IPGRI Online Communication Strategy

Report of 1st Consultation

Paul Neate opened the meeting with a brief overview of the background to and objectives of the consultation. “The IPGRI Web site is about 5 years old, and it is time to take a fresh look at it in light of developments in technologies and the institute’s new overall strategy.” IPGRI’s media and public awareness strategies and its draft communications strategy all emphasize the importance of the Web site as a medium for engaging a wide range of audiences globally. This study will help us evaluate the site’s strengths and weaknesses and plan its development over the coming years.

Luigi Canali and Massimo Curatella of IKONOS outlined the overall consultation process, and elaborated on 16 key issues that have been identified through initial consultations with IPGRI staff, an initial analysis of the site and background documents provided (see IPGRI Web Presentation below). “The outcome of the process will be a strategic action plan for the development of the IPGRI Web site, and an assessment of alternative technologies, tools and resources needed to make it happen.” The focus of this first step is on identifying the key issues. As Massimo Curatella said, “Let’s pretend that everything is possible and focus on what is desirable.”

The key points raised during the discussion are outlined below, organized by the issue number used in the Web questionnaire.

1. Publishing workflow/team issues

Writing for the web is different from writing for print
- Need to educate and guide Web authors

Content going stale – content lifecycle issue

Publishing workflow
- “Empowering” workflow
- Need to engage authors
- More editors
- Better quality control
- Need a Web editor

Need more internal communication between different groups (scientists, editors, librarians, IT, focal points) to develop and improve content
- Communities of practice

2. Separating content from design

Reusability of content

Visual messages
- Strategic approach required

3. Understanding, monitoring and evaluating end user needs

Small usability tests with IPGRI staff, visitors, at meetings

7. Content organization

How do we go about doing this better?
- Need to understand user needs better – better monitoring of visits, user surveys (e.g. Americas office survey underway), usability tests etc (see Issue 3)
- Clearer definition of audiences, and decision on which we will prioritize (but must recognize that some people will be ‘left out’ – provide feedback mechanism to engage them)
- Iterative, participative approach, brainstorming sessions to visualize and test structures
- Look at what others are doing
- Neighbourhood pages to group content by audience
- Importance of metadata (But how will authors handle this?)

Personalized content is desirable

11. Building loyalty – linking the audience

Newsletter, RSS feeds etc to pull visitors back to the site (related to user needs assessment and content organization)

Need for more interaction with audiences – provide them with opportunities to contribute content, e.g. through “Discuss this article” threads

16. Other distribution channels

Need more distribution options – e.g. e-mail newsletters

New issues
17. Decentralization issues

Key needs for (external) (sub) sites
- Responsiveness
- Timeliness
- Speed
- Flexibility

Opposition to centrally imposed tools, framework, approach -- want to do it their way

But organization needs to maintain a coherent corporate image and knowledge base

Quality control issues

Focal point accountability

Need for web editor

18. Support for multiple languages

Support for multiple languages needed
- More resources
- Cooperative win-win partnerships

Technical issues

How to manage legacy content? ( More than 1000 pages in current site)

Importance of flexibility of new CMS