April 7, 2007

My Own Wheel of Fortune

Last night: the end of a very busy week. I’m preparing for my first back-to-back business trip (DC-SF-NY-DC) to give a talk and attend some meetings. So I’ve been in pre-flight high gear the entire week, making sure all my projects are where they need to be before my long hiatus. You know how it is, you want everything in order before taking off.

I’m tired as I sit down for a bit of decompression before dinner. Of course, the best antidote: the mindless Wheel of Fortune. Pat Sajak and Vanna White can make you forget just about anything.

All is going well until the third toss-up. Category: occupation. View the video, then we’ll talk…

Technically, we don’t have a Webmaster at work. All of us in New Media support the Web and do what we need to, when we need to do it. But, somehow, I became the defacto Webmaster. When I ran the department I tried to pawn award the job to my co-worker Cathy. She refused. And somehow I was the one going to Smithsonian Webmaster meetings anyway.

Webmaster is such an archaic job title (yes, the Web is now old enough to have its primordial periods). First, it conjures up something magical and mystical, as in Jedi Webmaster. The Web is no longer a mystery. It’s hard and constant work, learning new things as the technology becomes available. Second, it doesn’t mean anything. Take a survey of Webmasters around the world and you will see their job descriptions run the gamut from basic html coder to Ajax/Ruby-on-Rails maestri.

But it’s nice that Wheel is slowly catching up on the times (and its contestants have actually heard of the word). Pat and Vanna, thanks for reminding me of my roots, whether I want them or want to be reminded of them on a pleasant Friday evening at home. After a long week webmastering.

• [ Wheel of Fortune, Pat Sajak, Vanna White, Webmaster ]

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