2.1 Purpose
The SAM website (sammelbourne.org) serves as the centre of the campaign. It is the central point of information and contact, where supporters will find write-ups on the cause’s aims and activities, the SAM blog, petition and newsletter sign-ups, and our official proposal to the local council.
The site will aim to engage first-time visitors to enlist their support by providing inspiring and clear content, as well as to serve as a point of return for invested stakeholders and committed supporters.
2.2 Scope
The website will have six main pages: Home, About, What’s On, Petition, Sam for Kids, and Blog.
SAM Home – The homepage will feature clear navigation to all other pages of the site via a top menu, sidebar links to social media (Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter) headed ‘Friends of Sam’, and a bold badge linking to the petition-signing page. The body of the home page will house a banner of ‘sticky’ content – highly visual, these hyperlinked alternating panels will ‘advertise’ new or popular blog posts and upcoming events, updated roughly weekly so that the SAM site continually offers something new.
About SAM – This page will outline SAM’s beliefs and purposes in succinct, clear copy, which will be written with SEO in mind. Here, visitors will also be able to view and download a PDF copy of the document SAM proposes to submit to the Melbourne City Council.
What’s On – This page will offer a calendar of SAM events and activities, with content developed by the editor in conjunction with the marketing team.
Petition – One of the key functions of the project is to deliver a public petition to the Melbourne City Council. Supporters will be able to sign the petition electronically on the official SAM website. We will use the WordPress plugin, SpeakUp! Email Petitions. A boldly designed button on the homepage will link visitors to a signing form, which requires some personal details such as name and email address. After signing, visitors can share the petition page via Facebook and Twitter. Signatures are stored in a database hosted within our website and can be exported to a single file in CSV format.
Sam for Kids – This section of the website offers a place for children to engage with SAM’s aims. Content would include instructions for making street-art style art at home, photo galleries, and self-guided public art walking tours for children and parents (Google Maps Engine can be used to create customised maps that may be embedded into the site with ease).
Blog – a separate workflow for the SAM blog follows.
2.3 Schedule
The website will be developed over three months, alongside the government proposal and social media campaign so that these may launch concurrently. The site development is divided into five stages, divided across the three months.
- Information sharing – content editor and site designer to discuss site purpose, editorial aims, target audience, content specifications and content management requirements.
- Planning – site map to be developed; media/content types to be finalised; discuss CMS (WordPress); source site hosting.
(Aprox. 4 weeks)
- Design – site designer to propose WordPress theme design and deliver prototype(s); editor and designer to collaborate on final design.
- Development – designer to create finalised template; evaluate editorial content for SEO; populate site shell with editorial content.
(Aprox. 6 weeks)
- Testing and delivery – upload site files to server with File Transfer Protocol; install plugin; check functionality across devices and browser compatibility; check social media widget connections and links.
(Aprox. 2 weeks)
2.4 Contributors
One editor will oversee web content. As the site’s content will be largely static, this same person will be responsible for managing the SAM blog after the site launch. The editor will work in conjunction with the project’s social media editor and two roaming journalists, who will source photographs and interview content to enrich the site. In the design and development stage, the site will require a web designer, who will remain in contact with the project should there be need for site maintenance or changes to the design. This designer will also be responsible for creating a blog entry template and a logo for SAM to use across its social media presence. Contributors will be volunteers.
2.5 Form
The SAM website and blog will be created using WordPress.org. The ease of use that WordPress offers is ideal for a not-for-profit organisation, as we will rely on a volunteer web designer and the editorial team must be able to make small changes to the website and to create blog content with ease. Using WordPress also makes an array of plugins available to us, such as SpeakUp!, our petition software. Donations and funds raised through activities such as walking tours will be used to fund domain registration (sammelbourne.org) and web hosting.
DAM: The project as a whole will be highly visual – the website no exception. A large amount of media (photographs, in particular) will need to be stored using ResourceSpace, where the project’s collective content will be accessible to contributors (see 3.6 Blog DAM).
SAM Workflow 