Purpose and Design
First, a Little Geek Speak
In researching campus ministry sites to update information for this directory, we noticed that many do not present functional e-mail links, perhaps an attempt to keep the addresses from being harvested for spam lists. That is certainly a legitimate concern. So if your address is listed in the directory, rest assured that the e-mail links on this site are more secure than they would be as simple online text. Spambots (robots that harvest addresses from HTML and text), in a figure, go blind when they encounter JavaScript. Thus, all e-mail links on this domain are composed in and, thus, cloaked by JavaScript, to help keep your "In Box" from being invaded by cyber space garbage.
Form and Function
Form follows function. Or at least it should, whenever possible. Therefore, function was the first consideration in planning this design. Directories of ministries and churches in the form of hardcopy only function to provide our own members with information about ourselves. Putting the same information online in a similar format expands the potential for use by a somewhat larger audience, simply because it is electronically available. But a print style of form is not surfer friendly or very functional on the Internet. And (apart from the doggedly determined seeker who successfully navigates such files) that form still functions primarily
to serve us. However, if the desired function is outreach -- attracting students and helping them to locate and connect with our ministries -- then we must think outside the box of merely providing a location for information, ultimately determining to employ a more suitable form. In the case of this directory, elevating function required the design of a more elaborate form.
So in addition to providing a central location for information on church of Christ campus ministries and college groups, this directory is designed in a form suited for the function of public relations or advertising (similar to what we might find in a directory of related businesses) with a view toward maximizing the potential for outreach. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for students -- and those who care about them -- to locate and contact our ministries. For this reason, each page in the directory is supported by strong title tags and meta tags (behind the scenes code), consisting of keywords and descriptions tailored for the content of that particular page, to assist search engines in locating your ministry page by group name, location or campus. In addition, this domain will also be submitted to over 1200 different search engines, elevating the visibility and accessibility of our campus ministries in search results.
Bridging Gaps and Linking Ministries
By listing individual ministries on separate pages, the directory may provide an individual web presence for some ministries that are not online. For the ministries which are online, prominent links are provided to funnel increased hits directly to those sites. So our aim is to supplement and support all our diverse and unique web ministries. And the more we work together to provide the directory with accurate information, current web and e-mail links, logos, photos, mission statements, etc., the better we will serve both students and our own web ministries.
May God bless our efforts together, by His grace and to His glory,
Brian Cobb,
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