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Introduction to Web Guilds "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, he'll eat forever" - I don't actually eat fish, but it's still a good maxim. Through networks of people with a common goal, web-building skills can be shared to increase the quality of community-based sites to a professional standard. Web design issues can affect access and equity. For example, Plug-ins may restrict a site's functionality for disadvantaged groups. An awareness of these issues is particularly important if community involvement is significant to the site. Workshops, online training and mentoring can be used to share skills and knowledge, and the development of competencies will enable students to become accredited teachers themselves. Instead of this model being based on profit, it will be based upon a willingness to share knowledge. Although I have to charge in order to cover my costs and provide my own means of livelihood, profit is not my motivation. Web design is a rapidly evolving craft, and there is no generally accepted qualification to be a webmaster. If there was, it would be a course that would never end as the content would change as quickly as it could be delivered. In such a rapidly changing field, we need mechanisms of continuous learning. The web itself is the obvious tool for that, and it's true that there are many internet resources for webmasters to keep themselves up to date. Most of these resources are aimed at the flashy corporate side of the market, though. Fair enough, that's where the money is - and apparently that's what makes the world go around (world go around, world go around). But when you strip off all the flashy finery, the web is a whole different creature. In it's simplest form, it can be even more powerful. My awe at the web's potential to empower communities and individuals has never waned, in spite of it's increasing commercialism. With the current spate of dot-com crashes, perhaps more awareness will come back to the grass-roots of the web. I'm not advocating a return to Telnet & basic bulletin boards. Any tools that work for all should be taken advantage of. For example, modern eGroups that are freely available have huge advantages over traditional email-only newsgroups. My hope and commitment is to spread an understanding of how to make a good, functional site and to instill in those I teach a commitment in turn to share that knowledge and their own developments. It's the same idea that's behind the "open source" software movement, except that it's for non-techies. Aside from what I've had to do to get my qualifications, I have no interest in cutting code. I much prefer to use authoring software that makes the job of producing a quality site as easy as possible. I know my own sites aren't perfect. I need to take some of my own advice and narrow my effort. I am involved in so many projects, and of such a wide range, that I spread myself a little thin at times. My resolution is to channel my work into this - spreading my skills, so that instead of building a site for a community organisation, they can build it themselves. My goal is to develop Guilds, groups of webcraft masters, websmiths and apprentices with a common interest, who can work together and support each other. I think of what I do as more of a trade than a profession. It's practical, hands-on and able to be done by just about anyone if they're properly trained and mentored. I've learnt far more by doing, reading and from other webmasters, than I have from formal study - which is not a criticism of my lecturers, who were wonderful, just an observation of the way in which I best learnt about the web. I can't design really beautiful sites - those ones that take your breath away. Mine are practical, utilitarian sites. In trade terms, I'm the horseshoe-making sort of blacksmith, not one who makes bejewelled swords. I hope that Guilds of those type of websmiths also spring up, though. There's room for us all on the web. For myself, I feel that there's such a desperate need for horseshoes that I don't have the time to learn to make pretty trinkets and status symbols (even if I had the talent required for that, which I probably don't). INTRODUCTION
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