[thelist] what IS a webmaster?? THANKS!

[Anthony Ettinger]

In the old days the webmaster was the person responsible for the corporate
web page.

It's evolved into web development team with web developers.

It's still standard practice to have a working webmaster at foo.com email
address forwarding somewhere (ussually this email gets displayed when errors
are encountered on the site - see apache configureation).




On 11/28/05, bill <bill at first-encounter-design.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks Marc (and Chris, Ron and Ian) for your thoughtful responses to my
> question.
>
> It seems like the general feeling is that 'webmaster' is a, according to
> Ian
> at least (and I agree), a dated term for a website manager. And also a
> term
> used by people -- in my case the Board of Directors who  --  not
> understanding the technology, jobs and skills involved -- lump together
> everything it takes to keep the website up, running, looking good and
> current, under the term 'webmaster'.
>
> As you stated below, Marc, the nonprofit I work for is a small, sorely
> underfunded group that naturally wants to get the best virtual face it can
> to get its message across without expending resources it doesn't have.
> We're
> at a place now, though, where we need to start thinking about renumeration
> in some form -- preferably cash :-) -- in order to stay up and running.
> Also, as a volunteer, it's helpful for me to define for the Board what the
> distinct elements are that go into planning, building and maintaining a
> site. That would allow me to do more of the part of the job I especially
> like more effectively and provide a framework for them (and me) to either
> find other volunteers to fill certain roles or have specific roles defined
> if we need to contract out or hire someone in the future.
>
> It seems the most flexibility in describing to the Board what it is I do
> would come from defining my role, as was suggested by just about everyone
> who responded, as a managerial position responsible for overall planning,
> developing standards and practices and  overseeing the tasks involved in
> our
> staying up and functioning. In effect, that's what I've been doing, except
> that as the manager I've been supervising myself in several roles -- not
> always a great setup for anyone involved!
>
> So, again, thanks to all who've responded. I'm off to do some job
> description writing, now.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org
> [mailto:thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org] On Behalf Of M. Seyon
> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 10:59 PM
> To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
> Subject: Re: [thelist] what IS a webmaster??
>
> Hi Bill,
>
> It is an interesting question, and certainly one that is likely to
> generate
> a variety of responses.
>
> I'll start by saying that, in an industry that is really much less than 20
> years old, it's expected that there not be a definitive job description
> for
> a "webmaster". I suspect, though, that originally the term referred more
> to
> the person responsible for maintaining the hardware/software of the web
> server itself.
>
> [snip ... snip]
>
> As the industry expanded so did the job description, so now you do have
> webmasters who are jacks of all trades.
>
> In my personal experience, and opinion, you're more likely to find these
> do-it-all types in non-profit or small freelance markets where there may
> not necesarily be enough work to justify having more than one full-time
> staff member (or even regularly paid consultant) on the payroll.
>
> [snip ... snip]
>
> I think the main idea you should communicate to your board is that the
> "webmaster" should be a managerial level position with a budget and with
> the authority and ability to make decisions, and to liaise with other
> managers.
>
> The position should be more of an analytical/planning role than a
> webmonkey/mouse jockey role. If your webmaster is too consumed with
> routine, trivial tasks like troubleshooting staff email problems, then
> then
> whose steering the website to make sure it's meeting company goals?
>
> The webmaster should have at least a conceptual idea of all that goes on
> in
> his domain, and should even have some level of competence in the major
> areas. But in the same way that the Director of HR wouldn't roll up his
> sleeves and scrub the toilets if the janitor staff goes on strike, the
> webmaster should not be expected to personally handle every single task
> related to the company's website.
>
> [snip ... snip]
>
> regards.
> -marc
> --
>
>
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>
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--
Anthony Ettinger
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