STED Web Page Sub-Committee Teleconference
Conference Call Agenda and Notes
Thursday November 09, 2010
(1:00-3:00 pm Eastern Time)

Notes recorded by Lynn got this agenda/notes from Mike I. prior to the meeting. If someone took notes during the meeting let me know so I can add those notes here.

WEBEX INFORMATION:

Topic: (8) STED WEB DESIGN
Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Time: 1:00 pm, Mountain Standard Time (Denver, GMT-07:00)
Meeting number: 714 928 887
Meeting password: STED

Dial-in Logistics   Purpose    Agenda    Attendees    Discussion Notes

Dial-In Logistics

Conference Date:	11/09/2010
Conference Time:	1:00-3:00 pm ET
Bridge Call-in #:	703-648-4848
# of Ports/Lines:	??
Conference Code #:	48928#

Purpose

Attendees List:

• Invited - Alan Ward, Barbara Kerans, Mike Nolan, Lynn Taylor, Bill Hazel, Mike Ierardi
• Attended - Alan Ward, Bill Hazel, Mike Ierardi, Barbara Kerans, Mike Nolan

Agenda And Discussion Notes

What directions to take with the STED Web pages?

• Initiate a STED Web site walk through.
• Need priorities set to identify the most important web pages to consider.
• Do we specify, “Which training pages for users?” hydrologists, techs, etc., Do we specify pages by topic ? Water Discipline ie. surface – ground - water quality ?
• We are basically looking for a purpose for each STED web page to help us categorize the topics and links.
• Basically there are two major web sections within the STED Web site:
• For users interested in receiving additional specialized training or as a training resource http://water.usgs.gov/usgs/STED/stedc/index.html
• For the STED Committee members as forum or medium to archive discussions and minutes, and progress of the group http://water.usgs.gov/usgs/STED
• The Training information web pages not particular to the internal workings of the committee.

Problems to discuss:

• NTC interface – familiarization and access to may be needed ?
• Is DOI Learn going to help with the "DOI course catalog" ?
• How does the STED reduce redundancy that exists within the other training web sites ?
• How do we want to categorize/list/organize training by …
• “What training classes are offered ?”
• “Where Training is Offered” and
• “When the Training is Offered”
• in some sort of an organized fashion.
• How do we keep Water Science Center's from missing classes ?
• Email alerts ?
• Some sort of notification process is needed.
• DOI Learn may be an issue, is there a contact we can discuss our situation ? Is there a Gloria nolast name ?
• Should we be grouping training courses by Water Science Centers, by Surface/Ground/Water Quality/etc.?
• How can we find out what the needs of training are ?
• How do we find out what are the times of the classes ?
• How do we determine what classes are beneficial for the user ?
• How do we get updated on the schedule and times of classes as they become available ?

Process to Take a Training Course:

• You pay DOI Learn $money for a class or to take classes ...
• By using the DOI catalog you find a class that is of interest to you ...
• the search is tough....long .. may classes not of interest to users.
• Can we create some kind of tracking interest for a particular class or set of classes.
• Can we create a wait list or a have interest in taking this course even though it was full and I did not get to attend ?
• Can we create a little critic or review section describing what the class was about, what users thought of the class, what to expect …etc.,
• Example: Try to find the Surface Water Turniupseed Course 1286.
• Do we need a section that details:
• What a user needs for training and career advancement ?
• How does the Tech and Supervisor fine tune their career path ?

STED Web Page Objectives -draft 10/22/10

Objective of STED training Web Site:

• To provide information on and give links to training options specifically for hydrologic data collectors and hydrologists looking for career paths and training opportunities within the Hydrologic field of studies. This would include Water Quality, Surface Water, Ground Water and Water Use disciplines.
• The Site should be open to all users and be a first reference and one-stop site to see required or mandatory courses required in these fields for various levels of the discipline. It should include links to material not found within DOILearn, such as available CDs and online training. It should provide users with the specific course titles to look for in DOILearn and NTC training sites before sending them there.
• These pages should be open to USGS employees and eventually might be opened to Cooperators or the Public. NOTE: The template for this look of the site is the Mike Nolan site originally created for Western Region HydroTechs (http://wr.water.usgs.gov/uo/sws/ToolBox/Index.htm). The need for further web work was to increase the availability of this information, include the information for the other disciplines (QW, GW, SWUD), and provide ongoing maintenance for updates to the pages. The committee had started putting the required/preferred lists of courses together.
• The “entrance/home page” would look more interesting and lead down to specific programs. The template for this look was more like the http://water.usgs.gov/usgs/STED/stedc/index.html page.

Objective of STED Committee Web Site:

• Pages should contain minutes and documents of concern to the STED Committee.
• These pages would be open to USGS staff, but not to the Public at any point.
• Could be separate Web site, or USGS Read Only link off the above STED Web Training Site.
• Essentially have this on the current http://water.usgs.gov/usgs/STED/ pages.