SWEB122: Advocate Portal
Roundtable
November 7, 2008
Panelists and Participants
David Bonebrake, LSNTAP
 Liz Keith, Pro Bono Net
 Jeffrey Fortkamp, Ohio Legal Assistance
Foundation
 Tory Messina, PBN New York Program
Coordinator
 Chris Moulton, Program Associate at
Legal Aid Association of California

Topics for Today
OST Drupal Upgrade and Advocate Sites
 Ohio’s Advocate Portal
 Pro Bono Net Platform Highlights
 Roundtable Section

Questions for the Group
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST
CHALLENGE YOU FACE
WITH YOUR ADVOCATE
PORTAL?
Questions for the Group
WHAT IS YOUR
ADVOCATE PORTAL’S
GREATEST STRENGTH?
OST DRUPAL UPGRADE
Improving the Advocate Portal

Reducing Participation Inequality

Creating a Robust Search Option
Improving Participation Inequality

Addressing Participation Inequality:
◦ http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_i
nequality.html

User participation follows a 90-9-1 Rule:
◦ 90% Lurkers
◦ 9% Intermittent Contributors
◦ 1% Heavy Contributors
Participation Inequality
Nielson’s Conclusion: You can’t.
 Ways to Improve participation inequality:

◦ Make it easier to contribute
◦ Edit, don’t create
◦ Promote quality contributions
Tools to Increase Participation
Ratings Widget
Tools to Increase Participation
WYSIWYG Editor (pronounced “Whizee-wig”)
 Allows site administrators to be content
editors

Creating a Robust Search
Functionality
Growing Popularity of Search:
“Users can now expect to find a highperforming, site-specific search engine on
just about every content-rich website that is
worth its salt. With a growing mass of web
content from blogs, news sites, image and
video archives, personal websites and more,
internet users have an option to turn not
only to the major search engines, but also to
search engines on individual sites.”
-Pew Internet and American Life Project
Creating Robust Search
Functionality
Search will now index both PDFs and
Word documents
 More sophisticated for weighing relevancy
of search results
 Search filtering

Quick Pitch for Open Source
Ohio Legal Services
Topics for Today
OST Drupal Upgrade and Advocate Sites
 Ohio’s Advocate Portal
 Pro Bono Net Platform Highlights
 Roundtable Section

Pro Bono Net resdesign

What have we learned from users and
admins about what makes a strong
advocate portal?
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
All about the content
Interface design and copy
Data portability
Cross-media content delivery
Web services vs. web sites
Interface Design & Copy

Users are fickle! Need to get your
message across quickly.
◦ Help users scan the text column format
more easily.
◦ Clearly communicate the purpose. Less text
and a visual hierarchy help.
◦ Make it easy for users to problem solve.
◦ Use action-oriented navigation labels
◦ “Copy-writing is interface design” - 37 Signals
Data portability

Idea that content is not locked inside an
HTML page; can be exposed through
different channels
◦ Allows you to create multiple points of access
to internal content on your site;
◦ Supports syndication of external content to your
site.
Data portability

Data widgets
create multiple
points of entry
content and
tools
Data portability

Data widgets
create multiple
points of entry
content and
tools
http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/probono.jsp
Links to skinned
versions of the
probono.net/NY
Opportunities
Guide and
Training
Calendar
RSS feed of
upcoming
trainings posted
to the
probono.net/NY
Calendar
Featured
organization
from the
probono.net/NY
Opportunities
Guide. Changes
dynamically
when page is
refreshed.
Direct links to
probono.net/NY
Practice Areas
Cross-media content delivery

Develop a hybrid e-communications
strategy for delivering resources to
advocates
◦ E-Newsletter
 NYC Pro Bono Center (HTML)
 PlainText works well too
 http://www.campaignmonitor.com/templates/ has both
HTML and PlainText templates
◦ Tip of the Month – short summary of new
area of law your advocate will find useful.
Cross-media content delivery

Webinars
◦ NYC Pro Bono Center
 Pro Bono In New York series

Podcasts
◦ IAN
◦ Pepper Hamilton
http://www.pepperpodcasts.com/

Social media
◦ Twitter, Facebook
Topics for Today
OST Drupal Upgrade and Advocate Sites
 Ohio’s Advocate Portal
 Pro Bono Net Platform Highlights
 Roundtable Section

HOW ARE YOU
GETTING USER
FEEDBACK? WHAT ARE
YOU LEARNING?
WHAT STRATEGIES/
SOURCES ARE YOU USING
FOR DOCUMENT
CREATION?
WHAT ARE POSSIBLE
APPROACHES FOR
ADVOCATE
ENGAGEMENT?
HOW ARE/CAN ADVOCATE PORTALS
BE INCORPORATED INTO SERVICE
DELIVERY, ESPECIALLY AS PROGRAMS
EXPAND USE OF CASE MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT
APPLICATIONS LIKE SHAREPOINT AND
CENTRAL DESKTOP?
Thank You!

Contacts
◦ David Bonebrake – [email protected]
◦ Liz Keith – [email protected]

Please take a few minutes to fill out the
training survey