Some Ewha homepages require more thorough management to provide visitors with the latest and correct information.
According to the Ewha Voice’s research, among 47 college and department homepages listed in the section of colleges and departments at “Homepage-chatgi” page, the homepage searching tab in Korean version of the school’s main homepage (http://www.ewha.ac.kr), 10 of which had problems. Homepage chatgi is a page with lists of homepages of institutes, colleges, departments, pages of professors, and other Web sites related to Ewha, so that the visitors can enter the Web sites they are interested in.
The problems of homegaes include: lack of management of boards or faculty page, late updates for the notice board or job opportunities board, and inaccessibility due to nonexistent address. Another problem is that the “Homepage chatgi” page does not provide links or list the homepages of all the majors included in 12 colleges of Ewha.
“When I was a freshman, I wanted to know what subjects professors for my major taught,” Lee Yea-hyang (Christian Studies, 2) said. “However, I could not find detailed information about faculty members. So I asked seniors to know about the subjects, professors and events in my department.”
Homepages of each department are important in a way that it provides information of major on-going events or notices of their major like job opportunities and faculty news for prospective Ewha students and current undergraduates. Also, in case of high school students who are interested in Ewha or freshmen who do not know their department well, homepage could be the first channel to collect information.
“Before entering Ewha, I wanted to know the orientation date for freshmen students. But I couldn’t find the information on the homepage of college of liberal arts so I had to find it from elsewhere,” Cha Eun-young (Chinese, 2) said.
One homepage was last updated in 2001. Another had a notice board that was updated in 2007. Some homepage boards were full of spam posts since the Web site administrator did not delete them, or did not designate the successor to manage the homepage. In another case, a professor who retired last year was listed as a current professor.
“I just do not visit our major’s homepage. It contains information from long time ago. I learn what is happening in our department by listening to professors in class or reading notice boards in buildings,” Cho Hee-jean (Clothing, 3) said.
Currently, the main homepage is run by the Office of Advertising &Public Relations and each college and deparment manages their own homepage.
“More and more people first meet Ewha by visiting its homepages. As homepages are like ‘faces’ of Ewha, they should be managed well,” an anonymous official said.
The names of the problematic homepages had to remain anonymous for covering this story since officials related to the homepages did not give the direct answers and avoided the homepages being revealed.
“I usually refer to the main homepage or just ask seniors. My major’s homepage feels a little like a desert. It would be more convenient if I could find more information on each department’s homepages.” Hyun Hye-yeon (Public Administration, 2) said.