Use of World Wide Web Sites as Marketing and Promotions Tools

A Pilot Study of University Journalism/ Mass Communication Programs in Texas

Douglas J. Swanson, Ed.D

AEJMC Conference Paper, August 2000

RUNNING HEAD: World Wide Web Sites

Abstract

Thirty-one Texas college and university journalism/ mass communication World Wide Web sites were analyzed, and faculty/ administrator interviews were conducted to address five research questions about the use of Web sites as marketing and promotions tools. Sites were scored for visual, operational, and informational enhancements. Site administrators discussed site launch, design, maintenance, management and future trends issues. Sizeable differences were found in levels of site visual, operational, and informational enhancement. Some consistent and troubling issues were identified by administrators who are held responsible.

Introduction

The World Wide Web 'home page' site has become a commonly-used means of communication between institutions of higher education and the general public. A number of functions are accomplished. Through the display of information in graphics and text, a college or university helps establish its public image--something which is an important part of institutional marketing. Web site displays also allow institutions to target specific information to specific online users--an important part of any promotional effort.

Many U.S. colleges and universities which offer journalism /mass communication programs have embraced the technological advantages of the World Wide Web. Programs use the Web to provide information about their communities, campuses, degree and course offerings, faculty members and scholarly and student life opportunities. But despite the popularity of the WWW site as an information-dissemination tool within these disciplines, there has been little if any significant research effort to gauge Web use and performance among collegiate institutions--either generally or by academic discipline (for one of the few examples, see A Survey of. . . , 1995).

As educators, we have little scholarly literature to guide us in establishing a role for the Web site in the area of institutional and program marketing. Even less information has been assembled to address World Wide Web site use and plans for future development within journalism/ mass communication.

Through this pilot study, which was developed and carried out over the course of a year, the author made an effort to answer some of these questions--and lay the foundation for future development of the literature. It is hoped the work will benefit educators in this discipline by providing additional knowledge about their field of study and showing how information about the discipline may best be presented to various publics via the World Wide Web. It is also hoped that the research will benefit educators in other disciplines by illustrating some of the practical guidelines for using Web sites as part of an overall collegiate marketing and recruitment strategy.

Problem

The World Wide Web is a fairly new technological advancement, so it has only been within the past few years that much scholarly research has focused on its use. There still are many gaps in the literature.

A large amount of literature addresses World Wide Web use from a business perspective, in relation to advertising, marketing and promotion. An equally large body of literature addresses consumer issues related to Web use--who's using the Web, what they're using it for, and how they relate to others in the process. Existing literature also addresses educational uses of the Web in regard to program administration, curriculum development and delivery of services.

An area of focus missing from all of this involves a drawing together of these three areas--to look at the subject of the World Wide Web and discover its specific impact on a specific higher education discipline in terms of business applications (marketing and promotion of programs), consumer use (dissemination of specific information to specific publics), educational implications (affects on current students, faculty, and administration), and future development of Web sites.

In the competitive marketplace of higher education, educators must be as effective as possible in presenting their institutions and programs to the public. Higher education institutions must be able to use the World Wide Web as part of a marketing strategy to promote positive images, build on institutional strengths, and recruit the greatest number of students who are most likely to be retained to graduation. In order to accomplish this, educators and administrators must understand the World Wide Web, know how to use it effectively, know what groups to target with Web site-disseminated information, understand how to encourage interaction between prospective students and the institution, and be able to use Web sites to help solidify interpersonal relationships.

Literature Review

The marketing of higher education

Marketing is defined as "the management process whose goal is to attract and satisfy customers or clients on a long-term basis in order to achieve an organization's economic objectives" (Wilcox, Ault, & Agee, 1995, p. 17). It is "a business philosophy whereby the organization is oriented to achieving its objectives through meeting the needs of its customers within its chosen markets" (Doyle & Newbould, 1986, p. 22).

For many years, institutions of higher education did not make great efforts to market themselves or their offerings. It was the university which selected the student for admission. The student was a relatively passive participant in the process. The concept of institutional marketing, an idea which "rubs against the traditions of academe" (Walters, 1982, p. 378) was not an option during the many decades when higher learning was viewed as the "pursuit of knowledge for its own sake" (Hutchins, 1936, p. 36). College admission was a selection function of the institution, and students were expected to act accordingly.

In the 1970s, however, economic changes, a growing government and private-sector conservatism, and a decline in the pool of available potential students left higher education institutions in a position necessitating competition for students and resources (Chait, 1992; O'Keefe, 1991; Paulsen, 1990; Rudolph, 1977). With each passing year, students "became more like academic shoppers or consumers" in the higher education marketplace (Paulsen, 1990, p. 1). Marketing was not only desirable but vitally necessary for institution to continue to exist and expand, to serve the needs and wants of a diverse and changing population.

