Severity: severe
Audience: large
Fiscal effect: yep
Policy question: hmm
Reported: well, sort of - but does it need to be?
Link: Various
AAUW is a complex organization and since even earlier incarnations of the website (www.archive.org anyone?) the web site’s way of dealing with this has been long lists of somewhat related topics. See, for example, the left hand menu on the Member Center.
Some pages try to deal with these lists by providing some structure (e.g. forms for states, branches, etc.), but others appear to throw up their hands and just list things alphabetically. That last might be okay if the items in the list were parallel in some way, but things like the list of topics in the member center left-hand menu are just really odd.
Evidence that this is a problem is in the response to the SAR/SEC regional meeting Web Tour workshop. This was repeated at the Conference of State Leaders. The workshop — all info at http://wiki.bbvx.org — is just a simple front end to some of the key content on www.aauw.org, so it might be considered a prototype for a new navigation system.
I’m not minimizing the difficulty of this problem, just documenting it as an issue that must be addressed in the new web design.
Severity: moderate
Audience: small
Fiscal effect: could be - inconsistent branding may give the wrong impression
Policy question: maybe? are we changing the color?
Reported: no
Link: http://www.aauw.org/member_center/newsletters/logos.cfm
Once upon a time the Teal W, Grey AAUW was distributed in PNG format (see www.aauwnc.org) and TIF format (for printing). Those don’t seem to be available any longer from the official logos page, which has EPS files for print. These can be imported into Word or other desktop publishing tools and, unlike the JPG and GIF, they stay sharp even at larger sizes.
I have, however, noticed what appears to be a problem with the EPS for the first logo, i.e. the one labeled “all teal” though the JPG and GIF demonstrate a teal W over grey text, http://www.aauw.org/images/logos/AAUW-logo_327+50K.ZIP. On both my screen and my printer, the W is clear green, not teal. Now if that’s intentional I can “get with the program,” but if it’s not, we need a new EPS file.
[According to Color Schemer, the green is RGB (0,217,97) while the teal in the JPG and GIF for other logos on that page is something like RGB (0,124,112).]
FIXED - per note 7/7/06
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Severity: minor
Audience: small
Fiscal effect: no
Policy question: no
Reported: no
Link: http://svc.aauw.org/cfpNew/selectLogin.cfml
In the drop down list for “where did you hear about this” it says EdEgChange instead of EdEqChange. On a related topic it’s strange there’s no “web site” in that list.
One challenge to the TUAG is to look at what technology trends AAUW needs to track — how will things be different in 10 or 15 years. Frankly, there aren’t any “futurists” in the group. If you’ve recommendations on this, feel free to register and join the conversation. In the meantime, here are some resources that may spark discussion:
- A citizen journalism project on “Nonprofits of the Future: NGOs of 2016″. The idea is to paint a picture of what a technologically empowered nonprofit will look like a decade or so from now. Check out
http://www.socialedge.org/Events/ThoughtLeaders/30
Severity: enhancement req.
Audience: moderate
Fiscal effect: probably not
Policy question: probably not
Reported: no
Link: http://www.aauw.org/outlook/backissues.cfm
Some, but not all, of the issues of Outlook are posted in full text format. If that wouldn’t be too much trouble (i.e. if the full PDF still exists) it would be helpful to have that version posted, too.
Severity: moderate
Audience: smal
Fiscal effect: yes
Policy question: probably
Reported: unknown
Link: http://www.aauw.org/member_center/forms/recordchange.cfm
Bonnie Oppenheimer of Missisippi University for Women (where large numbers of graduates are given memberships upon graduation), reports that in previous years, a donor could enter more than one grad’s information without having to re-enter her/his contact information. This year she had to put her information on each of the 70+ forms.
We, of course, don’t know if this was a policy change to discourage multiple submissions, but if the GAGAG program has been developed assuming long-term benefits that outweigh its short-term costs, this form should be redesigned.
Severity: moderate
Audience: moderate
Fiscal effect: could be
Policy question: maybe
Reported: no
Link: various
Some pages have information that might go out of date, but without a “last changed” time stamp, it’s difficult to evaluate the currency of the information. This is particularly important for pages that might be found through a search (rather than through the menu system) and so still be found even if they are “orphaned” and out of date.
Severity: moderate
Audience: moderate
Fiscal effect: could be
Policy question: no
Reported: yes, at various times
Link: C/U partners, Branches (e.g. in NC)
Sometime in the last year the two pages above were coded so that the data they displayed comes directly from the database rather than being hand coded. There are still problems in that the information posted there doesn’t seem to agree with the reports that are generated for other purposes. The branch listing problem was described elsewhere. The C/U problem can be just as annoying: institutions show on that list then disappear for no apparent reason. The list now shows 16 institutions in NC, but only 13 were reported to us when we asked for information to mail the state newsletter.
This can have a fiscal effect when:
- C/U institutions think their dues are current when they aren’t
- C/U members don’t receive information that is due to them because they drop off certain lists
- Prospective members find that the branch they thought was near them doesn’t really exist — and their frustration may mean they don’t join at all
