Communication Priority Committee – Update for Board of Directors

The Communication Priority Committee decided this past spring to transition the BLC website away from the current CMS (hosted at MBLWHOI) to a new format that would be easier to edit, allow for greater flexibility and could be hosted in the cloud. Google sites was chosen as the platform since the BLC already uses Google Apps for email, calendars and document sharing; the sites come with easy-to-edit templates and can be created in a relatively short time frame.

While Amanda Schmidt created the new site and migrated current site content, other members of the committee interviewed the conveners of COIs, chair(s) of the other strategic planning committees and the BLC Management Council. Committee members asked about the types of information produced within the BLC and about the information needs of BLC members (see questions below). After gathering this information, the committee met and discussed additional updates for the site, and what new information should be available from the BLC website. COIs will be able to have their own section of the website to post meeting information and anything else they would like; COI sites can be managed directly by the COI convener(s) or chair(s). There will also be a “News” section of the site to post updates on what is going on across the Consortium.

The website transition is scheduled for Wed., Nov. 23. The initial site will include all the information from the previous website; the committee will continue to work on adding additional material requested by COIs, committees and Management Council. This will include summaries of Board and Management Council meetings, as well as ongoing updates from the four Strategic Planning Priority Committees.

Please contact the committee co-chairs, Amanda Schmidt (aschmidt@blc.org) and Amira Aaron (a.aaron@neu.edu) with any questions.
Questions for BLC Membership

• What information does the COI produce that could be shared with the BLC membership?
• What information does the COI produce that needs to be kept confidential among COI members?
• What improvements should be made to the BLC website to help the members of the COI?
• What additional information would you like to see on the BLC website?
• What information from within the BLC would be helpful to the COI that is not available currently?
• Does the COI have a communication platform that it uses for their members? If so, what? How well does it work?
• Does the COI need a (better) communication platform or a particular type of information tool for its work?
• Do you have any other comments regarding communication within the BLC?