It has been argued that colleges and universities were engaged in marketing all along, through publication of catalogues, brochures and the employment of admissions counselors (Kelly, 1982). But in the 1970s, what had formerly become a seller's market became a buyer's market. Higher education evolved into a service industry which required commitment to that service, as well as involvement and openness to a variety of publics. Individual, personal attention was sought by each enrolled student (Ihlanfeldt, 1979). Institutions not meeting student expectations would "find little interest in the product they have to offer" (Ihlanfeldt, 1980, p. 5).

Today, the marketing of higher education programs involves, initially, the establishment of a unique institutional identity. A college or university works to create "an image, an "aura" about the institution and its programs" (Walshok, 1989, p. 227). The institution seeks to occupy a particular niche in the local marketplace, so that its offerings are perceived as exclusive from all others (Corbitt, 1979). The institution actively seeks out students for its program offerings, while students are equally active in seeking out institutions they feel will meet their educational and social expectations. Today, many colleges and universities actively establish "image campaigns" to market themselves and their offerings (University launches..., 1997; Mooney, 1989).

For decades, academia had followed the formula under which subject offerings were created first, then students were encouraged to take interest in them (Kerr, 1995; Rudolph, 1977), Today, institutions of higher education must research and plan program offerings to match existing or anticipated future interest in particular subjects (Barton, 1979).

When educational programs are readied, they are presented to the public through a "marketing mix" which includes information about academic program content, packaging of concepts, branding, advertising, sales and service--with particular attention to the life cycle of each program offering (Riggs, 1989, p. 125).

This information is presented to potential students through a variety of media, including display advertising, direct mail, and personal sales (Simerly, 1989), as well as internal public relations documents and news media contacts (Topor, 1993; Harral, 1942). Consumer habits, competition, and government activity are closely monitored (Riggs, 1989), as is the local political climate (Walshok, 1989).

Involved in the process are institutional program leaders who are "visible, involved, and collaborative" (Walshok, 1989, p. 228). Program leaders work inside institutions to "integrate marketing concepts into the daily routine" as well as help maintain organizational support for efforts being made (Simerly, 1989, p. 451).

Program leaders work outside their institutions to improve contacts with external groups, and with individuals to "increase the quality of enrolled students" (Kelly, 1982, p. 393). Thus, successful marketing of a higher education institution or program is not any one particular event in time. It is an approach "woven into the fabric of organizational life" (Simerly, 1989, p. 451). It involves an effort to make a student prefer one particular institution or program to any other which may exist in the marketplace (Doyle & Newbould, 1986). It is "a methodology that permits decision makers in an organization to think systematically and sequentially about the mission of the organization, the services or products it offers, the markets it currently serves, and the extent to which these same markets and possibly new ones may demand its products or services in the future" (Ihlanfeldt, 1980, p. 13).

The WWW and institutional marketing

The number of institutional entities with a presence on the Internet continues to grow at an explosive rate; in fact, it is difficult even to get an accurate accounting. According to InterNic, the firm which grants new Internet domains to registered organizations, 171,000 such sites were operational at the end of 1995, and more than 419,000 were online by May, 1996 (Helmstetter, 1997).

The growth of corporate America's presence on the network parallels the growth of interest among users. In late 1996, estimates showed that at least 60 million people worldwide had access to a network connection, and the number of people with Internet connectivity was increasing by 10% monthly (Ellsworth & Ellsworth, 1997). General consumer market penetration in the U.S. was estimated at 16% in 1995, up from 10% a year earlier, and at least half of online users were from higher-income demographic groups (Smith, 1996). These new, interactive consumers "demand the ability to interact with the products and services they buy... to direct and control their relationships" (Smith, 1996, p. 13), It is true that many of the new, interactive consumers get online to go shopping--total sales via Internet activity in 1995 were estimated at $324 million (Helmstetter, 1997). But there is significant evidence to show that retail shopping is not the aim of most users, most of the time. Siskind (1996) believed the typical user spent 60% of his/her 5-6 hours a week online searching for information about organizations or commercial entities. Thus, despite the great promise offered by the Internet for fostering retail consumption, its value above all else may lie in "locating information in which they have an active interest" (Smith, 1996, p. 15). Therefore, a presence on the World Wide Web--the fastest-growing, multi-media segment of the Internet--should seemingly be a part of any marketing program for an institution of higher education.

