasons. There are a great many attractive and functional websites in the university & college world - UCLA (big and rich) , Rollins College (small private), Loyola University, Sewannee (both small and rich), Saint Joseph's - the list goes on.

For whatever reason, USM will drop 10 to 20K to fund unsientific focus groups by an ad agency, but won't drop 5k to get an outside developer to come in and give us a really nice design in the *one* place that the vast majority of people wil experience their first or most lasting impression of USM. A kazillion, buidling-sized banners on campus? How much did that cost? How many people will see that? For how many people is that their first impression of USM? Now, how many people will view the website in that same time period? What kind of money did we spend on the website's design and structure? But there are so mistakes that were made with this roll-out that I don't know where to start.

Date: May 3, 2005

Agreed -- for an administration that professes/aspires to run USM like a business, they appear to have take a very unbusiness-like approach to designing their "corporate face" to the world...

Date: May 3, 2005

It is all about image. What image does this new website create in the minds of prospective students and their parents, currently enrolled students, faculty, alumni, people without ties to USM who just happen to land on the website??? Without having to spend tons of money on focus groups (which by the way, many faculty members can conduct these with our eyes shut), rest assured that the image folks will of have of USM from the website is not going to be positive.

If this is complaining, then so be it. Many of us have a much better sense of what would work and what won't work than those who "think they know".

Why didn't they bring in faculty, staff, and students and do a test run of the website? It would have been easy to do and would have made the website a heck of a lot better.