IWMW 2004: Introduction To JISC And The Web Community (1)
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The document outlines the 2004 Institutional Web Management Workshop, highlighting the importance of the web management community and addressing key challenges faced by web teams in institutional settings. Contributors, including Brian Kelly and Louisa Dale, aim to support participants in navigating technology, resources, and user needs while underscoring the significance of standards and open-source issues. The workshop emphasizes community engagement and skill development as essential for effective digital information management.
IWMW 2004: Introduction To JISC And The Web Community (1)
- 1. A centre of expertise in digital information management Institutional Web Management Workshop 2004: Transforming The Organisation Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath Email B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk URL http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ Optional Introduction To The Web Community Optional Introduction To The Web Community UKOLN is supported by:
- 2. A centre of expertise in digital information management 2 Contents • About This Session • The Community • The Challenges • The Support Infrastructure • Conclusions • What Can JISC Offer? • Open session Brian Kelly, UKOLN 11:00 11:30 12:00 Louisa Dale, JISC All
- 3. A centre of expertise in digital information management 3 About This Session Background: • This is 8th annual Web Management Workshop • Previous workshops have helped develop Web management community by providing opportunity for face-to-face meetings, discussions, etc But: • Became clear last year that not all delegates were active on main mailing lists • Participants may be unaware of main issues, organisations, acronyms, personalities, etc. This optional session aims to provide: • An overview of the key issues we face • An introduction to significant groups & people who can help • An opportunity for you to raise any questions This optional session aims to provide: • An overview of the key issues we face • An introduction to significant groups & people who can help • An opportunity for you to raise any questions About
- 4. A centre of expertise in digital information management 4 Contributors To Session Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus • Funded by JISC (and MLA) to support the HE/FE (and cultural heritage) sectors on Web issues • Based at UKOLN, University of Bath Louisa Dale, JISC • Partnerships Manager at JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) • Supports JISC's outreach activities Yourselves • Feel free to ask questions, raise issues, etc • Will be an open session at end About
- 5. A centre of expertise in digital information management 5 The Community What is "the Web Management community"? • Initially this was restricted to the Higher Education (HE) sector. However since the FE funding bodies agreed to co-fund JISC, JISC services now support the HE and FE community • The term tends to refer to those involved in developing, managing and supporting institutional Web-based services such as: Information: for external and internal users E-learning: not initial focus but now of growing importance E-research: a new area, including e-science & GRID work) Electronic communications: another new(ish) area About
- 6. A centre of expertise in digital information management 6 Who Are We? The Web management community embraces a number of groups who are involved in a range of activities including: • Web developers, Web system administrators, etc. • Web authors & content providers • Web designers, user interface specialists, … • Information architects • Trainers and support staff • Learning technologists • Team leaders • Senior managers, budget holders & policy makers who provide services for our users About
- 7. A centre of expertise in digital information management 7 Challenges What challenges do you think you will face in your role as a member of a Web team? Challenges
- 8. A centre of expertise in digital information management 8 Challenges You Will FaceChallenges Resources Technologies Skills Users Strategic Issues Not enough money Not enough staff Not enough time XML, HTML, CSS CMS, Blogs, Wikis What do they want? What do they find difficult? Technical skills Human skills Do we have a strategy? How do we implement the strategy? Managing resources
- 9. A centre of expertise in digital information management 9 Resourcing Challenges We are: • Part of large, well-resourced teams which implement information strategies agreed by the University and supported by user community • Isolated individuals regarded as political pawns and occasionally sacrificed as part of institutional power struggles Somewhere between the two Challenges
