By Kirsten Lavin
Peabody Institute

Just weeks after its launch, the new Peabody Institute Web site was named Site of the Day on Oct. 14 by Macromedia.com, an industry leader in Web design software development. The site, developed by Baltimore-based no|inc, includes flash animation features on faculty and students along with a wealth of information about campus life, programs of study and upcoming events. With the distinction of being named a Site of the Day, the Peabody endeavor is in the company of sites developed by Jaguar, IKEA and Brooks Brothers.

Peabody's Web site redesign initiative, which began more than a year ago, was charged with creating a site that would not only be dynamic to outside users but would encourage communication between the disparate audiences within the Peabody. A team of faculty and staff worked closely with no|inc to create a custom content management system that empowers faculty, staff and students to publish information freely.

Harlan Parker, a faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory and chair of the Steering Committee on Information Services, said, "The new Web site provides visitors the opportunity to experience our preeminent faculty and talented students while capturing the great history and traditions of the Peabody." Also, he said, "The new site offers more than a nice design. Because faculty and staff can publish content freely, it literally turns the Peabody inside out."

In order to publish information on the new Web site, faculty and staff attend a training session designed to help familiarize them with the custom content management system. Ursula McLean, who works in the Arthur Friedheim Music Library, attended a recent training session and said she came away armed with ideas for her music bibliography class. "The system is well designed and really very easy to learn," she said. "I think the nicest part of the Web site is the ability to get the materials to the Web site without the pain of FTP [file transfer protocol]. I found it very easy to bring over the HTML files that I had already created or edited."

Highlights of the new Web site include four flash animation profiles of students and faculty from both the Conservatory and Preparatory divisions and an exhaustive calendar highlighting the nearly 800 events on the Peabody campus each year, as well as extensive informational resources about everything from financial aid to flute studies.

To see the new Peabody Institute Web site, go to www.peabody.jhu.edu.

The firm that designed the site, no|inc, is online at www.noinc.com.

The Macromedia Site of the Day archive is available at www.macromedia.com/showcase/archive.

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