Fwd: Announcing the ALL NEW linguisticanthropology.org

[Kerim Friedman]

Dear Linganth Members,

Below is an e-mail I just sent out to the SLA e-mail list, announcing
our new website. Apologies to those who will receive this message
twice, but we wanted to make sure everyone got this!

Cheers,

Kerim


---------- Forwarded message ----------

Dear SLA members,

Some of you may know that last year we established a new spot on the
executive committee of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology: that
of "digital content editor." The idea was that the SLA website
shouldn't just be a dumping ground for bureaucratic rules and
regulations, but should be both a platform to showcase the discipline
to a wider public, as well as portal where members can share resources
and ideas. Although the position was only created last year, it is a
project we have been working on for over two years now. The first step
was to migrate our old Web 1.0 site to a new, modern, platform which
was capable of handling the new features we wanted to add to the site.
We finished that a little over a year ago, and since then we've been
working on issues of information architecture and design, finding ways
to add new features and content without making the site too difficult
to use or navigate. I'm happy to announce that, together with SLA "web
guru" Alexandre Enkerli, we finished this second round of website
revisions over the weekend! You can read on to learn about some of the
changes or, if you'd rather see for yourself, just click on the link:

http://www.linguisticanthropology.org/

The biggest change is that the blog is now much more prominently
featured on the main site. It takes up half the front page, instead of
a little section on the sidebar. This is because we hope to make the
blog a central place for online discussion of issues relating to
linguistic anthropology. It is hoped that the blog will draw more
people to the site, building a vibrant community in the process. Now
that he's done with the website revisions Alex will put on his
"blogger" hat and start putting up new posts on a regular basis,
including a regular roundup of posts from the language-related
blogsphere. After the AAA meetings, Leila Monaghan, who founded the
first linguistic anthropology group blog, will take over my position
as "digital content editor." In this role she will be a true "editor"
-- helping guide the development of the blog by attracting guest
bloggers, organizing web-seminars, as well as other exciting ideas she
has up her sleeve.

But that is not all, we've also added other features to the site, such
as links to our new Twitter feed and Facebook page. A link to
subscribe to our blog via e-mail or RSS. A Google calendar with all
the meetings and deadlines mentioned in our blog. And a new
"resources" tab which will be the home for new features we hope to add
to the site. Already up under resources is a new directory of programs
in linguistic anthropology (an idea we got from the Society for Visual
Anthropology website). Planned for the near future is a database of
syllabi (something we used to have but which is now hopelessly out of
date). Even though I'm handing the reigns over to Leila, I will
continue to work closely with Alex on these new features.

Finally, we've tried to spruce up the journal website. More and more
scholars are submitting "web enhanced articles" with audiovisual
content that supplements their writing. So even though our table of
content alerts and archives are now handled by AnthroSource and Wiley,
the website still plays an important role supplementing journal
articles. To ensure longevity, we are asking authors to post this
content to the Internet Archive at archive.org, before sending us the
link. This is an area of the site we hope to continue to improve. Alex
is already thinking about ways we might standardize the layout of
these pages so that they are easier to navigate.

Once again, that URL is:

http://www.linguisticanthropology.org/

Check it out, and let us know what you think! If you have any
suggestions, or would like to help out, please let us know. One of the
things we've added to the site is a feedback form, visible on the
botton of the sidebar on every page throughout the site. If you see
something that isn't right, or have a suggestion, just fill out the
form and hit "send" - it is that easy!

Cheers,

Kerim
____________________________________

P. Kerim Friedman

Department of Indigenous Cultures
College of Indigenous Studies
National DongHwa University, TAIWAN
http://kerim.oxus.net/

____________________________________