Looking for your feedback and suggestions regarding our homepage

[Or-Tal Kiriati]

Firesidelearning would like to stay dynamically in touch with the community members.

I think it's time for some refresh process.

I'd like to make some suggestions regarding the homepage and I'd welcome your comments and suggestions before we change anything. After all, the firesidelearning homepage is our community home...page.

I feel the homepage got a little too busy so here are my suggestions:
-I think we should remove the after ed tv and the ed news from the homepage and place it in a separate "news" page (a new tab for the main menu).
We can make it "news and links" and add the delicious column to this page too.

-We should make a starter page with the information for new members and community beginners. In the welcome message that goes out automatically to new members we can add the link to this page. This info is relevant for new members and for the rest of us it only clutters the homepage.

-In the right side column the information appears all the time in all the pages of the network, including personal pages.
This means we should use it for info we would like to be accessible all the time. I've seen several network using it for the "latest activity" - because then you get to see what's going on even when you comment on something else or updating your personal page - and that triggers more responses. Events and birthdays could also remain there.

The forums and blogs latest activities are rather long so I'd live them in the middle, including the link to the very useful weekly summary.
I would suggest to add something visual to the weekly summary whenever it is possible - like a photo or video uploaded during the week.

-The full twitter list can go to the news page too. There is a new application that can add the twitter updates to a side button. I'd love to try it.
On the homepage I'd use a shorter version for twitter, with the latest 3-5 items only.

-I think that members and groups should be placed higher - because they are what makes it a social network. The soc... ;-)

What would you suggest?

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Or-Tal, I'll confess that the ONLY thing I use the homepage for is Latest Activity - so as long as the Latest Activity is easy to find ("above the fold" as they would say in the newspaper business, something I can see without scrolling), then I will be happy. I hope other people will chime in with what is important to them!

I'm guessing that instead of building addiitional pages, it's better just to ditch the things on the front page that are not useful... I really really doubt that people are going to click to go to subsidiary pages - and do we even want to do that? The forums and blogs are the main things, just as you say - it's social: forums and blogs are where people INTERACT (and also the video pages and photo pages; I really like the way you can leave comments on the videos and photos that people post at a Ning). Building separate webpages, even with dynamic content, does not lead to a lot of interaction. We can always bring stuff back to the homepage later if it is missed - but I for one don't feel at all bad about just removing stuff from the homepage and letting it go. I always feel bad about webpages that nobody ever visits, and I'm guessing that if we build separate pages, they really will not get visited... but I could be wrong! I'd be curious what others think about that.

That's my 2 cents' worth of thought on this topic! And now I need to go do the round-up - I forgot to do it this weekend! Eeek!

:-)

[Or-Tal Kiriati]

Hi Laura,
You know, I totally agree. I like to get to those news items that people refer to in their blogs and on the forums - and people link to relevant news all the time anyway. So I guess it is going back to those blogs and forum again.

[Ian Carmichael]

I'm comfortable with what exists, but I have no problems with changes either. My main entry points to Fireside Learning are either through email notifications of additions to conversations I'm already part of, or through my RSS reader which collects up all new activity.
The main page is only my third port of call for orientation to what's happening.
So, like Laura, it's the other voices that will be important in redesign!
Please chip in, folks!

[Connie Weber]

Hi All,
I really like having After Ed right there on the front page; it's stuff I watch and hope others do, too. Also, I think it shows we're really "about" education, I mean, there are some super creative Columbia Teachers' College grad students and professors sharing meaningful productions with all of us... I'm a fan, would like it to stay.
Are people watching the videos? Check them out, see what you think!
My only wish is that Josh and others associated with the site would find more time to jump in with our conversations, or start up some talks.
That's my two cents for right now. Thanks, Or-Tal, for getting us talking about page layout.
Others, what are you thinking? What do you like about the front page of Fireside? What needs to be changed?

[Or-Tal Kiriati]

Hi, we don't have to take aftered off the homepage to create a media/news page. Any such page would include more item. I think it might be useful, unless people are not interested in finding those sources on fireside...
People, what do you think?

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Connie, I'll confess that I am not a viewer of After-Ed... but if I new there were a particular video that you liked, I'd be much more inclined to watch it! So it might be good to add a note there or something just to encourage people to start discussions about a video or, even better, to include the video as a Ning video - I include new Fireside Ning videos in the weekly round-up, and I really enjoy seeing what videos people have shared (I LOVED the Bobby McFerrin video someone included this past week). Do you know if the AfterEd videos are like You-Tube videos, that we can put them into the Fireside, and have comments about them...? I think that would get them to circulate more freely among the members of Fireside.
I like videos... but they take more time that just reading an article or a post, so I rarely watch a video unless it actually is something a person has chosen and recommended - I really depend on word of mouth (virtually speaking) to decide what videos I take the time to watch.

[Or-Tal Kiriati]

Hi Laura and Connie,
I also don't watch AfterEd- but I don't know - perhaps members do find it interesting. For me too, a video posted by a member or referred to is more appealing. I am looking forward to hearing more opinions from other members on our homepage features including the AfterEd.

[Connie Weber]

Ok, how about looking at the video on After Ed this week called "Sharecropper"? I think you'd like it a good deal. There are always interesting projects, very much the kind of thing we like to have available at Fireside. I guess I could start forums that link to the particular video, that'd give them discussion space. But it seems to me good that they're there, and that content is regularly updated. Anyhow, check out that video, pretty cool idea...

[Ellen Pham]

Ah Connie, so many more people (ok, I made that up, it's just a guess) would view the video if you included the link ; )

Oh, I see why you didn't now... I just went looking for the video, and I had to scroll up and down twice before I noticed it! I honestly had never noticed the after ed box, even though I scroll from the latest activity to forum areas most times I am on fireside.

...having watched a few now, I really like that this are user-generated videos, meaning from people actively involved in these projects... I am charmed by them. I think I would have been more likely to notice the after ed videos if they were in the sidebar above the fireside videos. I am a creature of habit, don't rely as much on visual clues as much as most... I also don't think I should be used as an example- most people would have noticed it : )

I think the twitter feed should be moved down below the members and groups info on the left sidebar. It just isn't visually attention-grabbing enough for the prime real estate it occupies... don't want people "tuning out" that early on the page. On the other hand, once I slow down and finally look at the feed, it is interesting....should go somewhere!

The latest activity demands attention where it is, and I like the emphasis it places on members contributions- I always give it a quick glance when I visit.

For me, a separate news page would probably be better- I would be focused on gathering ed news when I visited that page. I do like the idea of having all those feeds in one place.

[Louise K Forman]

Love the idea of a starter page for new members plus a welcome message to new members that gives a few guidelines on how to get started. I find the current home page a bit overwhelming. I didn't see the Quick Guide to Fireside until a third visit to the home page (didn't have much time with the site the first 2 visits).

[Or-Tal Kiriati]

I appreciate this feedback. Are there other items you would have included in the quick guide or any guide?

[Fred Deutsch]

Simplification would be a good idea. I logged onto fireside for the first time in a very ong time the other day and struggled just to find how and where to leave a comment. I might also suggest developing a central "how to" place. Not everyone here is a techno-wiz, and it would be nice to have a section for all-the-rest-of-us less fortunate techno-ding-bang-wiz type people.