Jackson School rolls out new Website

Jan. 10, 2006

Welcome to the new Jackson School Website. The site implements a new design and enhanced content for the top-level school pages while offering a common navigation scheme for all Jackson School units.

The site is in Phase One of deployment. During Phase Two, other units will transition to the new template, using versions with customized home pages, color schemes, and navigation categories. Unit sites will retain control over their content and remain at their present domains.

The Department of Geological Sciences will transition into the new template by the end of February. The Institute for Geophysics has not set a timetable. The Bureau of Economic Geology plans to maintain its own distinct design.

Faculty, researchers, and staff are welcome (but not required) to use the new templates for their school-related sites. Those interested can contact J.B. Bird at the Geology Foundation or their unit Webmaster to obtain templates or have technical staff create sites for them.

Some key elements of the new common site include:

• Research features updated monthly.
• Rotating spotlight items that will also change regularly.
• Central news site.
• Central school calendar.
• Central directory connected to the UT Austin directory.
• School-wide simultaneous search of the Bureau, Department, Institute, and Jackson School domains using the UT Austin Google search engine. (The Geology Foundation is now on the Jackson School domain.)
• Enhanced content on the mission, research, and facilities of the school.
• New Jackson School domain at www.jsg.utexas.edu.
• Standard UT Austin top-level icon.
• Common, user-friendly layout and navigation, ensuring ease of navigation across the school and the units and solidifying the feel of a shared community.

Later this spring the site will add another new feature, a central experts database, which is now in development. This will function as a single database showcasing the research accomplishments, experience, and publications of Jackson School scientists.

This Website was developed through a collaborative effort by the JSG Website Task Force. Task Force members set these main objectives:

• Establish the Jackson School name and institutional presence.
• Represent an institution attractive to elite constituents.
• Showcase research and enhance awareness of the work of the three units.
• Convey synergies between the units.
• Create a gateway to the units aligned with their strategies and audiences.
• Prioritize the JSG site for key audiences.

Task Force Members

After the Task Force agreed on the objectives, key audiences and information architecture of the new site, prototype design and initial programming was done by White Lion Interactive. Jeffrey Horowitz and J.B. Bird completed the design and build out. The central directory was created by the University’s Agile Contracts Team in IT Services.

To report errors, suggest corrections, spotlights, or news stories, please use the Send Comments form located on the footer of each Web page or e-mail J.B. Bird.