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The Web site of the new media program, has not seen an update in about three years. It will soon receive a facelift. Jon Ippolito, assistant professor of new media, said the changes were long overdue.
“We haven’t announced a specific date yet,” Ippolito said. “Technology changes so fast that the three years that passed since the previous site are more like a decade of Web time, so our team had a lot of catching up to do.”
The original site, created by Raphael DiLuzio, assistant professor of new media, and several students, was set up in three days to provide basic information about what was at the time a young and growing program.
“That site had served its purpose and was ready for a makeover, so the current design team took up the baton,” Ippolito said.
The new site will contain more information than the original, as well as news and several other features. According to Ippolito, prospective new media students will find a video introducing them to new media in general. An undergraduate will be able to navigate to pages devoted to courses, faculty or teaching philosophy. A current major may scan the page’s electronic bulletin board for new courses or calls for submissions for exhibitions and publications.
According to Ippolito, the engine driving the site is the brainchild of new media major John Bell, who came up with a clever way to squeeze fancy features out of a system that stays as simple as possible. Bell, who has been working on the design since last semester, said that the new site uses several different scripts and engines. Scripts will allow the user to customize what they see on the page, and the database will handle storing and retrieving data.
“One of the most dangerous, and therefore stimulating, features of the new site is the many ways that we’ll be putting students in the driver’s seat,” Ippolito said. New media majors will be able to contribute news stories as well as comment on stories posted by others.
Another feature of the site is Web feeds. These will display current headlines from outside news sources, such as Wired magazine.
“We aimed in the new design for transparency over whiz-bang effects, and content over eye candy. We want not just to trumpet our exciting program but to catalyze a vibrant sense of community among our new media faculty and students,” he said.
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