 Everyone's a publisher
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History
repeating itself UNFORTUNATELY history has a habit of repeating itself. All too often we mislead ourselves into believing that if we supply our employees with the very best tools, that by some magic they will know, not only how to use them, but when, where and why. Did having a phone ever make anyone more able to deal effectively with customers? Did word processing software teach you how to lay out documents professionally? Did desk-top publishing software sound the death knells for the graphic design industry? And did PowerPoint ever guarantee a good presentation? Please add your own examples. I can hear the groans from here. So, does a copy of Microsoft FrontPage (or whatever other package you may be using) provide you with the skills you need to become a web page author, a publisher for the screen? No, of course not. You may say, ‘well, I’ve been taught how to use FrontPage, so I’m alright’. And it’s true that you’re at an advantage in that you know what buttons to press, how to insert a clip art animation, how to pepper the screen with fonts, how to select a bright coloured, textured background and even how to convert your 100-page Word document directly into HTML. In short, you have all the skills necessary to become a liability within your organisation, to kill the intranet stone dead and to maximise sales of aspirin. Of course, when I say ‘you’, I don’t really mean you. After all, you’re a communications professional and you know that it takes a great deal of skill and experience to get your message across. I’m talking about the hundreds, if not thousands, of employees in your organisation who have suddenly added ‘on-line publisher’ to their job descriptions. Because, with the intranet, everyone’s a publisher. |
© Fastrak Consulting Ltd, 1998. All rights reserved.
Last revised 2/11/98.
