New Site

Dean Giannini promised Library Journal (and us) a new and improved site that would be launched in June. What do you think?!?

A Response

We read with great interest Norman Oder’s post on the LJ Insider blog about Pratt SILS Site Sucks. Since SSS was not contacted for a comment, we would like to take this opportunity to respond to a few key points.

First, Pratt SILS’s website is not a “temporary” site as Dean Giannini contends. It has been online since approximately 2005 in a similar iteration and can in no way be described as temporary or transitional.

Secondly, we do not criticize the site because it’s not “pretty”. We criticize it because it is hard to use. If, as Dean Giannini says, providing “content is the most important” purpose of the site, poor information design directly impacts its effectiveness for this very purpose. This is not about wanting the Pratt SILS site to be graphically pleasing (although there is nothing wrong with that and, indeed, that does make a site more pleasant to use, which increases user satisfaction). The site is rich in content, but is a hodgepodge of poorly organized information. Websites are not intended to be brochures, as Dean Giannini contends. Rather, they should be information portals that focus on key audiences and provide that information in an effective and useful manner. In addition, sites should reflect well on the institution they represent. It is incumbent upon those who design and implement sites to make them as useful as possible.

Finally, we would like to raise a key point about the anonymity of the blog. Direct talks with Dean Giannini about the SILS site have been attempted several times, and she has always been both defensive of the site and dismissive of any offers to work with her to improve it. Many students have volunteered their time and expertise to make the site a highly useful informational tool for the school, and nothing has come of it. SSS hopes Mr. Oder will continue to follow both SSS and the Pratt SILS site. We truly hope to report, along with him, on the new, attractive, and, most importantly, usable SILS site in June. We look forward to the promised redesign, just as we looked forward to past promises. If SSS doesn’t hold its breath, don’t hold it against us.

Things That Made Us Weep Today

According to an anonymous comment, the Dean’s reaction to the creation of this site and the content of our posts was not to evaluate her design and implementation of the SILS site or to to take a hard look at the public image she has created for Pratt SILS.  No, instead Dean Giannini decided she wanted to root out the SSS rabble rousers and…do something to us.  We find it fascinating that the Dean’s response was immediately punitive, rather than reflective.  Not surprising, but certainly fascinating.

How can we discuss the core values of librarianship, including freedom of expression and privacy while the Dean of our School of Information and Library Science wants to hunt down bloggers writing about the School’s site, how it impacts students, faculty, and alumni, and how the site itself reflects an overall Luddite sensibility within the School’s administration?

Nonetheless, SSS knows Tula will not ask herself this question and posing it any other way is an exercise in futility and, apparently, dangerous to your academic (or professional?) career.  No wonder SILSA has quietly created a site that incorporates IA and stopped wasting their breath trying to convince the Dean to improve the SILS site.  No wonder they have not acted as student advocates in this regard.  Why publicly challenge Tula when she has shown she will punish those who don’t fall in line?

Duly noted, anonymous commenter and thank you for the warning.  SSS will be watching its back at the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science.  A sad state of affairs, no?

The Thing That Made My Eyeballs Bleed Today – Reader Contribution

Thank you to one of our dear readers who noted the “ridiculously out of context” pictures of students and their tattoos. I know they are Pratt SILS students and even why photos of their tattoos were taken at School. Unfortunately for us all, no one else does. No explanation is given, the students aren’t even named and, quite frankly, this isn’t the place for the pictures inclusion. The whole page looks bizarre and sloppy. I guess this is the Dean getting edgy and Web 2.0?

Good thing she’s not interested in any feedback from the actual students! Too bad no one has offered to completely overhaul the site! Oh wait. Yes, they have. Well, Tula probably knows best. Just look at the Student page for proof.

The Thing That Made My Eyeballs Bleed Today

Huh?

Information sheds light on knowing and doing –

iDEA school
information Design, Education & Art

Do any Pratt SILS students know what this “iDEA school” thing is exactly? Have any of us heard of it? Anyone involved with this? Can anyone “shed some light” on this “iDEA” thing? Any idea? Any at all? Is this supposed to be a mission statement for Pratt SILS or some random program in which no one is actually involved? It’s perplexing.

Good thing we have this graphic to clarify and excite.

It’s hard to understand why Pratt SILS would choose to promote a program (if that’s what this is) on Information Design and Art in this unattractive fashion. The tagline and graphic offer no actual information and provide no link to more information. The point seems to be a chance to showcase a graphic that moves. Totally awesome! This Web 2.0 is really amazing! Let’s get a tagcloud next!

The Thing That Made My Eyeballs Bleed Today

Today we noticed a Very Important Change to the Pratt SILS site. This change was most likely undertaken to make the site more navigable. It sort of does, but it also perfectly encapsulates everything that is wrong with The Dean’s approach to the site.

This change? The addition of frames. It has the benefit of simultaneously making the site a bit more usable while thrusting it firmly into the year 1995.

Let’s be clear here. This is a good change, as far as it goes. But it’s not enough. The site needs a complete overhaul, not a band-aid approach. And it doesn’t look like The Dean will ever let this happen. Worst of all, the frames aren’t even present on every page. In some ways, it makes the navigability of the site worse, not better.

This is your site. This is how our school is being represented to the world. Are you embarrassed yet?