As part of Strategy 2015, we have all been asked to identify opportunities for communicating the value of Simmons College and increasing the visibility of the characteristics that allow us to occupy a unique place in the higher education landscape. For the Technology department, this has meant focusing on how our community uses technology and looking for ways to improve core services. From a visibility standpoint, there is no platform more valuable than our online presence, which is frequently the primary source of information about Simmons for those outside of the College.
The platform we use to manage our website no longer meets the needs of our community and was not designed to handle the rich, interactive content (such as videos, social media, and apps) that have quickly become the backbone of the most successful websites out there today. The need to replace our content management platform has presented us with an opportunity not only to update the way we use our website, but to reassess the entire strategy for our larger digital ecosystem.
To accomplish this, Technology is participating in a College-wide initiative, with representatives from across campus, to create a strategy that focuses on organizing and sharing content, particularly the research of our faculty and the accomplishments of our students and alumnae/i.
Our goal is to have the first phase of the Digital Ecosystem Project complete by September 2014. We will be taking an iterative approach, beginning with a new website, a new mobile app for students, and a new way to manage content. Prior to these services going live, we will work with the community to develop policies to guide content creation, and focus on training stakeholders to use these new tools in order to maximize the visibility and impact of Simmons’s online presence.
In the coming months, we’ll provide updates on the Digital Ecosystem Project as it takes shape and moves forward. We also welcome your feedback, which is vital to the success of this project. Please contact Nephellie Dobie, Director of Project Management and Business Analysis, if you have questions or comments you’d like to share.