Community Webmaster at Work: Charley Wolfe, Internet Coordinator of the Washtenaw County Government
	Photo courtesy of Charley Wolfe

by Angela Napili
Community Connector Staff

When asked to picture a typical webmaster, most people probably think of a twenty-something in a baseball cap. But in fact, 53-year-old webmaster Charley Wolfe is not as much of an anomaly as you would think. A 1997 survey of over 700 webmasters showed that webmasters younger than 25 were outnumbered by those 45 or older. ¹ In a 1998 survey of Fortune 500 webmasters, almost 28% of respondents were 40 or older, compared to 23% who were 29 or under! ²

More and more, successful internet professionals require much more than technical know-how. As the Washtenaw County (MI) webmaster, Wolfe's current responsibilities include, not just maintaining and developing the County Government websites, but also marketing them to community members and employees. One of his greatest challenges has been changing the culture of his organization: convincing local government employees that the internet was important. "It's difficult for an employee who doesn't have a computer to be excited about the internet," Wolfe says. Luckily, he could draw on a large bank of experience in introducing professionals to technology, and being convincing about it. (He has a law degree, after all). In his 22 years as a professional librarian for the Library of Michigan, he introduced on-line legal research to the State Law Library, and for 7 years he also taught computer-assisted legal research at the Thomas Cooley Law School. "While I brought some technical skills to my current job, most of the skills that I brought were of a non-technical nature," he says, "The most important skills that my years of experience have produced relate to organizational and interpersonal communications skills. I learned how to initiate and sustain organizational change and how to deal effectively with adults, especially teaching new computer skills and gaining support for the Internet Program." In his current job at Washtenaw County, Wolfe has not only taught the county government's "web liaisons" how to make websites for their departments, he has also created and taught basic workshops for employees who "know nothing about the internet." Wolfe also helped shepherd the employees through drastic changes like the elimination of print memos, a move which forced all employees to learn email. Wolfe's advice to others in a similar position: "Don't expect everyone to be as excited as you are about the new technology. Realize that new technologies are threatening to many individuals. Address all concerns in an honest and diplomatic manner."

Wolfe's long experience as a law librarian has also given him practice at finding out what users need, and organizing government information so that it's useful. This is where his approach may differ from some of the more technologically-absorbed members of a younger generation of webmasters. The County Government site aims to present "information that's useful to the public," Wolfe says. Since much local information is already available on the web, the County Government site avoids duplication, with resources that no one else provides: sheriff's department information, community planning information, local water quality data, updates on gypsy moth suppression, jury duty information, the ability to email county government officials, and request forms for County Clerk records like deeds and birth and death certificates. Wolfe and his crew of 40 to 50 departmental web liaisons are also working on making the website more interactive, so that Washtenaw County residents can conduct more government business on the web. "It really is a very useful site," says Linda Williams, a graduate student at the University of Michigan School of Information, who was so impressed by the availability of forms on the website that she and her classmates used it as a model for their class project about the Ann Arbor Historical Commission. When asked what advice he had for others marketing local information websites, Wolfe says, "Emphasize the usefulness of your site and don't be overly concerned with its appearance or incorporating bells and whistles. Web sites should be designed for their users, not to impress other webmasters. While effective web site marketing involves a large suite of activities, I believe that the site's quality and utility is the best marketing approach."

Because of Wolfe's prior work at the Library of Michigan, including stints as Director of the Library Trustee Program, as a grant administrator, and as Director of the Statewide Library Development Program, he has considerable experience working with external parties. These skills are especially helpful in his current job, because, as is typical of community information systems, no single organization can maintain the system alone. Washtenaw County ranks fourth in the nation for internet use per capita.³ To better serve this large online community, Washtenaw County Government collaborates with several external groups. Wolfe works with local organizations like the Huron Valley Community Network (whose web server is housed at the Washtenaw County government), the City of Ann Arbor (with whom Washtenaw County Government shares the cost of a T1 line), the Ann Arbor District Library (with whom he has written grant proposals), and graduate students at Eastern Michigan University and University of Michigan's School of Information (with whom he works on special web projects).

"The New Web Walkers," according to a recent article in Computerworld, need to understand the organizations they work for, and need to know how what users want, if they want to become sustainable internet professionals. In that article Mark Liphard, a senior technological executive in the Network Commerce Services division of AT&T, said, "It used to be that just being technical was enough... Now, you have to understand how the business operates." David Foote, managing partner of Cromwell Foote Partners LLC, said, "You can pick up technical skills until you're blue in the face, but you have to learn your customers as if you're one of them. You have to sit in their skin and look at the world through their eyes and ask 'What do they want us to deliver? What are they looking for?'" ⁴ These skills are just as important in the world of community information systems. While wunderkinds and boy geniuses may be the stereotype, the most important internet professionals may just be folks like Charley Wolfe. Wolfe's lengthy experience serving patrons' needs, his understanding and rapport with the organizations he works with, and his teaching experience, make him an invaluable professional in the field of community information systems.

1  In March, 1997, CustomerSat.com conducted an email survey of Inter@ctive Week subscribers who identified themselves as webmasters. The results can be found at http://www.CustomerSat.com/IWCharts/webmastersurvey.htm

2  The survey was conducted by the magazine Internet World, and had 65 respondents. Results can be found at http://www.iw.com/extra/survey.html

3  Source: Charley Wolfe. For another example, 61% of Ann Arbor residents use the internet at home or at work, compared to 48%-53% in other areas of Michigan, according to the Michigan Information Technology Commission (Mary Morgan, "Ann Arbor leads state for using Internet," Ann Arbor News, September 3, 1998.

4  Natalie Engler, "The New Web Walkers," Computerworld, September 21, 1998, 81-82.