A WWW page gives entities a competitive advantage in a marketplace with no barriers to entry, aside from technological concerns (Helmstetter, 1997). Web sites allow organizations to target specific information to specific publics (Ellsworth & Ellsworth, 1997), to change and update information easily and inexpensively (Siskind, 1996), and to increase the speed at which consumers can gather data and the level at which they may access it (Tennant, 1996). An institutional presence on the network evens out competitive disadvantages between organizations (Helmstetter, 1997), and, as a consequence of the interactive nature of the network, "raises the level of personal interaction" (Fisher, 1995, p. 38) between organizations and the users who seek information from them.

Of course, in applying this new technology, there are some dangers involved. Many of the risks of establishing a presence on the World Wide Web are directly related to an organization's level of managerial competence. It was estimated by Horowitz (1996) that at least 30% of all information technology advancements launched on the Internet and directed toward consumers are eventually canceled prior to completion. Another 16% of projects go over budget before they are completed. Problems arise from ineffective planning, insufficient investment, inadequate customization of information delivery systems, and poor use of human resources. All too often, Horowitz found "a near-total disconnect between those that shell out the cash for projects--the CEO and other senior executives--and those that dispose of it, namely the chief information officer and systems engineers" (1996, p. 17). Other pitfalls associated with incorporating consumer online accessability as part of a marketing program include poor technical and design preparation (Ellsworth & Ellsworth, 1997).

In order to bring a WWW proposal through to completion, analysts recommend that designers have a good command of visual literacy understandings so that they can make effective use of all visual resources (Jaber & Hou, 1994; Messaris, 1994). They should use text and illustrations which complement each other (Pettersson, 1994), and display information in an organized manner (Hagerty, 1994). Designers should create WWW sites which motivate users' curiosity and learning (Sultan & Jones, 1994), while remembering that some visual symbols may have meanings which are understood differently in different cultural contexts (Griffin, Pettersson, Semali, & Takakuwa, 1994), and other symbols are universally 'boring' and unlikely to stimulate use of the home page (Kerns & Johnson, 1994).

Site developers should target messages to well-defined groups (McCarthy, 1996), work diligently to stay ahead of competitors in design and content (Helmstetter, 1997), and adhere to all legal, ethical, or security concerns (Siskind, 1997).

Educational uses of the WWW

Many educational institutions have been online for several years, offering community education courses for children (D'Ignazio, 1984), continuing education for working adult professionals (Maring and others, 1996; Mende, 1996), undergraduate and graduate courses (DeLoughry, 1996). There's even a complete "virtual university" brought into being by the governors of more than a dozen states (Pipho, 1996, p. 7). So the idea of linking education to the Internet is not new or controversial.

There's "a critical interlock" between structures and processes of the Internet and those of education itself, Rudenstine wrote (1997, p. A48): "The Internet reinforces the conception of students as active agents in the process of learning, not as passive recipients of knowledge from teachers and authoritative texts." Since colleges and universities have had an online presence for some time, it seemed a short jump for them to make use of the WWW as part of their marketing outreach efforts, provided they could balance the administrative, creative, and technical needs of this ever-changing medium and its demanding audiences.

Marketing issues relating to student recruitment

In the changing environment in which we find higher education today, it is clear that the individual student must bear much of the responsibility for securing his or her education. There are no systems or processes at work at the federal, state, or community level to assure that every American who wants to partake of higher learning will be able to do so. Colleges and universities have taken on the responsibility of negotiating with students for financial aid (Chait, 1992) and helping prospective students identify specific academic programs that match their personal skills and interests (Lowery, 1982) while helping students make the social transition into college life. It is important that students enter the institution of higher learning with the attributes and abilities to succeed. Studies have consistently found that a substantial degree of the observed changes in student achievement and personality are a function of the initial skills and attributes students bring with them at the time they enter higher education. So, even though institutional characteristics explain part of what it takes to transform a newly-enrolled student into a successful graduate, to a great degree what the student becomes upon graduation is a function of what he or she was as a first-semester freshman (See Bowen, 1996; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991)

The process of student recruitment is often connected with that of student retention, since it is as important for the enrolled student to be able to make swift progress toward the degree as it is for the college to manage its institutional support through enrollment. College students have been categorized as "persisters"--those who remain enrolled; "attainers"--those who remain enrolled but are not progressing toward a particular degree; "stop outs"--previous students who leave the institution, presumably to return later; "drop outs"-- those who leave the institution with no presumed intent of continuing their studies; "transfers"--those who leave to enroll in other institutions; and "dismissals"--those whose enrollment is ended by the institution as a result of academic, financial or social misconduct (Dolence, 1991). The ideal student for a college or university to recruit is the "persister" or the "attainer."

