Web site offers window to Genomics Initiative

By Bill Steele

"The Cornell Genomics Initiative (CGI) encompasses a comprehensive array of faculty members, facilities, research programs, curriculum developments, campus activities and outreach programs keeping Cornell at the forefront."

That's how an "overview" on the new CGI web site at http://www.genomics.cornell.edu begins. The web site recently was refurbished to make it easier to navigate, and future plans are to make it a place where the lay public can learn more about just what "genomics" is. The web site is perhaps the best example so far of CGI's outreach -- providing a comprehensive explanation of what the initiative is about.

The new look represents a collaboration between CGI faculty members, the Department of Communication and the Web Production Group of Media and Technology Services. The site represents something of a breakthrough for the web group: this is the first time its work has been extended beyond the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences and of Human Ecology and Cornell Cooperative Extension. The move is significant because, beginning next year, the group becomes an enterprise unit, offering its services to everyone on campus on a fee-for-service basis.

The Genomics Initiative is a highly interdisciplinary program, cross-pollinating the work of plant and animal scientists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, even ethicists and lawyers, to study the chemical code that lies at the heart of every living cell and guides almost every aspect of life. Four years ago the university decided to devote major resources to this study, making Cornell a major player in an emerging field. Current related plans include a number of new faculty hires and a new life-sciences building.

There has been a CGI web site from the beginning, but it was hard to navigate and somewhat aimed at "insiders." The new version provides labeled links for several possible audiences, including "Faculty & Other Researchers," "Students," "Journalists," "Policy-Makers" and "Alumni & Friends." Text has been rewritten and expanded, mostly by Andrew Pleasant, a graduate student working with Bruce Lewenstein, associate professor of science communication, who is a member of the CGI task force. Lewenstein chose Pleasant for his extensive newspaper experience.

"I just started to revise, update and add a few things, but it became apparent that a major overhaul was called for," Pleasant said. "The site didn't address all the user groups. There was no page for policy-makers; there was a page for journalists, but you had to go through other pages."

Pleasant created a prototype. "Then we took it to the web production group, and they really polished it," he said. One of the web group's major contributions was a database-driven listing of some 100 profiles of faculty members involved in the initiative. Although links all over the site lead to the profiles, only the central database needs to be updated when there are changes.

"A huge part of this initiative is the people," said Joe Ellis, senior producer for the Web Production Group. "They really wanted us to feature the people on the site to the extent that we could."

Web Production Group director Thomas Richardson believes the group's services include more than just writing web code and creating graphics. Rather, he wants to give people not only what they want but also "what they need." For example, he said about the CGI site, "I think I see what we have as being a steppingstone. It's the stake in the ground for what ought to come next. This site could be so much more informative than administrative. What we have now is just a suggestion of what it might become."

Among future enhancements he sees as possible are use of the site as a recruiting tool and more treatment of public issues, with a glossary of terms and multimedia tutorials. "Information will solve some of the problems," he said. Lewenstein sees the project as the first step in the creation of a digital library for genomics.

Ellis drew on practically everyone in the web group to get the redesigned site up and running in two months. In addition to Lewenstein and others in the Department of Communication, support for the redesign also was provided by Publications Services and the Theory Center. CGI task force members Steven Tanksley, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of plant breeding, and Charles Aquadro, professor of molecular biology and genetics, acted as CGI's overseers for the project.

More information on the Web Production Group may be found at their site: http://www.wpg.cornell.edu.