Blue Mouse Monkey Blog

Blue Mouse Monkey is pleased to announce the launch of the new website for the The Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC). A University Transportation Center, OTREC supports innovations in sustainable transportation through advanced technology, integration of land use and transportation, and healthy communities.

OTREC had outgrown its old website, and Blue Mouse Monkey was challenged with a complete reorganization of current content, addition of new content, a new look and feel, and a new content management system. What’s exceptional about this website is the degree to which content is cross-referenced. Because OTREC’s database of research projects is always growing, along with the participating faculty, news stories, and other cumulative content, it was important to create a site that made it easy for users to not only find specific information, but make connections between information. OTREC staff are also avid users of social media, and social media strategy and and integration was an important component of this project.

Audiences include transportation researchers and planners, transportation and planning students, transportation agencies and industries, the media, and RITA, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s research administration.

We were privileged to work with Portland non-profit PlayWrite, Inc. to recreate their website from scratch. PlayWrite works with youth ‘at the edge’ to create original plays, powerful vehicles through which their voices are heard. The young participants collaborate with theatre professionals throughout the process of crafting a play, from character development to directing professional actors. In the process, the participants learn to trust, manage, and heal their own emotional experiences; to work collaboratively; and to contribute positively to their communities.

PlayWrite’s old website didn’t communicate the good work they do, and it contained almost no evidence of the artistic output of the participants. It was also hard for staff to update. Blue Mouse Monkey’s overhaul of the website includes a new look and feel, expanded and organized content, and a complete archive of all plays and songs, with image and video support. The easy to use CMS (content management system) enables staff to keep the site as a alive as the work they do.

Inara Scott is the author of The Candidates, the first is a series of young adult fiction books called Delcroix Academy. Inara wanted to counter a recent trend in YA fiction (think Twilight) and created a series about a strong young heroine. Inara is living the writer’s dream: she’s quit her day job to focus on the next books in the series!

Lots of machines that go beep

The Blue Mouse Monkey blog has been quiet of late, due to two things. 1. We’ve been busy wrapping up several projects back-to back, and 2. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in July. Luckily it was caught at stage 1, and there’s a very high chance of long-term survival. I had surgery (lumpectomy and sentinal node biopsy) in August, and will start radiation this month.

Dealing with breast cancer has been hard, of course. Lots of medical appointments accompanied by a steep learning curve of information acquisition, and getting acquainted with the machines that go beep, roar, and squeeze. And until the post-operative pathology report came back we didn’t know whether the cancer had metastasized, so we lived with that fear for several weeks. But the hardest thing has been figuring out how to fit being a “patient” into my creative-small-business-owner life. There are no paid vacation days or sick days for the small business owner. Time off means time not working on client projects or building my business or expanding my knowledge and skills. And while Jimmy and Shelise did a great job of carrying the load the week I was off for surgery, any more time than that would not have been good for Blue Mouse Monkey (or probably for them).

It’s given me a push towards something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and that’s hire an experienced website/interactive project manager. Someone who can keep all the balls in the air while I’m away. And now that big projects are wrapping up, it’s the perfect time to stary looking.

I’m proud to say that despite the upheaval, we’re still popping out all of this current batch of websites on time. The next few posts will showcase our recent work.