In order to recruit these ideal students, institutions use a number of different means to try to target their recruitment efforts to individuals with the requisite characteristics. Recruitment means used include personalized mailings, literature distribution, presentations, personal visits and college tours (Pagano & Terkla, 1991; Simerly, 1989; Bidelman, 1985; Lowery, 1982).

Prospective college students who are the recipients of institutional information look for a variety of things from the undergraduate experience. (Bowen, 1996; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991) They seek an investment involved in making a decision to attend a particular school, a perceived "fit" between student and institution, and an appropriate status attainment level which results from the decision (Paulsen, 1990).

Students individually consult a variety of sources when gathering information about colleges. These typically include guidebooks and directories to develop a preliminary list of preferred colleges. From there, students "gather information and explore their choices in depth" through use of college catalogs, personal visits with counselors, campus tours, and interviews with college students, faculty and recent alumni (Bidelman, 1985, p. 2).

A thorough search of this type helps the student become familiar with institutional characteristics and college environments, both of which are seen by Pagano and Terkla (1991) as critical variables in the student's decision. Students are urged to make as much personal contact with institutions as possible. "Institutional contacts, both formal and informal, reflect and communicate the personality of the institution. As a result they help shape the image prospective students and their parents have regarding the institutional environment" (Pagano & Terkla, 1991, p. 33).

In a survey of minority student recruitment and retention practices among schools of psychology, Hammond and Yung found that a variety of traditional recruitment methods are used. Methods include personal contacts, invitations for campus visits, recruitment materials targeted for specific demographic audiences, and high school multi-media presentations (Hammond & Yung, 1993). At the same time, academic support for computer skill development was the most prevalent item reported by school administrators in the area of "academic retention strategies," (p. 7), a category which included 18 other options for keeping students enrolled.

Given the fact that the strategy of personal contact is ranked with such importance for recruiting students, that computer skill development has been cited in at least one survey as being a critical retention strategy, and that prospective students have previously doubted the validity of many of the traditional forms of printed college recruitment materials (See Boyer, 1987), it would seem that prospective student contact via a World Wide Web site would be an ideal way to add impact to the student recruitment process.

While certainly recruitment of students is not the only goal of a WWW site (nor is an explication of recruitment concerns the goal of this study), recruitment is an issue that cannot be ignored when discussing the marketing and promotions potential for academic institutions using the World Wide Web.

Current strategies for recruitment, marketing, and promotion

In May, 1995, DeLoughry estimated there were 611 higher education institutions with listings on the Internet (DeLoughry, 1995); in February, 1996, Arant surveyed and found 71% of member schools of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication reported having a WWW site (Arant, 1996). But neither of these studies addressed vital content, access, use and development issues.

From what is known of institutions now using the World Wide Web to reach prospective students, a number of strategies seem to be successful. Web site administrators urge educators to use existing publications as a base from which to build, to simplify start-up effort and maintain a consistent institutional image (Fisher, 1995). It's recommended that educational Web pages have an attractive design, but be fairy simple in terms of technical content and operation (DeLoughry, 1995). And, though advertising may be sold to increase revenue for home page support, administrators should beware of "commercializing" an institution's Web space (Young, 1996, p. A32). Beyond that, though, the advice geared specifically to use of the WWW for higher education marketing and promotion is difficult to come by. Even those institutions which have been at the forefront of technological innovation have to admit they do not have answers to many of the questions being asked about performance of the medium (Fisher, 1995).

Theoretical model and applications

Researchers use models to help conceptualize and explain human behavior. Models help organize information, give general pictures of specific circumstances, and show how different elements work together to support communication. Models offer "a structure for assembling (our) findings" (Hanneman & McEwen, 1975, p. 421) and may "make it possible to predict outcomes or the course of events" (McQuail & Windahl, 1993, p. 2). There are many different models which can be used to explain human behavior. In fact, Cassanta and Asante characterize as "chaos" the "claims, hunches, explanations, perspectives, and myths that abound in the field" (Cassanta & Asante, 1979, p. 72). Every researcher has his or her own preferences in regard to models, but most would no doubt agree with McQuail & Windahl that no single model of communication is universally applicable. The construction and use of models is, rather, "a continuing activity designed to clarify new ideas and theories" and point to areas for further research (McQuail & Windahl, 1993, p. 11).

After a review of the literature, and after careful consideration of how to best explain the communicative issues at hand, this author chose Duncan's social order model (Duncan, 1968; Duncan, 1962) because it seems most appropriate for explaining the many hierarchies or structures at work in Web page development. The social order model posits that there are immediately observable structures established in society by those in power and those who want to be. These structures may be physical in nature (e.g., higher education institutions). They may be mostly conceptual in nature (e.g., academic programs). Or, they may be etherial in nature. The

World Wide Web site is an etherial structure because it truly exists nowhere and yet is experienced in many places, by many people.