- 10. A centre of expertise in digital information management 10 The Ideal Web Management Team At IWMW 1999 John Slater (former PVC and head of Computer Science dept at Kent Univ) described how: • There was no agreed organisational location for a Web team • There was no agreed model for a Web team • University budget holders will want the money for themselves Web teams were advised to: • Be aware of senior managers' concerns ("do I shut down history department & give more money to Web team?" • Think strategically – and don't think you have automatic right for more resources Web teams were advised to: • Be aware of senior managers' concerns ("do I shut down history department & give more money to Web team?" • Think strategically – and don't think you have automatic right for more resources Challenges
- 11. A centre of expertise in digital information management 11 Getting More Resources • No simple answers • Need to make case for internal resources (staff, money, etc.) • Consider external sources (e.g. JISC calls – see later) • Exploiting sharing culture within community • Student help • … Challenges Or you could: • Work more effectively – e.g. implement ideas learnt at IWMW • Prioritise the areas you cover – and possibly drop some • Implement a Web / Information strategy to help address priorities Note you don't have to implement every new idea you learn at IWMW (and speakers who have great new idea may be weak in areas you are strong Or you could: • Work more effectively – e.g. implement ideas learnt at IWMW • Prioritise the areas you cover – and possibly drop some • Implement a Web / Information strategy to help address priorities Note you don't have to implement every new idea you learn at IWMW (and speakers who have great new idea may be weak in areas you are strong
- 12. A centre of expertise in digital information management 12 Technologies XHTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, CMS, Wiki, … Web team members face challenges in: • Keeping up-to-date with technologies • Evaluating technologies • Deploying appropriate technologies • … So: • What are the key technologies to be aware of? • How should we keep up-to-date? WebTechnologiesForSeniorManagers
- 13. A centre of expertise in digital information management 13 Key Web Architectural Components HTML • Simple document markup language • XHTML 1.0 is latest version – but: • Are tools available MIME type issue • Have workflow processes to ensure HTML compliance (important in XHTML/XML world) • Avoid propriety extension and display markup CSS • Use to define appearance of HTML elements • Must use – helps with maintenance XML • Key meta format for creating other formats • Designed to enable resources to be reused • Critical importance (not just a cool new technology) WebTechnologiesForSeniorManagers
- 14. A centre of expertise in digital information management 14 Browser Challenges Which browser should you deploy in your institution? What should your policy be on legacy browsers? Microsoft Internet Explorer: • Widely (but not universally) available • No longer developed (new version for Longhorn) • Will not be available on non (or old) Windows OSs Therefore: • Provided browser is your choice, but IE will not be available on Mac, Unix, … platforms • Your pages will therefore need to be usable on non-IE browsers (and should be in any case) Legacy browsers: • Many old browsers are 'broken' • Don't break HTML to cater for broken browsers! WebTechnologiesForSeniorManagers
- 15. A centre of expertise in digital information management 15 Managing Resources How should you: • Manage your HTML resources? • Manage workflow, publication, etc processes? Approaches: • HTML files: Use HTML authoring tool. Difficult to manage large nos. of resources. • HTML fragments: Use SSIs to pull in standard fragments • HTML and scripting: Use SSIs and conditional processing • CMS: As above plus workflow environment WebTechnologiesForSeniorManagers
- 16. A centre of expertise in digital information management 16 CMSs What CMS should I use? • No simple answer • May be expensive (even if free) • Likely to need institutional commitment • Talk to people here • See JISC TechWatch Report by Paul Browning & Mike Lowndes on Content Management Systems at <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm? name=techwatch_report_0102> WebTechnologiesForSeniorManagers
- 17. A centre of expertise in digital information management 17 Key Application Areas Information Provision • Mature – public Web & Intranet E-Learning • Big area from senior manager's perspective • Expensive (cf UKeU) • Issues about applications (WebCT, Blackboard Bodington, Moodle) and standards (IMS, …) • CETIS is key JISC advisory service Blogs, Wikis, … • New areas of potential in HE/FE? • Distracting toys which can divert from our mission? • See talk on Wednesday & parallel session today WebTechnologiesForSeniorManagers
- 18. A centre of expertise in digital information management 18 Open Source Technical, strategic or resource issue? Religious warfare or business decision? Should you seek to make software you develop (e.g. through JISC funding): • Available with an open source licence? • Available through a commercial licence so that your institution can gain a return on its investment? WebTechnologiesForSeniorManagersWebTechnologiesForSeniorManagers Open Source issues will be addressed in Sebastian Rahtz's plenary talk and parallel session. Sebastian is manager of the JISC-funded OSS Watch advisory service, which advises the HE and FE communities on OSS issues Open Source issues will be addressed in Sebastian Rahtz's plenary talk and parallel session. Sebastian is manager of the JISC-funded OSS Watch advisory service, which advises the HE and FE communities on OSS issues
