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MPD9
Room 313

Don’t Call it an Intranet: Creating a Space for Culture and Communication

Tuesday, Oct 23 11:45 - 12:30

Presented by Beth Miller and Michael Kasiborski and Patty Bradley

Internal content on an external website. Overflowing inboxes. Communications silos. And what’s the soup of the day? The University of Michigan School of Public Health took on these familiar challenges-and others-by building an Intranet from the ground up. We’ll share all that we’ve learned along the way, starting with the most important advice we can offer: Don’t call it an Intranet.

Leveraging our roles as technologists and communicators, we developed a tool to help evolve our school’s culture, streamline communications, and improve access to resources for our community of users. From technology selection and stakeholder buy-in to information architecture and content creation, we’ll share our process, successes and failures, data from the first year, and recommendations for anyone considering a similar undertaking.

Slides

About

Beth Miller

Director of Marketing and Creative

Beth Miller is the Director of Marketing and Creative at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She built her first website in 1997, a week after her manager offered her the book “Teach Yourself HTML in 7 Days.” A writer by training and technologist via curiosity, she has found herself working at the intersection of message and method. With over 20 years of professional communications experience, she specializes in bringing clarity to chaos.

Michael Kasiborski

Director of Brand Management and Internal Communications

Michael Kasiborski is the Director of Brand Management and Internal Communications at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He witnessed the power of storytelling during his years in broadcast journalism, and since 2013 has used that to tell stories about the life-changing impact of higher education. He first became interested in intranets when his boss told him to build a new one.

Patty Bradley

Web Administrator

In her 16 years as the Web Administrator for the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Patty has developed dozens of database-driven web applications. Just the word "database" puts any new project on the top of the fun list for Patty. She also loves having long conversations with stakeholders about file naming conventions and web accessibility. Patty is in the forefront of her field by having special Copy and Paste buttons on her mouse that allow her to update the website much more quickly. In her free time, Patty enjoys gardening, cooking, and caring for her cats.