Note from the Web editor:
Today, we debut a new look to the Ball State University News Center. The site is produced by University Relations to highlight the latest news and events at Ball State.

While, yes, the News Center is visually different, what is really exciting is the new system we are using to manage our site. This system will eventually be made available to other parts of the university.

The system allows Web content to be shared between departments and to provide personalized content to potential students and other Ball State Web site users. We are truly ushering in a new period of Web development at Ball State .

The News Center is the second Ball State Web area to migrate to this new content management system developed by Vignette. The first was athletics last fall.

The system is used by some of today's heavy-hitters in e-commerce, education and business. These include CNET, Chicago Tribune, CBS Broadcasting, Ziff Davis Interactive Media, Columbia University, University of Miami, click2learn, Digital Think, Land’s End, plus many, many more.

In short, this system will simplify Web page production for each department's Web editor and improve navigation and search capabilities throughout the Ball State site. Departments will no longer need to purchase its own Web software. Department editors will simply use a Web browser (Microsoft Explorer currently works best) to update content.

The system also allows multiple departments to share content. For instance, if department Web editors would like to link to stories appearing on the News Center about their departments’ programs, they can do so easily with a few clicks of the mouse. Or, if a department editor makes a change to its faculty listing, that change will appear automatically throughout the entire system.

Eventually, this content management system will be made available to colleges, departments and other academic programs at Ball State. Faculty or students building personal Web spaces, course pages or instructional areas will continue to use FrontPage and Blackboard. If you would like more information, contact Denise Jones, director of Internet communications and Web development, at djones@bsu.edu.

If you have any questions specifically about the News Center’s change, please contact me.

Nancy Prater
Web editor
University Relations
(765)285-3220
nprater@bsu.edu