August 2006 — Features
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Content Management: If You Build It Right, They Will Come
As with Newport Independent Schools, Half Hollow Hills’ results have exceeded expectations. Robertson says the system has been “an unbelievable communication tool for parents,” and in a district in which 94 percent of the residents have online access, that means something. On snowy days, Robertson used to have to trudge into school to tell people about closings, since she didn’t have home access to the district server. Now she walks to her home office and sends off e-mails about emergencies, closures, etc. Recently, she even posted news from an internet cafe in Aruba. Half Hollow Hills is currently hosting a subsite on which several area schools and the regional art museum are posting student creations. And last summer the district conducted a technology camp where middle school students developed a media gallery on the site in only three days.
A 'WOW' FACTOR Finalsite's design
intends to combine flavor with function.
Parent Bea Reiser says her children use the Half Hollow Hills site to “look up missing assignments when they are absent or forget to bring home a ditto, or want extra credit for a particular subject or grade.” Reiser says her children enjoy browsing the school’s daily menu online so they can decide before school whether to bring or buy lunch. She also says that the ease with which she can navigate the site brings her back again and again: “It’s user-friendly. The links make it easy to find what you’re looking for.”
One other notable content management system is CommonSpot, developed by Massachusetts-based PaperThin. Bob Cellucci, senior vice president of sales and marketing, and Cara Scafati, marketing manager, agree on the primary criterion for an effective site: It has to be easy and intuitive. They ask schools a series of questions as they work with them to determine the most appropriate content management system:
- How often will the information change?
- How do you want to use the content?
- What other devices do you want to use?
- What about multilingual capabilities?
- Who’s responsible for updating the site?
- Who needs to approve the content?
CommonSpot is indeed very intuitive, resembling Word. The company offers PC and Mac support. There’s no charge for support, and there’s no software to install; it all resides on the server.
