COIN.ARMY.MIL version 2.0 is active

SWC Members,

After several months of hard work, we are ready to roll out version 2.0 of COIN.ARMY.MIL. The previous website was restricted behind the AKO firewall for security and public affairs reasons.

We now are maintaining three sites - a fully public informational site, and two restricted sites - one requiring DoD Common Access Card (CAC) authentication, and the legacy AKO site. The AKO site will likely eventually close once we can enable AKO sign-on to the CAC card site. For the meantime, we will keep all three open.

The public site is designed to provide basic information on our organization, upcoming events, and public activities. The restricted sites are designed for DoD members to find information collaborate on an unclassified level.

The purpose of the restricted sites is to act as a gateway to COIN products, information, and organizations we deem critical. It does not seek to replicate work already performed by other systems such as CALL, BCKS, or other organizations. Hopefully, it's a reference for a busy individual looking for the most relevant COIN info, and our seminar products.

To that end, we need a lot of help. We're a small team maintaining the site in-between meetings - so if you have a contribution or improvement, please email us via the contact information at http://coin.army.mil.

We have designed two competing pages to help provide access to the information. We have received positive and negative feedback on both, and wanted to pose the question to the community.

Front page #1 contains a functional breakdown of COIN information. It is based on the KM concept that you do not care what site it's on, you just want the info.

Front page #2 breaks it down by site - outlining the various sites we run.

Let us know which one is most useful in the poll above. We hope to continuously improve and add content as the site continues to evolve. Your comment and feedback is appreciated either here or via our sites.

Thanks,

Major Niel Smith
Operations Officer
USA and USMC Counterinsurgency Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Part of the Army’s Combined Arms Center

Hi Neil,

First, since I don't have ako or CAC access, I can only comment on the public site. With that in mind, I have to say that it is bland, boring and does nothing to attract the eye at all. Public sites, and especially those designed to engender support for some agenda that is controversial, really need a lot of that elusive "Wow" factor. I hate to say it, but both are a major yawn - they appear to be circa 1995 presentation style.

Some specifics:

1. The background colour is extremely poor and sets the tone. If I were you, I would shift it to either a green or a blue, both of which have more positive emotional connotations in Western cultures (grey engenders some distrust).
2. Drop the pseudo-tiled marble background gif entirely - the sub-consciously communicated metaphor of "set in stone", which will be evoked in a number of public users, is definitely not the message you want to send.
3. Where are the "Success stories"? Think public, public, public.... This site is "selling" a product to the public - COIN - which is intimately tied into public perceptions of the "Surge" (no one ever said the public was savvy ;)). You need success stories and you need public items related to both COIN and the Surge. "COIN in video", with links through to the Daily Show (etc.) would be a start.
4. Your coding for
   <!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="DirectorsCorner" --> doesn't work properly in Firefox - I think it may be the
   <p align="left" class="templatelinks"> commands that are causing the problem, although it may be an interaction with the .css style.
5. Both front pages should be visible in a single screen. I'm using a 1280 x 800 screen resolution and I don't see the entire page. When I scroll down to get the non-visible information, I don't see any reason why I should have to - there's not enough link information to justify it in my mind.

Sorry to be so negative, but that is my honest opinion based on 14 years of web design, evaluation and analysis experience.

Marc

Neil,

I've got to concur with Marc, and second his comment that I don't have AKO or other such access. Regarding his layout observation, the coding issue with Firefox is one I often see when going to sites that use .asp. It doesn't show up in IE, so it's hard to see when you're proofing a site.

You definitely need some public-access content. Far too much is disappearing behind the AKO/CAC shield...and that creates a negative image (if we can't see it, they must be hiding something...cue conspiracy music). The more that can be laid out for folks to look at, especially these days when many people are more inclined to believe what they can find for themselves on the Internet, the better chance you'll have of getting your information across and generating some discussion and input...even if it's here.

Neil, just on layout - interactivity issues, take a look at www.forces.ca (it's the CF recruiting / PR site). It uses some of the marketing best practices (video, motion, iconic pictures on news stories, etc.). The dark slate grey they use as a background is actually designed to highlight their message - "Fight Fear". It is also fully browser compatible. As a site, it's message is conveyed using every component of the layout, colour scheme and graphic.

on this one Marc:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by marct

[*]Drop the pseudo-tiled marble background gif entirely - the sub-consciously communicated metaphor of "set in stone", which will be evoked in a number of public users, is definitely not the message you want to send.

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To me the gif evokes the CAC patch in ACU colors, meaning that COIN is about being ready, now.

Hi CR6,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CR6

To me the gif evokes the CAC patch in ACU colors, meaning that COIN is about being ready, now.

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Okay, that makes sense to me and I suspect that it may well evoke the same in other people in the military. But what about the public who have never seen a CAC patch in those colours? It may be a good idea to retain it in the CAC and ako sub-sites, but for the public....?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by marct

Hi Neil,

First, since I don't have ako or CAC access, I can only comment on the public site. With that in mind, I have to say that it is bland, boring and does nothing to attract the eye at all. Public sites, and especially those designed to engender support for some agenda that is controversial, really need a lot of that elusive "Wow" factor. I hate to say it, but both are a major yawn - they appear to be circa 1995 presentation style.

