Tuesday Writing: WPTL Web Analysis

Tuesday's writing was in support of WSBA's World Peace Through Law Section. WSBA's redoing its website - again - this time with a different Content Management System that they promise will be better, because they've done focus groups and an online survey. Yeah.

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The immediate task is to classify WPTL's webpages. That didn't take me long:

Title	Notes	Last update	URL
Administraton	Section Leadership	2017	http://www.wsba.org/Legal-Community/Sections/World-Peace-Through-Law-Section/Exec-Committee
Annual Report 2016	Meh	2016	http://www.wsba.org/~/media/Files/Legal%20Community/Sections/Annual%20Reports/Annual%20Report%20-%20World%20Peace%20Through%20Law.ashx
Bill Referrals	Not section specific	2017	http://www.wsba.org/About-WSBA/Legislative-Affairs/Section-Bill-Referrals
Budget 2016	Also Meh	2016	http://www.wsba.org/~/media/Files/Legal%20Community/Sections/Budgets/SWP.ashx
Bylaws	Content is ok	2011	http://www.wsba.org/~/media/Files/Legal%20Community/Sections/WPTL/Section%20Administration/WPTL%20Bylaws.ashx
Calendar	Lists a few past events, but not many. Should have past events added for the sake of history	2017	http://www.wsba.org/Legal-Community/Sections/World-Peace-Through-Law-Section/WPTL-Calendar
CLE Materials	Should have later materials added	2013	http://www.wsba.org/Legal-Community/Sections/World-Peace-Through-Law-Section/Mini-CLE-and-Brown-Bag-Course-Materials
Home	Meh	2017	http://www.wsba.org/Legal-Community/Sections/World-Peace-Through-Law-Section
News	Not News	2013	http://www.wsba.org/Legal-Community/Sections/World-Peace-Through-Law-Section/Section-News
Newsletter	Should have all later materials added	2013	http://www.wsba.org/Legal-Community/Sections/World-Peace-Through-Law-Section/Monthly-Newsletters
Powerpoint (download) 2016-10	Move to CLE Materials	2016	http://www.wsba.org/~/media/Files/Legal%20Community/Sections/WPTL/WSBA%20CLE%20Power%20Point.ashx
Program Materials 2016-10	Move to CLE Materials	2016	http://www.wsba.org/~/media/Files/Legal%20Community/Sections/WPTL/IEL%20Global%20South%20TOC%20%20Intro.ashx

The other tasks involved assigning responsibility and building an Executive Committee work flow for content updates. My comment:

"I have worked on WSBA's websites since its very first. The emphasis on content management is completely wrongheaded; you don't get utility out of a website by managing content, you get it by promoting engagement.  This is 2017 not 2004; WSBA content is simply not significant; all we have is the opportunity to network, and the culture of the WSBA opposes engagement outside of the control of the staff.

Therefore, any effort beyond posting contact information and archiving newsletters and CLE materials would be a complete waste of time. You'll notice that no-one has even noticed when newsletters stopped being updated to the website. "

That I believe. WSBA's stuck in an old command-and-control model that makes it not so much obsolete as irrelevant. No-one really cares about what WPTL is, only what it can do. If it does not enable conversation then it is of interest to almost nobody. The problem with conversation, from the POV of WSBA staff, is that it is not controlled and therefore is not permitted.

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