Being a class webmaster can be as simple or as technical as you want it to be.  All our volunteers have other work and family priorities to consider, so the job is very flexible.  Each class needs at least one webmaster, and may have several people helping out, but I can only fit two names in the little box on the classes index page.  One simple but very important job is welcoming new registrants.

When I receive a new registration, within a week or so I post that survey and any related pictures to the appropriate class website, and ask the class webmaster(s) to welcome their classmate when they have time.  I am trying to find time to automate posting and updating the survey online, but progress in that area has been slow because I'm always busy doing the jobs I'm trying to automate.  Within a few days, the class webmaster(s) send a chatty email to the new registrant to welcome them and remind them they can send in electronic or hardcopy pictures to go with their survey.  They may continue chatting with that grad by email for several weeks after that if they have more in common, but I consider the welcome email the most critical job for non-technical class webmasters.  Being welcomed by a live classmate is much friendlier than just receiving an automated reply.

Another way technical and non-technical class webmasters can contribute is to type an electronic alphabetical listing of all the classmates listed in their yearbook (one name on each line), scan the senior picture pages from their yearbook, and send the list and jpg page scans to me.  I use the lists to feed the databases that drive the site pages, and I add each grads picture from a senior picture page scan (if I have them on file for that class) when new surveys arrive.  Some webmasters even send me individually scanned and named jpg images for each classmate, so all their senior pictures are displayed whether the alumni have registered or not.

If you don't have time to do the more technical or time consuming stuff, or you have long periods where you are unable to devote much time to your class website, that's okay too.  Stuff happens that changes our priorities temporarily or sometimes for years.  One of our webmasters recently resigned because he had a new baby in the house, and that's certainly understandable.  Others have periods of higher and lower activity as their life situations change.

If you have the time and the inclination, I also need more technical help on each class, and I can coach you through the various tasks and levels if you don't know how to do them yet.  Some classes have less technically oriented webmasters that greet new registrants, while other class webmasters do yearbook photo slide scans and other technical stuff to make their web pages more interesting.  The Class of 78 is a good example of this.  The right hand side of that class front page is a portal into a whole new website they maintain with colors that help it blend in with the main goldenhawks.net website.

So you can see the class webmaster title can cover a range of people and activities, depending on your tastes and availability.    If you get a few email questions you aren't sure how to handle, you just send them to me, and I'll respond through you so you'll know the answer next time.  If you sign up first, you have dibs on which duties you want to tackle if others from your class volunteer later.  If you think you might want to help out and represent your class online, just let me know and we'll chat about it.

Ken Nairn, MSSH c/o '69
GoldenHawks.net Webmaster