Wednesday, September 12, 2007

SHEAR Homepage

SHEAR Homepage

I've chosen to critique the website for SHEAR, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, an organization I've belonged to in the past and which I had to deal with when the small university press I worked for wanted to exhibit one of their books at their 2007 conference.

AUDIENCE

• Current and potential members of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, a small professional association. SHEAR is known for being especially friendly to graduate students.

• The larger public (interested in founding fathers and early American republic history), according to the website’s mission statement

USEFULNESS OF CONTENT

• Usefulness is low. Sections on book-prize and fellowships past winners but provide no information on criteria, eligibility, or even how to apply for these prizes and fellowships. (This is especially ironic since last year one of book prize judges sent out an email to all members of SHEAR’s listserv asking authors to tell their publishers to submit books for the prizes—yet provides no information on submission rules for publishers who visit their website).

• Site provides information on membership, but is not equipped for potential member to join online. The membership page includes a link to a PDF which you must print out, fill out, and then mail in.

• The only real action you can take from this website is to join H-SHEAR, through the link to the H-NET site provided under “H-SHEAR.”

• The site is particularly bad for information regarding past and future annual meetings. All the links on the "Annual Meeting Page" are the same color, font, and none are underlined, all of which obscure the fact that the last two listed are not actually links.

• The “past conferences” link only lists the date and location of previous conferences (including the date and location of the upcoming 2008 and 2009 conferences).

• The site provides no information about the recent 2007 conference (which includes the annual book awards for 2006, whose winners are not listed on the book prize page). It would be useful to scholars at least keep the conference program active for at least a year or so, as an indicator of what new research was presented and by whom.

• The link for the 2009 conference includes only the date and location (repeated in the “past conferences” link.

• The bottom “link” for exhibitors is not actually a link. Starting in 2007, SHEAR has set up its own combined exhibit rather than using a commercial combined-exhibit company. This meant that publishers not attending the conference as exhibitors could pay SHEAR directly to have their books on display. Since this “link” is not a link, there is no information whatsoever about this plan on the SHEAR website. One would think they’d want to have a link that would provide exhibition and advertising rates, along with explanations of sponsorship opportunities (and it’s not clear whether sponsorship opportunities differ from the “Friends of SHEAR” information under the “About Us” tab). By not providing this information, SHEAR misses providing people with an opportunity to give them money.

• The site is most useful when it links to other (better-designed) sites: the H-NET and Journal of the Early Republic sites and the more attractive Mellon and NEH sites listed under “Summer Programs” (which provide much more information about eligibility, applications, etc.)

CONSISTENCY OF DESIGN

Except for the links to the outside sites, the design of this site is consistent. But it’s unattractive and likely not to appeal to a broader audience. There are more dynamic and challenging images from this time period that could be used throughout the website, and the use of officer and prize-winner photos without any other design or imagery is uninspiring. I think the design and content reflect the insularity of the organization and a lack of interest in connecting with a broader audience.


EASE OF NAVIGATION

The shallowness of the website makes it relatively easy to navigate, although it’s puzzling to have a direct icon link to the summer “Revolution to Republic” on the home page and not see it listed under “Summer Programs.” The drop-down menus pop up when moused over, which can be frustrating, and it seems awkward to have some items with drop-down menus and others without them. The switch from the SHEAR website to the more strikingly designed NEH and Mellon websites in particular is jarring (and points up the weakness of the SHEAR site’s design).

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