Let's start out by reviewing some items that were already addressed in an earlier session. The entries in these lists will be the same as we've seen before, but we're now ready to ask some more questions with respect to each list.

1. Who is our audience? As mentioned before, the people who might want to reach our departmental site include:
   
   
   • Prospective students (for your class, your department, your institution);
   • Current students (in your class, your department, your institution);
   • Department members (full-time & part-time, faculty & staff, etc.);
   • Colleagues outside your department (at your school, at other schools, etc.);
   • Prospective colleagues (job seekers, potential visitors, potential collaborators);
   • etc.

   How can we provide easy entry points and useful information for all of these people? What are the relative priorities for meeting the needs of each potential type of audience member?

   How do you balance the need to offer detailed descriptions for new or occasional visitors with the need to provide concise information for those who don't want to repeatedly slog through all the same detail?

2. What information will these different people be seeking?
   
   
   • For multiple audiences, provide appropriate multiple entry points.
   • Indicate when the last update was made and / or when the next update is expected.
   • Indicate what information is local, what links take the reader into another context (e.g., another site), or what pages are undergoing construction.

   How often will people visiting your site seek or need updated information? As new information is added, what happens to older information: does it stay linked in, go into an accessible archive, or go away completely?

3. How can you assist your audience in finding the information you have made available?
   
   
   • Categorize your information.
   • Use overview pages.
   • The most important information should be the easiest to find.
   • Provide a mechanism for determining how much content has / hasn't been covered.
   • Provide search facilities.

   What proportion of hits will be from people who visit the site regularly, and will thus become familiar with its idiosyncracies? What proportion will be from those who visit only occasionally, and will thus be put off by idiosyncracies?

Workshop participants should feel free to post additional questions and issues to the course discussion. I'll select a few of the most appropriate ones and formally add them to this page for future workshops.