Hi! I’m Elisa, a Web Content Intern this summer at the Information Services Group (ISG). I realise this isn’t the most descriptive of job titles; my work mostly consists of rebuilding content that was migrated from our old website platform, EdWeb1, to the new platform, EdWeb2.  

Today marks the completion of my first month at ISG. To be honest, the first few days on the job were slightly intimidating. Updating websites that people actually visit on such a large domain can feel like a lot of pressure. Something as small as switching a simple toggle could have a big impact, and at the beginning, I was nervous I’d make some horrible mistake. I also don’t have a computer science background at all, unlike most of my team, so when they were showing each other the websites they had built and discussing their favourite programming language, I definitely felt like a fish out of water.  

Once we actually started working on the rebuilds, I realised there was no need to be nervous. EdWeb2 is a pretty intuitive platform to use, and my supervisors and line manager have patiently answered the thousands of questions I bombard them with every day. As I had used EdWeb2 at a previous internship at the University, it was more so a matter of jogging my memory and getting reaccustomed to how the system works. 

So, what does rebuilding sites actually consist of? To be truthful, it’s a lot of copying and pasting content from the old system into the new system, and building out what had previously been chunks of HTML into items like feature boxes, accordions, and body text. Everything you see when you visit a university website – all the buttons and links you click, every accordion you expand – has to be built out in EdWeb2. We also liaise with the sites’ lead publishers if we run into any issues. For example, some of the formatting that had been built out in EdWeb1 can’t be replicated in EdWeb2. In this case, we’ll suggest new ways of formatting page content, while still keeping in mind functionality and accessibility.  

I’ve also had the chance to do more in ISG alongside my role. My first week, I attended a training day for Drupal, a software used to build websites. This was quite outside my comfort zone, and the installation itself was really tricky (I do not do well with coding) but in the end, it ended up providing some useful insight into the website building process, and I felt pretty accomplished looking at my (very amateur-looking) website at the end of the session. I’ve also volunteered to help organise the blog you’re reading right now! We’ve been brainstorming ways to make it more engaging and accessible, as well as working on making sure all the interns are aware of the blog and know how they can contribute.  

I’m looking forward to the rest of my time at ISG and contributing to ensuring the university’s websites are running smoothly and efficiently.