Category: Uncategorized

  • Writing for SEO

    Identify which keywords are relevant to EASA in general, use those terms on introductory pages, ie Home and About. Identify which terms are relevant to topical pages such as Networks  – write introductions containing those terms.

    1. Define broad topics which are covered by EASA, such as Ethnology and Anthropology.
    2. Defines sets of keywords which belong to each topic.
    3. When creating menu labels, links, page/post introductions and excerpts, use these keywords.
    4. Perform a running analysis of how these terms are being used to direct Search Engine traffic to EASA.

    Networks and other topical sections

    Write introduction texts to each page, ie Network, which contains keywords related to this topic.

    Example: Anthropology of Mining home page: “Resource extraction” “Minerals”.

  • Networks

    Key Questions:

    • How can Network editors get access to publish their own content within the site?
    • Which networks seem inactive in terms of home page update?
    • How can content from external network media (website and social media) be incorporated?
    • How to identify which networks’ pages should be brought over to the new site.

    EASA has ca 60 networks. A quick review shows that the home page of some of these have not been updated for over a year:

    • Sacral Healing and Communication network,
    • Multimodal Ethnography Network
    • Future Anthropologies Network (FAN)
    • Anthropology of the Middle East and Central Eurasia, (Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, China) (AMCE), 
    • Anthropology of Security Network,
    • Anthropology of Religion,
    • Anthropology of Mining Network, 
    • Anthropology of Food Network,
    • Anthropology of Children and Youth Network (ACYNet),
    • Anthropology and Social
    • Movements
    • Africanist Network
    •  

    Recommendation: identify “inactive” networks by viewing internal EASA pages, social media and external websites. Find out if they can be revived.

    Recommendation: If the network has external website, they can be invited to move this to the EASA site, keeping their current look. We have unlimited options for setting up different templates within one site. Network editors can have access to edit and post within their section, livening up the EASA site and in return saving on hosting and maintenance.

    Recommendation: Where the network prefers to publish their news on an external site or social media channel, integrate the posting of news and events from this external source to the EASA Events calendar and the network news section.

    Recommendation: If the network has reasonably active Facebook page, then this should be embedded on the network’s EASA home page. 

    For our proposals on how to manage network content, see content management.

  • Content Management

    How can content be published by embedding other channels such as Facebook, Twitter and RSS, or giving Network editors access to publish their own posts.

    Media officer / NomadIT

    NomadIT are happy to manage the publishing and editing of content as we are currently doing.

    We we would also be more than happy to share resources for how EASA could manage content themselves, and we already have very useful resources for how to do so – for which we have received great feedback from other clients.

    We recommend that EASA makes use of designated Network editors where possible. These editors will create and edit content for their respective networks. Below follows a suggestion of how this can be done. This framework can also be used for designated editors for other sections of the website, such as “Policy and Letters” or “Publications”.

    Network editors restricted to their Networks

    Let editor for a nework, ie Anthromob only edit and create posts and pages in “Anthromob” category
    – Publishpress does this for $79/year. Has a useful checklist to see that everything is in place before publishing (ie excerpt and featured image)

    • Posts can be set to pending, as in pending review by site admin before publishing. This will be useful in several scenarios, ie a) general quality and relevance control, b) adding another category “news” to a post, so it will show display in news widgets (ie home page) as well as Anthromob news. c) the new posts is about an event – site admin will then create an event in Events calendar as a follow-up task.

    Social Media Feeds

    Where there is an active social media channel for a Conference, Network, Journal, this can be pulled into any relevant page, to auto-create dynamic content.

    RSS Feed

    If the journal or book series, has a rss feed, this can be embedded into the website. The same goes for any netwrok-related publication with a rss feed.

  • Google Analytics Sep 2021 – Jan 2023

    Cookie-script since Sep 2021

    Cookie script installed 2021-09-22 – so stats are taken from that point, as it will affect users that they can opt out of GA cookies.

    It also affects how many users are counted as New users – as the cookiescript reloads upon accepting cookies – something to look at? I have set it to reload because the cookie decision does not seem to be acted upon unless reload.

    SENDY Campaigns

    The campaigns in Sendy are mostly tracked in GA, apart from the odd campaign where the field for Query string is empty – seems to happen for EASA general News mostly so this process should be reviewed.

    Campaigns are tracked for longer in Google, hence higher numbers. IE. EASA2022 Online access email campaign (sent July 2022) still gets 10 hits in Jan 2023 – this is not tracked by Sendy.

    Idea: If this email campaign “EASA2022 Online access“ l is still being visited in Jan 2022 because people are looking for Online access to conference abstracts, then we could make these easier accessible over the website?

