UW's new face on the web

The new design -- both the appearance and the way information is presented -- is meant to be a model for web sites all over campus, and variations of it are already in use by the WatCard office, food services, undergraduate recruitment and Quest.

The redesign effort for UW's home page has been underway since July of last year, when it was mandated by the provost and the associate provost (information systems and technology). Since then, several people in the information and public affairs department -- including me -- have been working as a "UWinfo operations team" to plan and execute the new design. We've been meeting with web administrators and developers from several departments and faculties to discuss design and navigation issues as the new design gradually emerged.

Staff from the undergraduate recruitment office have been especially involved. They're expecting a barrage of hits on the main UW site, and on their own "Find Out More" site, as the result of the Ontario Universities Fair in Toronto this weekend -- a big reason the new look is being launched today.

A key person in creating the new page, and working with departments to help them show the same electronic face, has been Jesse Rodgers, who joined our department as web developer early this summer. The look of the page was designed by Alan Kirker and Matt Regehr of UW graphics.

Today's launch of the new homepage marks the start of the next phase of the UWinfo re-design effort. Based on the university's positioning statement, the new design is meant to be be used as a template for faculty and departmental websites. From the design rationale for the new look:

Web developer Jesse Rodgers in information and public affairs

This is an effort to move toward a more web-based workplace, giving faculty, staff and students more tools to assist them as they work and study. . . . A consistent web presence will bring UW tremendous benefits both in terms of projecting a consistent image and of cost-savings.

Web administrators and designers in the faculties and key departments are helping us to lead by example. We don't envision a UW webspace where all pages using this design are carbon copies of one another, and that it is difficult to tell the faculty of AHS from the food services website.

Faculties and departments will have the freedom to design their pages within a set of guidelines -- to design a graphic collage that best represents them, to choose the content that best suits their needs within a common navigation system, and to make the most of a strong design that will help us move toward a common look and feel in UW webspace. This common look and feel will be one of the keys to our success in best serving our users -- both internal and external to campus.

Comments and questions about the new homepage design may be directed the UWinfo operations team, e-mail uwinfofb@admmail.

Universities compete at Toronto fair

The fair opens at noon today and runs from 12 to 7 today, 10 to 6 on Saturday and 10 to 5 on Sunday. It's the major event that presents universities to thousands of potential students from the Toronto area, not to mention their parents. Students now in grade 13 in Ontario schools who hope to enter university next fall will mostly be filing their applications in September, so now's the time to form an impression of each institution.

Julie Primeau of UW's student recruitment office says the fair "has really shaped up to be a huge event" since it began in 1997. "at last year's fair," she says, "there were approximately 38,000 prospective students and parents in attendance, which makes this one of the largest trade shows in North America."

She says UW's booth at last year's fair attracted about 25,000 visitors ("based on the number of brochures we handed out"). The booth itself is 100 feet long and has at least 35 people on duty at any one time, she noted. The 100-plus volunteers who will take turns telling the UW story include current students, alumni, faculty and staff "who enthusiastically come out to greet the prospective students and parents and answer their questions".

The next step in the recruitment process will be "You @ Waterloo Day" on Saturday, October 27 -- watch for details about that big event.

Entrepreneurs of the future here now -- from the UW news bureau

The mandate of the conference is to make Canada the premier breeding ground for entrepreneurship, while combating the brain drain . The CCEM is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing Waterloo technology students and Richard Ivey business students with a forum to interact and exchange business ideas in an entrepreneurial environment.

Over the two-day event, participants will hear from many top speakers such as Firoz Rasul, president and chief executive officer of Ballard Power Systems, and Kevin Salvadori, chief information officer, Telus Corp. The students will discuss entrepreneurship in Canada, trends in technology and the outlook of the North American economy, as well as intellectual property rights and business law.

"This is the first time students from Canada's top business school and Canada's top technology school will interact in a forum designed to foster creativity and interaction," said Andrew Chung, conference co-chair and a UW computer science student. "The calibre of students present is of the top tier in Canada. Fields of study will include business, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, systems engineering and biotechnology."

Albert Nazareth, co-chair of the Entrepreneurs' Association of UW and a science student, said: "Ideally, we would like to see groups of students from both schools come away from the conference having formed the foundation and relationships which will eventually lead to a business partnership and even a start-up company."

About 120 students are expected to converge and participate in the two days of building business relationships and special plenary sessions. They will also have an opportunity to learn about areas in which they are interested, including wireless communications, biotechnology, computer security and venture capital.

Before, during, after the weekend

I wasn't familiar with Starhawk until an announcement arrived this week from the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group, but I learn that she's a big name in "earth-based spirituality", and she'll be visiting campus today. Starhawk will be in the courtyard of Environmental Studies I for most of the day, giving two main presentations. From 11:00 to 12:30 the topic is "peace, terror and activism", and from 2:00 to 4:30 it's "magical activism . . . prepare yourself for participation in political actions and for the unexpected in everyday life." The environmentalist-in-residence program in the ES faculty is a co-sponsor of Starhawk's visit.

The philosophy department sponsors a colloquium today by Andrew Brook of Carleton University: "Kant, Self-Reference and Self-Awareness". The talk will start at 3:30 in Humanities room 334.

Reminder: tomorrow brings the first of this year's programming contests at UW. "The results of the UW contests," writes Gordon Cormack of the computer science department, "will be used to select our team for the international ACM Competition. We will send two teams of three to the East Central Regional competition in November 10." Tomorrow's contest begins with signup between 10:30 and 11:00 in Math and Computer room 3006, and ends with pizza and results around 4:30.

A series of workshops on Caribbean dance, sponsored by the K-W Caribbean-Canadian Cultural Association, will be held this weekend and next at UW's dance studios in East Campus Hall. Information is available at 886-7383.

Sports this weekend: The men's rugby team hosts Queen's at 5:00 today on the north campus. Tomorrow, there's women's tennis against Toronto and Queen's, starting at 9:00 at the Waterloo Tennis Club; the baseball team hosts Toronto for a doubleheader (1:00, Jack Couch Park); and the football Warriors host the Windsor Lancers at University Stadium (2:00). Sunday, there's men's tennis against Queen's, again starting at 9:00. Other Warrior teams are on the road -- cross-country at Western, field hockey in a tournament at Ottawa, women's rugby at Brock, men's and women's soccer at Windsor.

CAR