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portalWisconsin.org: A Bright Needle In A Cyber Haystack
by Morrie Warshawski

If cheese is the first thing that comes to mind when the state of Wisconsin crops up in a conversation, then you obviously have not paid a visit to portalWisconsin.org - the Internet home for the state's surprisingly rich variety of offerings in culture, the arts, history and the humanities. Lift the lid to this attractive cyber-Pandora's box and anything is liable to fly out - from the Minnesota Historical Society's traveling exhibit "Unpacking on the Prairie: Jewish Women in the Upper Midwest," to Wisconsin Folks' features on ice fish and decoy carver Brooks Big John and the Queens of Harmony a cappella gospel group, to a press release about ArtsBlock, the new $13 million visual and performing arts center in the heart of Wassau's historic downtown.

Detail from Portal Wisconsin home page

Detail from portalWisconsin.org homepage.

In fact, a recent search for "Wisconsin and Art" on the Google.com search engine produced 414,000 possibilities. PortalWisconsin.org was created, in part, to help people sift through the vast haystack of cultural offerings in the state in a trustworthy, timely and manageable way. The site adheres closely to the official definition for a portal as given by the Joint Group for Web Initatives: "Generally, a Web site that offers a broad array of resources and services such as e-mail, discussion forums, search capability/engines, and any other on-line capability. Developed in response to business users needs to filter information and obtain a quick and easy method of accessing information over the web when required."

PortalWisconsin.org was conceived during a conversation between Wisconsin Public Television (WPTV) staff members who were driving from Madison to Milwaukee in Fall 1999. The idea for a nonprofit web site landed on the desk of Tom Linfield in the Development Department, who secured $30,000 in seed money from the Cross Divisional Program Innovation Fund of the University of Wisconsin - Extension.

This start-up funding helped launch a planning phase with the Wisconsin Cultural Coalition - a group of seven organizations that promotes culture, arts, humanities and history in Wisconsin. The partners include:

  • Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
  • Wisconsin Arts Board
  • Wisconsin Historical Society
  • Wisconsin Humanities Council
  • Wisconsin Public Radio
  • Wisconsin Public Television
  • University of Wisconsin Extension-Continuing Education

Ann Engelman, then Programming Advisor at WPTV, was hired as Project Director in January 2001. Her first task was to pull the partners together around a united vision for the portal, including the creation of a strategic plan and mission statements. Engleman asked each partner for an ideal wish list. She wanted to start by tapping into their own particular set of needs, or in Engleman's more colorful terms, "I had to borrow greed from our partners." That list included a bevy of items for their vision of a noncommercial electronic gateway to ccredible content, including: a statewide event calendar, news articles, course listings, organizational listings, streaming video and audio, moderated online chats, online galleries, and Web links. The partners also wanted users to have the ability to search for content by keyword, geographic area, interest area, and other means in an environment where content would be dynamic and constantly evolving.

The vision was exciting enough to capture the imagination and additional support of two major funders - the Future Fund of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and the National Endowment for the Arts, through the Resources for Change: Technology initiative. Engleman now had $600,000 to work with. To create the site she hired database and Internet architecture specialist Nathan Trick of the Instructional Communications Systems at the University of Wisconsin Extension, and Madison graphic designer Yael Gen. Because the team could find no other comparable site, they found themselves creating a whole new model.

During this development phase, "It took us over one month just to figure out the database categories," Engelman laments. In addition, they were working on ways to make sure the site was fully accessible. The team was careful to make sure the site would have built-in spoken word options for the visually impaired, as well as captioning to all audio offerings for the hearing impaired.

"We had some other concerns during the design phase," explains Engelman. "One was that we not have anything on the site that could not be replicated. This was important because we wanted this to be a model. We wanted to create code and architecture that could be replicated by other public radio and television stations."

