By Simon Dodd & Joe Rukin
The much heralded relaunch of NUS Online has answered the majority of the criticisms of a site which was amongst the most vilified sites by its target audience on the web. The previous NUS Online structure (light on content, light on accessibility, heavy on adverts) and Brooks Duke-esque ethos (all information hidden behind a password only available - theoretically, smirk - to student union Officers) have both come under heavy fire from all quarters, and whilst password protection for the juicy bits still rules, navigability- the main complaint of users is now a joy in that it isn't like riding a bike with two flat tyres and no saddle any more.
Amongst the promised features are that whatever you're looking for will be found in "less than three clicks from the frontpage", and important information being laid out in logical, instant-access categories. Up until now, NUS has a difficult balancing act to achieve: the primary value of NUS Online so far has been seen as the freebies and discounts. But a well-designed website would provide that information, yet also include not just information about NUS' other work, but a reason to look at that information whilst students are browsing the site for discounts. Possibly the wisest approach would be to accept the fact that most students primarily visit NUS Online (if at all) for discounts, and thus use discounts as a honeytrap to reel in students by making it easy for them to check out what else NUS does while they're there.
In all fairness to NUS Online, there has been a general trend towards Union websites being poor; the guiding light amongst these has, for some time, been UCLU, whose easy-to-navigate, easy-on-the-eye design takes a leaf from the much-missed US House of Representatives website a couple of years back. Maybe this is because most of the people who get elected in local unions are not technologically savvy (those people who are so inclined are rarely interested in student politics) and thus mistrust the net, but the most likely explanation is simply a lack of facilities combining with no serious interest in advancing such projects, an unwillingness to open up Unions to their members, and lack of precedent.
While NUS Online itself has borne the brunt of criticism, it's transparently obvious that it's symptomatic of the more generalised culture at NUS in previous years, which has oscillated between indolence and incompetence (harsh, you might argue, but fair). In order for NUS' front-end to become interesting and informative to students, NUS has to work in a way that will give ordinary students a reason to get hooked and stay hooked. It has to appear valuable to students, or else more institutions will come under more pressure to save their money and follow Southampton out of the door.
The net offers almost endless potential for use as a campaigning and communications; as a rule, students' unions have been incredibly lethargic in venturing onto the web; and in part, one can't help but feel that at least part of the reason for this is the lack of leadership from the NUS, which should surely not just follow the wishes and precedents of constituent unions and their students, but also provide leadership where necessary.
While the jury still has to be out to a degree on that one as although the new site layout has been completed, there are still some holes in the content, the new news section seems to at the moment to be little more than a tool to convince us all that the union, and more specifically, President Mandy Telford is doing a good job. On it's launch stories that could be found were as follows; Mandy Telford asks Margaret Hodge a question, Mandy Telford praises Gordon Brown, Mandy Telford warns freshers not to drink to much, Mandy Telford says 'Higher Education is important', Mandy Telford 'delighted' to talk to the TUC and Mandy Telford on her column in the Guardian.
But at least NUS have lost the garish orange colour scheme. It's safe to say that most regular observers of NUS Online are all very much aware that we've been well and truly tango'd
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