Evanston’s website is on the move this summer, with help from residents participating in a “Codeathon.”
At least 20 people have registered to participate in the city’s first Codeathon on June 5, in which residents of all computer skill levels will help move the city’s website to a new content management system.
“They could be somebody who just knows how to surf the Internet and knows Microsoft Word to somebody who is a computer engineer and does this for a living,” said the city’s Web developer Erika Storlie.
Currently, Evanston does not use a CMS for its site, Storlie said. A Web CMS is an automated way to manage a website by storing content in a database, she said.
McCormick sophomore Aaron Glynn, an intern for the city who is working on the Codeathon, said the city’s current site is good but outdated.
“It has a really ’90s feel to it,” Glynn said. “But (CMS) is going to make the website seem more user-friendly.”
On the new site, news releases will be archived, a feature Storlie said the current site does not allow. It will also integrate Facebook features such as “liking” articles and include a “citizen dashboard” with common user features for residents, she said.
The CMS will help Evanston meet its goal of increasing government transparency by making it easier to update the city’s site, Storlie said. One example of this is posting meeting agendas online, she said.
“Now we have only maybe 17 of the boards and committees posting their minutes online,” she said. “The goal is to get all 39 of the committees updating the website with their agendas.”
The new CMS will also save the city money, as it does not include any software licensing costs, Storlie said.
During the Codeathon, participants will choose which projects to work on based on three skill levels, Storlie said. Projects include copying content over to the new site, creating new pages, coding interactive modules and designing graphics and banner ads.
“If you’re just a computer user, you might be creating calendar events,” Storlie said. “The more complex things like designing banner ads would fall into the medium difficulty.”
Participants are also welcome to bring in photos of Evanston to add to the site, she said.
Glynn has been marketing the Codeathon to Northwestern students through flyers asking “R U 133t 3nuf?” (“Are you elite enough?”) and by word of mouth. He said the event can build the sense of community between Evanston and NU students.
“You get to meet people in the community and work toward something together,” he said.
“It’s a great tool, and it deserves care from everyone who uses it.”
Community benefits aside, participants also have the incentive of a goodie bag, which Glynn said will contain a USB drive, a T-shirt, a kite, gift cards and more.
“Those gift bags are going to be sweet,” he said.
Interested participants can register from the city’s website until May 26. Storlie said the city hopes to launch the new website in mid-June.[email protected]
