Lucinia Bal-Doebel, November Planning the OSCE multilingual website

Lucinia Bal-Doebel, November Where we started four months ago what exists: –a consistent English-language website comprising 35 websites of OSCE field operations and institutions, on a content management system, with a multilingual search engine and documents in multiple languages; –several websites in local languages, one mini-website in a second official language, all these not included in the general search; the task: to move from one language to multiple languages; the opportunity: to bring together scattered partial language versions and bring consistency across languages;

Lucinia Bal-Doebel, November Plan: to bring in consistency across languages plan the foundation: database and content management system that can host all language versions plan the appearance and content: define audiences and purpose of the multilingual website (are there changes other than the aditional languages?) plan the information architecture (is there a need to change?)

Lucinia Bal-Doebel, November Example: a few implicit messages for the current website Is there need to change? What? Quality: - loads fast - spelling consistent and correct - graphics discreet but professional - fresh info available all the time - pages not outdated - accurate information Transparency: - almost all OSCE documents available - good search engine - clear navigation - timely information - answer to requests fast and polite - privacy policy clear Active: - not a 'talking shop' - regular changes to homepage items - main photos of field activities Professional: - consistent editing, of good quality - high technical quality - good off-line services available (info, help) - consistent navigation and pages - graphics unobtrusive supporting content - no aggressiveness in presentation - webteam in control, homepage no battleground - no ego-trips allowed - focus on visitor - editor-led, not IT-led Focus on target audiences: - content for these audiences - plain and good English - clear navigation - main navigation bar focused on audiences Comfort (call back users): -pages load fast - promises are kept (what is announced exists)

Lucinia Bal-Doebel, November Step 1 of the plan: the concept paper defined audiences and role researched existing models of multilingual websites (back-end included), and software support for different languages identified the two main types of websites in other languages: the global website (mainly the official languages) and local websites with information of local interest only; narrowed down the technical solution (platform, two options for the cms, preferably tailor-made to support best workflow; rough plan for changes to the database, additional meta-data to database items);

Lucinia Bal-Doebel, November Step 1 of the plan: the concept paper (cont) defined the main policies, as they will be the core of the new workflow (the policies include responsibilities and roles) consulted stakeholders and started to get agreement on the new concept (there is interest and demand of multilingualism, there is possible opposition to a centralised solution, there is push for quick solutions, postponing a sustainable solution) included feed-back in the concept paper and will start lobbying for resources; the technical solution might be implemented with existing resources

Lucinia Bal-Doebel, November Ideas to support consistency and efficiency unify database and content management system define clear workflow with roles for regional-central offices plan multilingual search engine and interfaces have a reference language on the global website (English): this means, all items must be in English too (as an exception, for documents or publications that do not exist in English, only a description in English will exist);

Lucinia Bal-Doebel, November Ideas to support consistency and efficiency (cont) for the local websites, clarify the types of local content needed, and quarantine areas of such content, that may exist in the local language only predefine navigation: allow for room for manoeuvre only within standardised areas, to ensure consistency; limit the levels of depth

Lucinia Bal-Doebel, November Timeline planning: six months implementation and migration: eighteen months