Case studies
- After looking at 800+ school websites
4-30-01 What did I find?
|
Introduction
As a parent-volunteer assistant webmaster for a high
school I've put myself in the line of fire. I've joined the large
community of overworked, unappreciated, and very isolated school
webmasters. So, on April 3, 2001 we started a forum for school
webmasters: Grady
High School's Webmasters' Forum.
Creating a forum is easy, locating school webmasters and
getting the party started is another thing entirely. This is the
story of what I am finding in my search.
As of 5-14-01 I'm up to 1000 school websites.
top
My criteria for inviting a webmaster:
1. I have to be able to find the school site using google.com,
or from a variety of school meta sites.
2. I have to find the webmaster's email address or a form for
communicating with the webmaster.
3. Websites have to show some current updates.
4. Or, they have to look like they are trying.
Results after looking at 1000 school URL's: I 've found
only 395 sites that were actually working.
top
What attracts my attention:
Upon finding a site, I developed a routine to check it's
pulse.
1. Does is have graphic or flash bloat? How long
does it take to load?
2. How easy is it to find the webmaster?
3. Does it present information from the user's viewpoint
or from the bureaucracy's viewpoint?
4. Does it have a section for current news or
announcements?
5. Does the calendar have more than just school holidays?
6. Is the sports schedule current. Are the scores
current? This is less about sports but about the ability to
update on an everyday basis.
7. How many screens must I click through to see the
baseball (or basketball, whatever) schedule?
8. Are there pictures of teachers?
9. Is there a search?
10. Can I sign up for email bulletins?
11. Can users contribute content?
top
School web policies are often major barriers:
1. School policies usually prohibit using names and
pictures of students or staff. If allowed at all, you may have to
get a signed release for each occurrence and file it with school
system administrators. Of course, the first thing a parent will
ask is, "Why don't you have pictures?"
2. Policies often require a strict content approval
process. Up to three people may have to approve a
page. This negates the one of the web's advantages -
instant updates.
3. School sites hosted on school system servers have the
greatest bureaucratic burden. Quite a few schools use commercial hosting even
if internal hosting is available.
4. Some schools, either through enlightened school
policies or by following the spirit rather than the letter of the
rules, have developed some common sense procedures. In these
cases a teacher or staff member of the school itself is ultimately
responsible for all web content. The school depends on the
webmaster to act in good faith.
5. Policies that address internet "have-nots"
often prevent using efficient web-centric processes. Documents
are created on paper for manual distribution. Publishing them on
the web is an afterthought that generates more work. One
school system's have-not policy: The only thing you can publish
on the internet are things about the internet.
top
Webmaster expertise covers the spectrum:
1. Private school websites are often professionally designed and
maintained. They
often include email and password protected areas for school personnel.
2. Larger schools often have adequate technical
staffs. The folks who maintain the LAN, the phones, the
workstations, and teach the technical classes often maintain the
website. They sometimes operate web servers, communications
links, server software and mail administration. They may be able
to program.
3. A number of web-class teachers engage their students
to support the school website. These are often class
assignments. 4. The vast majority of webmasters are enthusiastic and
very busy teachers. Their technical expertise may limited
and require some sort of canned publishing process so they can deal
with the content instead of the technology. If the webmaster is
technical, the website may present problems with succession:
Can the site be maintained if the webmaster leaves? (see Burnout,
transience, succession, and the enthusiasm gap)
5. The typical teacher webmaster is probably at the
limit of manageability. It is usually a one-person-show.
6. Many school sites are dead. Because only about 1/3 of school websites remain
active, I must assume that many were created in a burst of enthusiasm
only to wither from the burden of publishing demands. If the web
enthusiast leaves the school, has to work on his masters thesis, or
gets a new teaching assignment, the website shuts down. Turnover
of students, staff, and parents stops the momentum. (see Burnout,
transience, succession, and the enthusiasm gap)
top
What
drives me crazy: 1. School meta sites are
lists of school websites. They can be wonderful but most seem to
have run out of gas. They are too many of them. They don't
include all of the schools. Many of the links are broken. I
wish they would just check for dead links once in a while. There
are so many meta sites that it would be impossible for a school to know
about them much less get listed on all of them. 2. Can't
find the school webmaster's email. There are some great sites
that don't publish how to contact the webmaster. 3.
