Over the past few months, we've been defining the architecture of an integrated online environment for Bates, and we've been rolling out the first two phases, both at the wide end of the funnel of engagement.

First, here are two graphics we've produced to explain our initiative. (Thanks to Ethan Dahlin Magoon, our new online media producer, for visualizing many concepts in two small spaces.)

The first graphic is our proposed domain architecture. It is a virtual master plan based on an overarching blueprint for online engagement. It is helping us show how future online content, collaboration, and transactions can support our constituents as they move from general awareness toward greater engagement and commitment. This is critical for those of us who are building future phases of our domain.

Next, we are developing a new home site as entry to this environment; here's the site architecture. Unlike many home pages and top-level sites, we are working to establish, for our first-time online visitors, a connection with the deeper content which matches their own interests.

One of our primary goals has been to surface the content that is already being generated by faculty, staff, and students around the College. (We identified a significant amount of content which was mostly invisible to the world — not by design, but by neglect.) We're raising our "news/magazine" prototype which presents stories — in text, images, audio, and video — classified by topic, to a production level at the same time as our home project.

Our students have become active partners in the development of this new environment, from production work in WordPress and DabbleDB, to writing about our strategy for the College community.

If you're undertaking something similar, will you share here in the comments? We'd like to have company ...