Web application maps business opportunities

A technical writer develops a way to help a government contractor uncover procurement opportunities -- and in the process discovers a new opportunity for himself as an information profit center.

On October 1, 1996 my career path took a new turn which changed my professional life forever. For nine years prior to that date, I had served as a senior technical writer for Johnson Engineering Corporation, an engineering company and a NASA prime contractor. I probably would still be serving in that capacity had it not been for one single event that took place in the Spring of 1996.

The Deputy Project Manager came by and dropped off a book with the attached comment: "See what you can make of this." It was a copy of Netscape for Dummies, from the popular IDG "Dummies" series. At the time I did not know exactly what Netscape did other than allow me to visit pages on the Internet. As I leafed through the book and wondered indeed what I could make of it, a chapter title caught my eye: "So You Want to be a Producer." This chapter explained how to create Web pages using hypertext markup language (HTML) and view them with the Netscape Navigator browser. I tried the exercises and was amazed at how simple it was, but I was even more fascinated with the branching, or hypertext, capability.

That was the beginning. I later discovered that I could see how others created their pages by viewing the "document source" containing the HTML commands from pull down menus on my Web browser. I was hooked. I practiced using HTML at every opportunity, at home, at the office during lunch and between assignments. The most exciting aspect of designing pages was experimenting with various links between pages and creating branching programs of all sorts that would allow users to travel from one particular page to another via a series of choices. That meant "self-paced, self-directed" programming. Also, because HTML is an interpreted rather than a compiled language, all I had to do was place my little creations in a folder on a disk and voila, anyone could open and view them with Web browser programs such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer.

A directory of business opportunities
It was at this point in my education that what I was doing began to have an impact on my career. During a conversation regarding the Internet, I learned from one of the supervisors that the people in the Procurement and Subcontracts Office were frustrated with using the Internet because they always had difficulty finding Web addresses. They were particularly frustrated when Web pages listing of business opportunities were buried deeply in the many layers of various NASA web sites.

When I learned of their problem, I couldn't wait to get started on a solution. For each NASA site, I located the Procurement Section, which contained a listing of Business Opportunities, and I copied down the lengthy Web address. When I had accumulated the information for each NASA site, I constructed a simple page in HTML that invited the viewer to select from a list of sixteen NASA sites. I linked the name of each site to the appropriate Web address of its Procurement Section. For an example of the information at each site, see this Web page from the Goddard Space Flight Center.

The demo
I loaded the Procurement Addresses Web page (it only took up 10 kilobytes of space) onto a diskette and took it to the company president's office, where he and the Procurement Manager were in an informal discussion. With their consent, I entered the room, plugged the diskette into the drive and started the Netscape Navigator Web browser. I opened the file that was on the diskette and invited them try the new program. They began making selections and each time, within a few seconds, the Procurement Page came up displaying a listing of various business opportunities available at that NASA location.

I made a feeble attempt to explain that all the information was not on the diskette and that the program on the diskette simply "linked" the user to the appropriate address on the Internet. I didn't get very far with my explanation before I was interrupted with, "Never mind. It works. Can you do this for other departments?"

The Contract Finder map
The simple text list of the sixteen NASA procurement sites evolved into a graphical version, with each procurement site shown on a map of the U. S. (technically, an "image map" in HTML code). Staffers could click on the map and retrieve the procurement Web page for that NASA research center.

Other applications
Later, for one of our NASA clients interested in educational programs, I built a directory that would take viewers to any of the NASA sites with available educational resources for students and teachers. For this directory, I captured graphics files (gif and jpeg) from each site to use as "teasers." I accompanied these with brief descriptions of what a viewer could expect when visiting each site.

NASA’s response: a new opportunity
Our NASA technical monitors were delighted that someone could provide this service. They began writing new requirements into our company's contract that would include this new technology.

EDITOR'S NOTE: In effect, Ed had started a new "profit center" by "marketing" Web development services to a current Johnson Engineering client (NASA). NASA "placed an order" for the new services by changing the language of their contract ("writing new requirements").

A new role is formalized
On October 1, 1996, the first day of the new contract, I stopped writing and publishing technical documents in print and began developing new web sites for the company and its NASA clients. Also, throughout the year, I have spent most of my waking hours studying and learning so I can keep up with the new developments in language and technology.

As for my career development, on October 1, 1997, I assumed responsibility for a new production group in the company, the Technical Communication and Graphics Group. Consisting of three graphic artists and three web developers, we provide all of the technical, informative and creative products to be displayed on the World Wide Web, circulated within the company's intranet environment and distributed on throughout the world.