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Subject:Re: Web site management From:Janet Valade <janetv -at- SYSTECH -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 20 Jul 1999 08:50:26 -0700
>Are there any companies out there where the management of the
corporate Web
>site falls under those who also do tech documentation? Or is that
>universally part of Marketing?
>If tech documentation people do manage it, what was the reasoning?
I am the lone tech writer for a small engineering company. I am in
the engineering department. I am responsible for our web site.
The reason for this is probably technical and historical. The
engineering department saw a need for a web site and advantages to having
one long before the marketing department did. The engineers are technical
and used the web themselves, while marketing did not. Even if marketing had
thought the web was important, they did not have the expertise to put up a
web site. Over time, of course, marketing has come to see some value in the
web site, but still does not have the ability to write HTML. As long as we
add their stuff to the web for them, they have no incentive to add extra
work to their already busy schedules.
As for why the tech writer is the person who does it... That is an
individual thing. I like web stuff. There was a void. I stepped in. We have
a better web site. Everyone is happy.
This probably doesn't help you with your question at all. This is
more about how things happen in small companies than about a logical
rationale for putting web sites in technical departments. Engineering is the
logical department to manage our web site because our web site is more about
technical support than about marketing. (I know. This could be a result,
rather than a reason.) However, the individual personalities involved
contributed more to the decision than any business logic.
Janet
Janet Valade
Technical Writer
Systech Corp, San Diego, CA mailto:janetv -at- systech -dot- com
