After nearly two years of work, Archaeological Legacy Institute has launched the new and improved version of its streaming-media Web site, The Archaeology Channel (archaeologychannel.org).  This effort has involved thousands of hours of behind-the-scenes labor by a team of 18 staff members and volunteers working at locations around the world.  We covered the costs for this work from our general fund, whose sources are around 200 individual and organizational supporting TAC members and sponsoring individuals, organizations and companies.
 
We began our site re-design two years ago when we knew TAC no longer could communicate our vision and fulfill our nonprofit mission effectively enough with the old design that had been in use since 2003.  Times change and so do people’s expectations for how Web sites should look and operate.  We set out to redraft the site from the bottom up using a content management system (CMS–in this case Joomla) to allow publishing, editing and modifying content and site structure from a central control interface accessible in our own office and also to our helpers located around the world.
 
The result of this work is a dramatically different and improved design for TAC that retains the key branding elements that have been with us since our first site launch in 2000.  Our new site design is simpler, more consistent from page to page, and quicker and easier for users to navigate.  It is also much easier for us to update and maintain and will allow us to add new program categories with much less effort.
 
Streaming-media programming remains central to TAC and we have streamlined and improved our player functionality.  We have developed our own video player system, which works on PCs, Macs, iPhones, and iPads.  We have kept Windows Media Player, but removed RealPlayer and the old dial-up (56k) bandwidth player options.  We are adding the MP3 option for all our audio programming and soon will add the podcast subscription option for all audio programs not already available via podcast.
 
Here is a partial list of new structural elements, functionality and programming for the new-and-improved TAC:
 
• New drop-down menus
 
• New home page slideshow to feature events, programs and partners
 
• New icon and banner graphics for pages and programs
 
• New search function
 
• Featured media programming listed prominently on the home page
 
• User-controlled program lists
 
• Video Guide Map now based on Google Maps
 
• Feature Buttons on the home page for faster navigation to key site areas
 
• New blog feature
 
• New audio content: Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality and 21st Century Archaeology, with Dr. Joe Schuldenrein
 
We acknowledge to our audience that not everything on the new TAC works as planned yet , so please bear with us as we move the construction process to completion!  It’s been a huge job to get this far and we feel we have already created a resource valuable enough to compensate for the remaining bugs and gaps.  However, don’t hesitate to let us know (e-mail to [log in to unmask]) about problems you see so that we can prioritize our finishing touches.  Thanks very much for your patience and your support.