Schools that don't respond to email. Of course, I want folks
to participate the forum but I don't expect everyone to join. I do
expect a website to respond to the forum invitation even if the response
is, "Drop dead, Terry, but thanks for the invitation."
What I suspect is that nobody checks the email, or at the other extreme,
the webmaster gets too much email. Schools may
not appreciate the value of responsiveness to their online
community. More likely, the school hasn't developed a process to
manage the email burden. 4. PDF files
I've got to admit that there is a place for PDF files. I must also
admit that I haven't found that place yet. Okay, if someone gives
you a PDF file to publish, do it. Then ask them not to do it again. Seriously,
what I hate most about PDF is not the extra time it takes to load.
It's the fact that you have to change your user interface:
You search differently, you copy differently, you scroll differently, you
don't have hyperlinks (maybe you do but I've never seen one in a PDF
document). And what is the deal the hand - try using the hand to
go to the next page. 5. Frames can be OK I guess but
I've never seen a page that wouldn't be just as good without frames.
Do you find frames on Amazon, or Yahoo, or the New York Times? No. The
worst thing about frames is that they keep your users from bookmarking
their favorite pages. It's rude. It's done for the
convenience of the publisher but turns out to be an inconvenience to the
users community.
6. Graphic menu buttons. Some are really cute
and actually help navigation. Cute or not, they take time to
load. I'll take speed over cute any day.
7. Graphic bloat I really like nice
graphics. I want students to use the web to show their stuff.
But, as a user, I want to choose to see the graphics. I don't want
to wait for a minute or more just to see the home page. Please just
use a few graphics per page, set the width and height so that your text
will load while waiting on the graphics to load. Use the Alt command
so we'll know what is coming.
Then, use a page as a gateway to student graphics so we
can find and view them when we want to.
8. Gateway pages. I've seen one or two
gateway pages I liked and none on a school site. They provide a
showcase for student graphics (see 7 above) but they make we wait. I
want to go to your site. I want to see what is there. Don't
make we wait. Don't make your own on-line community wait.
top
Organizing a web team
The school webmaster is often the whole team. Web
publishing is one of the few fields where one person can make a
difference. It's an efficient management model but it doesn't scale
and may not last through the summer recess. (See Barriers
below)
So, what kind of expertise do we need and what jobs must
we do? (Thanks to Philip Greenspun)
Technical talent:
- at least one person who understands the technical part of publishing
- at least one person who has a great feel for the end-user and the
overall site experience
- at least one person who is organized and likes to communicate with
the school community
Design and implementation jobs:
- develop a data model (What do you want to publish? What
do users want?)
- specify the legal transactions (What can users do?)
- structure the site into directories of URLs that call each
other (How will your users use the page and how will you make
sure that they can?)
- implement those individual URLs (Produce the basic site.)
Content jobs:
- authors
- editors
- publishers
- information designers
- graphic designers
- programmers (maybe)
Administration jobs:
- scheduling content and managing version control
- managing workflow
- preparing a budget, getting the funds, and paying the bills
- marketing the site (you want folks to know about how cool your site
is)
- responding to emails and other queries (customer support)
Of course school webmasters often do all of these jobs except for
perhaps some of the authoring. Somebody else produces the school
calendar, dress code manual, and PTA minutes. The webmaster usually
has to edit or retype the information into a web page.
To all of you school webmasters, I salute you. Take this to your
boss ask for a raise.
top
There is a model for your web team
This is an intimidating amount of work. You have to
wonder how in the world a school webmaster can manage all of this.
Yet, there is a long tradition of getting work like this
accomplished in schools: your school's student newspaper.
