Making the Case for Web Professionals

Web professionals are often treated by coworkers and colleagues as a branch of IT, but that’s not really accurate. Web professionals straddle the line between Communication and Information because the web is designed to use both fields. The best web professionals pair their technical talents with their ability to communicate to appropriate audiences.

In this session, Andrew Richardson makes a case for how web professionals should think of themselves as part of the overall system of higher education, how we make others think of us as skilled individuals, and what obstacles we might face as we make the case for web professionals.

Learning Objectives

• Describe what a "web professional" is and how that idea can be used in their workplace
• Discuss why web professionals should be the decision makers for most of what happens in their web space
• Create strategies for how to overcome obstacles in an attempt to change the culture of how the web is thought of in participants institutions.

Speakers

Andrew Richardson

@darichardson

Andrew Richardson is the Marketing and Communications Manager for the Office of Information Technology at The University of Alabama. He has been working at UA since 2010 and was previously the Director of Advancement and Alumni Relations for the College of Community Health Sciences. He graduated from UA with a Bachelor’s in Communication and will receive his Master’s in Higher Education Administration this August. Andrew is also the lead organizer for TEDxTuscaloosa, a locally organized version of the larger TED conference.

Andrew has been involved in creating websites in some form or fashion since middle school. He has varying levels expertise in a wide variety of areas outside of web, including video production, audio engineering, communication, and communication-related administration. Andrew’s other passions include his wife and their two-year-old daughter.