About NAFSA

Web Site Positioning Notice 2006

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Professional resources—including Web sites—need to have a consistency and identity, especially when they contain information as varied as that on our site. This positioning is based on a series of decisions we, as an association, make about how we wish to be seen by users. Positioning is the association’s "promise," so to speak, and is made up of a series of principles we follow. Though not always overtly stated to the user, these positioning principles guide us in our everyday work with the Web site.

Principles Guiding Web Site Positioning

Users of the NAFSA Web site will find that throughout the site…

NAFSA speaks with an authoritative voice. If material is on our site, or a link is on our site, it has been vetted by the members and/or staff responsible for that page of the Web site, and meets the standard of "NAFSA as the authoritative voice." A link is often considered an endorsement, and should not be added lightly.
NAFSA features the best, not the most. Related to the above, our goal right now is to identify the "top 10" or "top 25" in any given category on networks, in particular. We will build the value of our site as a "discriminating information provider," which sorts through the mass of information out there and selects the best for our site users.
NAFSA is open to all visitors as the default. We start from the assumption that much of our Web site should be open to all visitors (rather than members-only beyond the splash page, as some associations prefer). Some of the constituencies we are trying to reach—presidents and provosts,faculty, researchers, policy people, press, etc.—may not ever become members, but they should still find value in our site.
NAFSA membership is needed to gain access to the most valuable, in-depth resources. While the general approach is to be a resource to all international educators and those interested in our work, those resources in which the association, through its members and staff, has invested money and energy to develop and maintain can be restricted to members. As a corollary, however, in times of crisis, even those members-only resources will be made available to the larger community.