This is a topic I have been thinking about quite a bit lately.  Even though we now are over 20 years in, many higher ed institutions still don’t quite get the importance of the web.  College websites have become ubiquitous, and while there has been marginal improvement over the last decade, most .edu websites are still mediocre at best. Unfortunately, too many campuses take their websites for granted. There is great risk in not providing the proper time, attention, resources, and management.  As the web continues to grow in importance, this will become an even bigger issue. As more services and instruction move online, the web will become the digital manifestation of your institution.

During the course of my consulting work, I speak with many senior administrators who really don’t know why the web matters.  These are all very smart, very talented, well-meaning people.  So here’s the scene.  You have the opportunity to sit down with the president of your campus to talk about the web. What would you say to convince them that the web matters? What reasoning would you use to demonstrate the web is now mission critical in higher education and requires the appropriate resources?

For those of you not familiar with this conference, HighEdWeb is the annual conference for all higher education Web professionals—from programmers to marketers to designers to all team members in-between—who want to explore the unique Web issues facing colleges and universities.  Over 650 people attended the 2012 conference in Milwaukee and I expect the 2013 conference will be bigger and better than ever.

I have spoken with many of you over the past few months who expressed interested in helping out at the conference either as a committee member or as a volunteer.  If I have not been in touch with you in the past month and you are still interested in helping out, please let me know.

The call for presentations and registration will both open this spring and will be posted on the  conference website.

See you in Buffalo.

Stay highedweb my friends.

As I’ve talked with my colleagues across the globe about these challenge the following themes emerge:

• Articulating the need for sufficient resources
• Dealing with university politics
• Enabling collaboration between IT and Marketing
• Prioritizing projects when you can’t do them all (learning to say no)
• Getting optimal performance out of staff who are not direct reports
• Dealing with faculty who think they know everything
• Retaining talent
• Creating a unified web presence in a decentralized, silo-ed university setting
• Dealing with HIPPOS (Highest Paid Persons Opinion)
• Enforcing web policies and web standards.

So let’s open up this discussion. What’s missing from this list? What do you see as the main challenges for higher ed web professionals?

I am excited about the inaugural HighEdWed Leadership Academy that will run in conjunction with the 2012 HighEdWeb Annual Conference in Milwaukee, WI in October. The goal of this Academy is to develop Web leaders within higher education with an intensive program that offers interactive learning experiences in a small group setting. What differentiates this Leadership Academy from other organizations with leadership programs is a specific focus on the job of a Web director/manager that touches all facets of the job.  This Academy will offer a holistic view of what goes into being a college Web leader. Participants in this academy will learn:

• What is leadership, the importance of leadership for Web professionals, and how to develop leadership skills.
• How to communicate effectively with campus administrators and stakeholders.
• How to articulate the value of the Web to obtain the appropriate staff and resources.
• An understanding of higher education organization and administration, and the implications for the Web.
• Resource management, project prioritization, and budget.
• How to manage people, including the ideal composition of a Web team, hiring practices, evaluating performance, conflict resolution and mediation.
• How to implement a Web governance structure including a Web governance framework, a comprehensive Web strategy, development of policies and standards, and development of an effective evaluation process.

Registration for the leadership academy is now open.  For more information about the Leadership Academy including a link to register, please visit leadership.highedweb.org.  Be advised that there are only 24 seats available and registration is brisk.  My advice is don’t wait if you are interested in this program. If you have any questions e-mail them to leadership@highedweb.org or contact me directly.  The hashtag for the Leadership Academy and highedweb leadership issues in general is #heweblead.

On a related note, next week I will be traveling to Philadelphia for my 4th J. Boye Conference. As long-time readers know, this is one of my favorite conferences of the year.  It combines the best of large conferences (top-notch speakers and experts) with the best of small conferences (networking and personal interaction). There is a great Higher Education Track and a number of excellent higher ed presenters including Paul Dempsey, Michael Fienen, Bob Johnson, Karine Joly, Deborah Maue, Brian Niles, and Dave Olsen.

I will be giving two talks, one of  which is  the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Leaders”.  In this presentation I will use the theories developed by Stephen Covey in his numerous books as a framework to understand the role leadership plays in developing web strategy, managing web operations, and aligning the web into the fabric of the organization. I’m looking forward to a lively discussion about the role leadership plays in determining the success of the web team.  I hope to see you there.

I will be unveiling a completely revised talk on web governance in higher education. Over the past few months I have been researching organization and governance in higher education and its impact on web governance and management. I love the concept of college campuses being “organized anarchies”.  In addition to exploring why web governance is needed and providing practical tips on getting started, I’ll be sharing my thought on how campus culture, campus decision making methodologies, organizational structures and governance structures all influence web governance.

