PA 765 "Public Sector Information Management" Fall, 1998
Richard LeGates HSS 137
PH (415) 338-6176 e-mail dlegates@sfsu.edu

 

Project # 2 Web Page Project

Another of the of the applied skills we will be working on in PA 765 is design, creation, and use of a web site. This will be a useful skill with lots of applications for individuals. It will also be the vehicle for better understanding uses of the web and how web-based material can be integrated with other electronic and uncomputerized information within public and nonprofit sector organizations. The approach will be to:

First design, create, and use an individual web site closely modeled on class materials. Then jointly create a more sophisticated database.

Before the Midterm Exam each student will:

  1. Move through the process of creating and using a web page using Microsoft FrontPage. One of the in-class activities will be to work through chapters in Microsoft FrontPage Step-by-Step in the computer lab. The example in the book involves a web site for a zoo (a public or nonprofit organization!), but the concepts are universal and can be applied to any public or nonprofit organization web site. After going through the book we will be using the skills to design, create, and use our own web sites.
  2. Between September 3 and October 22 each student will proceed through the steps involved in designing, creating, and learning to use a web site relevant to each student’s interests and work setting. October 22nd will be devoted to student presentations on their web sites.

After the midterm each student will:

  1. Work as a team member to create a web site related to the companion database which we will be creating as part of an intranet with data related to personnel management, budgeting, information resources management, and operations research for a real or hypothetical agency of our choice.
  2. Link this web site to a concurrently developed database.

 Due September 3

Based on the real or hypothetical organization or office within an organization you described for project one. Prepare a one page description of a web site that relates to the informational needs of the organization. What is the purpose of the web site? Its audience? The structure and organization of the web site.

For example the audience for the MPA program web site is primarily MPA students, but it is also useful to program applicants and graduates, MPA faculty members, and other people. The web site has multiple purposes. Describing the program is one. Pointing users to information on Public Administration is another. Go to the MPA web site and look critically at how the web site is organized and surf within it. Notice what items are featured prominently and less prominently. Notice which items are right on the page and which must be reached by moving through the "tree structure" of the site to a lower level. Think about the relationship between the aesthetics of the site and its content and use. 

Do the same for some other web site, which you have used, or ones, which you go to from the MPA site.

We will discuss web site audiences, purposes, content, structure and organization in class.

 

Due September 10

Based on class discussion revise and expand your first web assignment. Write one page describing the actual design and content of a proposed web. Describe the major items, which would go on a homepage: heading, text, links to other pages you will create, links to other sites. Think about the layout and design of the site. What will go where? What text will be larger and smaller. Name (but don’t describe or develop) 3 other pages which you would link to the homepage. Prepare a sketch of the hypothetical page. 

For example if you were working in the operations division of the S.F. Muni Railway you might want to have a homepage describing bus routes. You might want a nice large descriptive heading and a cute graphic. Then you might want to link the homepage to three other pages: one with a list of the schedules for each bus, one with a route map, and one with answers to frequently asked questions about bus routes.

In class we will discuss student web designs and begin creating webs based on them.

 Due September 17

Based on class discussion and the initial experience creating a web revise your web design. Revisit the three pages related to the homepage, which you named last time. Write a one-page description of these pages similar to what you did for the homepage. What will be their content and format.

For example if you worked in the Welfare Reform unit of the S.F. Department of Social Services you might want to have a homepage on the San Francisco Welfare-to-Work Program. From this homepage you might want to go to: (a) a job training agency page which describes job training opportunities and has links to job training agencies, (b) a jobs page which has listings of currently available jobs for former welfare recipients who have been trained, and (c) a report page which provides a regularly updated report on the welfare-to-work program.

In class we will learn to create additional pages within a "web" which are linked to the homepage and begin to create the pages you design.

Due September 24

Based on class discussion and the initial experience creating your web further develop the proposed organization, format, and content of your web.

In class we will continue to develop individual webs and learn some skills for organizing web material and improving the aesthetics of the webs.

 

Due October 1

Forms! They are everywhere in public and nonprofit sector organizations. You have learned to create electronic forms as the "front end" to an ACCESS database. It is possible to create forms using Microsoft FrontPage also and collect information from the web, which can be imported into ACCESS or other databases.

You have encountered common form elements on many web sites, but may not have been conscious of their names or reflected on their uses. Read through chapter 6 to see what each of the following objects are: radio buttons, one-line text boxes, drop down lists, check boxes, scrolling text boxes, and push buttons.

Write one page describing a real or hypothetical form for use in your organization which has at least one radio button, one-line text box, drop down list, check box, scrolling text box, and push button. Prepare a sketch of a form using these elements.

In class we will create a simple electronic form which relates to your database.

Due October 8

Nothing due. That session will be devoted to finalizing project # 1.

 

Due October 15

 

Due October 22

Complete work on your web site. It should have a thoughtfully designed homepage which has a general heading, text describing its purpose, a link to your e-mail address, a link to two related sites which you have not created, links to three other pages, and a link to an electronic form.

5 page report. Prepare a revised summary in which you describe your web site. Attach printouts of the Homepage, each of three linked homepages, and your electronic form.