MAGPI launches new website and logo

Starting a new school year is always an exciting time and that's especially true for all of us at MAGPI this year. We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new logo and redesign of all our print and electronic communications to better serve you - our MAGPI Member Communities!

After many months of conducting user feedback surveys and extensive redesign work with an outside firm everything has been redesigned with a focus on what you, our members, wanted most -- easier access to programs, navigation by community type, and a more simplified consistent visual design.

Many of you may have already noticed our new logo last spring, and the new website has been up for a few weeks now but we are thrilled to finally annunce the final piece in our overhaul which is the new customized MAGPI program and events calendar and registration system. Through the new system, you will be able to search and register for programs without having to go to an external site as you did in the past and searching for program events should be much easier overall.

Our new MAGPI logo represents the connections of networks - both technical and people - that we serve. We feel it is strong and fresh and conveys a sense of the future while retaining a focus on the global connections that are so important to us. We hope you like it as much as we do!

The newly re-branded, re-designed website has been created to overall help you navigate quickly to whatever you are looking for. It has been redesigned to be customized for each of the various communities we support. You'll notice that you can navigate the site by first choosing a community on the left hand side of the homepage. Once you've entered a particular community you will see an About tab that gives you an overview of that community including examples of how it uses advanced networking, then you can browse Programs, Applications, Resources, Initiatives and Funding that are tabbed and sorted for that particular community. The new homepage allows you to quickly see featured programs, current news and our program and events calendar.

We are particularly excited about the new MAGPI calendar and registration system which has been custom designed for us to allow for exactly the functionality needed for our programs. The new Programs page now allows you to view upcoming programs in either calendar view or the program list view. And, you no longer have to leave the MAGPI website to register for any of our programs as it is all built into our new custom calendar and regisiration system. You must first login to be able to register for any program though so be sure to do that as soon as you start browsing the site. Finally, you can jump right to Muse through the new MAGPI site either by the Program menu or the navigation on the left. As a continuation of our work to date with the Muse Development Team, MAGPI will be further working to integrate our calendar and registration system with Muse to allow for a more seamless integration of the two systems. And, if you are already a member of Muse you do not have to recreate a new login for the MAGPI site, all you need to do is login using your Muse username and password and you're ready to go!

We've come a long way in the last ten years and we couldn't have done it without you. We thought it was time our logo and website reflected that journey together. Everything has been designed with you -- our MAGPI Member Communities -- in mind and we hope it shows.

Please do take a moment to browse around and tell us what you think. Your feedback is invaluable to us and will help us to continue to serve you better. Send any comments, questions, or suggestions to "webmaster@magpi.net".

Here's to another great year!!
The MAGPI Team