Regardless of whether a structure is physical, conceptual, or etherial, there are a variety of socially agreed-upon 'rules' at work for its establishment, organization, and development. This is the 'social order' Duncan and others conceptualize. When the social order operates in norm conditions, structures fulfill the expectations people expect them to. When the social order does not operate in norm conditions, people perceive disorder. This is because, as Duncan writes, "a social order defines itself through disorder as well as order" (1962, p. 281).

Using the social order model is particularly appropriate for explaining the actions of higher education. The model allows us to view the academic community, as Becher suggested, as a collection of tribes which "define their own identities and defend their own patches of intellectual ground by employing a variety of devices. . . traditions, customs and practices, transmitted knowledge, beliefs, morals, and rules of conduct, as well as their linguistic and symbolic forms of communication and the meanings they share" (Becher, 1993, p. 24).

The social order model allows us to view the impact of technology on higher education activities. Following its tenets, we see technology itself as something which can not only create social experiences between people but be created by those experiences (See Couch, 1996). Using the social order model will allow for the fullest possible examination of the interaction of the physical, conceptual, and etherial structures acting and interacting to create World Wide Web sites for specific purposes by tribes operating in defined territories. By focusing on symbols of order (which are immediately observable)--rather than motives, behaviors and concepts (which are not)--the social order model allows for development of clearer conclusions about the interplay between the physical, conceptual, and etherial, and the resulting impact in marketing and promotion of programs.

Research questions

The analysis of the problem at hand, coupled with a review of existing literature in this field and the selection of the above theoretical model, has resulted in the development of five research questions:

1) How many journalism and/or mass communication programs in Texas utilized a World Wide Web site as part of their program marketing effort?

2) What can be said about the visual, operational, and informational elements of these sites, functioning together to present an image of the institution and its programs?

3) How did faculty administrators in charge of Web sites coordinate tasks related to site development with other institutional administrators and agencies?

4) Were efforts being made to quantify the impact of site displays, and if so, how?

5) What future trends were seen?

Methodology

The author chose to study the Web presence of journalism and mass communication programs offered by colleges and universities in Texas, in an effort to validate the research questions, test data collection, and verify appropriate methodology for research of this type. Texas was chosen because it is a single state with a wide variety of collegiate institutions offering journalism /mass communication programs.

Subject institutions and World Wide Web pages

The study began with a review of the Becker and Kosicki (1997) listing of 33 college and university journalism and mass communication programs in Texas. A World Wide Web search via Excite, Web Crawler, and Yahoo search engines was conducted to identify institutional and subject area sites hosted by these Texas schools. One institution--East Texas State University--could not be located on the Web. Another institution--Stephen F. Austin University--was listed in search engines but unavailable at its site's URL address. It could not be found elsewhere and was excluded from the survey. Texas A&M University at Commerce was not listed in Baker and Kosicki but has a site found online; it was included in the survey.

Some online sites were excluded. For example, Baylor University has two distinct sites--one for journalism and one for telecommunication. The University of Texas at Austin has separate sites for journalism/communication and media studies/ advertising. In both instances, the journalism site was chosen for inclusion in this study and the other, related but separate site was excluded.

The search and initial analysis resulted in 31 institutional and subject area Web sites, all of which were accessed and evaluated over a 48-hour period between March 12 and 13, 1998. Equipment used included a 133mhz PC attached to a T1 Internet connection and equipped with a 14-inch high resolution full-color monitor. The software used was Windows 95 and Microsoft Explorer. A single evaluator accessed, viewed, and ranked the sites during the 48-hour study period.

Instruments

No satisfactory measurement instrument could be found for use in the evaluation task at hand. Therefore, a content analysis survey instrument was modeled after an earlier study of World Wide Web pages for promotional and public relations purposes (Mitchell, 1996).

The instrument developed for use contains five evaluatory measures to isolate institutional characteristics of type (public or private); Carnegie classification (see Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, 1998); academic program organizational structure; subject area description; and presence or absence of graduate programs.

The instrument included 15 items which test for presence or absence of visual enhancements, 17 items which test for presence or absence of operational enhancements, and 24 items which test for presence or absence of different types of information posted to sites (See Table I).

In addition to the content analysis instrument, questions were developed for administration during telephone interviews (See Table II) to site administrators chosen at random from the subject population. The comments of these administrators were sought in hope that their remarks would help explain the visual, operational, and informational elements displayed on pages--and build a link between the findings of this study and earlier research on Web sites in general.

