HDS - Women’s Studies in Religion Program Case Study

Snapshot

The Women's Studies in Religion Program (WSRP) website serves as a vital platform for exploring the intricate relationship between religious traditions and the roles of women. Founded with a mission to delve into the fundamental role of religions in shaping gender roles, the WSRP website hosts research that explores the evolving roles of women within religious communities and broader societal contexts. By critically examining cultural beliefs surrounding leadership, authority, and values, the website offers valuable resources aimed at challenging and reshaping these norms. 

• Org: Harvard Divinity School
• Division: Women’s Studies in Religion Program
• Highlighted features: People and news content types, and corresponding taxonomy embedded events calendar.

The problem/goal

• Taken from their About page: “The Program's goal is the production of new primary research addressing these issues and the dispersal of that information through courses, publications, and public programs.” 
• The website faced recurrent breakdowns in maintaining the custom styling aligned with HDS branding standards. This was further exacerbated by infrequent updates to the OpenScholar platform, resulting in potential disruptions to the website's integrity and user experience.

The solution

• Taxonomy was used to organize current and past research associates.
• Took advantage of new design options at the news article level to enhance the news section’s overall look and feel.
• With the assistance of Harvard Web Publishing, an HDS-specific theme variation of the HarvardSites design system was implemented. This variation employs various component types and configuration options to provide flexible layouts on home and landing pages.
• Consistent, unified, stable HDS-branded design.
• Continuous enhancements to the platform. 
• A process for feedback and continuous improvements.

Conclusion

The migration of the Women's Studies in Religion Program (WSRP) website to HarvardSites has effectively addressed key challenges while enhancing its role as a vital resource within the Harvard Divinity School community. With its mission to explore the intersection of religious traditions and gender roles, the website now offers a seamless and enriching experience for users. By organizing research associates through taxonomy, implementing new design options for news articles, and adopting an HDS-specific theme variation, the website now has a consistent, unified, and stable HDS-branded design. Furthermore, continuous enhancements to the platform and a structured feedback process ensure ongoing improvements and user satisfaction. Through these efforts, the WSRP website continues to fulfill its goal of producing primary research and disseminating valuable information through courses, publications, and public programs, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of gender dynamics within religious contexts.