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A Blog about Blogs

by Timothy Hammer on February 13, 2012 in Announcements, Web Development, Web Services with No comments

Writing a blog about blogs, or technically a blog post about blogs, feels a little like talking in the third-person. Even though it’s a little odd, we’ve got some great news to share.

This week we’re launching a new blog system at Bethel. Before you even say it, we know you’re asking: aren’t we a little behind the times? Haven’t WordPress and Blogger been around for quite a while? Yep, you’re correct.

But, here’s a question: What is worse than having to remember 30 passwords? Forgetting one of them.

With Bethel blogs, you won’t have to worry about that. Integrating our web solutions with the Bethel environment so they’re easier for you to use is one of our top priorities. And due to the new calendar, admissions applications, and other recent projects, our blog system has been patiently waiting for its turn.So we’re please to announce, albeit a little late, that Bethel Blogs have arrived. Here are some of the features:

  • No new account needed. As long as you can remember your Bethel password, you won’t need to remember anything else. Whether you’re creating a blog or reading a private blog, all you’ll need is your Bethel account.
  • Access control. Along with being tied in with Bethel accounts comes control over who can read our blogs. So, you can choose to have your blog open to the world or just for those in the Bethel community.
  • Great templates. We’ve got a template designed to match Bethel’s new website or a template that’s related, but has more of a personal feel. And you can still customize it with a photo and other personalization.
  • Strong technology. Bethel blogs are built on the WordPress technology. This means there are rich features and they’re always adding more.

So who can blog? Well, just about anyone. You might be a staff member who has been asked to blog as part of your work responsibilities. Students can blog—whether you’re blogging for class, your campus job, or just for fun. Faculty could choose to blog for professional development or for a class.

So, ready to blog? We’ve got some resources on our website to help you get started. If you have any other questions, please let us know by sending us an email or posting a question in the comments below.

Why Comments?

by Timothy Hammer on February 7, 2012 in Web Services with No comments

Every once in a while we get questions regarding comments. Usually people are wondering why we have them—because they’ve read a comment or two they didn’t like (for a variety of reasons). In general, here’s what we think:

Comments are such a tricky thing, and it’s tough to watch negative comments pour through from folks who lack tact or correct information. So we completely validate when our community members feel frustrated when toxic discourse erupts on our social media channels. It hurts, and we want to reach out to help people learn how to seek truth and how to engage in healthy dialogue.

But, it’s also important to remember that allowing commenting on our news stories, Jay’s blog, and other outlets is extremely intentional. While some of the comments make us want to throw a shoe across the office or just shut them off entirely, here are some things we try to keep in mind when reading through the online conversation:

People were talking before comments. Positive and negative feedback in regards to our news and messaging isn’t new. Before comments, we would mostly get vague feedback that was often hearsay. Now we can hear directly from our constituents. This is why we allow comments without logging in. We want to respect the fact that sometimes anonymity is required for an honest critique (although, we also recognize that sometimes it is used to hide behind when making hurtful comments).

Listen to what people are saying about Bethel. We try and pick out when visitors are making comments about what’s going on in the Bethel community. Sometimes they say things that don’t jive with our theology (personally or as an institution) or our personal political leanings. Sometimes they’re just plain being rude—which can be hard to ignore. But we try to move past the negativity and perk up when they’re actually talking about what’s happening at Bethel to see what we can learn.

Discover what we can learn from those voices. It’s true that visitors don’t always tell us what we want to hear, but even the negative posts can give us valuable information. Perhaps they point out an instance where we weren’t thorough in our research on a news story. Perhaps they help us realize that the public holds some misconceptions about who we are. Both of these things are helpful to know. They show us opportunities to communicate better.

Finally, in most cases, the community self monitors. Ultimately, it is largely the commenters themselves who look bad when they post something that is inaccurate or demeaning. When this is the case, the conversation tends to self-monitor. People from multiple perspectives start joining the conversation to hold others in the online community accountable. While it doesn’t fully restore peace, it often brings a sense of balance to the community.

When self-monitoring isn’t enough, we do engage in the conversation as an institution. In general, we’ll get involved when there are comments that:

  • Contain personal attacks
  • Use profanity
  • Are significantly off-topic
  • Are clearly spam

In addition to moderation, there are also times when we engage experts on the subject matter to respond. Jay Barnes, Kathleen Nelson, and Deb Harless have all responded at times to comments within their area of expertise.

All that to say, it can be tough to see negative comments and feedback on the Bethel site. It’s hard and painful to watch people hold such bitter views of their fellow brothers and sisters. But it also shows us why we’re here as a university—to be and prepare world-changers, Christ-followers, truth-seekers, learners, reconcilers, Christ-followers, and salt and light. It reminds us why we come to work everyday, doing our small part to build up thoughtful and informed followers of Christ to go out and love the world.

If there are questions about our approach or response, we’d love to hear from you. Post a comment below or send us a message at web-services@bethel.edu.