- 19. A centre of expertise in digital information management 19 Maximising Access We should be seeking to maximising access to our resources and avoid problems of the past: • Device dependency: only works on a PC • Application dependency: only works if you have the same software as me • Future proofing: will work on new devices and not just on IBM mainframe, Unix system, Sinclair Spectrum, BBC micro, IBM PC, Apple Mac, PocketPC, Palm PDA, digital TV, WAP, 3G, … The Web provides answers to application and device dependencies – but the commercial sector can make more money by trapping users into their solutions WebTechnologiesForSeniorManagers
- 20. A centre of expertise in digital information management 20 The Bigger Picture There is more to service development than just standards Standards: concerned with protocols and file formats Standards: concerned with protocols and file formats Architectures: models for implementing systems Architectures: models for implementing systems Applications: software products used to implement systems Applications: software products used to implement systems Resources: financial and staff costs needed to implement systems Resources: financial and staff costs needed to implement systems Open standards vs. Proprietary HTML / XML vs. PDF CSS / XSL vs. HTML GIF vs PNG Which standards are applicable NT / Unix File system / database application HTML tools / content management Development vs. Migration costs Use of in-house expertise In-house vs. out-sourced Licensed vs. open source Apache / IIS FrontPage / Dreamweaver Oracle / SQLServer ColdFusion vs ASP vs PHP Zope vs Plone vs …
- 21. A centre of expertise in digital information management 21 What About The Users? What about our users? Do users want open standards, open source, …? If not, what strategies do we adopt to get them on our side, as the producers? Do users want open standards, open source, …? If not, what strategies do we adopt to get them on our side, as the producers? Applications Standards Architecture Users Resources Users
- 22. A centre of expertise in digital information management 22 Our Users The users: • What we are about • But not really represented at IWMW (except that we are all users) • Do we forget users when we promote our passions (standards, open source, favourite applications, application areas, operating systems, languages, …) • There is a need to ensure that our development activities address: User needs analysis (talk at IWMW 2003) Usability testing … Users
- 23. A centre of expertise in digital information management 23 Skills How do members of Web management teams ensure they develop appropriate skills? Your Staff Development Unit • Talk to your institution's staff development unit. They may have training on 'softer issues Netskills • National training unit based at Newcastle University. See plenary talk on Thursday IWMW • Make attendance part of your annual skills update! Regional • Join (or establish) regional groups (e.g. .gamut) UCISA • UCISA groups run seminars & conferences, etc. Skills
- 24. A centre of expertise in digital information management 24 Who Can Help Me? Institutional Web Management can be a challenging: • Web manager as political pawn in institutional power struggles! • Different cultures in different sectors (PR, Library, IT, …) • Lack of mature job definitions, titles, promotion criteria, … due to newness of profession The good news: you are not alone! • Mailing lists, etc can be a valuable support mechanism • Strong tradition of sharing • Face-to-face opportunities such as IWMW Support
- 25. A centre of expertise in digital information management 25 Use JISCMail JISCMail: • JISC-funded service which provides national mailing lists • The web-support (techie queries) and website-info-mgt (strategic queries) lists are widely used by community • A valuable resource http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A1=ind0407&L=web-support http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A1=ind0407&L=web-support But do we need a richer communications infrastructure? See talk on Wednesday But do we need a richer communications infrastructure? See talk on Wednesday Support
- 26. A centre of expertise in digital information management 26 Get Involved! To conclude (part 1): • There is a good support infrastructure within the UK HE/FE community (better than the US!) • More about JISC shortly • Don't ask what the community can do for you, but what you can do for the community! Opportunities: • Find a problem, discover others have the same problem? Research the area and become a guru (cf. Adrian Tribe & data protection) • Set up a regional group • Give talk or facilitate session at IWMW 2005 Conclusions
- 27. A centre of expertise in digital information management 27 Questions Any questions?