iwmw 2004: introduction to jisc and the web community (1)

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

Institutional Web Management Workshop 2004:

Transforming The Organisation

Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of BathBath

[email protected]://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

Optional Introduction To The Web Community

UKOLN is supported by:


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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


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About This SessionBackground:

• 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

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Contributors To SessionBrian 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

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The CommunityWhat 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

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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

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ChallengesWhat challenges do you think you will face in your role as a member of a Web team?C

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Challenges You Will FaceC

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Resources Technologies

Skills

UsersStrategic Issues

Not enough money

Not enough staffNot enough time XML, HTML, CSS

CMS, Blogs, Wikis

What do they want?

What do they find difficult?

Technical skills

Human skillsDo we have a strategy?

How do we implement the strategy?

Managing resources


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Resourcing ChallengesWe 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

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The Ideal Web Management TeamAt 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

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http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-sep1999/materials/jslater/


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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• …

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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 in)!


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TechnologiesXHTML, 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?

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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)W

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Browser ChallengesWhich 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!W

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Managing ResourcesHow 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

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CMSsWhat 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>

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Key Application AreasInformation Provision

• Mature – public Web & IntranetE-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

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Open SourceTechnical, 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?

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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

http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/


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Maximising AccessWe 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

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The Bigger PictureThere is more to service development than just standards

Standards: concerned with protocols and file formats

Architectures: models for implementing systems

Applications: software products used 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 / UnixFile 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 PHPZope vs Plone vs …


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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?

Applications

Standards

ArchitectureUsers

Resources

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Our UsersThe 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 …

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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 ThursdayIWMW

• Make attendance part of your annual skills update!Regional

• Join (or establish) regional groups (e.g. .gamut)UCISA

• UCISA groups run seminars & conferences, etc.

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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

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Use JISCMailJISCMail:

• 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

But do we need a richer communications infrastructure? See talk on Wednesday

Supp

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http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2004/talks/kelly/


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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

Con

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QuestionsAny questions?