P.S. Shout-out to Kelsey for helping come up with this.

What’s going on today? Check the calendar!

by Timothy Hammer on September 28, 2011 in Announcements, Web Development, Web Services with 1 Comment

“What’s going on today?” It’s an innocent question. Sometimes asked by students wondering what the Bethel Student Association has planned or alumni looking for opportunities to connect.

Bethel is a busy place—and we wouldn’t have it any other way. But, that means this question isn’t an easy one to answer.

Every day there are events ranging from classes and lectures to concerts, dances, and athletic competitions. Add to the mix Bethel’s 4 schools and locations in St. Paul and both coasts; it’s hard to keep track of everything that’s going on.

It’s a dilemma we’ve been thinking about for several years. And you’d think there would be an easy solution. After all, our Gmail calendars make sense and Outlook wasn’t too shabby either.

But to find a calendar that’s built for the hundreds of campus events Bethel has each month is a pretty tall order. Sure, plenty of vendors provide options, but they honestly cost an arm and a leg and still wouldn’t work quite right for our community.

So, we built our own with the help of our friends at Infrae. And thanks to their hard work, we’ve launched a new events calendar.

Here are a few highlights:

  • Gridview. While no one ever used the term “grid view,” whenever we asked people about the old calendar, the sentiment was that it doesn’t look like a calendar. Everything was listed in one long-running list. Now it looks just like your favorite wall calendar (minus the cute cat pictures).
  • Updated filtering. Unless you’re a know-it-all, you probably don’t want to know everything that is happening at Bethel. With the new calendar it’s much easier to set preferences to see what you want and ignore what you don’t.
  • Integration with Bethel’s systems. Since the calendar is integrated with the engine that powers Bethel’s website, we can easily promote department and office events on any page in the new site.

But don’t worry, we’re not done. This is just the first phase. We’re also working on:

  • Hover details. Hover over an event on the calendar and see the times, locations, and description.
  • Shareable events. Whether it be Gmail, Outlook, or iCal, you’ll be able to add the event directly to your calendar (unless your calendar is on paper—we can’t help you there).
  • Updated submission process. Submitting events can be a tedious process, especially if your event spans multiple days. We’ll be updating this process to make things much easier.

If you’re still reading, check out the new calendar. Let us know what you think and let us know what should be on the list for the next set of upgrades.

Farewell, Dr. Doyle

by Timothy Hammer on August 11, 2011 in Announcements, Web Services with No comments
Bethel University Web Services

Bill Doyle

This fall marks the end of an era at Bethel. Dr. Bill Doyle, vice president for Information Technology Services, will be retiring after 30 years at Bethel. Bill, as he likes to be called, has helped Bethel navigate the challenges as higher-ed has embraced technology as part of the teaching and learning process. As a web team, we are also thankful for Bill’s visionary leadership. It was Bill (and his counterpart in Communications and Marketing, Sherie Lindvall), who agreed to bring together ITS and C&M personnel to form Web Services over 3 years ago. It was a new idea in higher-ed and only because of it have we been able to accomplish such a successful redesign of Bethel’s website. Bill also has helped the University transition to Google Apps for Education, and most notably implement Banner a new ERP.

Festivities are currently being planned to celebrate Bill’s service to Bethel and to wish him success in whatever retirement brings. If you’d like to contribute a message to Bill’s guest book, please leave your message below. They will be compiled and presented to Bill at a later reception.

Lots of Surveys and a Clear Winner

by Timothy Hammer on October 21, 2009 in Announcements, Web Redesign, Web Services with No comments

After sending 35,000 surveys and receiving a record number of responses, the results are in:

Design Concept 2

Concept two resonated with the Bethel community as the best fit for the new website.

Concept two will be the face of Bethel’s new website.

The survey revealed great information about messages, designs, and how they fit together. Plus, you provided helpful feedback on how the concepts spoke to you and how well you felt they represented our community.

Record-setting survey

In the survey process, our community (prospective students, current students, employees, parents, and alumni) set two records for redesign firm mStoner.

First, we hit a record number for survey responses—mStoner has never seen so many people give feedback on a redesign survey. Second, they have never seen there be such a clear consensus—across all groups.

Some of your general comments about concept two include:

  • “It’s about the student, the community, and the transformation of a student as a partner of the community.”
  • “It feels like there is a plan and a place for me.”
  • “It tells me that Bethel is a process… I really get a sense of the transformation journey.”
  • “Bethel helps you become who you are meant to be.”

A winning combination

When asking questions about messages separately from design, our community had a range of preferences. But when asking about design and messaging paired together, mStoner has never seen a concept score so highly.

The combination of message and design on concept two seemed to have a powerful effect that resonated across our community.

Learn more about our survey results.

What’s next

Web Services will work with mStoner to refine and improve concept two until it will serve as the best foundation for the new site.

We’ll continue to keep you posted, so check back soon. Finally, a big thank you to all of you who took the record-setting survey—it just shows what an awesome community we have here at Bethel.