When the Scottish Parliament needed a Web expert, Hazel Martin was
voted the ideal candidate
Computers were bulky contraptions confined to physics labs when
Hazel Martin moved to Scotland. The World-Wide Web was science
fiction and the Scottish Parliament hadn't existed for 300 years.
Today, 22 years on, Martin is Web master at the Scottish
Parliament, responsible for maintaining and developing the Scottish
Parliament's Web site - a site she helped design and build last
year.
Martin has little formal IT training and her career history is,
in her words, "chequered and disorganised". However, she says her
training in librarianship proved to be an excellent grounding for
being a Web master. "They require similar core skills - the
analysis, organisation and presentation of information."
Working as librarian she gained computer experience early on,
and when she joined the Scottish Office in the early 1990s she was
one of the first to get a Web connection. "Within a couple of weeks
I was identified as an Internet expert, and by the time I left the
Scottish Office I was running the intranet and external Web
site."
Last April she was seconded to the Scottish Parliament to set up
its Web site. "We did it all in six weeks. One problem we faced was
that the organisation didn't exist. We knew we would have an
enormous amount of information but at the time we didn't have
access to it so we could only plan for it."
Throughout her career Martin has always worked in Scotland.
Although her home town is Belfast, she feels an affinity with the
country. And while it may not offer as many IT opportunities as
London, she says the benefits outweigh this one drawback.
"I have been to London and contemplated working there because
obviously there are more jobs. But the quality of life here is
better, there is much less anonymity and of course we have easy
access to the countryside," says Martin.
The Web has expanded her opportunities, and she has no plans to
leave Scotland. Instead she will continue her work at the Scottish
Parliament. "We are due to move to new premises in 2001. Obviously,
that major change will be reflected in the Web site, and I would
like to see it through," she says.
Curriculum vitae
Name: Hazel Martin
Age: 49
Qualifications: BA Hons in English, Diploma in
Librarianship
IT skills: online searching and integrated library
package, management skills, HTML (Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia
Dreamweaver), Photoshop, Windows applications
Job title: Web master
Favourite spot/hangout: walking by the River Shimna in
the Mourne Mountains
Favourite film: Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron
Munchhausen
Martin on Martin: big, brilliant, witty
Best thing about working in Scotland: the future
Worst thing: the weather