Communities of Practice at Harvard Web Publishing
Harvard's web presence is built by hundreds of people across dozens of schools and units: designers, developers, content strategists, site administrators, and researchers.
Harvard Web Publishing (HWP) hosts two Communities of Practice (CoPs) to connect these colleagues, share what's working, and shape the direction of our platforms and services together.
Whether you build sites, design experiences, or simply want to stay informed about what's happening across Harvard's web ecosystem, there's a place for you here.
HarvardSites Drupal Community of Practice
The HarvardSites Drupal Community of Practice is for people who build, manage, or support HarvardSites Drupal websites, including site administrators, editors, communications staff, department administrators, and web managers. It's also open to colleagues who simply want to learn more about HarvardSites, HWP's work, or where our services are headed. Everyone is welcome, whether you're new to the platform or have been building on it for years.
We meet quarterly. Each session is designed to give the Harvard community a predictable, practical touchpoint for staying current with the platform.
Why attend:
- See demos of new capabilities and features, along with real examples of how colleagues across Harvard are using them.
- Get visibility into HWP's platform and service roadmap before it's announced elsewhere.
- Learn from other site builders' questions and solutions, not just HWP's presentations.
- Find support and training resources that complement our documentation, office hours, and release notes.
Benefits of getting involved:
- A reliable, quarterly checkpoint that keeps you current without requiring constant self-tracking of updates.
- A direct feedback channel: this CoP exists in response to stakeholder and site-builder feedback, and continues to evolve based on what attendees tell us.
- A shortcut to solving common site-building problems by hearing how others have already solved them.
User Experience (UX) Community of Practice
The User Experience (UX) Community of Practice brings together people across Harvard who work in, support, or are interested in user experience. Our community includes designers, researchers, developers, product teams, content strategists, accessibility specialists, librarians, academic technologists, and UX-adjacent roles from schools and units across the University.
The UX CoP meets regularly to share knowledge, surface challenges, highlight ongoing UX work, and strengthen UX practice across Harvard. All levels of experience are welcome.
Why attend:
- Connect with colleagues doing UX work in different corners of the University, many of whom face similar challenges.
- Hear how other schools and units are approaching design, research, and accessibility problems.
- Get early visibility into UX trends, tools, and practices relevant to higher education.
- Contribute your own expertise, whatever your experience level.
Benefits of getting involved:
- A standing network of peers to consult when you're stuck on a design or research problem.
- Exposure to work happening outside your own school or unit.
- A stronger, more connected UX practice across Harvard, built by the people doing the work.
Why join a Community of Practice
Both Communities of Practice exist because good platforms and good practices don't stay good on their own. They need people talking to each other, sharing what's working, flagging what isn't, and pushing the work forward together.
Whether your focus is UX or Drupal site-building, these communities are where Harvard's web practitioners compare notes and make each other's work better.