Current News Releases
March 7, 2008
Innovista Web site earns first-place honors in S.C. Press Association contest
The Innovista Web site has earned a first-place award in the South Carolina Press Association's 2007 News Contest.
The site was honored in the associate category for non-newspapers at the association's annual meeting March 7.
Among the comments from judges: "This site has tons of useful information and links. It also keeps the public up-to-date on progress and recent developments. Very well-organized and easy to navigate."
The University of South Carolina's Web Communications team maintains the site for the Office of Research and Health Sciences.
"I'm pleased that the Innovista Web site has been recognized for its excellence," said John Parks, Innovista executive director and associate vice president for economic development. "It's a valuable resource to communicate the vision that the University and its partners have for Innovista, not to mention a great collection of links to information sources around the Midlands."
The site was created by a joint team from the University's Marketing and Communications area, which helped plan and provide content for the site, and Columbia interactive firm Truematter, which designed and built the site.
"Our team continues to deliver highly engaging online experiences that are in line with our client's vision while adhering to core user-centered design and usability principles," said Rusty Farrell, president of Truematter. "We are honored to have been entrusted by the University of South Carolina to help further articulate the Innovista message."
Since launching in June 2007, the site has grown to include nearly 50 main content pages and nearly 60 news or audio/video stories. Regular updates have kept standing information, statistics, and links current.
More than 320 external links--170-plus to University pages and 150-plus to non-University pages--make the site an information clearinghouse for the academic/research community, Columbia, the state, the region, and business and economic development partners.
The site has received nearly 42,300 visits and 137,800 page views in about 10 months. Japan (2,926), Germany (1,113), the United Kingdom (1,045), Canada (776), India (654), and Italy (613) are the top traffic sources outside the United States.
A visit is defined as an "individual session" initiated by a site visitor, and while a visitor will be counted only once, he or she may return to the site for additional visits. A page view is when a user clicks on a page; page views are not unique in these statistics, and a page may be counted more than once if a visitor refreshes it or clicks away and clicks back.
About Truematter
Truematter is a privately held interactive design and development consultancy based in Columbia, S.C., that provides clients with advanced interactive Web development, brand-building design, and usability engineering services.
