1. Evolution of The Interaction Point to SLAC Today (daily email/web newspaper) Ruth McDunn Senior Web Information Specialist Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

2. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 2 History of Communication Tools SLAC News (1966-1971) The Beam Line (1971-1990) The Interaction Point (TIP) (1990- 8/2002) Beam Line (1991-2003) Quick News (1997-2003) The Interaction Point (TIP) (8/2002 - 2/2006) SLAC Today (2/2006 - present)SLAC Today

3. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 3 SLAC Today Goals Lab is in transition. Directorate wanted to:  Keep employees and users better informed  Create a sense of community How?  Consolidate events, announcements, and news  Provide timely source of information  Insight into the people who work at SLAC  Inform and entertain  Provide archives and search

4. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 4 Daily Email and Online Delivery Low tech  No content management system/database Combination of style sheets, templates and creative use of includes (FrontPage/PhotoShop)  Freeware used to create emails HTML format (Chilkat Software’s “Mail this Page”) Plain text format (NirSoft's “HTML as Text” )HTML as Text  Majordomo mailing lists  Daily search indexing in a separate collection Automated submissions (optional)  News, Access, Events and Announcements, Flea Market (view example)view example

5. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 5 Staffing 1 FTE Manager  Kelen Tuttle MS Journalism BA in Physics, Astrophysics, and English 1.5 FTE Writers  Interns and part time writers Lots of enthusiasm

6. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 6 Layout Banner Date Lead StoryImage Columns 1 – 2 short articles Events Access Announcements News Links

7. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 7 Who Reads SLAC Today? 4100 employees and users  4020 as HTML email  80 in plain text  No opt out option 140 outside subscribers  130 as HTML email  10 in plain text  Communicators at other DOE facilities, family, reporters and journalists, scientists… Examples  HTML, HTML in Pine, Plain Text HTMLHTML in PinePlain Text

8. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 8 Customer Survey 3 months after launch HTML email as only option  Added plain text version Cafeteria menu  Removed No opt out options  Directorate mandate View Full Results

9. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 9 Is it Working? Launch

10. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 10 Is it Working? Launch

11. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 11 Feedback “SLAC Today has turned out to be very informative. I thought it might be an interruption and a waste of time but there are many things in the content that I need to know. It also expands my knowledge of what others are doing. I like it!”

12. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 12 Feedback “I like it. If it’s not in my mailbox, I'm not going to search for it. I scan the 2-3 headlines (just the right number) and read when interests me. It's just the right format - keep it up.”

13. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 13 Feedback “I’d like to voice my concern. You never asked us if we wanted SLAC Today, so why are we forced to have it in our e- mail. This is nothing more than SPAM. I’m quite happy to have SLAC Today as my default web page, but quit clogging up my e-mail.”

14. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 14 Challenges Making the science more accessible Coming up with the stories everyday  8 months, so far  5 days a week  3 - 4 stories/columns a day (almost 1000 stories!)

15. R. McDunn, October 26, 2006, InterLab 2006 15 Future Plans Basically running smoothly, but… Use search to create topic search Add more multimedia

16. Questions? Ruth McDunn mcdunn@slac.stanford.edu Kelen Tuttle Kelen.tuttle@slac.stanford.edu