In Organizing a web team just substitute "print
publishing" for "web publishing" and you will probably find
a well established publishing team right under your nose.
Working on a school newspaper, particularly at a high
school, confers prestige on both students and advisors. It looks
great on student resumes. There are lots of local and national
awards. Advisors usually get paid to do it.
Many school websites publish their school newspapers
online and I think that is great. From where I sit though, the
newspaper is just another page on the site.
Can web publishing and print publishing co-exist or even
thrive together at your school? We know that the web hasn't
destroyed print but we also know that nearly every significant newspaper
and magazine has a web presence from the "Wall Street Journal"
to "Mother Jones." We also know that there are many more
new web magazines than there are print print magazines.
Can web publishing achieve the prestige of print
publishing? It can if we do it right. In fact it should carry
bit of extra prestige: Managing shorter deadlines, publishing instantly
rather than through a print cycle, becoming familiar with web technology,
providing a new community service. It impresses me.
Can web publishing and print publishing join forces at
your school? Start lobbying now. Emphasize the literature a
little more and the technology a little less.
top
Barriers to
keeping-it-going: one-man-show, transience, succession, burnout, techno phobia,
web have-nots. and the enthusiasm gap
This poses the questions but not the answers: How do
you keep the school's website thriving in a transient community? You
may be interested in my barrier
chart. The enthusiasm gap As a web surfer
especially as a web publisher, I have the web curse: I am so excited
about the web that I turn people off. Friends, students,
teachers, parents, school administrators, and even my family
just don't get it. I've moderated a little now, but I'm sure some
folks get a sense of dread when the see that web-net (me) coming. I
blame myself. The ultimate turn-off for me is web education
hype: It's the way of the future. The web will change
education forever. Everything you need to know is on the web.
Folks can do all their learning from home. Teachers will have do
their teaching on the web. Teachers will have to learn how to
publish on the web. If you don't get on the web you will be left
behind. I hope I've never said these thing in public. Techno phobia
This covers a lot of ground. Here are a few highlights:
-
Folks are busy today and just don't have time to delve
into something new.
-
Web-shy folks are afraid that the internet or even
email will take over their lives. They are deathly afraid they
will become like me.
-
Some folks fear computers and don't think they can
learn how to surf, or do email. They are too embarrassed to ask.
-
Folks believe that you have to be a computer expert to
use the web and a major nerd to actually publish to the web.
-
For many folks dot.com shakeout confirmed their belief
that the web is a failure.
-
Even folks who surf may not have found a site that
actually makes a difference in their life.
Web have-nots Have-nots will always haunt the
school web community. If some folks in the community aren't on the
web, you can't make vital information web-only. It's a real show
stopper. Why bother to have a school website if there are community
members who can't see it? The have-nots will affect your budget, the
support you get from teachers, the school administration, and
parents. News reports that 60% of households are connected to the
internet are no comfort. Web-centric processes are
important to efficiency. For example, A teacher prepares the
school calendar in word, prints it, copies it, and puts 30 calendars in
each teachers inbox. The webmaster retypes or scans the
calendar in publishes it to the web. No have-not problem here but we
duplicate work here. In a web-centric process, the teacher
creates the calendar on the web, prints it, copies it, and puts 30
calendars in each teachers inbox. No have-not problem here but
we gained some efficiency. One-person-show As
mentioned in Organizing a web team one person can do
it all. Once a website becomes popular, a webmaster will often
dedicate all of his/her free time (for free) to the site.
Unfortunately, that is often not enough. This of course leads to: Burnout
Enough said. Transience and Succession Schools are among the most transient
communities. Students, parents, teachers, administrators come and
go. I've seen many great school websites that have died. It is
a major risk to every nonprofit site. Whatever the faults
of bureaucracy it keeps organizations afloat as the make up of the
organization changes. So, the school website must become
institutionalized. It must have a value, a life, beyond any
individual. School newspapers endure constant turnover of students
and advisors. top
(to
be continued)
|