ACIAR website redesign

The ACIAR website is about to undergo a period of significant change and redesign.

Why is the website changing

This is as a result of a range of research activities which showed that the current audience is very satisfied with the level of detail on the website, however, in general they find it hard to navigate, the search needs improvement, and the look needs to be updated. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to reflect how ACIAR works as it moves to larger programs of work and forms new strategic partnerships.

New information architecture

A new information architecture has been developed and will focus on clear categories of information:

• About us
• Our work
• Working with ACIAR
• Where we work
• Publications
• Fellowships
• News & media
• Government reporting.

This architecture provides a blueprint for the website that has the capacity and flexibility to reflect key partnerships and activities, is able to meet ACIAR’s strategic goals, and addresses the Australian Government’s move to engage with the community through its response to the Government 2.0 taskforce recommendations. (http://gov2.net.au/).

New faceted search

The website will utilise faceted search (read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceted_search). This will enable users to search on a keyword and progressively filter results by 'facets'. For instance a search on the keyword 'wheat' will be able to be narrowed by content type (eg publication, project or news), disicpline and country. Each facet selection will result in the range of facets available being modified to be relevant. For instance for a facet 'publication' the facets available would be publication type or author; or for a facet 'project' available facets would be current, active and concluded.

This powerful search technique will enable information to be found quickly on the website.

Progress

You will notice that we have started to sort content on the above categories (which means that things like Our Projects and Publications have moved), and this will continue to happen over the next month. Duplication of content will be reduced and new content will also be written. Enhancements to the search have already been made and will continue; and work on integrating news and publications with projects and research programs will be commenced.

Work on a new visual design has been commenced and will be implemented in the next few months.

This is a very exciting time for the website and ACIAR - check back here to keep up-to-date with the changes.