In higher education as elsewhere, Web professionals — webmasters, web managers, web editors, web developers, etc.– work behind the scene (or should I say the screen?)
We work on the most widely-used information/communication tool in our university or college, while “enjoying” relative anonymity rarely experienced in critical lines of work for our institutions.
All the higher ed web pros I’ve interviewed on this blog confirmed it: taking care of websites requires a complex mix of skills in different domains (design, info architecture, programming, writing, marketing and even diplomacy.)
On campus, we’re the ultimate crossover pros.
So, we have to be very skilled (without any PhD. in Web Studies that would vouch for it) and take care of a VIT (very important tool) while keeping a rather low-profile.
It’s not surprising that sometimes some of us may feel a bit under appreciated…
When this is the case, it always feels good to hear somebody else says what you already know deep down: you’re smart, you work hard and you are a bunch of amazing people.
In a white paper published in April 2005 and titled “Heroes of the Web,” Lance Merker, the President and CEO of WebsiteASP, Inc just did it as the subtitle of this 8-page document can let you guess:
“A white paper addressing the extraordinary efforts made by those individuals responsible for maintaining content on higher educational web sites, and the critical role these institutional sites play on the World Wide Web.”
In this white paper, the president of this CMS company puts his Google searches to good use and comes up with the following interesting fact:
“According to Google, there are about 200 million web pages representing approximately 5,000 higher educational web sites (.edu sites). That’s an astonishing 40,000 web pages, on average, per higher education site, or approximately 250 times more pages than the average site on the World Wide Web.
Higher education web sites make up less than .01% of all web sites, yet they account for over 2.5% of all web content.”
Then, he adds:
“College web sites, and those who manage them, are expected to offer an unprecedented volume and variety of information and services. Unlike even the largest transactional sites such as Amazon and eBay, college and university web sites are also expected to provide virtually every kind of communication method and transactional system the Web has to offer, and many that are completely unique to the higher education environment
[…]
The quantity of content and services provided by your institution’s web site, and the unparalleled importance of the role it plays, add up to an unprecedented responsibility to those who are tasked with its development, expansion, and maintenance. You, and your colleagues who are responsible for your institution’s web site, are indeed the heroes of the Web.”
Merker concludes this feel-good white paper with a sales pitch for CMS systems in general and his company solution, Omniupdate, in particular.
Very nice piece of marketing and great analysis of the situation in higher education.
Call me “modest” if you want, but isn’t the term “hero” applied to web pros a bit strong?
I guess flattery will probably lead you somewhere when you’re a vendor…
