|
Purdue's OWL
Purdue's OWL is one of the largest and oldest OWLs in existence. (Granted,
it's only ten years old, but in Internet years, that's practically a lifetime!)
It started as an effort to allow students acces to the material that the
Writing Lab had at any time of day; students could email an auto-responder
to acquire handouts. Then they could email a tutor with questions. And
then the Writing Lab director discovered this new thing called the World
Wide Web...
For more about the history of Purdue's OWL, check
out this page which talks all about OWL history.
Currently, Purdue's OWL is a sprawling
website with information about
the Writing Lab, including the text
newsletter they've produced for over twenty five years, handouts
on all aspects of the writing process, PowerPoint
presentations and hypertext
workshops, and a huge
collection of links to writing and learning websites and other online
writing labs.
We also offer tutoring
via email -- people can send questions to an email address that gets
read and responded to by a small cadre of tutors. There's also a weekly
email newsletter that contains grammar tips, questions from readers,
and updates about OWL and the Writing Lab.
What I do at Purdue's OWL
My job title is "technical coordinator and webmaster." As far
as I can tell, this means:
- if something computer-related breaks, I fix it
- I order, install and upgrade (see above) all the computers,printers
and peripherals
- I help the staff learn how to use computers to create handouts and
presentations, to use the computers and projectors to give workshops,
and am a general resource for technology questions.
- I keep the web, mail, file, search, and database servers (owl.english.purdue.edu
and owl2.english.purdue.edu) up and running
- I do a lot of web design, maintenence, and development, including:
- Completely redesigning the site and all its contents in August
2000.
- Redesigning the main
index in August 2002.
- Putting up content that other staff write for the site, such as
our professional
writing section, which receives contributions from our busines
writing consultants every semester.
- Converting our handouts into more "printer
friendly" versions
- Writing interactive
versions of our writing activities that allow people to practice
and check answers online.
- Writing the OWL
News in conjunction with the OWL Coordinator. Currently the
list has over 11,000 people.
- Answering a lot of email,
some of it nice ("I love your site! My students use it all
the time!"), some of it very angry ("You have made a mistake
in you're grammer! I am upset!"), some of it confused about
what our site does ("I wish to sell dancing videos. Can I list
them on your site?") and all of it interesting.
- Revising and updating content.
- Writing my own content for the site; for a list of that, please
see my curriculum vita.
- Keeping track of who
uses our web site.
- Dealing with copyright
and fair use issues related to the materials on our site.
- Generating statistics on who uses the lab and what they use it for.
- Meeting with consultants who are developing material for the web site
and helping to get their materials online
- Attending showcases and fairs on campus to help promote OWL use, and
helping to arrange in-lab showcases for faculty and staff
- Researching ways to improve how we keep track of visitors to the Writing
Lab
I have never worked harder in my life, and I have never found a job so
enjoyable. I get email from users all over the world whose lives are changed
in some small way by our OWL, and it's amazing to think that the work
I do is being seen and appreciated by such a large audience.
Nifty OWL Links
|
