Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Job Opening at Washburn University
Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, has an opening for a full-time webmaster. The description has the usual laundry list of desired skill sets. Here’s the description from the c2c mailing list:
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Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, is seeking candidates for a
full-time Webmaster position in Information Systems and Services.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor’s degree. Three years’ web
development, analysis, and presentation experience. Experience managing
and developing content, navigation, usability, and accessibility of a
complex interactive web site; in graphic design applications, web
browsers, developing Web applications, Microsoft Office Suite, HTML,
XML, XHTML, and/or XSLT; using Dreamweaver, Cascading Style Sheets
(CSS), Adobe Acrobat, PHP, ASP, and/or Flash. History of strong work
ethic, written, verbal, and team skills.
For more information and to apply:
http://www.washburn.edu/washburn/gen/washburn_generated_pages/Human_Resources_Position_Announcement_Webmaster_p590.html
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This could be a great job if the work requires touching all of those skill sets. Having all of those skill sets in one person would be equally impressive.
Posted by Keith on 08/19 at 04:20 PM
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Thursday, August 14, 2008
Speaking at the National Association of Government Webmasters conference
I’ll be presenting at the National Association of Government Webmasters conference in Chicago on September 11. The topic will be 90 minutes on social media in the workplace. NAGW’s site has more details and information.
Posted by Keith on 08/14 at 04:41 PM
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Monday, August 11, 2008
Site launch for the Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City
The content continues to evolve, but the largest share of work is complete for the Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City site. The site was previously built in a haphazard manner, and rarely updated. The look roughly compares to the previous look, with the addition of events in the right-hand column.
The image at the top changes next. The organization is 70-plus years old, and has a long history of preserving Kansas City’s past. Several sites, including Fort Osage in Sibley, Missouri, Union Cemetery, in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Town of Kansas site, were revived and maintained with efforts of the group. Given that background, and a deep set of print archives, I’ll be pulling imagery from the archives to use for the header image.
And since the membership is still oriented to a 1980’s approach to content, member engagement, and activity, bringing more content into the site is critical to making the organization meaningful to people under the age of 40. That means more content, which in turn requires a plan to condense the navigation on the left and top to a more manageable list. So, more to come.
Posted by Keith on 08/11 at 04:44 PM
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Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Resources for Wireless Security presentation, August 5
Web resources for the wireless security presentation at Johnson County Community College’s Center for Business
These links to resources for wireless security may be helpful to protect your home network and your portable digital devices. As with any links, I can only guarantee that they worked at the time of the posting.
Kismet wireless packet sniffer to detect SSIDs, capture raw data from wireless broadcasts, use dictionary attacks against passwords, and general wireless network detection
NetStumbler is a free download, and detects wireless networks. It measures signal strength among other metrics, and can be used in site surveys to determine possible sources of interference and areas with poor reception. Use the link list on the right side of the page to download the software.
Use a VPN on your laptop to secure the connection while connnected wirelessly. This is a must-have software product when using public Wi-Fi hotspots. Subscription-based VPN service from HotSpot VPN can be purchased for short-term travel needs, or longer term for the residential use. Anyone can sniff packets using inexpensive hardware and software such as Kismet, and sitting at home on a wireless device can be as exposed as a public hotspot.
Protecting data is likely more important than protecting the wireless connection. Use a disk encryption tool like Truecrypt to encrypt the entire hard drive of a laptop.
The Department of Homeland Security can now seize portable digital devices, in addition to searching them when travelling through a DHS security checkpoint. Devices may not necessarily be returned, and compromising the data on a laptop is likely. This Washington Post article dated August 1, 2008, provides some background.
Posted by Keith on 08/05 at 06:18 PM
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Tools and Techniques for Online Marketing: July 29 and 30 JCCC class
These are links to sites and online resources for the JCCC Center for Business Internet Marketing class held on July 29 and 30, 2008
These links to online resources may be helpful to you after the class is completed.
Google webmaster tools:
Tools for site status, statistics, diagnostics, content submission, and sitemaps, among other worthwhile tools.
Domain name registration at GoDaddy
Thousands of registrars will help you register a domain name. GoDaddy has the mind share right now.
Thousands of hosting companies will host your site and your email address. Here’s three hosting the sites of my customers.
Web hosting by Dreamhost
Web hosting by media temple
Web hosting by 1and1
Build your own 404 error pages to replace the browser defaults. Friendly 404 pages keep the visitor around, and may help you, the web editor, to find problems missed by other link checking tools.
Custom 404 building at Plinko
Keyword development tools will help determine the unique sets of terms site visitors might use to find your site.
Keyword development with WordtrackerWordtracker is a paid service, but offers a free trial with limited scope.
Keyword research using AdWords
Keyword density is calcluated in a formula:
Density=keyword frequency divided by total words on the page
Density of 7% is appropriate, while density of 10% and above results in stilted language and possible penalties by the search engines. You’ll need a worthwhile Keyword density checker
Adding search capability to your site helps visitors locate the information they desire more quickly. You can find and configure search for your site from
Custom Google search engine
Roll your own site search
Free site search from Atomz
Search Builder at Yahoo!
Usability and findability is critical for any site. Jakob Nielsen’s site, Jakob Nielsen’s Useit.com
My Facebook profile
Posted by Keith on 07/29 at 06:31 PM
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Monday, June 30, 2008
Hiatus is over
The end of June brings an end to two large consumers of time for me. I finished work on my master’s degree on June 13, and the one-year management contract at JCCC ended today. The master’s work easily took 15 to 20 hours a week for the past 30 months, and the administrative position seemed to eat up 50 hours or more a week. Both experiences were rewarding, challenging, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to do both.
And I’m very happy they are both finished.
Posted by Keith on 06/30 at 11:03 AM
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Wednesday, April 09, 2008
A Generational Divide: Online Safety for Parents and Children
A Generational Divide: Online Safety for Parents and Children, a presentation given for the Lunch and Learn series at the Center for Business and Technology at Johnson County Community College
Frontline’s “Growing Up Online”
An even-handed examination of the young generation’s life. Where adults (those over 25) tend to divide their life online from their life in the physical world, today’s 10-to-25 year-olds don’t make that distinction. This divide is part of the problem between the two groups, and probably requires adults to become more immersed in the online world if we wish to understand.
Resources and research from the Frontline report
Exceptional list of resources leading back to primary sources. These help to drain the sensationalism out of the subject, and allow us to draw our own conclusions by thinking critically about the research findings.
David Pogue’s article from the New York Times
David Pogue’s article illustrates the need for adult education about the digital world and online life.
Virgina Heffernan’s NYT article about online life in the 1970’s and 80’s.
The issues now can be seen in the rudimentary online communities from the days of the mainframe.
NetFamily News blog
Ann Collier’s well-done blog about the intersection of parents, kids, and the web. She also co-authored “MySpace Unraveled” with Larry Magid, an excellent explanation of MySpace for “old” people.
Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire
Some of the research for the Frontline report came out of the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Rather than depend on the interpretation of data by others, take the time to read the research and draw your own conclusions.
Posted by Keith on 04/09 at 07:35 AM
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