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New Web site for akbirthcenter.org

akbirthcenter.org is in need of a redesign. The information conveyed is scattered, unorganized, and difficult to navigate. This concept would propose an outline of the same data restructured to make it more accessible to the user, emphasizing those areas that are most popular.

…choose one of your proposed project concepts from week 1, and write a three to four paragraph description of the project. Please answer these questions:

• What is your goal for this interactive project?
• Why would users want to use this interactive project or product?
• Define the user and explain his/her goals

The Alaska Family Health & Birth Center “offers a safe alternative to families seeking maternity care in Interior Alaska.” This nonprofit organization is comprised of 4 full-time midwives and several regular staff members, and assists expecting mothers during pregnancy and labor. Because profit is not an objective, the clinic asks patients to pay only what they can afford for the care they receive.

My goal for this project is to make the information, services, products, expertise, and assistance offered through the clinic readily and easily available for current and potential patients:

• stories of previous births at the clinic, hopefully written by the parents or family members;
• photo gallery of satisfied, happy patients and their little ones, possibly somehow integrated with the birth stories;
• links to other quality online informational resources;
• frequently asked questions and their responses;
• a contact form for visitors to ask questions of the staff members and midwives;
• informational handouts such as recommended diet plans and posture diagrams;
• pages listing products offered at the clinic (this will not be an online store);
• informative pages on the dietary supplements offered at the clinic and their uses.

If enough interest is voiced and traffic is high enough, the site may at some future point offer an online forum where patients and staff members can discuss concerns where others may benefit from them.

The average user of this site will be either a pregnant woman or a woman hoping to get pregnant. Occasionally, the user will be a concerned family member, perhaps a spouse, or in some cases a close friend or the woman’s doula. Most will be interested in natural childbirth, particularly waterbirth, which the clinic offers.

The user will not necessarily be physically located in Fairbanks, Alaska, or even the United States, and hence will not necessarily be planning to visit the clinic. These users will be on the site mostly for information and perhaps for counsel.

There are two groups of users for the site: those who plan to be seen at the clinic and those who are solely seeking information. The site will need to cater to both groups and address both groups’ needs.