    RECOMMENDATION: Review how sendy emails are sent as query string sometimes missing

    Recommendation: give query string / campaign title / web page same words as difficult to identify sendy campaign in GA otherwise.

    RECOMMENDATION: always feature the last conference somewhere prominent with the links to the programme and a one-line explanation of what they kind find, how to find it?

    BROWSERS AND DEVICES

    24% are viewing on mobile – less that other sites.
    AM: 7% HDCA 23%, RAI 43%, , DSA 29%, EASST 22%.

    Comparing number of users of EASA to other sites

    Compare EASA 0921-0122 / Current Members: 2478 / Website users: 459,016
    Compare EASST: 0921-0122 / Current Members: 843 / Website users: 94,861
    DSA / Current Members: 928 / Website users: 120,938
    RAI / Current Members: 2016 / Website users: 32,102
    IAI / Website users: 18,430
    HDCA: Website users: 109,715
    AM Website users: 62,098

     

    POPULAR PAGES EXCLUDING CONFERENCE PAGES

    /publications/policy/why_en LANDING/EXIT PAGE front page
    /conferences/ LANDING/EXIT PAGE menu link
    /membership/ LANDING/EXIT PAGE tool menu
    /networks/ menu link
    /journal/ front page
    /about/ menu link
    /publications/
    /easa/membershipform.php5
    /networks/anthromob/
    /networks/media/eseminars
    /networks/app_anth/
    /directory
    /networks/agenet/

    RECOMMENDATION:

    • Now: Check the 3 most popular pages for errors etc, outdated content, layout etc
    • Memb and Conf must be direct links in menu/on page. https://easaonline.org/membership/ https://easaonline.org/conferences/
    • Check acquisition for memb and conf – what drives traffic to these two pages, as in “what are people looking for?” Could it be accessible on the home page?
    • Why anthropology Matters needs at least one featured image and should continue to be featured one home page
    • “Why Anthro … “ popular not only because of external links but also because it is prominent on the desktop home page?
    • We need to ask EASA what other resources they want to feature like this.
      https://easaonline.org//publications/policy/why_en
    • Join EASA should be button on home page
    • Networks homepages with (photos / logos) easily clickable, recognisable on second click, also at the bottom of home page. Or all pages? Or just network pages?

    PROMINENCE VS POPULARITY – CASE STUDY

    A note about statements and letters: prominence vs popularity.
    Comparing these two:
    1. https://easaonline.org//publications/policy/why_en
    2. https://easaonline.org/outputs/support/ababrazil.shtml

    1. 360 hits in the last `18 days.
    2. 34 hits.

    Both have max prominence on the home page. Something to consider.

    Orgs like EASA and IUAES place a lot of importance on these political statements. I would suggest from looking at the stats, that placing the statements prominently on the home page may not have intended impact. How can these statements be disseminated in a more effective way? Direct posting in Social Media? Again,. What is the goal. Image? Impact? It would be useful for us to know more about the intention.

    NEWS PAGES – DO GET TRAFFIC on other sites?

    I recommend not to publish content on a page “News” Blog” “Insights” but only publish news on the home page. If a site is well structured, then all these news items will belong under one of the main categories / 1st level menu links and can be retrieved there when no longer news.

    Out of the similar websites we run: Sief, RAI, EASST, HDCA, CESS, only 2 have News pages:
    https://www.devstud.org.uk/news-insights/ less than 1% of traffic, no 21 in page ranking popularity
    https://hd-ca.org/news ca 35% of traffic, no 31 in page ranking.

    GOAL AND FOCUS

    What does EASA want to achieve with their website? Increased membership? More impact? Sell anthropology? Look modern and interesting? What content do they want to drive traffic to, and why?

    WHICH SEARCH TERMS and RESULTS BRINGS TRAFFIC?

    Most searches which bring users to the site are to do with the latest conference:
    EAS2022, Easa belfast, EASA conference etc EASA’s latest conference is first hit on search terms “EASA 2022” and “EASA Belfast”.

    RECOMMENDATION: Make latest conference with links to programme a direct link permanent link in menu and/or homepage above fold.

    Google searches which drive traffic

    (these stats are short term as I have just set them up):
    ugo fabietti
    anthropology of social media
    easa conference
    collaborative research anthropology
    anthropology and social media
    antart
    easa temple
    amce

     

     

  • Discussion on Navigation Labels

    Terms for navigation based on Google Analytics, predictability, brevity and specificity. Explaining why some terms are not useful or descriptive.

