The front page of the new mc.vanderbilt.edu Web site.
New Medical Center Web site makes debut
A new and improved mc.vanderbilt.edu Web site for Medical Center faculty, staff, researchers and students has been launched.
The new site represents more than six months of design and development work and builds on the consumer-focused site (www.vanderbilthealth.com) that was launched last fall.
That site took developers more than 18 months and 26 focus groups to develop.
“We're very proud of the new Web site and the work that has gone into it,” said Terry Smith, chief of VUMC Web Development. “It's a much more interactive site, and reflects the professionalism that we've come to expect at Vanderbilt.”
And for the first time, the Web site will include a new blog as a way of encouraging dialogue within the Medical Center. The blog, “Blogging @ the Medical Center,” will include topics on the Medical Center, Vision 2020 and the State of the Medical Center address.
The blog will be accessible through the front page on the Medical Center Web site, and its developers say it will facilitate direct conversation between faculty, staff, researchers and administrators.
“Anyone with a VUnet ID will be able to log in and post comments or questions on the blog,” said Ryan Huber, one of the Web developers with Medical Center Marketing that worked on the new site.
“Users will be able to follow the entire blog, or view only the posts related to those specific categories.”
“We feel it will open the door for dialogue with senior leadership, provide a forum for feedback, and generally enhance communication campus-wide,” said Melissa Carro, creative services director for Medical Center Marketing.
Carro said the blog may include some topics written by Harry Jacobson, M.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs.
“The blog will also have guest bloggers from senior leadership talking about different topics related to the Medical Center,” she said.
The Medical Center's .edu Web site is a busy one
Since Jan. 1 the site has had more than 2.1 million page views, and 1.7 million unique views.
“Approximately 70 percent of our traffic to the homepage originates from computers within the Vanderbilt network,” Huber explained.
Smith said that in addition to the new Web site, the development team has launched a new tool for Medical Center users to build their own Web pages — SiteBuilder 2.0 — which incorporates new templates that match the new mc.vanderbilt.edu Web site.