Technology Services

The first place I can remember running into keywords used as an online navigational shortcut tool was with America Online (AOL). I probably ran into them in other places before AOL but that is the best my memory can come up with so AOL it is. Yes, I know, AOL. Not a very geeky place to be but it had its uses when I was a member of the service. AOL keywords provide shortcuts for the user to get where they want as quickly as possible. Enter a keyword into a text box, push a button, and you are whisked away to a new location within the service without having to enter in a long string of text or use multiple layers of menus. Two years ago VCUTS staff decided we needed such a tool for the VCU web as our website continues to grow. Currently, we estimate that there are over 1 million pages hosted on the www.vcu.edu domain. That is a lot of pages that can get in the way when you are looking for something such as the history of MCV (go.vcu.edu/mcvhistory) or the official holiday schedule for the University (go.vcu.edu/holidays).

VCU Technology Services (VCUTS) established the go.vcu.edu Keyword service for the campus with the goal of developing a fast and consistent way for someone to get to the VCU online location, service, or tool they need. VCUTS uses the service to point to knowledge base articles on our site as well as common services such as email, eID, or App2Go . Using App2Go as an example, go.vcu.edu/app2go is a bit easier to remember than ts.vcu.edu/kb/2643.html. No matter what the keyword is, the Web address always starts with “go.vcu.edu/” with the keyword tagged to the end of the address after the forward slash. Beyond being a speedy navigation tool, the go.vcu.edu system has the added benefit in that if the actual web address that they keyword points to changes at a later date, the published keyword is still valid as long as the keyword is updated with the new web address. It is easier to change one location with a new web address than many publications over multiple media.

Any faculty, student or staff with an eID can log into the go.vcu.edu Keyword (http://go.vcu.edu) service with their eID and password to register a keyword. A list of keywords that are currently available can be viewed on this page as well. Once a keyword is registered it can be updated by logging back into the system to edit a keyword or you can request additional keywords. To learn more about the go.vcu.edu Keyword service visit the VCUTS Knowledge Base article at go.vcu.edu/keyword.