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Special Focus
Your Web Presence
How will your agency's Web site stand out among the 30 BY CHIP COLLIS If it wasn't for Sputnik, you wouldn't be reading this. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. To avoid falling behind in strategic technology, Ike—then U.S. President Dwight D. Elsenhower—created two new agencies: the National Aeronautics Space Administration or NASA and the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Chartered in January 1958, ARPA's first job was to build a satellite. Once that was done, it turned its attention to other projects. With the help of several universities, ARPA spent a good part of the next two decades developing the ARPAnet to preserve military communications in the event of a nuclear strike. Eventually this grew to be called the Internet, because it was an interconnected network, of computers. In 1990, the last vestiges of the old ARPAnet disappeared. At the same time, the Internet took a quantum leap forward from academia into everyone's life. Previously text-based, a new hypertext transmission protocol or "http" and the browser to read it made the Internet accessible to all. Taken as a whole, these graphical Internet sites make up the World Wide Web. Today, there are more than 30 million dotcoms, dot-nets, and dot-orgs. If your park district isn't one of them, it should be. Even if you're a small district on a shoestring budget, you can have a Web presence that's just your size.
Different Levels of Web Presence The Internet was created as a communication network. Thus, one of the best ways to understand the complex range of possible Web sites for your district is to relate it back to various other modes of communication you already use. Your site can be as simple as an ad in the yellow pages. This data is published once and left out there for almost forever. It contains basic contact information, and other simple, static information. Such a Web site would be built once and basically ignored after that. It would comprise a single home page with your district's name and address, and perhaps the locations of your parks and facilities. The next step up the communication ladder is the newspaper ad. These change periodically to highlight different features of your district, especially seasonal offerings or events. The newspaper-like Web site would include the static information mentioned above, in addition to periodic changes. Your Web site also can include occasional topical stories covering upcoming or recent events. In fact, with your own Web site, your press releases can appear in their entirety, safe from any scissors-happy local editor. The most targeted, intensive and informative mode of communication you have is your program catalog. Not only does this contain a plethora of information, it must be changed periodically; there is nothing more frustrating and less useful than an out-of-date catalog. The same is true for your Web site. If you chose to go to this level of detail, you must be prepared to commit the energy and resources to keeping it up-to-date. As long as it is current, an online catalog will be a favorite part of the Web site for your users, until it's wrong. Then they'll stay away in droves. We move now from the realm of one-way messages to interactive communication. Providing ways for your users to give you feedback online, either directed or free-form, November/December 2001 ¦ 15 SPECIAL FOCUS
is similar to conducting surveys or offering comment cards at your facilities. And, by adding even more "e-gizmos"— such as online registration, credit card fee processing, even a way to purchase caps and shirts, etcetera—you can put a virtual park district office on every user's desktop. The Right Web Presence for Your District So, do you go with an electronic yellow pages ad or an online cyber-office, or something in between? Like everything else, this choice comes down to what your district can afford, but be careful. Many organizations base this decision on start-up cost alone. This is a huge mistake. The true cost of a Web site comes on the back end. Rather than a concrete dollar amount, the ongoing maintenance cost is measured in hours and hours of staff time. In trying to decide how complex your Web site should be, you have to strike a balance between providing as much information as possible while not providing so much that your site cannot be maintained by your staff. Beautiful graphics, eye-catching animations and megabytes of data are worse than useless if the information is outdated. The best strategy is to start small, see how it goes and add on later. Just because you can build the parks equivalent of Yahoo! today doesn't mean that you should. However, there are some basics that are standard among your fellow park districts. The Basic Park District Web Presence In a recent study, the IAPD Technology Committee reviewed dozens of Illinois park district and forest preserve Web sites. The committee found a whole gamut of sites ranging from the one-pagers to elaborate multifaceted sites with online registration and even virtual golf at a district course! A few sites are highlighted in the sidebar to this article. Review them all from the links page at the IAPD Web site, www.ILparks.org. A few common elements form the basis of any park district Web site. • Your home page should include some of the basic "yellow pages" items: name, logo, phone number, address and e-mail address for the administrative office. It can also include a brief description of your district and definitely should feature your district's mission statement. • Feature facilities in a section of your site, including at least the number and types of parks and facilities. Better still, include address and phone number, the amenities at each park or facility and the hours of operation. • Devote a section to your board, including the time and place of board meetings and, at the very least a list of board members. Ideally, include board member biographies, terms of office, contact numbers and e-mail (optional), and committee assignments. You may also want to consider providing agendas and minutes online. • Include a staff section with information such as department heads and supervisors and their contact numbers. It also can give full or partial staff information by facility or department. • Even if you're not providing a full-blown catalog, you should have some information regarding programs and events. • Have a section devoted to links to related Web sites (e.g., the Illinois Association of Park Districts, the Illinois Park and Recreation Association, your local village site and other partners). • Answer some frequendy asked questions, or FAQs about your agency. The best description I ever heard for FAQs came from a priest friend of mine: "That's where you put the answers to questions like 'What time is Midnight Mass?'" Putting all this together should be a group effort. Since the Web site is first and foremost a communications tool, overall coordination as well as responsibility for the home page should fall to your marketing/communications director. Each department head should be responsible for their own content: facilities, human resources, programming. Encourage your board members to contrib- 16 ¦ Illinois Parks and Recreation YOUR WEB PRESENCE
ute to their own section. The point is, the responsibility for maintaining your Web site, no matter how big or small, should be shared by all. Only in this way can you ensure that your site is always timely and accurate. The Sputnik Effect The United States was compelled to take steps in 1958 to ensure it did not fall further behind the Soviets in the space race. As we've seen, one of the outcomes was the Internet and the World Wide Web. If your organization hasn't taken advantage of this strategic communication tool, you're already behind the times, and the longer you wait, the further behind you'll be. It is no longer a question of whether but when your organization will develop a Web site. When you do, just remember to start small and work your way up. And when you start to receive your first visits to your new home page, don't forget to thank Sputnik! CHIP COLLIS is a commissioner for the Elmhurst Park District and chairman of the IAPD Technology Committee When he's not developing software for BankOne or spending time with his wife, Cyndy, and kids, Richie (9) and Allie(5), he can be found playing V-Golf at www.epd.org E-mail the author at ccollis@mediaone. net. Collis' last article for Illinois Parks & Recreation magazine "Does Your Agency Need a CIO?" appeared in the July/August 2000 issue. Web-Park in a Box Does your agency have a Web presence? Are you happy with your current Web site? If you answered "NO" to either question, IAPD is developing a product for you. Web-Park in a Box is a software program that will allow your agency to create a basic Web site to convey key information to your citizens. Web-Park in a Box is a template Web site that uses Microsoft Word to allow agencies to customize the information shown on each of its seven pages. These seven pages contain the most vital information that agencies should communicate to the public. Use this product to create a Web site that contains the following information:
• Agency contact information, history and mission statement
Many agencies don't have the staff or the financial resources to develop a detailed Web site. Web-Park in a Box is very affordable at $95 for IAPD members. Plus, all you need is someone who knows how to use Microsoft Word. We also provide you with information on how to have your customized Web site hosted on the World Wide Web. Launch your agency into cyberspace. Call IAPD for more information about Web-Park in a Box, 217.523.4554 or e-mail ahoward@ILparks.org. November/December 2001 ¦ 17 |
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