Re: Certification and/or Education/Outreach

I would like to offer a different take on this debate. Whatever 
education and certification is to be offered (if any) must in some part 
be related to the perceived requirements of the people being educated.
The outreach program is therefore the first step (to create this 
perceived need).

As Karl has already stated:

People use "something" because they have a reason to do so. Among them, 
it can be:
   - Ethics (weak)
   - Fun    (weak)
   - Practical personal benefits (strong)
   - Benefits for other persons  (strong)

Surely increasing consumer awareness would create the necessary market 
drive  for web professionals to want/need to be able to adhere to 
standards and best practice?
At the end of the day, the CEO of my company wants me to give the client 
what they want. If a client asked about standards compliance and 
accessibility then the fact that I could provide those things might make 
me more of an asset to the company, at present those things are as 
irrelevant as my favourite band.

If a perceived need such as that for "search engine optimisation" could 
be created, then the outreach problem would be solved. A vendor neutral 
organisation such as the W3C would be ideal for marketing a "web site 
buyers guide".

Received on Saturday, 27 November 2004 00:32:10 UTC