IWMW 2005: Parallel Workshop Sessions

A1: Hey! You! Get Offa My Web! Hidden Desires and Unforeseen Circumstances in Web Management

2005-06-06

Have you ever watched in apoplectic, impotent horror as a new Web development at your institution: broke accessibility guidelines did not comply with the corporate style was outsourced at great cost to an external company was entirely written in Java or used a non-joined-up proprietary solution ignored or trampled all over your department's interests considered users as an afterthought, if at all? was delayed, diluted or rendered pointless by everyone & their dog sticking their oars in? was given a trillion pounds by management when you're struggling to cover your staff costs? (Tick all that apply) Of course you have! All too often new Web developments are given to one particular group of 'players' in the University arena. No matter how well-intentioned, such developments inevitably have consequences beyond their perceived scope, often drastic ones! How can you shape developments in your favour if they are outside your immediate sphere of influence? This highly participative workshop will help delegates identify the players who might help or hinder their progress and enable them build alliances with those who have the desire, capability and authority to make it happen.

A2: Conducting User Needs Analysis: Tips On Gathering Requirements People May Have For The Systems You're Developing

2005-06-06

This session presents an overview of techniques used to build an understanding what user want from the systems you are building. Users can give you insight into the types of functionality, content, site structure and interface design. An overview of requirements gathering techniques will be presented. Including tips on one-to-one interviewing, observation of current practices, facilitating focus groups and developing questionaires.

A3: How to Find a Needle in the Haystack

2005-06-06

Higher and further education provide a wide range of high-quality Web sites and services but the sheer range and number of these services can often be confusing to users, who may have to search across a number of resources, with different interfaces, search criteria and formats. The move towards the development of cross searching capabilities provides a means to simplify the users' experience, which should encourage take-up and allow institutions to provide one interface to a whole range of services. This session will look at the technologies that can be used to achieve cross searching capabilities, covering Z39.50, XML, OAI and the development of Web Services. The session will concentrate on looking at real life implementations of these technologies within the e-learning, bibliographic and archival domains. This session will argue that XML is the key enabler for the growth of a distributed searching environment.

A4: Future-proofing for Collaborative Tools

2005-06-06

In the years since computer-mediated communication first became a reality, a bewildering variety of collaborative tools have become available, not all created equal. Some modify existing technologies, e.g. extension of browsers to permit collaborative use. Others are monolithic, such as the CAVE virtual environment. In some cases, multiple approaches exist to achieve the same result - for example, an electronic whiteboard can store work created during a meeting for later retrieval, but a basic whiteboard can be augmented relatively cheaply to permit its contents to be stored. This workshop will introduce a number of collaborative technologies. Participants will consider the benefits of each approach through discussion and group work. Finally, the group will discuss approaches to future-proofing (networks, buildings, infrastructure) for the next generation of collaborative tools.

A5: Community Building - Open Source and Open Content

2005-06-06

Successful open source projects tend to build substantial communities of users and developers. These communities are often facilitated by collaborative software perhaps best exemplified by SourceForge. Open content sites such as Wikipedia also generate substantial communities of user/developers. Here the remarkably low barrier to becoming a contributor helps create a related kind of community. This workshop explores key features of community development in the open source and open content world. It considers how these could be put to use by institutional Web sites.

A6: Whose Work Is It Anyway?

2005-06-06

Dealing with external agencies for your web needs can be a frustrating experience - for you, as well as for them. Whether you're dealing with institutional IT services or a third-party company, there are many common problems that can occur. This workshop will take a look at the issues involved in getting the job done, including: how to efficiently specify your work how to pick an external company how to check on and measure progress how to sign off and quantify achievements liaising between external companies and internal IT services dealing with ongoing support and maintenance

A7: Embedding Third Party Services in Web Sites and Portals - From Links To WSRP the Pros and Sons

2005-06-06

Institutional portals and Web sites are beginning to make use of third party sources in systematic ways. There are now an increasing number of ways in which this can be done including: Linking to external sites (or channels) Linking to external sites with customisation information in the link Linking to external sites using single sign-on techniques Embedding stand alone channels Embedding sites through the use of CSS Embedding sites through the use of HTML fragments SOAP / JSR168 WSRP The workshop will help you to explore the issues in using these, and other techniques, to include third party channels, exploring the advantages and disadvantages (for instance in the degree of customisation available) and the effort involved. Connects, the Learning and Teaching Portal, will be used as a case study as it offers most of these techniques - see .

A8: Managing Stakeholders with PRINCE2

2005-06-06

PRINCE2 is a standard for project management that has been widely adopted within the UK public sector, including higher education. It centres on the need for a valid business case to justify projects not just at the outset but through to closure. It provides a simple framework for representation of and consultation with stakeholders through a project board composed of an Executive (who represents the 'business'), a Senior User, and a Senior Supplier. This workshop will convey the essence of PRINCE2 using the participants' own projects as well as experience at LSE as working examples. By avoiding the mistake of focusing on the bureaucratic aspects of PRINCE2, participants will learn to approach the management of projects not just in terms of 'those below' but also in terms of 'those above' and 'those to the side'.

A9: Lies, Damn Lies, and Web Statistics

2005-06-06

Web usage analysis by web server log analysis are known to be rough estimations, and useful in general terms only. There are many sources of error, such as the activity of search engine robots and spiders, proxy caching, and the dynamic nature of IP assignation by many ISPs. A newer type of analysis that tracks users in their browser claims to remove many of these problems, giving us a clearer picture of 'real user' activity. Such services are also in near-realtime -whereas previously, most institutions have downloaded logs weekly/monthly for analysis and then spent considerable resources preparing reports etc. In this session two different log analysis tools are compared, followed by a comparison of log analysis and browser-based analysis. As a result of this work, a consortium of national museums are considering moving to a hosted external service as a consortium. A consortium of universities have already moved to browser-based recording. Results from this work and issues raised by its implementation at several sites, will be presented.

