I'm the Marketing Manager for Oxford University Computing Services (OUCS), which includes all aspects of communications, marketing, publicity, etc. of our services and events to the rest of the University.

It's a new post, created in Feb 2006. I work 3 days a week - and that's fine. However, I don't /do/ everything and I certainly do not write all our webpages! A lot of my time is spent on co-ordination and advising people on the best way to get their message to the right audience, making sure the OUCS logo and URL's appear appropriately on everything and keeping the information flowing through our established channels (RSS feeds, newsletters, reports to committees, etc). I've written a number of web pages to describe a communications strategy, how to approach advertising, resources available, etc. I doubt many people read them but I find it handy to refer people to and so its not all just in my head.

We did used to have separate bits of paper produced by different sections and different times. It took a while to get established but now most are very happy to co-ordinate with (read: dump all the work on) me.

I work closely with our Information Services Section who look after the website. Anyone within the department can add web pages but between ISS and myself we check things are the right style, right place, right info, etc. Writing style and jargon is tricky but I will ask for clarification or suggest changes if needed. Techy people often seem to overlook the simple things - what is the service and why would I be interested in it? - in their enthusiasm.

Branding is a real issue. We have some great designers here who like to be creative. It can be hard to persuade them that they have to use the established logo or webstyle instead of their lovely new creation.

Jane

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