Trick describes an extensive design phase from February 2001 through December 2001 that included: initial conversations about a basic data model; weekly meetings between June and August to discuss exactly what data would be captured for the site followed by an initial beta test of the first database; and a second beta test phase between September and December 2001 during which they conducted final tests of the database with users, administered online surveys, and held focus groups to help iron out wrinkles in the system.

Finally, on January 14, 2002, their new cyberbaby was born, and it has been making friends and maturing ever since. For a new kid on the block, portalwisconsin.org has already racked up some impressive statistics:

  • 481 cultural agencies are currently listed
  • Over 1,100 locations and venues can be accessed
  • Visitors can find out about 4,600 calendar events
  • 53,147 unique visitors explored the site in the first year

Trick admits that it is very difficult to give the statistics on the portal's use an accurate context because of its unique status. However, he does note that he is heartened by the fact that all the statistics have continued to increase during the first year with significant "bumps" almost every month, and that the nineteen minutes average stay per visitor compares very favorably with an industry average of nine-to-twelve minutes. In addition, the portal has garnered awards from organizations including the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), and the University and College Design Association (UCDA).

Detail from PortalWisconsin site
Detail from portalWisconsin.org web site.

With respect to content, a full 73% of users say they came because the portal listed events. A couple in Middleton, Wisconsin recently wrote to the website saying: "My wife and I love this website. It replaces the host of magazines, newsletters, etc. that we would check in order to stay informed about events." Engelman notes that the most popular parts of the site are the Calendar Search, Interest Area, and Online Gallery.

George Tzougros, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Arts Board is particularly fond of the Gallery. "This is a perfect example of something we could never do on our own," he admits. In addition to displaying the work of artists in every medium, the portal lets artists apply for inclusion through an innovative online submission and review process. The panel meets "virtually"  panelists go to a password protected portion of the site to view all submissions at their leisure and submit their votes and comments. "We lose a little face-to-face contact," notes Tzougros, "but we make up for that by letting panelists go deeper into the artists materials at their own pace, and we also save a lot of money in hotel and travel costs!"

Over at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Joan Fischer, Director of Marketing and Communication, is also very excited by what portalwisconsin.org has done for her organization. "The Culture Calendar has been a great boon to us," she explains. Any nonprofit organization in the state can submit events to the Calendar by going through one of the partners in the Cultural Coalition that is closest to its discipline. "This was something we had tried to do on our own but found it to be just too labor intensive and expensive. For us this was a necessary but unsustainable project. It's so wonderful to have the portal handling this for all of us."

For Engelman, the cooperation between partners created by the Culture Calendar points to one of the greatest benefits of portalwisconsin.org. "The synergy between partners has mushroomed," she says. Not only are agencies working together on the Calendar and the Gallery, they are using the portal as a powerful tool for doing programs together. Engelman points to the recent "Waters of Wisconsin Forum" that brought partners together for presenting and cross-promoting exhibits, features, chats, and public television and radio broadcasts.

Not everything has been perfect since starting the portal. Engleman's greatest disappointment has been the once weekly live, real-time Chats area, which did not garner enough participation to warrant the necessary staffing. These have been replaced by Forums that allow people to leave postings at any time and return at their leisure to examine responses. Current Forums include a Book Club, and a PBS Program Club that features recent public television programs such as Chicago and World War II.

The next major challenge for the portal will be sustaining operations once all the funding disappears. Engelman and the Coalition are committed to making the portal survive. They are confident that the site can be maintained in the future on an annual budget of $60,000 to $80,000 that will come from a combination of direct support from the current partners who will each contribute what they can afford, and grants.

Meanwhile, Engelman is exultant about what portalwisconsin.org has done for her state. "The visibility for the aggregation of culture in Wisconsin has been incredible. Don't talk to me about having to go to New York or L.A. for culture - it's right here in Wisconsin!"

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MORRIE WARSHAWSKI is a consultant, facilitator and writer who has specialized in working with nonprofit arts organizations for over twenty-five years. He makes his home in Ann Arbor, and can always be found in cyberspace at www.warshawski.com.