Current status of the Montevideo Office website

1. Current status of theMontevideo Office website UNESCO PORTAL WORKSHOP Paris 22 - 26 November 2004 UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

2. Audience definitions and follow-up UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

3. Audience definition and follow-up The overall goals of our website are: • Explain to the Spanish speaking public what is UNESCO and what are its fields of action according to 32C/5 thus increasing its visiblity in the region. • Inform about the history of the Montevideo Office and about its fields of action now. • Give information on the activities of the Montevideo Office in the region, with emphasis on the MERCOSUR cluster. (News, events, scholarships etc). • Offering scientific information online (ex.methodologies, pluviometric series etc in digital libraries such as the IHP’s). • Offering other documentation online such as reports on culture, heritage and social sciences, and reports or presentations produced by contracts, seminars, workshops etc. • Allowing, via password protected areas, the work of several people around the world on the same set of documents. (ex Heritage, Education) • Offering visibility, links and even hosting to our partners such as IHP Focal Points, Unesco Center and National Commission etc. • When seminars, courses etc are organized the website is the coordination point before, during and after the event, allowing for registration, mailing lists etc, for those connected to the net. • Make databases available to the general public and to specific publics. UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

4. Audience definition and follow-up We consider we are achieving our goals because: • The Implementation of the Periodic Reporting Process in World Heritage is a success story of grupal work using password protected areas to share non-public information to prepare the Report. • People download electronic publications. We can measure it in the server and we also get feedback (mail or calls) asking for specific publications from different programs. (Ex. Education - medicinal herbs) • Secretaries and assistants consider it is a useful tool to organize seminars and workshops, and it is vital for follow-up. • There is follow-up of some activities using the web-site and it has encouraged collaborative work among the participants. • Electronic newsletter of the Observatory of the IS, of voluntary suscription, has multiplied the number of subscriptors by six over the last three years. • We monitor the statistics of the website continuously. UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

5. Audience definition and follow-up Our users are: • General public. • Partners (such as IHP Focal Points) • Counterparts, contractors, government functionnaires • Scientific communities • Students (from school to postgraduates) • Press They are mainly Spanish speakers from the region as you can see on this graphic for October. UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

6. Structure of information and editorial workflow UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

7. Structure of information and editorial workflow Institutional pages: first level Reflecting 32C/5 Structure of our website Secondary level: individual programmes and partners UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

8. Structure of information and editorial workflow Director Partners(Unesco Center,Nat . Comm) Typical workflow for getting content onto your website Specialists Secretary/Assistant E-Mail (digital content) Photos or printed content that has to be digitalized • Search online press for news for Observatory • Search news in Spanish in HQ press service and other field offices Publications Unit(Web Team) Databases WEB UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

9. Structure of information and editorial workflow Mechanisms for ensuring “freshness” of content • Automatic removal of news and events once a pre-determined period of time has passed. • General news = one month. • Observatory news = 48 hs. • Events = two days after end date. • It is office policy that secretaries have to send to the web team information about the events their sectors are organizing. UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

10. Structure of information and editorial workflow Editorial principles for writing for the web • Texts are put online “as is”. That means that the responsibility for ensuring there are no mistakes in the info, grammar and spelling is of the content provider. • Should the content provider need assistance in writing, translating, proofing etc. the web team can do it. In that case we follow the web style principles of the Yale Guide. We try to be compliant to the Web Accesibility Initiative guidelines. (Ex. Blind users) (alt flash) UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

11. Management UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

12. Management Main roles of those implicated in running the website. Profiles and competencies • Mr. Cláudio Menezes - (P5) Regional Informatics and Telematics Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean was website coordinator will be replaced in December by Mr. Gunther Cyranek. • Mr. Eduardo Trápani - (G5) Joined UNESCO in 1998. He is a System Analyst currently working on his final thesis to become an IT Engineer. He is specialized in networks and web. His duties include administrating the network (all services from printing to e-mail) and the website (databases, firewalls, proxies, programs). Also makes decisions about backup and software policies. UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

13. Management Main roles of those implicated in running the website. Profiles and competencies • Mme. Silvia Diez - (G5) Has been in the Publications Unit since 1979. She is a Graphic Designer graduated from ORT University. Her duties in this capacity include both web and printed medium. Besides designing for the web she also provides content for it, digitalizing books and other documents. She is currently in charge of reorganizing the Documentation Center of the Office and is also a trained secretary working part-time for SHS. • Mme. Maria Noel Pereyra (G4) Has been in the Publications Unit since 1994. She has studied Communications at the State University and has training in Graphic Design. Her duties include designing for both print and web, creating and maintaining the main site and the individual programme site, integrating the newer technologies. She also provides content for several sections of the web site, prepares newsletters and acts as “help desk” for questions posed by visitors. UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

14. Management Financing your website development • The website has no asigned budget. Any expenses such as a new server or upgrading client software, comes from running costs. • The individual programmes sporadically hire consultants for specific jobs from the different activities of the Montevideo regular programme. • Design and programming is done locally and the server software is open source. UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean

15. Management Promotion of website content • The internet address of our site is in every printed publication, on personal cards, on the signature of official correspondence both in print and electronic, etc. • Since the site works as a “hub” for the organization and follow-up of events, all participants have to visit it. • Newsletters give it visibility. • Press releases for specific events. UNESCO Mercosur based in Montevideo - Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean