Something else was going on in Colchester around the time of IWMW 20009. While delegates of the Institutional Web Management Workshop were hearing the mantra ‘seek forgiveness rather than permission’ for any improvements we’d like to make to our institutional web provision, The Human Shrub was hard at work with some unapproved upgrades of his (or her) own.
Inspired by the guerrilla gardener I’ve decided to take some direct action on an area of our site. I’m going to tell no-one, and work by cover of darkness. I’ve yet to decide on an outfit.
The aim is to use spare time and all available methods to improve the look and feel, user interface and usability of the area in a non-invasive way, avoiding all the usual time constraints. By the end I hope to have something suitable to replace or update the area that all stakeholders will find difficult to refuse. To do this:
- All work must be carried out on breaks, out of hours or overnight
- No live content will be touched, proof of concept will be devised & created as alternate services
- Extant environment and systems will be respected – that means working with the CMS, with the means of editing and deployed using the normal methods
- Ease of integration or implementation a major determinant of any approach (so no recreating the whole site as a Symfony plug-in)
- As with any unofficial, unbidden and unapproved endeavour, the goals will shift & adapt as and when.
- Horticultural metaphors will abound.