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Hi Everyone--

Not sure where this should be posted, but maybe someone could add a page for Sakai Website Redevelopment and move this there.

Here is my suggestion for a process.

Step 1. Requirements Gathering This is when we identify the information that should be on the revised site, based on who will be coming to the site and what they will be seeking. We can start by putting together a list of who we think will be coming to the site and what we think they will be looking for. Next we can share our initial thoughts with the community and get their feedback. Finally, we should talk to people in those groups to identify their priorities and likely frequency of accessing information, and make sure we haven't overlooked anything. I don't think we have to go so far as to develop personas or conduct card sorting, I think conversations with current and potential site visitors would be sufficient, either via email, phone or in a group. But let's discuss that.

Step 2. Information Architecture This is when we take information about our information seekers (I hate the word users? Anyone have a better term?) and lay out an IA design. This will reflect the information each group will be seeking and how we/they think it should be "clumped." My suggestion here is for us to do this in stages (main page, second level, third level) and share our ideas at each stage with the community for comment.

Step 3. Product Prototype This is where (I think) we can best take advantage of the light weight web design tools mentioned during the meeting by Brian. My suggestion would be to make it a graphics free wireframe, based on the IA we develop in Step 2. Once we've put it together, we should share it with the community and have them click away at it.

Step 4. Initial and Final Designs This could be a simple skinning (with CSS) of the prototype, or a non-interactive layout that we offer for comment. My suggestion is that we have two stages here; a first stage where we offer several alternatives for comment, and a second stage where we show a final design for comment.

Step 5. Implementation This is the final step in the process, where we have a working design that people can access and use in place of the current site. Once we feel comfortable that we have any and all bugs worked out and have gathered last minute comments, we drop this in place of the old site.

Let me know what you think; after we've discussed this I'll be happy to put together a timeline in Excel. Then we can ship it out to the community and get their input.

Thanks!

Mike