Website Redesign for tei-c.org

In the course of moving the TEI-C website to the ADHO infrastructure in 2013, David Sewell, then TEI webmaster, documented the components of the TEI's website presence. After the migration, there were intermittent conversations about the need to replace OpenCMS, used to deliver the primary content on the website. In February 2015, the Board charged a task force to examine the issue and write a brief report with estimated costs. The group a list of options in July 2015, which the Board considered at meetings from November 2015 to March 2016. Based on those discussions, and some follow-up discussions between Michelle Dalmau, Pip Willcox, Nick Homenda, and Kevin Hawkins, a plan is being devised.

TEI-C Website Task Force Members

• Kevin Hawkins, TEI-C Webmaster through 2016
• Nick Homenda, TEI-C Assistant Webmaster through 2016
• Hugh Cayless, Chair of the TEI Council through 2016
• John Unsworth, TEI Treasurer through 2016
• Ian Rifkin, Member of ADHO Infrastructure Committee
• Pip Willcox, Board Member through 2017

TEI-C Website User Experience

I've put together five personas [1] to start the conversation to guide us as we plan the website, namely: a senior budgetary decision-maker, an experienced TEI-using academic, an experienced technical lead, a researcher new to the field, and a Comms officer. I took the format from a UX blog [2].

Persona 1

• Name: Margaret
• Age: 63
• Role: Vice President for Digital, University Library
• Education: BSc, MBA
• Free time: swimming, fine art, grandchildren

Her goal is to find cost-effective methods of supporting teaching, learning and research across the University, concentrating currently on digital provision for library collections. She needs a clear, succinct summary of the benefits and costs of each resource senior library and faculty colleagues recommend to judge where the budget is best spent.

Margaret works 9 hours a day in the office, catching up on admin at home each evening. She spends half of her time at her computer, half in meetings. She most frequently visits other libraries’ websites and the University’s accounting software. She uses a Samsung Galaxy and Note tablet as well as her work PC.

"Will this maintain us as leaders in the field?"

Persona 2

• Name: Béatrice
• Age: 52
• Role: Professor of mediaeval philosophy
• Education: BA, MA, PhD
• Free time: research, running, orchestra

Béatrice has worked with TEI schemas for 20 years and wants to consult the Guidelines about encoding particular features of the project’s manuscripts. She needs a clear and straightforward path to find the elements that interest her in the Guidelines, and to join the global TEI manuscripts conversation.

She works 14 hours a day, both in the project office and at home. Out of termtime, she spends most of her time at a computer with occasional visits to Special Collections libraries. She uses a variety of digital library and publisher resources and is always on Facebook. She uses an iPhone 6, iPad Mini, and MacBook Pro.

"How will this help our research?"

Persona 3

• Name: Sofía
• Age: 38
• Role: Technical lead, digital research projects
• Education: BA, MSc
• Free time: kick-boxing, woodwork, film

Sofía wants to plan and execute sustainable, reusable, customizable software solutions for a range of projects that will suit the needs of project researchers. She needs to find other developers’ code and answers to particular technical questions efficiently, and to be integrated into the TEI technical community.

Sofía works in an open-plan office. She spends 9 hours a day at her work computer and continues side-projects in her free time. She is never far from GitHub and mourns the loss of Google Code. She uses a Linux-based operating system, a generic Android phone, and a FitBit.

"No, I won’t fix your PC."

Persona 4

• Name: Xavier
• Age: 24
• Role: PhD student
• Education: BA, MA
• Free time: gaming, reading, cooking

Xavier wants to incorporate a digital element into his PhD research into a modernist painter’s archive to make the most use of his transcriptions and publish parts of the archive online. He needs to learn about digital editing and whether any particular standards exist that would suit his needs and be easy to pick up.

Paul works in libraries and cafes. He spends half his work time at a computer, and half reading books, and in archives and galleries. He lives on Twitter and gaming forums, and is learning to make better use of libraries’ electronic resources for his research. He uses a top of the range PC or XBox for gaming, an HP laptop for work, and the cheapest smartphone he can find.

"But where do I start?"

Persona 5

• Name: Paul
• Age: 30
• Role: Communications officer, University
• Education: BA
• Free time: scouting, interior design, gym

Paul wants to understand his colleagues’ work to write readable copy about it for a public audience. He needs to know what the “TEI” is, what “TEI-compliant XML” means, and why they make this project an interesting story. Technical background and workplace. Paul works 7.5 hours a day. He spends 5 of those hours at a computer iteratively drafting copy or in emails with academic colleagues. He loves Twitter, Buzzfeed and HuffPost. Paul uses a PC for work but is never far from his iPad and iPhone.

"What’s the story here?"

TEI-C Website Technical Documentation

• Roadmap (link to Google doc?)