Developing The United States Air Force Dietitians’ Website

Abstract

The number of services and users on the Internet has increased dramatically in the 1990's. The United States Air Force Dietitians have joined this growing trend and launched a worldwide web page. The first step in web page design is to define a purpose. Our purpose was threefold: first, to advertise/market Air Force Dietetics and the Diet Therapy career field; second, to provide an information resource for general nutrition topics and hyperlinks to related subjects; and third, to serve as an external communication tool with an e-mail function. The next step is to define your audience. The populations of those surfing our web page include the general public, military and civilian dietitians, and other military members. A password protected area can be designed to restrict access to certain users. We created a password protected area for our active duty and reserve Air Force dietitians. After determining the purpose and audience, the next step is to contact the systems administration office to request space on the local area network server. A Webmasters meeting was held at our facility to review guidelines and regulations of deploying a web page on a Government site. The final step is obtaining approval. In the Air Force, review and approval by the Public Affairs department is essential. After approval, and with each update, the web page is uploaded and functionally maintained with a “counter” to track visits. At a minimum, the page is maintained monthly to update information and ensure links are still active. Developing a worldwide web page can be accomplished in four easy steps. The worldwide web is no longer a tool of the future. It is a tool of today and can enhance networking, marketing and professional learning for dietitians throughout the world.