Development of The Virtual Visitor Center at SLAC
Ruth McDunn
Web Information Manager
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
How it all Started
Flash Page
Design Concepts
- Mimic the Visitor Center organization so those using the VVC while at the center would
see the connection between the real and virtual sites. The VVC allows visitors to get more
information on topics of interest than can be displayed on the walls of the center.
- Make the site as accessible as possible to the community at large.
- Simplify and illustrate the content to reach the 8th - 12th grade target audience. The
theory section is intended for instructors.
- Provide a "wormhole" connection to the VMRL site (www.lost-worlds.com /slac/)
under development by Seismic Entertainment, with DOE funding assistance.
Content Organization
- Topics based on real visitor center displays
- Color coding
by topic
Accessibility
Reach the Audience
- High school teacher edited materials
- Reviewed by:
- Section specific subject matter experts
- Technical Publications
- Web Coordinating Committee
- Public Guest
Book
VRML Site
- The web images are large and even at T1 speeds the pages take a long time to load.
- The mechanics of doing high-energy physics is physically unattractive.
- The VRML site had lots of images, but little content to go with it.
Resources
| Name |
Role |
FTE Estimate |
| Ruth McDunn |
Project Management, Content Organization, Page Design and
Development |
0.25 FTE
(50% time, 6 months) |
| Rachel Denning |
Graphic Design |
0.25 FTE (50% time, 6 months) |
| Helen Quinn |
Content Provider/Review |
0.25 FTE (3 months) |
| Tom Woosman |
Content Review/Adaptation |
0.15 FTE (100% time, 8 weeks) |
|
Total |
0.95 FTE |
Time Line
| 2/97 |
Project assigned |
| 8/97 |
Design concepts approved |
| 1/98 |
Most sections complete |
| 9/98 |
Factual accuracy review complete |
| 10/98 |
Site approved for announcement |
| 11/98 |
Publicity (search engine submissions) |
Visitor Statistics and Feedback
Site contains 1,147 files (19,092 KB), 935 images (17,901 KB), 3080 internal
hyperlinks, 190 external hyperlinks.
Log File Analysis
Aspect Analyzed (Jan
- Oct 1999) |
Statistic |
Number of Hits for Home Page |
4,069 |
Number of Successful Hits for Entire Site |
1,079,697 |
Number of Page Views (Impressions) |
165,679 |
Number of User Sessions |
68,679 |
Average Number of Hits Per Day |
3,775 |
Average Number of Page View Per Day |
579 |
Average Number of User Sessions Per Day |
240 |
Average Number of Users per day on weekdays
(4,286 hits) |
258 |
Average Number of Users for the entire weekend
(5,007 hits) |
390 |
Guestbook Comments
Public guestbook:
- First responses 3/98
- Four deleted to date (profanity, selling)
10/28/99
I saw a story on ABC news about atomic accelerators and how they are attempting to
recreate a human size version of the big bang. I don't understand the fundamentals of
quantum mechanics but am interested in the subject. I decided to check out the web and
found your site. It is fantastic in both format and content! Thanks for providing
information to the public.
7/28/99
Very Fancy! C. A. Repenning
5/10/99
I really enjoy visiting this site. It makes the paleoparadoxia look so well. I have
observed my grandmother working on it for years, and it is nice to see it in its full
glory.
4/3/99
I am currently undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer. I was wanting to learn
more about the linear accelerator and have found your site very informative. Thanks very
much for being here.
2/26/99
You have an excellent web site. I will be using it in teaching particle physics to my
17 year old students. Well done!
Future Plans
No dedicated staff any more. But, with "found" time I'd like to:
- Bring website into compliance with the W3Cs Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/).
- Find a better way to provide access to the glossary terms.
- Include more information about the current research topics at SLAC.
- Add more interactivity to increase the learning aspects of the site.
- More animated elements to show interactions and events.
- Interns from this past summer are working on two interactive elements:
- A web cam viewing the cosmic ray counter and an associated site with activities appropriate
for high school and junior college physics classes to learn some interesting things by
looking at that data.
- A server allowing students to run some simple EGS
simulations and get graphic output, plus ancillary information and exercises again
designed for classroom use. There are plans to expand this in the future to include a Gamma-ray Large Area Satellite
Telescope (GLAST) detector simulation and more about GLAST in general.
Will be published as
SLAC-PUB-8098, November 3, 1999