Procedures

Each of the 31 sites was viewed and scored by the evaluator during the two-day analysis period. The presence or absence of each predetermined visual, operational, or informational item type was recorded. Specific content or contextual observations were noted in the "details" section of each questionnaire. These observations included comments about the general appearance and functionality of the page, as well as any errors, significant omissions or disparities in text, inoperable links, or other elements which enhanced the overall purpose of the Web site or detracted from its general purpose (See McCarthy, 1996; Jaber & Hou, 1994; Kerns & Johnson, 1994; Messaris, 1994). Each site subsequently received a separate visual, operational, and informational score based on the presence or absence of each item type noted during the site visit.

Eight sites, or 25% of the total, were selected at random for in-depth telephone interviews with site administrators. Telephone calls were made to site administrators over a period of seven days between April 2 and 10, 1998. Four attempts were made to contact each individual. Four interviews were completed.

Results

The study yielded some interesting conclusions which, though not statistically significant, verified many of the author's original suppositions about what institutional web sites look like, how they function, and how the academic community is equipped to use and develop online resources.

Content analysis

Visual enhancements

Visual enhancements are the means used by a site to display written information (e.g., text fonts, background colors), the means used to display symbolic information (e.g., graphics, photos), as well as the symbolic guides which help users find information they want to see.

The sites examined were remarkably similar in terms of primary visual enhancement quality. Almost every site visited has implemented at least the three basic elements of Web site design--use of different fonts for headlines and body text, application of background color for site pages, and display of basic graphics (such as an institutional logo) or illustrations (visual art, not including photos).

Beyond the virtually unanimous use of basic elements, however, sites were remarkably different. Some sites were extremely complex, with animated graphics, lots of photos (color, black and white, or both), or audio clips. Other sites were bland by comparison, with no symbolic assistance (toolbars), photos, or "construction" disclaimers. Despite the growing use of 'live camera' images on commercial Web pages, none of the sites visited used this visual enhancement. It was the only category of visual enhancement not found during the site visits.

High and low scores for visual enhancement were given. Texas Wesleyan University received the high score of 11 for its Department of Mass Communication site. Low scores of 0 were given to Midwestern State University and Prairie View A&M University, both of whom have an institutional presence on the World Wide Web with a departmental listing--but no department site. The mean of the 31 scores was 6.03, with a median of 7.00 and standard deviation of 2.62.

The size of the institution or academic program did not appear to have a bearing on the complexity of the visual enhancements. Some fairly large institutions and programs had the simplest, least visually assertive sites (e.g., departments of communication at University of North Texas and University of Texas at Arlington). Other, smaller institutions and programs had huge, colorful, active sites (e.g. Southwest Texas State University's Department of Mass Communication and Howard Payne University's Communication and Drama Program).

It would appear that, for many sites, updates have not been made frequently--or perhaps at all. Only a third of sites indicated 'date of last revision.' For two sites, that date was more that six months old. One site had not been updated in more than a year.

Operational enhancements

Operational enhancements are the elements which facilitate use of the site. These enhancements include interactive measures (e.g., guest book, e-mail link, downloadable files), direct links to other related on- or off-campus sites, and accessability information (e.g., the date of last site revision, or information about the site's software or server).

Great inconsistencies were noted among the sites in terms of their level of operational enhancements. Some sites had extensive numbers of 'hot links' to other online sites, games, search tools, or downloadable software. Trinity University's Department of Communication site even included a 'cookie file,' so users could look at the digital trail left by other site visitors. Surprisingly, though, many sites lacked even the most simple operational tool. Of the 31 sites visited, nine--or 29%-did not include a single e-mail link.

High and low scores for operational enhancement were given. The University of Texas at Austin received the high score of 10 for its College of Communication site. Low scores of 0 were given to Midwestern State and Prairie View A&M for the reasons stated previously. Several sites scored a 1. The mean of the 31 scores was 3.93, with a median of 4.00 and standard deviation of 3.81.

An interesting finding in the area of operational enhancement was the discovery of a great many 'dead links' attached to program sites. Five of the 31 sites--or 16%--had dead links. On the Trinity University site, none of the links was active.

Of course, operational enhancement is no guarantee that the information reached through enhancements is of significant value to primary publics. The Texas Wesleyan Department of Communication site, for example, was by its own admission "a collection of media-related fun things." It included a Java clock, links to Internet media sites, games, trivia files, and so forth--but had little institutional or departmental information which would seem most valuable to current or prospective students.

Informational enhancements

Informational enhancements are mostly textual in nature and include the program's educational philosophy and goals, admissions standards, degrees offered, academic calendar, course syllabi, program news, and so forth.

