[UPDATE: Post on the Archdiocesan website about the new Office of Web Development.]
At a meeting with the Archdiocesan Curia yesterday, Archbishop Carlson thanked everyone for their service in the Archdiocese, and he also talked about some changes that will be put in place in the next few months to help the Curia better serve Archdiocesan parishes and organizations.
One of these changes, which was not mentioned too strongly, but I think is very important, is the creation of the Office of Web Development.
Since joining the Archdiocese of St. Louis as a web developer, I have seen the main website, archstl.org, receive almost twice as much daily traffic, and have been privileged to launch the redesigned stlyouth.org, catholicscoutingstl.org, cycstl.net, stlouisreview.com, and many other subsidiary websites. I have also had the great privilege of working with some great communications professionals, and an excellent editorial staff at the St. Louis Review—both experiences which help ground some of my enthusiasm for an 'out with the old, in with the new' attitude in reality!
I will become the director of this new Office in the Archdiocese, and I hope to begin the process of educating parishes and other Catholic organizations on the importance of online communications and the use of new media for their operations.
I have recently begun working in earnest on building out www.archstldev.com as a useful tool by which the Office of Web Development can communicate the goings-on of the Archdiocesan Office of Web Development in a very open way. This is also an opportunity to highlight some best practices for other large organizations' development.
Developing 'in the open' allows one to accept with humility the stupidity of some of his solutions, but also allows for fellow developers (and users alike) to give input that can help advance a person's web development project to another level. (This is also why I started and try to maintain Open Source Catholic as much as I am able).
Please pray for me as I work to help the Archdiocese in this new role!