Web Committee Annual Report 2022

submitted by Kerry Masteller

Current Roster

  • Ellwood Colahan (2025)
  • Raymond G. Heigemeir (2023)
  • Laura Jacyna (2025)
  • Kerry Masteller (chair, 2023)
  • Ana Munandar (2025)
  • Anne Shelley (2025)
  • A-R Editions (ex-officio)
  • Kristi Bergland (ex-officio, 2025)
  • Elizabeth Hille Cribbs (ex-officio, 2024)
  • Joshua A. Henry (ex-officio, 2022)
  • Stephen P. Henry (ex-officio, 2023)
  • Jason Imbesi (ex-officio, 2024)
  • Jacey Kepich (ex-officio, 2025)
  • Karen Berry McCool (ex-officio, 2025)
  • Melissa Moll (ex-officio, 2026)
  • Tracey E. Rudnick (ex-officio, 2022)
  • Serena J. Vaquilar (ex-officio, 2026)

List of Previous Goals and Progress Made

  1. Website Content
    • The committee continues to update basic content on the site at the request of board members and committee chairs, including the landing page for E-Notes.
    • The Web Managers and Web Committee continue to use Freshdesk, a free ticketing system to triage and keep track of requests for site updates. Using a ticketing system allows us to more easily distribute work among committee members while monitoring what remains to be done.
    • In the last year, the Web Team has resolved 461 tickets.
  2. Migration of MLA Website
    • Under the direction of the Web Manager and Assistant Web Manager, MLA’s WordPress sites were migrated to Reclaim hosting in May 2022, to enable better security, support, and longer-term projects to move content from YourMembership (YM) to Wordpress.

List of Future Goals

  1. Continue to update website content as needed.
    • Objective 3.5, Objective 4.2
    • The Committee continues to update basic content on the site at the request of board members, special officers, and committee chairs.
  2. Review/revision of committee handbook and public-facing help documentation.
    • Objective 2.1; Objective 2.2; Objective 4.2; Objective 4.3
    • Changes to YM’s structure necessitate revisions to documentation.
    • More detailed committee documentation will help members make common website updates more easily.
  3. Content review of website.
    • Objective 4.2
    • The committee plans to review the existing pages of the website to find and correct small errors.
  4. Continue Migration of MLA-related websites to Wordpress.
    • Objective 4.2
    • Now that migration of MLA’s core WordPress sites to Reclaim hosting is complete, work can begin to migrate chapter content to Reclaim hosting, and to work with committees in need of more robust websites.
  5. Committee/Interest Groups needs assessment.
    • Objective 4.2
    • The web managers and committee have received multiple requests from committees and interest groups for more robust and user-friendly website functionality. An unsystematic review of committee and interest group pages reveals that numerous other platforms are in use (Tumblr; institutional LibGuides; Google Groups and Google Drive; Humanities Commons; etc.). A more sustainable and centralized location for committee/IG documentation would also help with preservation of MLA’s activities and procedures, and facilitate smoother transitions when leadership or group membership changes.
    • The committee plans to survey chairs and coordinators to learn more about what they need from the website and other MLA-sponsored platforms.