As with operational enhancements, great inconsistencies were noted among the sites in terms of their level of informational enhancements. Sites tended either to be extensively detailed--or offered little or no critical information or links.

High and low scores for informational enhancement were given. The University of Texas at Austin College of Communication received the high score of 18 for its site. Low scores of 0 were given to three institutions, two of which (as already stated) had no departmental site, and the University of North Texas. Several sites scored a 1. The mean of the 31 scores was 6.32, with a median of 6.00 and standard deviation of 4.81.

An interesting finding in the area of informational enhancement was the discovery of a significant amount of information which was incorrect or, at best, confusing. The University of Texas-Pan American Department of Communications site had several spelling errors in text, gaps in text, and inoperable links to informational files. Howard Payne University's Communication and Drama site referred to the university Arts & Sciences area as both a school and a college. The Texas A&M University Journalism Department site used so many font styles it was difficult to read and use.

Nine sites--or 29%--offered no faculty contact information. Six sites did not identify the degrees offered by their programs. Only four of the 31 sites offered course syllabi online. One site--Texas Christian University's Department of Journalism--had no address, telephone or e-mail contact information of any kind, for the department or faculty. None of the sites viewed offered a 'frequently asked questions' file or community directory--items which would seem to be important for prospective students.

Telephone interviews

Eight programs were picked at random for telephone interviews with site administrators. Four of the administrators could never be reached by telephone. Of the other four who were reached, all participated willingly in tape recorded interviews. Those interviewed included a male faculty member in the School of Communication at a large urban public research institution; a female faculty member in a mid-sized, public, master's degree-granting institution; a male faculty member and chair of the Mass Media Program at a private master's degree-granting institution; and, a female faculty member in the Department of Communication at a public urban doctoral institution. Each respondent offered comments on a set of questions which focused on launch, design, maintenance, and future trends issues for journalism and mass communication Web sites (See Table II). Each faculty member was promised confidentiality; therefore, when quoted, respondents will be referred to with pseudonyms 'Bob,' 'Carol,' 'Ted,' and 'Alice.'

Faculty members consistently reported that they lacked a good sense of direction from their institutions in terms of launching, designing, maintenance, management of Web sites. In three of four cases, the academic program area had to take the lead on campus to develop its own Web site; institutional help in that regard was not offered.

'Bob,' whose departmental site had been online only six months, said his department was "way ahead of the university" in developing a Web presence. "We've been trying for about two years to get authorization to put our own Web site up."

'Carol,' whose institution was still in the process of connecting all departments to a fiber optics network, reported that her department had "already designed a page, and stored it [because] the campus is not online yet."

'Ted' reported that "in the early years, it was like talking to a brick wall" to gain institutional support for online efforts. Within his own department, things were not much better. "Of course, I had to explain to our department what the Internet was," he said. "They, of course, had no interest in pursuing this and did not allocate any resources and just did not see the point in all of this."

In the area of design and maintenance, two of the four faculty reported explicit or implicit policies at the institutional level to control Web site content. But none reported knowledge of an established policy designed specifically for online applications. "Right now, [content] has to go through university relations, which is our PR arm-copy to be approved," 'Bob' said, admitting, however, that the policy "is not specifically designed for that purpose."

All four faculty reported that they personally assist students who work for credit hours or as volunteers maintaining sites. None were happy with the arrangement for the long-term. Several of the faculty said they spent considerable time doing routine work, or correcting errors made by student Web workers. "It's not the kind of work a faculty member should be doing, really," 'Alice' said. "It's grunt work, a lot of it. It's typing in stuff and coding."

None of the respondents made any reference to policies planned or established to control who has the ability to place content on Web sites. This could highlight another area of concern (See Swanson, 1993) since an 'unauthorized' person with access to computer systems could create content on a Web site which is contradictory or damaging to marketing and promotional goals.

Perhaps not surprisingly, site development was seen as slow and haphazard at best, something that cannot be helped given the current state of administrative control in most institutions. "It's basically like, if our site languishes a little, that's ok," 'Alice' said. "[Faculty] gotta get tenure." At no time in the conversations, did any faculty member indicate a concern about legal or ethical issues associated with site creation, content, and development--something that could point to an area of concern (See Smethers, 1998).

Faculty report that neither institutional nor departmental management has defined the marketing goals and objectives for online sites. Each of the four faculty members was asked to identify the primary audience(s) or public(s) for their departmental site-two of the respondents initially responded they did not know; upon questioning, all eventually mentioned students and prospective students. None indicated that any definitive marketing plan had been agreed upon.

