Questions about Chapter Webmasters and Exec Board

Shine · #1 08-20-2002, 05:49 PM

I have a question for all of you, if you don't mind.

If your sorority/fraternity has a webmaster...

Is it it's own position?

Is it a position on e-board?

Is it under another officer? If so, which?

I'm the webmaster for my sorority, and I work under my PR chair. I'm seriously considering having it put to a vote that webmaster be made it's own chair, but I want to get a feel for how other chapters and houses do it.

Thank you kindly!

~Shine

jonsagara · #2 08-20-2002, 06:22 PM

In our chapter:

* The Webmaster is a totally independent position. It would be counter-productive to have a superior officer dictating the contents of the site. Granted, the content has to be acceptable, but we want the creativity to flow. Rather then be subject to the orders of one officer, the Webmaster should be free to work with all officers to gather ideas and content.

* The Webmaster does not sit on the executive committee. The position is just not that important as far as chapter operations are concerned. If the Webmaster has an issue, he is certainly encouraged to bring it up with Exec, but there is no need (or room) to have him on the committee.

* (See first bullet)

aephi alum · #3 08-20-2002, 06:35 PM

I constructed my sorority's first website. I had some down time one summer, so I put together a site and maintained it for about a year. Webmaster was not a formally recognized office, just a role that an interested sister (namely, me) had taken on. Later, website maintenance became one of the duties of the PR chair (who is not an exec board member). IMO, it should be its own office.

Kevin · #4 08-20-2002, 06:56 PM

Our webmaster is an alum. He's got our website (or is making it) basically modular... So each officer can update their section as needed. As long as we can keep it with an alum we will. He's above the stuff that goes on between officers -- and when someone asks him to do something it gets done fast.

AlphaSigLana · #5 08-20-2002, 06:59 PM

The website(which we don't have and is my fault) is the pr chair's job. I was the pr chair and I had great ideas for the website. I wanted to get one started before i left for Florida. I got registered with Tripod, but everytime I tried there were problems and tripod wouldn't let me get far enough to actually do a site. Tripod gives you 28 days to get the site started or they take away your registration.
anyway I called the secretary-whose little is the new pr chair and told them I was sorry, but I couldn't do it.
The secretary's mom has made websites before so she said it shouldn't be a problem for them to work on it.
I'm disappointed that i didn't start sooner, I really wish I could have done all of my ideas.

Senusret I · #6 08-20-2002, 07:02 PM

In Mu Alpha Chapter of APO, the Vice President of Communications has the following responsibilities:

* Director of the Fr. Daniel Power Scholarships and Grants
* Moderates all email communication and announcements
* Second in command of chapter operations (1st VP)
* Webmaster

Basically, the person who runs for this position needs to be qualified to do all four things. The webmaster part was added in 98, I think, two officers before I had the position.

nwsigkap · #7 08-20-2002, 07:27 PM

For us the webmaster is grouped in as a duty of the PR chair (me). This is not an exec position, and since I was the only one who had some experience, they were kind of like, "Hey Jess guess what you're going to do!" However, in most situations I think it should be a seperate non-exec position. I have about a million things to do between putting together the site (which still isn't totally done...gotta to do some speed production before recruitment starts) and the rest of my PR duties.

Another way you could do it is to appoint someone to do it until they graduate or they become totally sick of it. This could be in addition to another office they have, or webmaster could be their only duty. Once the site is actually made the webmaster office usually won't be nearly as much work. Updating and adding info when needed (hopefully often) is about it, so someone with another office could swing it. I know if I am in a different office next year deep down I'm really not going to want to give up the web site unless there is someone I totally trust and know can do just as good or a better job than me. I've put a lot of work into it, and since I know the sites ins and outs I think it would just be eaiser for me to keep it along with another office in the future rather than trying to have someone else do it.

