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A small but skilled coalition of Web publishers launched the Academy of World Wide Web Arts and Sciences Wednesday, hoping to jumpstart the same kind of peer-review process for the construction of Web sites that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences brings to the film industry.
"The Web has grown up. We're beyond 'Cool Site of the Day' now," says Derek Powazek, founder of The Fray, and one of the first members of the new Web academy. "If we're going to be taken seriously as a medium, we need a more serious system for people who know a lot about the Web to award those who are creating excellence."
Excellence on the Web, says Powazek, can be as simple as a great idea backed up by effective execution -- such tracking Federal Express shipments online -- or as complex as producing a publication like Stating the Obvious, which delivers daily commentary of interest to online readers in as clean and clear a form as possible. Multimillion dollar corporate sites will be evaluated, as will non-commercial projects.
The academy is the brainchild of Lance Arthur, whose own site, Glassdog, has won several "cool site" awards for innovative design. Though the academy may eventually hand out its own version of the Oscars to winning Web sites, Arthur wants to get away from the 15-minutes-of-acclaim mentality.
"Recognition -- as far as creativity on the Web goes -- amounts to a page badge," says Arthur. "We're looking to gather together a think tank about interactive design, content development, and technical innovation, representing as many mindsets as possible."
As with so many projects on the Net, the ideas and expertise are in place, but the financing isn't. If the academy is able to attract sponsors to its site, it would like to expand its "virtual headquarters" into an online educational resource for Web publishers.
Membership is by invitation only. The criterion for membership, Arthur explains, is a track record of experience building sites that have earned the respect of other designers. Though all of the Academy members thus far are Americans, Arthur says he is eager to hear from potential members outside of the United States.
Magdalena Donea, president of Kia Internet Solutions, hopes the academy will fill a vacuum of peer review organizations for experienced Webmasters.
"The Web needs this," she says. "The interactive design industry needs the kind of focus the academy could bring to it, without going by what's popular or who's spending the most money on their site."
Arthur says his hopes for a positive future for the medium reside in sites like Swanky, created by "college- and high-school-age kids who have no preconceptions of what a Web page should be. The Web is just a part of their culture."
Net-savvy young people, he says, are "going to steer where this big ship goes. Microsoft and Netscape are just going to frame it."
