February 2, 1995
The Internet's most versatile format, the World Wide Web, is becoming the latest in educational tools at SF State as colleges and departments are finding their way onto the internet.
The World Wide Web is a system that features a highlighted text on a page format that allows the user to click on and browse areas of interest.
While there is no mandate that departments maintain a web page, it is a great way for the University and departments to increase exposure and "electronically put on this face to the world that shows the diversity at SF State," said Julianne Tolson, the keeper of SF State's main web page.
"One of the greatest benefits of having the information on the web is that it's accessible worldwide," said Tolson. "I look at the log and where people connect from and I see people from Denmark, from France, from England, from MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, browsing our SFSU bulletin."
Tolson, an SF State graduate and former lecturer is now a consultant with Computing services. She calls herself the "Websterina."
Each week, Tolson receives about five requests to help set up and\or link web pages to the universities main page. Just two weeks ago, this task officially became 50 percent of her job description, she said.
"I'm unfortunately very busy and not able to perform a lot of outreach, it has to come from the outside person," preferably a faculty member, she said.
Currently, the University is making a policy for creating web pages, but for now a faculty sponsor is necessary in most cases to have a page linked to the campus server, Tolson said.
In formulating this policy it is necessary to weigh "all of the different types of people that might want to get with the web because it's a really hot potato at the moment."
If someone wishing to link to the campus server is not a faculty member, Tolson said she encourages that person to contact one as a sponsor. "We have to be concerned with contact while at the same time maintaining free speech."
"There are existing computing services policies that are designed to avoid misuse of campus resources for inappropriate areas," she said.
An example of an inappropriate area is a student trying to sell something, such as a car, by publishing an ad over the SF State web page, which carries text, photos, and sound. "That's not what the state's equipment is designed for," Tolson said.
Currently Tolson is working with web pages for the Alumni newsletter, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, the International Relations Department, the Golden Gater, AS Performing Arts, the College of Business, and the Cinema Department Online.
A web server can function on both the Windows and Macintosh formats, Tolson said.
The WWW is something that should constantly evolve, Tolson said. "Otherwise I would just write a book and just let it stagnate."