 |
 |
As I said in my comment on Brian's post, there are three threads to the article which are separate but related and which are worthy of consideration, not because of the article but because they are worthy of consideration. 1 The cost/benefits of using external consultants for website redesign. 2 the day-to-day costs of running university websites 3 the usability of/satisfaction with university websites The article makes a complete mess of 2, which unfortunately calls into question the figures it cites for 1. The studies it cites under 3 are interesting but I don't know them well enough to know if the findings are valid in terms of the headline (student dissatisfaction) - are there counter studies which the reporter could have used for example? I agree with Sebastian that the satisfaction issue is not something that can be ignored - and I presume that in general it isn't? Ditto the other two threads... it's just unfortunate that in this case the article's findings under 2 in particular taints what might otherwise have been a reasonably balanced story. And on the spending public money thing... don't worry, that's a consideration which is fast diminishing :-( Andy -- Andy Powell Research Programme Director Eduserv t: 01225 474319 m: 07989 476710 twitter: @andypowe11 blog: efoundations.typepad.com www.eduserv.org.uk -----Original Message----- From: Managing institutional Web services [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sebastian Rahtz Sent: 17 November 2010 10:43 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: University website expenditure On 17 Nov 2010, at 10:31, Christopher Saward wrote: > I'm bemused by some of the rather defensive responses to the Telegraph's > report. Looking at the other work of Conrad Quilty-Harper, he does seem to be broadly on the right side. I tend to agree that it was a legitimate investigation, just not very well thought through at all. The underlying story that students are not always brilliantly well-served by university web sites is certainly not something one can ignore. -- Sebastian Rahtz Information and Support Group Manager Oxford University Computing Services 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN. Phone +44 1865 283431 Sólo le pido a Dios que el futuro no me sea indiferente