B1: Whose Web Do You Think It Is? Considering Web Accessibility And Usability From The Perspective Of Different User Groups

2005-06-07

Drawing on findings from an EU-funded project (the European Internet Accessibility Observatory), this workshop session will start with a presentation on accessibility and usability, focussing firstly on the different ways end-users access the Web and some of the problems they are faced with, particularly if they are accessing in a non-standard format or using assistive technologies. The session will then consider some of the tensions that may arise between different user groups when striving to embrace an 'access for all' approach. For example, the Web designers who may want to have unrestricted creativity, without having to adhere to strict accessibility guidelines or rules; the Web managers who may have to implement institutional accessibility policies and guidelines relating to the Web and e-learning; the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) who want to widen access to the Web through use of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

B2: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime? Lessons from Implementing a Corporate CMS at the University of Southampton

2005-06-07

Within any institution there are numerous individuals with a desire to publish on the Web, and have often been free to do so, free from such concerns as accessibility, usability, standards or what anyone else in the organisation might be doing. CMS offers the opportunity to present audiences with a more coherent view of the organisation, but only if the content providers are willing to accept guidance on how best to prepare their material, and service providers are willing to listen to the needs of the various individuals and departments. The importance of spending time and effort on preparation before migrating to a corporate CMS cannot be overstated. In order to find out our customer requirements and equip ourselves with a thorough site specification, we have developed a practical workshop/workbook model. Departments and services are guided through a site analysis process that leads to the production of a site 'blueprint' - essential for a successful CMS migration. In this workshop we will provide a brief summary of the CMS implementation project at Southampton, then, working in groups, participants will be asked to complete a section of the workbook for a hypothetical Web site.

B3: Democratising the Web: The Revenge of The Non-Techie

2005-06-07

The Web has become a key medium in the way organisations communicate with their customers and how they are perceived by them. However providing quality Web content consistently in an organisation the size of a university is, to say the least, a challenging proposition. As the amount of information that is published on the Web and user expectations increase, the publishing process requires stricter control. At the same time the only way this process can be managed effectively is to enable content owners to become Web publishers. Drawing on our experience at the University of Bristol over the past three years, this workshop session will explore ways of addressing this challenge. The session will also include a live demonstration of the through-the-Web, Zope-based Web publishing solution we use at Bristol.

B4: Folksonomies: Metadata or Mess?

2005-06-07

A folksonomy is a decentralised, social approach to creating online metadata for digital assets. The result is a flat namespace with no hierarchy or control. This new practice, used on sites like del.icio.us and Flikr, has sparked off a lot of debate between those eager for a user-centred Web and others in favour of more formal classification systems. This workshop will look at the history of folksonomies and the issues involved in their use. Participants will have a go at personalised classification (tagging) and then through discussion and group work will consider its advantages and disadvantages. Finally participants will reflect on whether folksonomies have a role in an interoperable future.

B5: Inter-institutional Authorisation using Shibboleth: Myths, Lies and the Truth

2005-06-07

Managing access to restricted web resources is a complex problem. It is hard to find a generalised solution for a given institution due to the wide variety of infrastructures and procedures that might be employed. Inter-institutional sharing, which is becoming more and more in demand, introduces further problems. Shibboleth technology is touted as the ideal solution for both. This workshop and will take a look at the complex problem of managing access to restricted content, including asking participants about their specific situations. We will introduce Shibboleth technology and how it tackles these problems, and provide materials including an executive summary of challanges to help you explain Shibboleth to coworkers and policy makers at your institution. No prior knowledge of Shibboleth is needed - this is a strictly non-technical workshop.

B6: Avoiding the Legal Obstacles in Web Management

2005-06-07

This session will address various legal issues including Freedom of Information, privacy, ownership of project deliverables, sharing resources, Creative Commons and the UK General Public Licence.

B7: WHS WEB S IT NEWY? - Including Mobile Phone Users in the Loop

2005-06-07

Everyone knows that text messaging is hugely popular, particularly among 18-24 year olds. But to what extent are we making use of this technology in our institutions, whether as a marketing tool, or in communicating with our students and staff and allowing them to interact with the institution using this medium? The purpose of this workshop session is to highlight some of the useful facilities that are now cheaply available to enable institutions to make use of text messaging, particularly where the start or end point is a web interface, hence its relevance to managers of institutional Web services. We'll be looking at such things as: conducting text polls with the results being shown on a Web page in real-time; administering news alert services and "subscription groups" via a simple Web interface; enabling students to text in their questions during a lecture ready to be displayed and answered at the end; managing a text messaging marketing campaign via the Web; developing SMS/MMS to Web interfaces; and more. Come with your mobile phone and some credit so that you can participate fully in this workshop.

B8: JISC Service and Vendor Presentations

2005-06-07

We will be running a 'JISC Services and Vendor Slot' in which vendors of commercial software will give brief presentations of their products. In addition several JISC services will also participate and will describe the services they provide.

B9: RSS: Let's Clear The Confusion And Start Using!

2005-06-07

RSS - great lightweight XML format for syndication, or confusing technology (does RSS stand for Really Simple Syndication, RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary - or something else?). This session aims to clarify the confusion and outline the potential for using RSS within Institutional Web site. Topics to be covered in the session include: What can RSS offer me? The RSS standards wars A practical approach to use of RSS Models for creating RSS The RSS viewing environment Emerging RSS technologies such as Podcasting Quality assurance and trust issues