ERIC Number: EJ801086
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1065-0741
EISSN: N/A
A Survey of UK University Web Management: Staffing, Systems and Issues
Cox, Andrew; Emmott, Stephen
Campus-Wide Information Systems, v24 n5 p308-330 2007
Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to summarize the findings of a survey of UK universities about how their websites are managed and resourced, which technologies are in use, and what are seen as the main issues and priorities. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a web-based questionnaire distributed in summer 2006, which received 104 usable responses from 87 institutions. Findings: The survey showed that some web teams were based in IT and some in external relations, yet in both cases the site typically served internal and external audiences. The role of web manager is partly management of resources, time and people, partly about marketing and liaison and partly also concerned with more technical aspects including interface design and HTML. But it is a diverse role with a wide spread of responsibilities. On the whole web teams were relatively small. Three-quarters of responding institutions had a CMS, but specific systems in use were diverse. Sixty per cent had a portal. There was evidence of increasing use of blogs and wikis. The key driver for the website is student recruitment, with institutional reputation and information to stakeholders also being important. The biggest perceived weaknesses were maintaining consistency with devolved content creation and currency of content; lack of resourcing a key threat while comprehensiveness was a key strength. Current and wished-for projects pointed again to the diversity of the sector. Research limitations/implications: The lack of comparative data and difficulties of interpreting responses to closed questions where respondents could have quite different status (partly reflecting divergent patterns of governance of the web across the sector) create issues with the reliability of the research. Practical implications: Data about resourcing of web management, technology in use, etc. at comparable institutions is invaluable for practitioners in their efforts to gain resources in their own context. Originality/value: The paper adds more systematic, current data to our limited knowledge about how university websites are managed. (Contains 14 tables, 4 figures and 3 notes.)
Descriptors: Web Sites, Electronic Publishing, Internet, Use Studies, Technology Uses in Education, Educational Technology, Information Technology, Operations Research, Questionnaires, Foreign Countries, School Surveys, Institutional Research, Information Management, Information Policy
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A