www.romanvenable.net:  A Losing Battle

I was asked to write a summary of the different web sites we maintain in our Department of Anesthesiology today. Having to actually write it down made me realize a disturbing thing: it's not catching on.

I started with Manila in an attempt to make web content something anyone could create using the 'Edit This Page' button. I switched to conversant almost a year ago to allow people to participate by e-mail. I want to publicly thank the two people who have replied to my posts.

Since then, we have four new non-Conversant sites with their own usernames and passwords that don't work right on Macs. Users are confused. I'm discouraged. I have two faculty that have decided to author their own sites--one in FrontPage, the other in Dreamweaver despite offering to show them how in Conversant, to do much of the initial work for them, and show them how to effortlessly integrate it with our University Course Management System (Angel). It's not catching on.

Some trends I started are catching on. Laptops. 802.11b. Macs. Things that require no work, no change in habits, and facilitate doing what they've always done.

As I write this, I'm looking at my IM window. I see friends I've never met. Seth Dillingham, Steve Ivy, Mark Morgan. Guys who are teaching me how to do things I've never done. If I have a choice to make, I know which it will be. There's so much to explore!

It may be a losing battle, but it's the war that matters.