I've got slightly different take on this because my institution is
1)private 2)80% overseas students 3) only had Web services for c.year
(i,e,Web site,intranet) 4)I've been here 6 mths 5)I'm of on my first
holiday next week!
1)Lack of Web-literacy amongst staff & senior management (i.e.there is a
difference between searching using Yahoo & altavista!)
2) Web development is quick & easy - the atitude that just by reading this
enough times in The Economist or the FT it must be true so why haven't we
done this already.
3)Management -- the recognition that you cannot achieve in 6 months what
others have taken several years to achieve and cannot begin to without
planning & implementing badsic Gudielines & Procedures. This requires close
analysis of internal organisational structure & needs.
4)Resources- recognising that it has has to be recsourced BEFORE demand
internally & externally for Web services increases exponentially once 3) is
in place. And yes this entails putting your money where your mouth is & not
expecting staff to work 12 hours a day 7 days a week to fit it in around
other duties. This is especially true if management want an 'interactive'
site.
5) Saying no regularly - everyone assumes it is all so easy but expect you
do do the hard bit for them (working out exactly what information they have
to convey that the Web would add value to). Why do you want do you want me
to spend my time making this information available on the Web? is the
killer question because it forces people to focus & define before you even
open up BBEdit!
6) porject plan project plan project plan - I get many 'top of the head'
ideas which can be done but I refer to my point number 6 & get them to
write a project plan & go through departmental procedures before I spend 1
minute of my time on it. This is the only way to stay sane.
7) Realism - getting management to realise that Web effect is incremental
but siginficant in long term if resources are applied & realism maaintained.
8) Education - educating markting about the Web basics. When they don't
know the difference between a search engine & a search directory so they
soon realise they have a lot to learn! And also when you explain that those
great looking interactive commercial Web sites have been worked on by
specialist agency with dedicated teams for anything up to a year then they
realise just what they are asking you.
These are my pennies.
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Steven Bonner
Internet Analyst
Regent's College
Inner Circle
Regent's Park
London NW1 4NS
Tel +44 171 487 7589 Fax +44 171 487 7667
http://www.regents.ac.uk
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Regent's College is home to:
European Business School, London * Regent's Business School, London *
British American College, LondonN * Webster Graduate Studies Centre *
Henley Management Centre, London * School of Psychotherapy and Counselling
*Regent's International Study Centre * Conference centre
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