---

First, thanks for the constructive criticism.

On the public site, I have absolutely ZERO control over the arrangement, colors, or layout. That is the new Combined Arms Center template we have been directed to adhere to. Your comments mirror some of my comments internally to the web design staff, so I'll pass them on.

Some specifics:

Quote:

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[*]The background colour is extremely poor and sets the tone. If I were you, I would shift it to either a green or a blue, both of which have more positive emotional connotations in Western cultures (grey engenders some distrust).

---

Interesting observation.

Quote:

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[*]Drop the pseudo-tiled marble background gif entirely - the sub-consciously communicated metaphor of "set in stone", which will be evoked in a number of public users, is definitely not the message you want to send.

---

Hadn't considered that. Thanks.

Quote:

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[*]Where are the "Success stories"? Think public, public, public.... This site is "selling" a product to the public - COIN - which is intimately tied into public perceptions of the "Surge" (no one ever said the public was savvy ;)). You need success stories and you need public items related to both COIN and the Surge. "COIN in video", with links through to the Daily Show (etc.) would be a start.

---

We're working on this one, in v1.0 of that part as of now. The G6 is purchasing blog software and other tools where it will be used for this purpose, moving to v1.1.

Quote:

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[*]Your coding for
<!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="DirectorsCorner" --> doesn't work properly in Firefox - I think it may be the
<p align="left" class="templatelinks"> commands that are causing the problem, although it may be an interaction with the .css style.

---

Noted, will fix.

Quote:

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[*]Both front pages should be visible in a single screen. I'm using a 1280 x 800 screen resolution and I don't see the entire page. When I scroll down to get the non-visible information, I don't see any reason why I should have to - there's not enough link information to justify it in my mind.

---

Will have my web guy go at it.

Quote:

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Sorry to be so negative, but that is my honest opinion based on 14 years of web design, evaluation and analysis experience.

Marc

---

If I didn't want the harsh answers, I wouldn't have asked. :eek: Valuable feedback.

Hi Neil,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by USA&USMC_COIN_Center

On the public site, I have absolutely ZERO control over the arrangement, colors, or layout. That is the new Combined Arms Center template we have been directed to adhere to. Your comments mirror some of my comments internally to the web design staff, so I'll pass them on.

---

Ouch :eek:! I've been stuck in that situation myself (Treasury Board Comon Look & Feel design restrictions) and, if the bureaucrats have taken control, it is the most frustrating thing imaginable. If it will help any, a couple of friends of mine in the Carleton HCI lab wrote a paper that analyzed the "impression time" of a "first view" (~ 50 milliseconds). If you shoot me an email, I'll be glad to send it off to you (an 1 page executive summary is available here).

Marc

green, so I'm told -- but that CAC background is IMO, really, really bad. They got carried away with the ACU pattern. If they've got all their web sites with that, they really need to think about it...

I think I understand the intent but it doesn't go well on a web site.
I agree with most of Marc's comment but realize you're just getting started.

You may want to consider separating your links rather than by Organizations, Communities and Knowledges into those that are available to the public and those that are not, requiring AKO or CAC access. I realize that the site isn't there specifically to serve Joe Sixpack but if you're gonna let him in, it could be a little simpler for him to tell what he can get to and what he can't.

Good job, thanks for putting it up and thanks for the link.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by marct

Hi Neil,



Ouch :eek:! I've been stuck in that situation myself (Treasury Board Comon Look & Feel design restrictions) and, if the bureaucrats have taken control, it is the most frustrating thing imaginable. If it will help any, a couple of friends of mine in the Carleton HCI lab wrote a paper that analyzed the "impression time" of a "first view" (~ 50 milliseconds). If you shoot me an email, I'll be glad to send it off to you (an 1 page executive summary is available here).

Marc

---

Don't be too hard on them, they're working hard to make it right. They've been helpful to in many ways.

PM enroute. To everyone else who feels the same, please jump in. I know the CAC web staff could use the input on the design and layout of the public site - soon all of CAC's orgs (CALL, CADD, BCTP, CAL, etc) will move to the exact same layout. No feedback has more credibility than the public's, as stated earlier - and that is who the public websites are for.

Steve, noted on the public content. We're working on what we can make available, and trying to point to open resources like SWJ. The restricted sites have far more content. Even with Frontier 6's sunshine policy, the rest of DoD's OPSEC regs haven't caught up. And no small part is the time we have to invest in its improvement.

Any feedback on the CAC SharePoint site?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by USA&USMC_COIN_Center

Any feedback on the CAC SharePoint site?

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I am comfortable getting around it due to familiarity with the overall format of BCKS/AKO etc but for some reason I see red whenever I visit;)

Also it will be good when more of the like sites on sharepoint come more online.

Question -

Does the CAC access only work from .mil or .gov domains? I ask because I have a CAC reader and software at home and couldn't access the CAC site.