    “Publications”

    Using generic term Publications (denoting print publications, or at least publications with issn/isbn) as 1st level for second level SA/AS, Book series, Reports and Newsletter. Publications is descriptive and predictable, it is where users expect to find content such as Journal and Books.

    “EASA Conference”

    Given that conferences have such a huge and specific interest, “EASA Conference” should be separate in the menu. Events is a very different term and we think users are familiar with the distinction between the organisation’s Conferences and other Events – non-org, org network, org webinars.

    Even if it makes the label longer, giving the full label “EASA Conference” makes it very clear for users and SEO what is is about and shows the difference between this label and “Events”.

    “Letters and Statements”

    If EASA wants to highlight the material published by the Execs, we recommend:


    A. to have a section on the home page called “News from Execs” or similar, which will bring in posts from other categories that fall under publications, ie reports, policy, letters and editorial. In this way, the structure remains tidy but the content is pulled out and highlighted. It will also bring in news content about Execs, such as the election results.

    B. Have a menu item “Letters and Statements”

    C. Both.

    Rejected navigation labels

    • Social Anthropology / EASA book series

    This label is too long for the mobile screen, and would make the menu too wide on a desktop. We suggest to move this to under navigation label Publications, as seen above. When there is a new title book series or a new issue of the journal this can feature in the news widget on the home page, as well on Book series and Journal pages.

    • Executive

    We recommend against “Executive” as a menu term and also against this grouping of About content and output content. “Executive” does not describe what the section is about.  Newsletter editorials belong in the newsletter. Also, at the moment all the info about execs reside predictably under “About”, if we move it to a new place “Executive”. we are going against convention and therefore users will not find content where they expect to find it. It is not useful to contain both output content (editorials, statements, letters, policy) which users expect to find elsewhere and information about Execs, which users expect to find under “About”. We could have a section on the home page called “News from Execs” or similar, which will bring in posts from other categories that fall under publications, ie reports, policy, letters and editorial. In this way, the structure remains tidy but the content is pulled out and highlighted. It will also bring in news content about Execs, such as the election results.

    • Blog/News Feed

    Few website now use “Blog or News” in the nav menu – but rather feature news on the home page. This makes the home page appear dynamic, and drives traffic to the news items. NomadIT currently only maintain 2 website with News pages – stats show that these pages are ranked low in hits and get less than 1% of the traffic. So our recommendation is to not take up space in the menu with “News” and not hide content on a News page.

  • Events calendar

    How events can be displayed in calendar format, based on date or category, with photos of venue. Integrated wtih other calendars or Eventbrite.

    Events can be published using the Events calendar Plugin

    . The Free version does not have a short widget (to display events based on dates, category (ie network) or type (ie virtual).

    For example. network events  could benefit from being published and displayed by category, ie “AnthroMob Events” and then auto listed on the Network’s home page.

    Events calendar $99/year. Contains advanced widgets, additional views, custom fields (ie for Network events, EASA conferences, webinars) recurring events. 

    Events calendar integrations
    Eventsbrite  $89/year (auto-posting of events to website, sell tickets website. Some networks use Eventbrite (ie Precanthro)  – and for these we can integrate Events Calendar with Eventbrite,  and even sell tickets from the auto-posting of events.
    Virtual Events  $69/year Host meeting and events from Zoom, Webex, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings, stream from Facebook Live and YouTube, and display meeting links on your calendar.
    Events Tickets $89/ Sell Tickets and Manage Registration on WordPress. Allows for only showing live streams to people who have rsvp’s or paid – integration with Virtual Events.
    Event Aggregator : $89/ fill your calendar with events from Meetup, Eventbrite, iCal, Google Calendar, and more.

  • Sitemap Current Site

    This page contains a list of all the existing web pages on EASA site Each list item is linked to the page on the live site.

    In root folder

    About

Resources

Agm2017

Book series

DOIs

Journal

Publications

Membership

Obituaries

Conferences

Networks

  •  

Newsletter

  • Shows

    Shows

    It’s all about the voice. What it means to activate and enjoy your voice – freeing up patterns it can weave in script, speech or sound. How we transform, express and align ourselves with the greater story of Life.

    I’m fortunate to have a voice that helps provide food and shelter for my offspring, so whether it’s training, performance or therapy you’re after, that’s where the money goes.

    Aged 23, I was diagnosed with a large brain tumour – a young musician who’d moved to London. Singing, writing and performing helped me through my parents’ divorce in childhood, and my brain injury as an adult (see ‘Brains On Toast’ Theatre show and ‘The Brain Tumour Song’ ). I got into Audiobook narration just in time for lockdown, when it became tricky to do sound healing face to face.

