History and Growth of the NDSU Communication Department Web Site

“NDSU COMM” was originally built in early 1994 using HyperCard/ToolBook software on a floppy computer disk. Ross Collins wrote material for the site, and designed the site map and home page as a “Daily Blab" (see illustration), with links to department topics (faculty, history, scholarships, jobs, class offerings, etc.) set up as “front-page stories.” Students in his COMM 362 Design for Print class designed an adhesive diskette label. Copies of this disk were mailed to 100 regional high schools. Collins conducted a survey of high school admissions counselors at these same schools about six months later to assess suitability and usage. Guidance counselors liked the computer-based option, but at this time computers were not readily accessible to secondary-level students at many smaller schools. Possibilities of the Internet had barely dawned; only one (apparently extremely hip) respondent suggested a resource available on a remote server accessible through telephone-line computer link.

In only a year, the success of Mosaic Internet browser (later Netscape) gave academic users the first glimpse of what the Internet could be. Usage exploded in 1995, soon making obsolete a disk-based version. Collins was preparing for tenure during this period, and did not believe he had time to re-package the material and design an entire web site for the department. He, along with then chair Tim Sellnow, searched for other faculty willing to design a web site, or for graduate students who could bring both ability and time to do the work. Over the next two years a few graduate students indicated some interest, but they too were not able to find the time needed to undertake this challenge.

By the beginning of 1997, both faculty members and the chair became increasingly concerned that a communication department without a web presence would seriously fall behind needs of its own students as well as competitive standards of other communication departments regionally and nationally. In summer 1997 Collins decided to undertake the job of re-casting material written originally for the HyperCard file into a web-accessible site. He relied on university server web space he had maintained as an original member of the university’s Web Instructors’ Group, which had been fairly successful in obtaining grants for projects designed to encourage faculty to offer more course-related material in web form. At this time few faculty maintained a web presence, although Collins, as one of the group’s original (1995) members, had maintained a modest web site containing resources for his students.

The department site was designed entirely “by hand” using HTML coding, and launched fall 1997. (See illustration of 1998 version.) While it was fairly rudimentary, it did provide basic information and links.

Second faculty member (after Collins) to add a link to this site for his own class web site was Douglas Blanks Hindman, circa 1998. Collins also added a counter to track site use. While these statistics were not recorded, Collins remembers use to be about 20 to 30 hits a week.

Between this time and summer 2001 Collins continued to enhance usability of the site, beginning with preparing new material using web building software, Claris HomePage. Links were added for faculty resources, and a downloadable form for student teaching applications was attached to the graduate material link. The entire Graduate Handbook, also written by Collins, was made available on-line, fully serviced with anchor links and printable typography.

In summer 2000 it became clear that the site had become clunky and old-fashioned, and needed a re-design from scratch. Collins brought the rest of the site into the Claris software, established a new design with menu bars accessible from all principal links, and added a section for quick updates and notices, called “What’s New in Comm.” This area would be revisited regularly to give the site a fresh option for repeat users. Collins has since tried to update this material once a month, although changes depend on information provided him by faculty and chair.

Material in a number of links also was rewritten or updated, and a new section was added to support the Ph.D. program. The Graduate Handbook material was revised to reflect a new published edition.

In summer and fall 2001 it was noted that colors and some links did not meet revised standards for handicapped accessibility. In that year Collins again re-designed the site, this time bringing the material into the now-dominant web page development software, Dreamweaver. The Ph.D. material was extensively rewritten to accurately reflect changing standards as the new program became established in the department. Collins also simplified the site’s URL, from the originally complicated www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/rcollins/commdept/index.shtml, to www.ndsu.edu/communication. He also put on the site some job-related statistics, a page of instructors and graduate assistants, and a complete course listing.

Later in fall semester a downloadable scholarship application and a more comprehensive but less obtrusive usage counter was employed to track hits. Collins had dropped the old usage counter after a year because it displayed results on the home page, which he found objectionable. The new usage counter indicated that since 1998 the department’s web site had seen its usage soar. In fact, recent statistics (Feb. 9, 2002-March 8, 2002) show 6,668 hits to www.ndsu.edu/communication, an average of 234 a day.

Robert Littlefield, Mark Meister, Judy Pearson, Tim Sellnow, and Steve Venette have added links from the department’s site to their own pages; other faculty may be working directly on the commercial BlackBoard software without adding a link to the department site, but Collins believes most communication faculty today have some web-based presence for their students. Michelle Shumate joined the faculty in 2003, and added her web site link.

In 2004 Collins, now coordinator of the department's new interdisciplinary minor in web design, decided to make yet another redesign of the department's web site, but this time as a capstone student project. Ty Hagerott was selected, a graduating senior. The result was launched in May.

Clearly in the case of NDSU’s department of communication, this service has grown from floppy disks in a few high schools to probably the most important single resource available to prospective and current students both on campus and around the country.

The Wayback Machine: general web site history.