Web group offers aid, guidelines to Bruins

Web group offers aid, guidelines to Bruins

Students with Internet homepages receive seminars, classes and
networking support

By Jean May Chen

Daily Bruin Contributor

UCLA’s Web Publisher’s Group is offering guidance and a helping
hand to operators of World Wide Web sites on campus.

Co-chaired by Office of Academic Computing Senior Technical
Analysts Kelly Stack and Kent Wada, the groups holds meetings,
seminars and classes on Web-related issues.

The World Wide Web has recently become a very popular service of
the Internet. Web "sites," which are divided into "pages," combine
graphics and text with hypertext links. These links allow users to
access related information simply by clicking on a highlighted
word.

In order to calm the chaos of this easily accessible medium, the
group has published a set of guidelines which Stack and Wada hope
will be of benefit to people who maintain Web sites on campus.

"Kent and I can’t make everyone put the UCLA logo on their page
and we don’t want to," Stack explained. "We hope to be more the
’embodiment of wisdom’ on campus."

Toward such an end, the guidelines make suggestions on Web
"style" such as which colors most resemble UCLA’s blue and gold and
how to handle issues of compatibility with older computers or
software.

The group was founded one year ago, and meets quarterly. A
mailing list also exists with about 160 subscribers.

"The most valuable thing is not what’s on the agenda but …
people meeting each other and making contact," Stack said.

"Most Web sites popped up independently of each other," Wada
added. "What’s good is the creativity that results (from
independence). The downside is that a person unfamiliar to the
campus would find it hard to find information."

Wada and Stack hope to preserve the diversity of campus
information and services available over the Web, while adding an
extra "layer of coordination" to them.

"One half of the (on-campus) ubiquity of the Web was due to the
release of Bruin OnLine. The other was the wiring of the dorms,"
Wada said. "People are now finding it much more cost-effective to
put things online."

However, Wada has a reassurance for technophobes.

"Just because information is available on the Web doesn’t mean
print versions are going to disappear. I think that every study
that has been conducted on the topic shows that people start
reading things online and get hooked, and then buy (the print
versions). It actually increases the sales of print media," Wada
said.

For those who are interested but unknowledgeable, the group
occasionally offers free classes on setting up Web sites. The eight
hour, two- session class teaches basic Hypertext Markup Language,
which is the scripting language in which Web pages are written.

In addition to an introduction to the language, the class
addresses issues such as getting departmental organizations online
and serving persons with disabilities or slower computer
equipment.

"The training is designed more for staff members, but students
can also come," Stack said, adding that interaction between
students and staff may result in better online services.

Stack cited the example of a chemistry student attending a group
event and hearing about a new chemistry home page. That student
would then be able to offer input as to what students do and do not
need from a chemistry department site.

"I think that Kelly and Kent have done an excellent job
directing the meetings," said Johnathan Curtiss, a programmer and
analyst for Student and Campus Life. "There’s a very good
representation of both the administrative and academic sides of
campus."

Describing a new project that will put many of Murphy Hall’s
administrative services online, Curtiss said, "I don’t think that
the Web is all hype. At UCLA, it’s delivering important services to
students."Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu

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