I would agree with page size comment, keep within 1024*768, and key data and links in 800*600, small point but pick background colours that contrast with browser default control colours (like the scroll bar).

I would agree with Ken if you have restricted access to items on any site then go for a 'for those with AKO or CAC access click here' and then display additional content. On the tombstone version the CAC logo is much lower res than the others (looks like a blown up scanned letterhead) - update.

I would be wary of the site Marc gave as an example in post 4# as it looks great but breaks two homepage rules - needs high band-with (I am assuming you will be getting hits from those in the field with inconsistent connections) and requires a bolt-on (Flash-player, Quick-time, Java etc.) again all good for content rich second pages but not to load homepage.

JJ

Hi J,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JJackson

I would be wary of the site Marc gave as an example in post 4# as it looks great but breaks two homepage rules - needs high band-with (I am assuming you will be getting hits from those in the field with inconsistent connections) and requires a bolt-on (Flash-player, Quick-time, Java etc.) again all good for content rich second pages but not to load homepage.

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Totally agreed - the forces.ca site is good for the North American public which likely has the bandwidth and addons, but is definitely not good for a general entry site. There are server side scripts that can detect browsers and plug-ins and do replaces, at least in asp.net, which may be an option.

My only concern would be that the resources on public site also be available on the CAC and ako sites. That would allow you to use a media rich public site while having low bandwidth CAC and ako sites.

Good catch, John!

Marc

This comment is for the CAC version of the site.

First of all, there's a lot of great information there, even for an Air Force puke like me. I do have some constructive criticism, however:

1. I found the layout a bit confusing. The various boxes that attempt to categorize all the files don't do a very good job imo. For example, "professional" briefings and articles seem like useless categories - isn't the "professional" the minimum standard? A clearer categorization scheme would be nicer. You could categorize by type - like interviews, training materials, AAR's and other "what we did" types of stuff, doctrine (which you already have), academic articles, etc. There are, I'm sure, other categories as well. An alternative is categorization by scope - from senior level interest to junior. Again, I'm not an Army or Marine guy, but it seems like it would be nice to be able to direct the junior folks to a specific box on the site and say "that is required reading." Same with SUL's and junior officers, etc.

2. There's a lot of duplication - the same, or essentially the same - file in different boxes, or even the same file in the same box but with slightly different names (for example in the "coin seminar files" there's "Afghanistan COIN December 07 Brief" and "Afghanistan_COIN_Brief_Dec_07" which appear to be exactly the same brief.

3. More description on the files besides the filename. You could implement this either with the html title attribute or a column next to each filename. Another useful addition would be either an information cutoff date for the material, the date it was published (for journal articles, for instance), and/or the date it was added to the site.

4. The search box does not seem to work. The "all sites" option gets me the AKO wall, and the "this site" function does not return any results, even searching for "COIN."

5. For those of us in the lesser services without AKO access, some sort of visual cue to tell us which links are AKO only would be very handy. Alternatively, you could give us all AKO accounts :)

6. Some kind of differentiation or ability to see information that applies only to a particular conflict or theater. For example, I'm focused on Afghanistan right now and while much of the Iraq-specific information is useful, it would be nice to either have a separate Afghanistan category or some way to get all the info on that, or any other, theater.

That's what I see off the top of my head. Again, I was Navy and am now AF, so if I've exposed my ignorance, please feel free to set me straight!

BTW, I'd like to thank CAVGUY for hooking me up with Mr. Traynham to get my CAC access problem fixed. Turned out it wasn't me, but some server and DISA problems. I was told to report them whenever they reappear since in the computer world the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

All,

Thanks for your support as we continue to improve the http://coin.army.mil family of websites. They continue to develop in quality and accessability. We have put a lot of work into the SharePoint and AKO sites this week. A new navigational toolbar has been launched at the AKO site and look for some redesign on the Sharepoint soon.

We seek to feature "best in class" products to our audience that emerge each month. The following items have been added to the AKO and Sharepoint Sites:

• COIN Center April SITREP
• The Counterinsurgency Cliff Notes
• An Iraq Rifle Company Commander's AAR
• The Taliban: An Organizational Analysis

Due to some restrictions, we are currently unable to host much content on the public site. We're addressing those issues to find workable solutions. Our AKO site is accessable from the Army and DKO community, and the Sharepoint site is accessable for anyone logged in via CAC card. If you are a DoD user and have access issues send an email to coin@conus.army.mil and we'll help you out.

Regards,
Major Niel Smith
US Army and Marine Corps COIN Center

Neil,

If it makes you feel any better I go through this everyday. (If someome criticizes the font and you respond kinetically you will be a hero to every art director in the country.;))

Two new developments:

- Feeder site look and feel was completely redesigned. Please let us know if it solves the navigation issues from the previous version.
- Knowledge Center on the Sharepoint is being reorganized to make it more useful.

Coming soon:
- Working redesign issues for public site based off of comments from here.
- Public Blog
- RSS public subscription feed

Thanks for the feedback and keep it coming!


Regards,
Major Niel Smith
US Army and Marine Corps COIN Center