Open Letter to the File Not Found Squirrel
Current File Not Found Page
This week, Assistant Prof. Jennie Young (English, Humanities, Director of the Writing Center) scripted An Open Letter to the File Not Found Squirrel, celebrating the empathetic furry rodent. Anyone who has used the UW-Green Bay website in any depth since fall of 2012, is likely familiar with the 404 error page and would appreciate Young’s tongue-in-cheek homage.
The squirrel 404 page was an after-hours side-project designed by Kimberly Vlies (digital marketing specialist, Marketing and University Communication) in November of 2012 and was built by then web services developer, Andrew Buckman ’02 (Business Administration). The intent behind the page was to take an unfortunate experience and make it as positive as possible. The page was quietly slipped into site updates associated with an institutional rebranding initiative that was happening at the time.
Original File Not Found Page
The File Not Found Squirrel lives on in the current 404 page published in Kentico, UW-Green Bay’s Content Management System.
Photo credit for this Eastern Gray Squirrel (sciurus carolinensis) goes to former UW-Green Bay social media specialist Todd Sanders, whose office in Student Services had a view of “The Quad” where the squirrel was photographed. This photo was taken on January 23, 2007 and is one of an entire album that Sanders created, included below for your enjoyment.
Click to advance slideshow or view the album on Flickr.
– Photos by Todd Sanders
