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Purdue OWL News for April 21, 2005
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The Purdue OWL Staff
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Apr 21, 2005 00:37 PDT
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Purdue OWL News for April 21, 2005
UPDATE: OWL Redesign & Purdue OWL News
Dear Purdue OWL News Readers,
This is an exciting and busy time for the Purdue OWL. I have been
working long hours to produce a custom Content Management System (CMS)
for the new version of the Purdue OWL. (If you haven't seen the new
Writing Lab portion of our site, which is concerned with services
available only on Purdue's West Lafayette campus, check out
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab/). We have a growing number of
Writing Lab staff who are currently revising the content on the current
OWL pages, and we're hoping by mid-summer to have a functional version
of the new OWL. Once the bulk of our current content is revised, the
stage is set for an explosion of new content that will be more
accessible and user-friendly than ever before.
Some of the planned features of the new OWL at Purdue will include:
*A new customization service called MyOWL, which will allow registered
users to save links to favorite resources, which appear in a special
area for easy access and reference.
*An easier, form-based system for requesting use of OWL materials and
for telling us about links to our pages.
*An extension of MyOWL for instructors, which will allow instructors to
create custom resource pages for their classes; instructors will even be
able to leave comments and instructions for students, and create a list
of materials specifically tailored to their needs.
*Rich-media versions of our PowerPoint workshops, in which you can hear
a Purdue Writing Lab tutor give the spoken counterpart to our
PowerPoints (we're revising those, too).
*Powerful, on-database searching that will provide far more accurate
search results than the current site search engine.
In addition to these OWL features, we're also going to be making changes
to the way Purdue OWL News is produced. Specifically, the Purdue OWL
News will take advantage of the new Website, where it will be easier
than ever for our readers to respond to questions, submit questions of
their own, and otherwise be involved; we're also looking to revise our
format, and increase the participation in the editing and production of
Purdue OWL News. And for our blogger friends out there, Yes, there will
be a Purdue OWL News RSS Feed!
Unfortunately, this is all going to take a bit more time to complete;
and until the system is in place, there will be no Purdue OWL News (as
there hasn't been all this semester). A big Thank-you to our many
readers who have written to inquire as to what's happened to their
subscriptions; rest assured that we at the Purdue OWL are working harder
than ever to bring you the best free writing help on the Web, and that
the Purdue OWL News will return in a better form than ever this August.
Watch your email.
Enjoy your summer,
Karl Stolley
Purdue OWL Webmaster
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab/email/webmaster
Thanks for reading our newsletter. You can contact the OWL webmaster,
Karl Stolley, using the form at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab/email/webmaster; OWL
Coordinator Chris Berry can be reached via
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab/email/owlcoord.
If you received this newsletter as a forward and would like to get your
own subscription, visit
http://www.topica.com/lists/purdueowlnews/subscribe/ to subscribe.
This newsletter is copyright (C) 2005 the Purdue University Writing Lab
and Purdue University. Purdue's OWL is located at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu.
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