Issue 17, Fall 1999

William A. McEachern, Editor

Pssst! Your Slip is Showing

The two most common home page shortcomings are links on the blink and the failure to update in a timely manner. For example, The University of Delaware's link to its undergraduate program goes nowhere. In fact, none of its home page links go anywhere. Georgia Tech's home page links to faculty members, but some of these links draw a blank (another says that the faculty member is on leave "perhaps never to return.")

Web pages can seem like last week's newspaper or stale fish if they are not updated in a timely fashion. Furman has not updated its newsletter, Ceteris Paribus, since January 1998, and the most recent issue of Carleton's Marginal News is dated April 1997.

Even the casual observer can't help but notice a failure to update when the page includes "last-updated" information. For example, the Web page at the University of Dallas was last updated in March of 1996. Perhaps departments that have not updated in years should think about whether they really want to advertise the fact.

Finally, some department sites are both unattractive and dated. I don't mean to pick on any one in particular, but identifying one puts a face on the problem. Indiana State has among the least inviting of department pages I found. There were no graphics and nearly all the presentation was in a dull black type. The only information available for undergraduates was a short list of requirements for the major. The Web page provided a link to faculty publications but that information has not been updated since mid-1995.

I checked some "competing" department Web sites at Indiana State (management and finance, accounting, marketing, political science, sociology, and philosophy). First, the management and finance department has no Web site, which is hard to believe and makes the economics department look better by comparison. But the other departments have sites that are much more inviting and informative than economics. The accounting site, for example, offers a newsletter, links to accounting firms and CPA societies, as well as an explanation of "What Accountants Do." The philosophy department's site features a course entitled "The Philosophy of Star Trek" with space shots and an intriguing course description.

If I were a student relying primarily on what I found on the Web pages, I would be drawn to those departments that tell a better story about their discipline. Of course, I am assuming that students actually use department sites. Some economics departments around the country offer running counters showing the number of times their Web sites have been accessed. The department site at Rice, for example, gets about 800 hits a month. UConn's site has averaged about 820 hits a month for the last two years. Apparently, Web sites do get used.

The point is that economics departments that fail to offer inviting and informative Web pages will lose students to other departments on campus or elsewhere that do a better job. This is not pandering to students; it's telling them what economics is and how they might benefit from such study. I know economists at Indiana State who are good researchers and committed teachers. I'm sure they have a greater interest in their undergraduate program than comes across on the Web site. Web-challenged departments miss an opportunity to bring economics to life. Next up, "The Grapevine" offers more ideas along these lines.

Top                                                                                                                                                                                          Next