I will also be participating on a panel discussion on Social Media and Mobile with @NathanGerber, @kylejames and @lightjump, moderated by @j_rex.  This will be taking place on Tuesday, March 6 at 11:15 am (Pacific Time). We welcome people to participate virtually in the discussion. We are using the live question tool from Harvard to add and vote on discussion topics. Please visit http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/questions/SocialMediaPanel before and during the event to help shape our agenda.

The hashtag for the conference is #omniupdate12. If you are attending make sure you stop by and say hello.  And yes, the musical reference in this post is to the Zeppelin classic.

Most colleges and universities struggle with how to manage their websites.  Resources are scarce, priorities are often based on who yells the loudest, authority is not clearly defined, policies and standards are not enforced, and web strategy is vague at best and non-existent at worse. It’s time the web is taken seriously on college campuses and given it the appropriate resources and structure.  I believe the way to achieve this is through web governance.

The Wikipedia definition of web governance is “an organization’s structure of staff (each with well-defined roles, responsibilities, and authorities); technical systems; and the policies, procedures, and relationships such staff have in place to maintain and manage a website”.  My simpler definition is “deciding who gets to decide.”

I hope you can join me for a lively chat.  Some of the ideas I’d like to explore include:

• Where the web team should report (hint: it’s not IT or Marketing)
• Why interdisciplinary web teams must replace the “web master”
• The difference between policies, standards and guidelines; and why we need all three
• The true role of the central web team on a large campus
• How true web governance can eliminate campus politics
• Why web governance is not the same as IT governance
• Why implementing a CMS without web governance is building a bridge to nowhere
• Why higher ed does web committees all wrong
• When consensus decision is a good idea and more importantly, when it is a very bad idea
• Identifying risks associated with a sub-par website
• How to eliminate HIPPOS (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion)
• Why web governance is not about control but about enabling success
• The key skill needed to create a great website

<rant> If I see one more QR code that goes to a site built in Flash I’m going to lose it. </rant>

QR codes are not rocket science. In fact, they are quite simple. They exist to make it easier for people using a mobile device to enter a URL. That’s it. No need to over think this. It is about the user experience.  If  taking your phone out, opening a QR reader app, taking a picture, then waiting for a web page to open takes longer than just typing in the URL, the QR code is not providing value.  And if the QR code goes to a site that is not optimized for a mobile device, you are doing it all wrong.

The following video from Scott Stratten (@unmarketing) is the best rant I’ve seen about QR codes gone wrong. Please share this with anyone who doesn’t understand the simple truth about QR codes.

EDUCAUSE West/Southwest Online Regional Conference
February 22-24, 2012

• The Truth Is Out There: Social Media for Teaching and Learning

I’ll be joining @hollyrae, @reyjunco, @burkso2, and @desertjul for this online panel discussion on how social media has moved from “fringe science” territory into mainstream pedagogical practice.

OmniUpdate Users Conference
March 4-8, 2012; Universal City, CA

• Bringing Web Governance to Higher Education
• Social Media and Mobile Panel Discussion

This will be my fourth consecutive trip to Southern California to speak at this great event.  This year I will be unveiling a completely new talk on web governance in higher education, and participating on a panel discussion on social media and mobile.

CUPRAP Spring Professional Development Conference
March 14-16, 2012; Hershey, PA

• Engaging the Millennial’s: Social Media in Higher Education

I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the  intersection of the millennial generation and technology on college campuses, along with examining the the convergence of social media, web content and mobile devices.

#140cuse
April 19, 2012; Syracuse, NY

I am really looking forward to this one.  I’ll be pulling out all the stops as I bring my message of higher education being flattened to this unique event.

J. Boye Philadelphia 12
May 8-10, 2012; Philadelphia, PA

• How a Social Intranet Can Save Higher Education
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Web Leaders

I’m very interested in how social technologies can be used to improve internal communications on college campuses and I will be debuting a new talk on social intranets based on my article for CMSWire last summer. I will also be talking about leadership, the single most important skill that we need to move the web forward.

UBTech Conference
June 11-13, 2012; Las Vegas, NV

• Managing the Unmanageable: Digital Governance in Higher Education

I’m looking forward to the reaction when I share my thoughts on where the web should report!

I encourage you to attend these great events. Make sure you stop by and say hello. As much as I like social technologies, nothing replaces meeting people in real life.

P.S. – the musical reference in the title of this post is not Willie Nelson. It is to Canned Heat, one of my favorite bands from my youth.

For all my friends in higher education, have you thought through the implications of SOPA?  I can easily see a scenario where a college website gets taken down under SOPA. Academic freedom is a basic tenet that allows our educational system to prosper and SOPA is a direct threat to this freedom.

I would like to congratulate the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University for going dark tomorrow.  I’m hoping others will follow suit.