090721_eduweb_sarah_stanek

The Role of Writers by Sarah Stanek, Senior Writer, Cal State Content is still too frequently an afterthought. And when it is a forethought, not enough writers are integrated into Web teams to really play an active role in developing the processes that deliver the one thing that really matters to an audience—the content.These days, as we often hear, everyone is a potential content provider. From the president to the applicant, the dean to the valedictorian, University writers—usually responsible for the “official” voice of the institution—need to work with these people to make sure that, no matter how authentic their message is, it’s also up to the image you want to project.Writers, after all, are the natural managers for questions like: How often to update? Who selects topics? Do we edit typos? What about factual errors? What if this just doesn’t make sense? Is that too long? Are you falling asleep just thinking about the CIO’s blog post? And they are the ones who are best positioned to become experts in ALL of the university’s content styles. To be successful, writers need to take part in the planning of any content area—and that’s the whole Web—from day one, and the whole team must agree on the content process. For their part, writers must be confident enough to take this leadership role, with the support of management and the faith of their content providers.This topic table will be a place for writers to discuss what has worked for them, what they struggle with, who has been a help and hindrance, and what still keeps them up at night.