Last modified: Wednesday, April 13, 2011
IU garners Webby nomination for Informatics website; fans can help site win People's Voice Webby
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 13, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Bloomington's School of Informatics and Computing (SOIC) website, designed by IU's Office of Public Affairs and Government Relations, has been nominated to receive a Webby Award from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet in a variety of formats, including websites, online film and video, mobile, and interactive advertising. IU won the 2007 Webby in the School/University category for its "10 Ways IU is Red Hot" website.
IU Bloomington's School of Informatics and Computing website has been nominated for a Webby in the School/University category and supporters can vote online to earn the site a possible second Webby award.
The SOIC website was one of five nominated in the School/University category and will compete against websites from University of Colorado Boulder, the School of Visual Arts (New York, N.Y.), the University of Victoria (British Columbia) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In all, the academy received more than 10,000 submissions that led to 340 nominees in 68 categories.
The SOIC website, with the help of IU supporters, will also be vying for a voter-based Webby People's Voice Award in the School/University category, which MIT won last year. The site, which can be viewed here, has received more than 250,000 unique visits since its launch in July 2010. In the past 30 days it's been visited by guests from 138 countries.
"We're very pleased to be in select company as a Webby nominee. It reinforces our belief that our site well represents our school . . . diverse, forward-thinking, and impactful," said Jim Shea, SOIC Director of Planning and Communications and chair of the school's Web committee. "Now we'd like to encourage the IU community and our many friends around Indiana and the world to vote for our site."
Voting in the People's Voice Award categories began yesterday (April 12) and ends April 28. To vote for the SOIC site and to view the competition, click here. More than 700,000 votes were cast last year in People's Voice Award categories.
Rebecca Salerno, director of the creative services team in the IU Office of Public Affairs and Government Relations, said in developing the site the creative team sought to elicit an emotional response that would lead to action. The creative process for the SOIC project involved seeking inspiration from the people, products, and ideas that would excite prospective and current students about technology, she said.
"The faculty, staff, and students at the IU Bloomington School of Informatics and Computing encouraged the website redesign team to be innovative in telling the school's story through an interactive experience," Salerno said. "The Webby nomination is a wonderful acknowledgement of the creativity and collaborative nature of work between the School of Informatics and Computing and IU Creative Services."
The site provides three entry points for users, a hierarchical navigation, an experience module with videos and photos, and a customized tag cloud for students to explore their interests, the thought being to provide a very Web-savvy audience with options for how to interact with the site.
Webby Award and Webby People's Voice Award Winners will be announced May 3 and winners will be honored at the 15th Annual Webby Awards in New York City on June 13.
For more information or to speak with Salerno or Shea, please contact Steve Chaplin, University Communications, at 812-856-1896 or stjchap@indiana.edu.