Finally, for each of the four programs, Web site success is difficult to gauge. Although all four faculty reported receiving some indication of site visits ('cookie' reports or other data), none of the institutions involved had a formal procedure for identifying quantitative or qualitative success. Likewise, future trends are difficult for the faculty members to determine. All talked in generalities about "the game plan," doing "a better job," creating new ways "to support" their site, or finding "a better way to do it," but none offered a strong and specific response about future trends in online communication through this medium.

Perhaps 'Alice' summed up the issues best when she said of the concept of going online: "It's something that's a real 'gee whiz bang' kind of thing, but I think a lot of Web sites are up there because they look 'gee whiz bang.' But, you know, they're not very useful, they're not well maintained, or whatever. I think that's pretty much a problem across the Web."

Discussion

The primary purpose of this study was to address the five research questions, and in so doing, to make some generalizations about the use of Web sites as marketing and promotions tools within the discipline of journalism and mass communication. Remembering, of course, that the Web is a constantly changing medium, this study should be viewed as 'a snapshot in time' of what certain sites looked like at a given point, and how effective they were at addressing common marketing and promotional opportunities.

The study appropriately addressed most of the questions. It determined that of the journalism and mass communication programs identified among higher education institutions in Texas, all but one had at least some information about academic offerings of journalism and mass communication posted on the World Wide Web in March, 1998.

The study found that visual, operational, and informational elements of academic WWW sites evaluated functioned together to present an image of each institution and its academic program or programs. Separate scoring of sites for visual, operational, and informational content revealed a wide range: Some sites were large, detailed, and informationally rich. Others were fairly well detailed but not 'fancy.' Still other sites displayed just the minimum amount of complexity and professionalism to be taken seriously. At the low end of the range, two higher education institutions had an institutional presence on the World Wide Web, but no site dedicated to their journalism/ mass communication programs. One institution was listed by Web search engines at an address which was not accessible by online users.

Each of these 'outcomes' from an attempted site visit says something to users. Users who search online for a site and find a large, differentiated, multi-use site are likely to be favorably impressed. Users who find a small, simplistic Web site are likely to be unimpressed. Those users who identify a site but are unable to connect to it are likely to be frustrated or angry. If the user is a potential student, one could very easily imagine that the student would be 'turned off' to any institution whose Web page was unimpressive, difficult to navigate, or unaccessible.

While we obviously cannot learn a lot about the entire academic Web site 'universe' from telephone interviews with a small group of faculty members, the interviews completed for this research did highlight some regularities which are consistent with the author's observations of the general academic community and reading of the literature.

Each faculty member reported that there was no coordinated institutional effort to initiate World Wide Web applications for academic programs, or to launch specific sites, or to create permanent funding for such efforts. One of the four faculty members works on a campus which, even at this late date, is still struggling to create its own internal data network. 'Ted,' summed things up for the group when he mentioned several times that all the work that had been done in his department had come "without spending a penny" of funding designated for that purpose. "I kind of wish we would," he said. "But that's how we do it."

Although higher education faculty members are commonly assigned oversight responsibility for Web sites, this responsibility comes by consensus--and with the understanding that it takes away from traditional teaching and research responsibilities.

Frustration with technical problems was evident throughout all conversations. "We simply don't have enough computer help, period," 'Carol' said. "And [support staffing] is not in our program at all. So everything that goes on our home page is going through the computer center, where you're talking about programmers who don't, who are, basically, we may have three or four taking care of a staff of six-thousand students and faculty. It's a nightmare," she sighed.

While everyone interviewed sees great marketing and promotions potential for his/her program area Web site, no one was able to clearly identify a marketing strategy at work. This is sad, given that there is no lack of information available on marketing strategies in general (McElreath, 1996), or for higher education (Topor, 1997; Ragan & McMillan, 1989; Grabowski, 1981).

Those interviewed also reported that there are few efforts being made to quantify the success or failure of Web site displays, or qualify who obtains getting benefit from the presence of information online. Here again, everyone seemed relatively sure that these kinds of things were important and were possible, but none indicated that specific efforts were undertaken at present or would be soon.

In summary, it would seem that faculty members who oversee Web sites for their departments are doing so because they were qualified and willing to do so, not because they were selected as the result of any competitive process. They report either a vague sense of direction-or a complete lack of direction--from their institutions and their programs in regard to site development issues. Some report ambivalence or hostility on the part of higher-ups. There were significant indications of ambivalence from faculty peers, as well. All are frustrated with technical and administrative issues. All were positive about the importance and impact of the Internet and online technology in the discipline, now and in the future-but none reported a strong sense of direction in regard to the development of their program's own Web site.

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Table I

Content Analysis Instrument

Content Analysis

University name: