Jay Collier outlines a blueprint for online engagement at Bates College that aims to deepen involvement from ambivalence to commitment. The goals are to help Bates community members connect with each other and ideas, and draw constituents into a lifelong experience reflecting core values. Opportunities for improvement include simplifying publishing and exchange, integrating updates from community members across multiple sources and devices, and providing formal and informal collaboration spaces connected to social networks. Effective online experiences should be dependable, intuitive, useful, engaging, personalizable, sociable, and meaningful.

1. Online Engagement at Bates
A BLUEPRINT FOR THE ONLINE EXPERIENCE
Jay Collier
September 17, 2008

2. GETTING STARTED
What we’ll cover
• Blueprint for engagement
• Spectrum of engagement
• Goals of online engagement
• Shifts in perspective
• Opportunities for
improvement
• Principles of an effective
online experience

3. ENGAGEMENT
Blueprint for engagement
• Start with powerful
FROM
universal ideas.
Powerful, universal
• Deepen involvement ideas
toward greater Ambivalence to
commitment: Awareness to
ambivalence and Interest to
Participation to
awareness toward
Commitment
participation and
commitment. TOWARD
Personalized
• Ultimately: build interactions
personal relationships.

4. ENGAGEMENT
Spectrum of engagement
• This deepening of General
engagement obviously Public
continues after
recruitment. Prospective Prospective Corporations,
Faculty & Students Foundations
• Each time a Bates person Sta & Families
or partner enters a new
role, they begin a new Current Current Philanthropic
phase of engagement. Faculty & Students, Partners
Sta & Families
• Continuity is important at
those potential “speed
Alumni &
bumps.” Friends

5. ONLINE ENGAGEMENT
Goals of online engagement
• Help Bates people connect with each other, across roles
— student, faculty, staff, alumni — on campus or off.
• Help people connect with the ideas that interest them
the most: scholarship, research, narratives, events, places,
groups, and service.
• Draw constituents and friends into a satisfying and
deepening lifelong experience of Bates that reflects and
expresses core values.
• Make online Bates ultimately portable, so that people can
participate from anywhere, anytime.

6. ONLINE ENGAGEMENT
The most universal messaging
Online engagement
TELLING THE BATES STORY
• Start with universal, persuasive Publishing to global audiences
messaging.
NEWS, EVENTS, UPDATES
• Learn what’s happening in areas Informing interested people
of interest to you.
• Visit public collaboration spaces LEARNING COLLABORATIONS
Creating knowledge together
and participate in the creation of
new knowledge.
SERVICES & TRANSACTIONS
• Make exchanges of value Exchanging value
through online transactions. and commitment
• Build personal relationships. The most
personalized
interactions

7. ONLINE ENGAGEMENT
Shift in perspective
• Functional perspective • Engagement perspective
Powerful, universal ideas Powerful, universal ideas
TELLING THE BATES STORY TELLING THE BATES STORY
NEWS, EVENTS, UPDATES NEWS, EVENTS, UPDATES
LEARNING LEARNING
COLLABORATIONS COLLABORATIONS
SERVICES &
SERVICES &
TRANSACTIONS
TRANSACTIONS
Personalized Personalized
interactions
interactions

8. ONLINE ENGAGEMENT
Opportunities for improvement
TELLING THE BATES STORY
• Simplify publishing,
Simpli ed Standards Usability and
usability, exchange, and publishing for exchange ndability
findability
NEWS, EVENTS, UPDATES
• Integrate updates from Multiple Personalizable Cross-device
community members sources subscription delivery
• Provide formal and LEARNING COLLABORATIONS
informal collaboration Course A nity groups Social network
sites by interest integration
spaces, connect to larger
social networks SERVICES &
TRANSACTIONS
• Integrate transaction Collaborative
services into a consistent, support
intuitive interface Intuitive
experiences

9. ONLINE ENGAGEMENT
Principles of an effective online experience
• Be dependable – anywhere, any time, any device
• Be intuitive – simple publishing, searching, finding
• Be useful – helpful information and instructions
• Be engaging – appealing, personal, immersive
• Be personalizable – up to date feeds on personal interests
• Be sociable – online spaces for intellectual collaboration
• Be meaningful – insight into what matters to you

10. EVOLUTION
Thank you
Thank you for your continuing partnership.
Jay Collier — jcollier@bates.edu