I’m so excited, and a bit overwhelmed by all the work that will go into me and Renee’s latest edition to the COBWEB Project.

An API!

Yes, since we have been working relentlessly to make the information at the College of Business mobile, organized and accessible throughout the college, we thought why not the entire NMSU website? So we will be including an XML-RPC compliant API for accessing open information at the College of Business!

What does that mean for those that have no clue what I just said?

It means if you need a list of scholarships, a phone number, a photo of a professor, or other information, you will be able to simply get your IT professional to tap into our database for bits and pieces of information. And, when we update any information at the College of Business, the changes reflect on your site.

Relying on XHTML

It also means instead of constructing XHTML pages with content, we (and you) build pages that pull content in from a more mobile friendly Database -> HTTP -> XML / XHTML format.

This also means a more reliable archive of past information.

NMSU is too Static!

This is becoming common practice where mobile information is vital, and I personally found it necessary to identify the NMSU website as information that should be mobile across the entire university. I would like to see other portals across the NMSU website adopt a mobile solution, as we continue to raise the bar.

And, in a standard manner that concerns the entire scope, not simply an office or department.

Copy and Paste No More!

NMSU’s information is consistently changing, and is too often copied and pasted across different colleges and networks. Duplication isn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless the information changes, causing more work for already busy staff. It’s not duplication we’re trying to eliminate, just original content duplication. To fix this information needs to be accessible in a standard manner.

By making the College of Business’s information mobile through an XML friendly API, information can be found faster, yet is consistent across the NMSU website. I’m personally excited about this because this is something NMSU has failed at for years, and it’s about time we move into the modern age of access.

More COBWEB to come.

There’s still so much more to blog about the COBWEB project, I promise to talk more about what we are doing to move NMSU into a university-wide information era.

Renee on Facebook.
Aubrey on Facebook.
Aubrey poured Coffee on his laptop.

Today, me and Renee had another day at each others throats [we're the loudest in the office], working out and fine tuning the organization and word usage on the websites’ static navigation. But, we always do the hard work and find middle ground.

Often, while thinking out the nobs and gears of the site, we’ll get frustrated when we aren’t communicating at our best. So, we take a break, and come back with another solution, or an explanation of why we are fighting for a cause.

This was my explanation on why it was important for me to keep the user interested by not changing his or her mind or train of thought. Often, the user thinks in words and subjects, not the fine details or descriptions detailed within the content, so it’s important that the content pleases the users mental associations.

For instance, we could not put a link or a sub-subject to ‘prospective students’ on a ’students’ page because the major content there would pertain to current students. This might give a prospective student a lost feeling, because they weren’t thinking ‘current student’, and the content did not pertain to their train of thought. They might go back and forth to find what they’re looking for, before finding a link or sub-content, and we don’t want that!

Between parents, current students, and prospective students, it’s essentially a ‘Student’s’ endeavor, yet they all think, initiate navigation, and expect content differently.

Web 2.0

Renee also had an idea for a specific page outlining new technologies NMSU is involved in. And, how and where to incorporate them into the College of Business website. I think NMSU is a little confused on what ‘Web 2.0′ really is, but I’ll get to that later. Originally, Renee wanted to call it ‘Technologies’, and I thought it was important that we address Web 2.0 [the term], specifically. And we were back at each others’ throats trying to get the wordage right.

First, we started off with ‘Web 2.0 Terminology’, and we knew we were close. I offered ‘Web 2.0 University’, but she wanted to make sure staff knew the page would help them learn and address what Web 2.0 really was, and what it had to do with NMSU. We settled on ‘Using Web 2.0′, because I knew there were users out there that knew they wanted to find out how they could use services like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and RSS [Deemed Web 2.0 Services]. Services like these strikes the term ‘Web 2.0′ in the mind. Even though, Web 2.0 really is about mobile and open information, most, associate the term with services created in the ‘new web’ era ‘ala 2.0, versus 1.0.

Renee also knew some wouldn’t even know what Web 2.0 was, but this way, they knew it was something to be used, and they could learn a new term at the same time.

The past few days we’ve realized that it’s important to do this right, right away, and not let a mental projection guide your setup, because it’s often incomplete. It’s important to plan it all out, think of all the situations, all the options [Do the hard work!], even if it means you disagree, have to take a break, and finally meet somewhere in the middle :-).

Don’t get rushed into making easy decisions, pleasing someone, or trying to just get it done. Just take your time, work it out, and the user will reep the benefits.

So this will be the first installment of the soon to be famous across campus, COBWEB Project Blogs.

So, this is how we ended up understanding functions.

So, what is the COBWEB Project? It’s going to be the new and improved New Mexico State’s College Of Business Website. Renee Brown and I are working on it together. So far, as you’ve seen, we’ve gone over some programming and started a mind-map of the entire website.

I am particularly enjoying the work I’m doing here. Renee is open minded and not afraid to see an idea to the very end.

Today, Renee got on Facebook for the first time, so you should look her up and add her as a friend!

Well, check back for more blogs on the COBWEB Project or just check out our door at NMSU on room BC143, in the Business Complex for the latest updates on what’s going on.