    Wellbeing

     

    “The medicine of the future will be music and sound” – Edgar Cayce

    In a society beset by perceptions of lack and self-doubt we stand a better chance of happiness by creating it for ourselves. 

    Song Therapy is a way of using the universal language of music to bring balance to the whole person. Anthems to lift us up and inspire us, potent whether or not we wrote the songs ourselves; always on our internal radio even when the batteries die on our media players.

    Rewrite the script of a favourite tune with a message that resolves a traumatic issue and that message makes new pathways in the brain, changing our patterns of behaviour. 

    Tackling this in a session together is much like changing the words of a pop song to amuse your mates. Same skill, different application. Taking charge of our direction when life brings stormy weather, instead of being blown off course by it.

    SONG THERAPY

    It’s been said that songs are ‘Time Machines’. They have a way of transporting us to moments in our past; they can give us hope for the future.

    Site by Eli Bugler

  • Music

    Music

    Song Therapy

    It’s been said that songs are ‘Time Machines’. They have a way of transporting us to moments in our past; they can give us hope for the future.

    Song Therapy

    Healing through sound is the medicine of the future. Rewrite the script of a favourite tune with a message that resolves a traumatic issue and that message makes new pathways in the brain, changing our patterns of behaviour. Tackling this in a session together is much like changing the words of a pop song to amuse your mates. Same skill, different application; we’re taking charge of our direction in the face of life’s stormy weather instead of being blown off course by it.

    In a society beset by perceptions of lack and self-doubt we stand a better chance of happiness by creating it for ourselves. Song Therapy is a way of using the universal language of music to bring balance to the body, feelings, mindset and soul. Anthems to lift us up and inspire us, potent whether or not we wrote the songs ourselves; always on our internal radio even when the batteries die on our media players.

    Each session is tailored to the individuals’ tastes. See below for some examples:

    Existing songs

    Preparation:
    1 or more songs from the supplied lists (no extra charge); beginner or non-beginner.
    Up to 3 songs not on the lists @ £15/song (discount £40 for 3 songs)
    Suggestion: start with one song, build from there.

    Session:
    Example 1: Explore experiences around the song to access the therapeutic material/ problem area. Reflect together on the lyrics, the messages they reinforce – adjust them to fix the problem. Try it, check that it’s working.

    Example 2:
    Review:
    Notes, practice, development

    Writing a new song

    Preparation:
    If possible, suggest a subject for lyrics and/or the kind of sound world in which the song exists – e.g. lyrics could come from a conversation, quote, idea, image etc; sound world could be a style of music, a group of instruments or just a certain noise.

    Begin with material then improvise song/sound
    Type 3: Begin with sound, instrument or voice (or combine these)

    A painting of flowers. A photo of an elderly man. An old bicycle bell. Rustling leaves. Electrical hum. A puppy barking. A baby laughing. Voices in the wind. (breaking wind – ha!)
    A moment of trauma.
    A moment of beauty.

    Session:
    Build the song together. Improvisation, structure and tools. Thinking outside the box.
    Mood and intention. Attunement and crafting.

    “I was chatting with another Dad at a kids’ party, and he asked me what I did for a living. I said I was a musician and I work with Sound Therapy and get people to write songs. He said ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that, I’m not creative.’ I asked what he did; he told me he worked for an estate agents as a builder. His job was to go into a building, look at what needed fixing, plan the repairs and carry them out. I said that the process was basically similar to writing a song for healing trauma of whatever kind. You go in, look at the problem, find out what’s wrong and invent solutions – that’s a creative act, and it uses the same skills, like architecture, improvisation and a method suitable for the task. The parts of the brain that are being used are the same in much of the process, and you’re improving your methods all the time. He saw my point.”

    Therapeutic Song Writing

    We start by gently kicking around a few ideas – maybe a tune you whistled, a few words from somewhere, an object, a memory; whatever’s relevant to the issue. I support with music in a big or small way, so no previous experience required. All is confidential and respecting boundaries around trauma support.

    We aim for a point where the ‘therapy’ aspect is replaced by ‘just making music’. The whole idea of being ‘broken’ falls away from the frame, as it’s no longer relevant – the song reframes the experience of trauma. The person has enough access of their own creativity so that wellbeing is just something that goes hand in hand with the music-making. That’s a skill you can keep.

    This may happen really quickly or may take time.
    It might even happen in one session; or be glimpsed, and then that window gradually widened over a few sessions depending on the individual and the process our collaboration.