773: University Website

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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University Website
People go to the website because they can't wait for the next alumni magazine, right? What do you mean, you want a campus map? One of our students made one as a CS class project back in '01! You can click to zoom and everything!
Title text: People go to the website because they can't wait for the next alumni magazine, right? What do you mean, you want a campus map? One of our students made one as a CS class project back in '01! You can click to zoom and everything!

Explanation

This comic indicates that there is often a significant disparity between what a university displays on the front page of its website and what users -- particularly prospective students -- are primarily interested in finding there.

Some university administrators reportedly took this cartoon to heart. For further discussion of this cartoon, see Inside Higher Ed, DylanWilbanks.com, and .eduGuru.

Transcript

[A venn diagram. The left circle is labeled "Things on the front page of a university website" and contains "campus photo slideshow," "alumni in the news," "promotions for campus events," "press releases," "statement of the school's philosophy," "letter from the president," and "virtual tour."]
[The right circle is labeled "Things people go to the site looking for" and contains "list of faculty phone numbers and emails," "campus address," "application forms," "academic calendar," "campus police phone number," "department course lists," "parking information," and "usable campus map."]
[The only item in the overlapping section is "full name of school."]


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Discussion

Randall is exactly right. Online campus maps can be really annoying. Check out http://map.yale.edu/map/ for an example. They're usually impossible to read on a phone because "click to zoom" is impossible. I'd much prefer a simple pdf or image that I can pan/zoom how I like. 198.41.235.179 16:40, 9 July 2015 (UTC)