A comment on my previous post raises a great point. Michael Clendenin says the fact that the Virginia Tech website was down for parts of the day on Monday underscores the need for a "dark site" that can easily be switched on.
We've talked here about having a homepage stripped of images and graphics that would help ease download times and perhaps spare the server from crashing in the event of some kind of crisis and the resulting spike in web traffic.
Does anyone have that kind of secondary homepage in place, and has anyone had to make it live?
Our content management system has a funnel system in which I approve webpages each day, and then the pages are moved into production each midnight as part of a scheduled job.
We've already been talking with ITS about giving me the ability to push pages from staging to production in an emergency. As part of that project, we're going to talk about adding a second homepage template to be used in case of a major incident.
We could react pretty quickly right now, but if key ITS people were not on campus, we could be slowed down. That's why a ready-to-go alternate page that drops our Flash theater and other graphic elements needs to be waiting in the wings.
Comments (2)
Thanks for the shout out and raising the issue for greater discussion. In fact, I'm very interested because, while we've discussed the issue at my company, we've not pursued it with any great fervor. I am doing so now, but I need to find a compilation of best practices and a model or two.
I'm very interested in any further discussion and recommendations or anyone willing to share a peek at their dark site.
michael clendenin
Posted by Michael Clendenin | April 19, 2007 12:22 PM
Posted on April 19, 2007 12:22
I am a graduate student at Michigan State University, and I'm conducting research regarding dark Web sites. I'm wondering what building such a site entails, specifically as it would relate to air transportation (airport disaster, in-flight disaster, etc.). What are some of the considerations you have made in terms of building a site? Why has your organization decided to create one? What type of content should be included in the site; what should not be included and why? I, too, would appreciate any opportunity to take a look at existing dark sites if at all possible. I would completely respect the proprietary nature of such a site and honor your organization's confidentiality requirements. Many thanks in advance. Laurie
Posted by Laurie | May 18, 2007 11:33 AM
Posted on May 18, 2007 11:33