Realms of Inquiry
Teachers and staff of Salt Lake's non-profit, private school, Realms of Inquiry struggled to get their voice on the internet. The complexity that enables the web's flexibility prevented their direct authorship of pages representing their organization.
Their struggles with a frames-based website resulted in out-of-date content, broken links, and a state of denial about their website. 2004 enrollment was down.
I interviewed stakeholders, then defined and implemented a web engine that reduces the complexity of managing a website. It separates look-and-feel from content, so staff and teachers can contribute using familiar tools, while look-and-feel designers can manage design from a central file. The engine automates the site's plumbing, organizing the site according to its underlying files and folders, with never a broken link.
Today, six administrative and teaching staff members actively build and maintain their school's website. By making their voice and their school's unique value proposition heard, Realms generated growing enrollment interest.