Jay Collier

Web Communications Manager, Bates College

Biography

Jay Collier

Jay Collier is Web communications manager at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he develops strategies for online engagement and produces, edits, and manages Web initiatives including the recently-redeveloped Home and Views sites. He has worked in media production and management at Dartmouth, MIT, and WGBH and is interested in innovative learning communities that value integrative thinking and principled social action.

Previously, he was an associate director at Dartmouth College and leader of the Web Publishing Services group. As a producer and project manager, Jay worked with campus departments and other Web professionals to analyze, architect, produce, and sustain Web communications. Before Dartmouth, he produced and edited videos and Web sites for schools and labs at MIT.

He is also the publisher and producer of Web sites for WGBH/Boston alumni and Nature Compass, which serves nature education, conservation, and recreation organizations in northern New England.

Jay graduated summa cum laude from the Boston University College of Communication where he studied media criticism, film history, educational technology, broadcast programming and production, and computer science.

He began his professional career at WGBH-TV as stage manager, camera operator, video switcher, and production assistant for news, public affairs, how-to, sports, and performance programming, including This Old House, Evening at Pops, Masterpiece Theatre, Mystery, and NOVA.

Bates College

Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates offers the B.A. or B.S. to an enrollment of approximately 1,700 students, currently coming from 46 states, districts and territories and from 65 other countries.

Presentation

Perils, Pitfalls, and Pleasures: Moving Print Publications to Life Online

Case: Bates College

Higher education, Conference Day #1, Wednesday May 5th, 1.00 pm - 2.00 pm

Colleges and universities are challenged today (1) to reduce printing costs as much as possible by moving major print publications (alumni magazines, annual reports, and more) online and (2) to create websites that engage visitors and increase effective online communication.

This session will focus on the best way to achieve effective online communication with this transition. We’ll examine examples from schools in Australia, Canada, and the U.S. that have done this without resorting to PDF files and “flip” technologies.

We’ll note basic “writing right for the web” principles to show that publications designed and written for print cannot be transferred directly to websites without seriously degrading the ability of visitors to read them online.

We’ll use input from people who have managed the conversion from print to web using WordPress and other reader-friendly approaches to create effective, engaging publications in the online world.

Joint presentation with Bob Johnson.

See slides online

Philadelphia 2010: Which is the best way of moving print publications online?