Other Developments


A Tangled Web

      Some television commercials bore into my brain because my life experiences echo their story lines. Does that mean ad agencies are becoming more creative, or am I becoming less discriminating? I’m not sure. I just know that when I see the IBM ad with a staff sitting around a table moaning because the computer system is down and no one — not the software people, not the hardware people, not the Web people — will fix it, that ad speaks to me. The teed-off executive in charge, summing up the situation, says, "Well, whose responsibility is this anyway?" Those around the table look her in the eye and say softly, "That would be yours." It makes my heart stop. That could be me.

      I’m responsible for the College’s development office and alumni association Web sites. "No big deal," I thought. AI can write, I can organize, I know what I want them to do. All I need to do is find someone who can make them do what I want."

      So far, I’ve been flat wrong on all counts.

      "No big deal." This turns out to be a very big deal. I’ve had to learn a new vocabulary. Words like Web master, Web portal, and hotlink now trip off my tongue. I’ve had to become comfortable with HTML, PhotoShop, and Cold Fusion. I’ve learned that fonts and typefaces scan differently depending on the software program. Regular old cameras are out; digital photography is in.

      "AI can write, I can organize, I know what I want it to do." Duh — I can write and organize and I know what other Web sites I want to link to ours, but they’re not finished, it’s too complicated, or there are too many steps in between. What I want it to do and what the Web site can do in a reasonable amount of time are two different things. I thought the Willie Nelson song "On the Road Again" would be a humorous counterpoint to photos and short bios of the office development staff. After all, development officers are supposed to be out of the office visiting with alumni. "Tacky," said my Web designer. "No sophisticated site has music." OK. He knows more than I do. I changed direction and opted for photos of the campus and students that would tug everyone’s heartstrings. "Too complicated," said the designer. "They take too long to load. People will lose interest." I believed that. I’m losing interest.

      "All I need to do is find someone who can make it do what I want." Double duh. We already know there is more to it than that. I was actually lucky enough once to find someone who could make a computer sit up and beg, who could read between the lines and answer my increasingly frustrated questions in language I could understand, someone who had working knowledge of fund raising, but he graduated and deserted us for a full time job at Arthur Andersen.

      So now I’m back to relating to commercials. Have you seen the one where the man sitting at his desk calmly picks up his computer and throws it out the window? I almost break into applause.

---

      No frustrations here. College alumni and friends understand what it takes to be a first-rate public university and willingly take on the responsibility of supplementing support from the state and tuition and fees. I break into applause for real.

John S. Wilson, BS’38, MA’39, and Dorothy V. Nordman Wilson, BA’36, MA’38, endowed a scholarship in the Department of Chemistry. We honor them too on the occasion of their 61st wedding anniversary over the summer.

Martha Wilson Willis, BA’44, MA’48, and Russell A. Willis Jr. , BA’44, JD’48, established a fund to renovate the huge geophysical globe located in Ballantine Hall. This is a family affair, for, in 1961, Martha Willis’s parents, Stuart Wilson, BA’20, and Lucia Showalter Wilson, BA’22, gave the globe to the university. Their grandson, Lucius Willis, son of Martha and Russell, likes geography so much he is a member of that department at Binghamton (N.Y.) University.

Joseph F. Genna, MS’51, has established a trust that will eventually fund graduate fellowships in the Department of Physics.

— Susan Green

As the College’s Web site undergoes renovation, you can check up on its (and Susan’s) progress at www.indiana.edu/~college/.