Webmaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A webmaster is a person responsible for designing, developing, marketing, or maintaining Web site(s). The term webservant is sometimes used when the person is providing such services to a church or charity.[citation needed] The webmaster of a Web site may also be called a system administrator, the author of a site, or the Web site administrator.
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[edit] Webmaster as a profession
Webmasters are practitioners of Web communication. Typically, they are generalists with HTML expertise who manage all aspects of Web operations. On a smaller site, the webmaster will typically be the owner, developer and/or programmer, in addition to the author of the content.
On larger sites, the webmaster will act as a coordinator and overseer to the activities of other people working on the site and is usually an employee of the owner of the Web site, hence webmaster can also be listed as an occupation. If the webmaster is hired by a larger Web site, or promoted to the position, he/she could be doing things ranging from system administrating work, to managing large projects, and making sure everyone is doing their job(s) correctly.
In the early days of the use of the term "webmaster" (a take-off on the term "postmaster", the administrator of an e-mail system), this role encompassed all aspects of planning, coding, production, and user interface. The webmaster may have many of the duties of an information architect, including ensuring site usability, user experience and menu taxonomy.
However, since the late 90s, this type of webmaster role was typically only found working on small Web sites that could be managed by one person, or in environments where there was not a great deal of role definition. The current model tends to be more team oriented with a site manager or online producer leading a team consisting of web developers, designers, programmers, QA lead, Adobe Flash developers and often at least one usability expert or a UI/UE team. In established web development companies, especially those existing since the 90s, the term webmaster may be used by senior officers of the company, and may include usage such as "Webmaster-in-chief."
A broader definition of webmaster is a businessperson who uses online media to sell products and/or services. This broader definition of webmaster covers not just the technical aspects of overseeing Web site construction and maintenance but also management of content, advertising, marketing and order fulfillment for the Web site.
Core responsibilities of the webmaster include the regulation and management of access rights of different users of a web site, the appearance and setting up web site navigation. Content placement can be part of a webmaster's responsibilities, while content creation is typically regarded as something that is not part of what a webmaster does. However, on a site that the webmaster is creating independently, the webmaster is usually the person who creates the content.
Typically, the webmaster is the agent who reads user feedback and complaints about site functionality.
[edit] Use of the term webmistress
Because some perceive a gender-specific bias present in the "master" part of the term webmaster, some women choose to use the feminine term webmistress as the name of their profession, although many do this only informally, and some find the term offensive and not suitable for the workplace. Its use is often an ironic, tongue-in-cheek play on the word mistress in the BDSM sense. However, it is just as often used in the sense of being an in-control, dominant woman in a field largely populated by men.[citation needed]