FuzzieAlum · #8 08-20-2002, 07:47 PM

In my chapter, VP PR was an exec position, as the title suggests. Webmaster was separate, but was on the PR "committee," which is quite different (at least in our chapter) from reporting to the VP PR. Basically the webmaster could do as she liked, although lots of sisters had input into what should be on there.

chideltjen · #9 08-20-2002, 08:19 PM

We originally installed a Webmaster committee head, but since I was the only one that knew how to run the programs that worked the site and had the resources, the website committee head kinda died off. It was a duty of PR tho. But as an alum, I am still updating the site. I enjoy it. It's my baby

. And it will look GREAT on a resume. (I am a design major.)
http://home.earthlink.net/~chidelta

Hopefully the girls will recruit someone with HTML skills or something. But as long as the webmaster/mistress is informed of current events and can be trusted to not put any wrong info on the site, I don't think it needs an actual title within a group.

Eupolis · #10 08-20-2002, 10:37 PM

It seems to me that unless the chapter webmaster position is part of an office that already has executive duties, there's no reason for it to be an exec board position.

Of course, if you have an executive officer who is responsible for PR who is able to be webmaster, then that person is already on exec. But if your webmaster is someone else, it should probably be someone who reports to the officer responsible for PR, so that there's no reason for the webmaster also to be on exec. That ground is already covered.

The optimal size for an executive board or council is probably a size so that
(1) it includes everyone who acts on a day-to-day basis handling fraternity matters;
(2) it includes the people who are in the best positions to make judgment calls about the sorts of things your exec board handles
(3) it doesn't include anyone who does not have matters that the exec board needs to handle on a regular basis.

Generally, the webmaster position involves a one-way flow of information from the fraternity to its members and the outside world. A webmaster does not, solely by virtue of being a webmaster, have anything special to contribute to exec, and does not really do much along the lines of chapter management. A website is a nice thing to have, but it's not a critical or even a necessary function of chapter management.

______________________
Phi Kappa Tau, Mu Chapter
Lawrence University, Appleton WI
PKT '96, LU '99

DWAlphaGam · #11 08-21-2002, 10:46 AM

At my chapter, webmaster was whoever was interested in doing it because it's not an officially recognized postion. We generally have at least 2 people as co-webmasters because in my small chapter, everyone also has an official office, so one person usually doesn't want to take on a whole other position in addition to the one they have. Also, if there are only a few people who know HTML and they don't want to be PR coordinator, they should be able to hold whatever office they want to and do webmaster too. I was webmaster in addition to my other offices while I was in school, and now that I'm an alum, I'm unofficial web advisor (basically I take a look at what they're doing and suggest changes and proofread the site). We also encourage other officers to help generate the website's content, especially the activities, PR, publications, and alumnae relations coordinators and the president. It's always good to have more than one set of eyes checking up on the website, since it is a public document and you want to represent your chapter as best as you can.

I agree with Eupolis and jonsagara, I don't see a reason for webmaster to be on Exec Council. It makes sense to have it be part of the PR committee, since it is a PR campaign of sorts, but webmaster should have control over what they do to the site without having to get everything approved by the PR coordinator.

shadokat · #12 08-21-2002, 12:34 PM

The Coordinator of Website in Delta Phi Epsilon sits on the Recruitment Team along with the Coordinator of Public Relations. The VP of Recruitment is the leadership team or executive board member of this team.

KappaKittyCat · #13 08-21-2002, 04:32 PM

Our chapter's website was constructed originally by our VP Organization. Now our PR chair handles it, I think. It seems to me that under PR is the best place for a Webmaster to be. Our PR chair's duties are alumni relations, newsletter, posters, and website.

Kappa doesn't have Exec per se. That implies that it'd just be officers. We have "Chapter Council," which is made up of officers and standing committee chairs (kinda reminds us of "Tribal Council" on Survivor). Ideally, everyone does not hold an office, and each officer only has one office, but in my chapter, there are more offices than members, so we combine.

Officers
President
VP Standards (that's me!)
VP Organization
Treasurer
Recording Secretary
Corresponding Secretary
Registrar
Marshal (that's me too!)
Committee Chairs
Education
Membership
New Member
Panhellenic (usually our delegate)
Philanthropy
Public Relations
Scholarship
Social/Risk Management

Optimist Prime · #14 08-21-2002, 10:22 PM

Who ever likes doing web sites. Check out ours, my big brother runs it. www.radford.edu/~thetachi

Dragon92 · #15 08-22-2002, 02:54 AM

Don't know how much the fraternity and sorority life differs, but our webmaster is not on EC, he is just a chair position. I made and own our site, but i passed on control to a new guy when i went alumni.