The PSU Web pages will undergo a subtle but steady transition over the next year. Why? The Web is changing all around us, driven by how young people use it. And they are who we target.

It’s tough business putting a university web page together. Georgina Hibberd wrote about University Home pages, a thankless task.

We first made the web for fun. It was a novel experience to be able to write and publish pages to the World Wide Web. We used hypertext code to make pages come alive. Then every school had to have a Web page. IT shops handed over their early Web pages to PR, professionals who could manage the image. The web became an essential marketing tool.

In the past few years, nothing has changed information and the Web like Google. They are literally transforming the Web to place information and resources at one’s fingertips. Additionally, more and more people are networking socially on the web. Services like mySpace, FaceBook and others are magnets for today’s youth.

I could go on. But the real evidence lives in my house. Two teenage girls who spend more time online than in front of the TV. They navigate and engage online with those they know from school. It’s their world, it’s how they communicate.

So as we roll out new versions of the web pages, the first thing to understand is that this is not for you…it’s for them.; tomorrow’s prospective students.

How we maintain the content on the Web will also change. Many of us will use new tools to write, submit and maintain content of web pages. If you want to keep your pages lively and current, you have all the power to do so. Conversely, if you have pages that are no longer current, they can be timed out until your information is current. It’s called a content management system.

Insiders have myPlymouth. If you haven’t noticed lately, take a look. Have you customized your page? Do you know some of the information channels available besides just the defaults? Have you seen the new student polling area?

Bah, you say? Don’t see the use for myPlymouth?

Think again. When we place announcements on myPlymouth, student responses are extraordinary. If we conduct a survey, we get data. myPlymouth has eyeballs of students.

There’s a concept known as the boundaryless organization. It has to do with organizations that move to a higher level of functioning defined less by organizational structure and more by innovation through integration of ideas and people. (see also The Boundaryless Organization)

Most organizations grow and evolve to become very structured. It’s our way of putting order to chaos. Departments are formed to develop areas of expertise and efficiency. Yet as organizations evolve, the very structures that make them organized tend to impede their ability to change, innovate and work across boundary lines. Strong organizational units can become silos.

Turf and philosophy, defined over time by those who created and nurtured the organization, inhibit seamless service with other departments. ‘That’s not what we do’ is what you might hear. Services are defined by extensive documentation and policies. They do what they do very well because it is what they know best.

Over time and in a dynamic environment, however, good organizations need to be nimble. They need people who can generate and implement ideas. If an organization is driven more by innovation and customer service principles, and less by organizational parameters, it cross-trains, shares resources and responds more quickly to initiatives. Self-help is maximized and knowledge is given freely. If you ask a question in one area, it can receive an intelligible response from one person or another within a short period of time.

A boundaryless organization studies and implements best practices. If none exist, they write ‘em.

This concept of boundarylessness is central to the idea of integrated services in the Learning Commons. Our Info Desk students and staff will be cross-trained to know and understand a myriad of services in the areas of the library, technology, tutoring and writing programs. They may not go deep in explanations, but they will be able to answer fundamental questions. And if the question requires a deeper level of expertise, the first responder will get the contact information of the requester and make sure an expert gets back to the person inquiring.

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Here’s a vision of where, if we blur organizational boundaries, the Learning Commons might be in 2-3 years. Reference services and Info Desk support share information and resources. If someone is busy in one area, another helps out. We wouldn’t have separate desks for Reference and Information, we’re working side-by-side. Downstairs, if a student gets tutoring in PASS, they walk over to the Writing and Reading Center and just as easily get support for writing a paper. Staffs in both programs are cross-trained in the fundamentals of each program and they share information with one another. Students don’t need to know that the organizations are separate. Sure, they may have some distinguishing characteristics and guidelines, but surrounding the student with empowered, service-oriented people should be the first priority.

More vision. Many of our students work for multiple offices during their time in the Learning Commons. There is a Learning Commons Certificate that students can achieve…they must work for at least one semester with all four academic services in the library and demonstrate learning and service objectives.

The whole would be greater than the sum of its parts. We would deliver our traditional services, but develop new services and support structures. We’ll be student- and customer-centered.

Our organizational units made sense once upon a time. But that is a rear view. Strive for superior, integrated service. We should not stand behind definitions of what we’ve done before, but envision what we might become. In that environment, no ideas are off limits. Sacred cows are put out to pasture.

Those are the hallmarks of a top-notch organization.

I met with a group of students recently to discuss technology; where we are now, the challenges in funding, and where we want to be in 2-3 years. They shared a number of valuable perspectives.

One issue that bubbled up that concerns me greatly. Students use our public clusters a lot. Whether to jump online between classes, more in-depth surfing or writing papers, the convenience is obvious. But they also seem to flock to computer clusters for the printing. They can write on their own computers, but they like to print on campus printers. And why wouldn’t they? We provide a large printing quota that, if exceeded, can be increased by a simple request.

Students can print at will. Print a draft, or two or three, then final copies. They are sometimes required by instructors to print several copies of their papers for distribution in class to others. It is not uncommon to see hordes of paper printed and often discarded to recycle bins just as quickly.

The cost of printing is yet another matter. Reams upon reams of paper are consumed. Toner cartridges are replaced often. High volume printers need replacement parts and have to be upgraded every few years. It is one person’s job to keep pace with daily printer needs around campus.

The promise of a paperless world is a concept unproved. In fact, it seems that we are printing more than ever. I understand. While I spend a lot of time reading online, it is still easier and quicker to have that paper in hand.

However, there is a cost to that convenience. And as I preach, change is about modifying behavior.

We are a ‘green’ campus. We promote environmentally friendly themes. This is an area of conspicuous consumption we could address.

How? First raise awareness. Help the campus understand the cost and impact to the environment. Then, engage discussion among faculty, talk about how can we use the technology tools at our disposal to work more online and demote rampant printing. Finally, place appropriate signage and information about printing in the labs.

The funding we save over time would be significant. And we would practice what we preach as environmentalists.