[Sigia-l] re: Time for communications to take charge of your website

[George Olsen]

Given that McGovern has said he thinks the web is nothing more than a
library, I'm not surprised that he thinks it should be under the
communications department. (And while communication is usually under
marketing, it's definitely got a much narrower focus that marketing.)

Which makes sense if your site is primarily about conveying content. It may
not make as much sense is your site is a web-app.

His points about communicators knowing how to do (basic) structuring of the
presentation of information are entirely valid -- and something that IAs
should respect.

However, because of his blinders, McGovern fails to acknowledge that the
web is also about _interaction_ which is something that a communication
background doesn't prepare you for (speaking as both a writer and graphic
designer).

Consequently, there's no single "right" department to house websites under.
It really depends on the relative important of form, content and behavior.

Depending on the company and the site, it might make sense to have it owned
by marketing, customer service or HR. That said, it generally doesn't make
sense to house it under IT, since IT is a _support_ group (like the
accounting department) rather than a _functional_ group, like the ones I've
mentioned. Or it might make sense to make it its own group, since it
supports multiple business groups (although there's still the question of
who the head of the web group reports to).

_________________________________________________________________
George Olsen                           george at interactionbydesign.com
User Experience Architect                                310-993-0467