http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/ Details of the talks at the Institutional Web Management Workshop 2008 en 2008-07-10 http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/neylon/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/neylon/ Cameron Neylon, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory gives a plenary talk on how Web Based Tools are Enabling Open Research Practice. Communication of data, results, and models is at the centre of research science. Yet while our understanding of our surroundings across a wide range of research disciplines has been transformed in the last 20 - 50 years the means of that communication remains trapped within the now centuries old convention of the published research paper (and the traditional stand and deliver presentation). In the initial phase of the development of the World Wide Web publishing practises remained fundamentally the same with the printed page being transferred online but remaining in fundamentally the same format. The advent of user-centred Web-based tools for information gathering, publishing, social networking, and collaborative working has challenged traditional models of publishing and archival. These tools have an enormous potential to make scientific communication more effective, timely and comprehensive. Examples of such approaches include tools for sharing of data and technique protocols via wikis, image, and video sharing sites, collaborative authoring of research papers using online office suites and discussion of the published literature, research practise, and the life challenges associated with a research career through blogs. The availability of these tools is also associated with a growing interest in some sectors of the academic research community in adopting more 'open' approaches to research practice. The logical extreme of this 'Web 2.0' based open approach is to make the researcher's laboratory notebook freely available online or even to carry out the preparation of a research grant in public. While examples of the application of these approaches in academic research are currently limited they nonetheless raise serious questions about the future of both the traditional format of research publication and of peer review in its current form. Responses to the advocacy of 'Open Science' therefore, understandably, run the gamut from fanatical support, through amused tolerance, to derision and, in some cases, extreme hostility. In this talk I will discuss examples of Web-based and Open Science practices, including the experience of adopting these approaches within my research group, the state and usefulness of tools available to support these approaches, and the current position and future prospects of the Open Science community more generally. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:45:00 GMT http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/aspell/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/aspell/ Helen Aspell, Head of Digital Marketing, University of Southampton and James Souttar, Precedent give a plenary talk on Web 2.0 and Brand: Theory and Practice. There are thousands of Web 2.0 technologies available online right now, from Twitter to Second Life, all with tangible marketing benefits but not necessarily to every organisation or audience. In the current climate of Web 2.0, marketers are being expected to prove their understanding of new technologies and demonstrate how their brand is using and responding to the changing environment by incorporating social media into their digital strategies. This challenge is particularly acute in large, devolved organisations such as universities where technology decisions are often made at arms' length from the marketing function by IT teams or individual departments, neither of whom may consider the implications that building an online presence in Web 2.0 may have on an audience's perception of the organisation's brand. During the talk, Aspell and Souttar will outline how the changing landscape of digital technologies will shape the agenda of brand development in the future. This will include the principles of branding in the modern age with its application and embracing of Web 2.0 technologies. Moving from theory into practice, the reference will be the re-brand of University of Southampton with isoton used to demonstrate how Web 2.0 technologies can reflect and enhance an institution's brand. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:30:00 GMT http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/hyett/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/hyett/ David Hyett, Head of Information and Records Management, British Antarctic Survey gives a plenary talk on Web 2.0 - Whatever Happened to Web 1.0? At the start of the redevelopment of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) external Web site, there was initial enthusiasm for "Web 2.0" with many stakeholders using the term without actually knowing what it meant. Fancy, interactive interfaces, are no substitute for good information architecture, good navigation and good content - all of which should be underpinned by understanding the user and their goals. The session will look at how the Web 2.0 concept can be interpreted and will argue that it should be used with caution. Web 2.0 by any definition is likely to have its place within an organisation's Web strategy but should only be considered once we've got Web 1.0 right! And let's now forget about "Usability 2.0" and "Accessibility 2.0" either! The experience and lessons learned by BAS will be highlighted. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:00:00 GMT http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/wildish/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/wildish/ Alison Wildish, Head of Web Services, University of Bath follows up her plenary talk from last year entitled "Let the students do the talking..." which stimulated lot of debate. She spoke of my experiences at Edge Hill University and the success she'd had as a result of a more 'open' approach to Web content and services. In general the community were encouraged by our approach and many claimed to find it inspiring yet others, from the larger and research-led Universities, suggested "... it all sounds very good but Edge Hill is a new University so it HAS to focus on marketing... it's different for us". So twelve months on and now sitting on the other side of the fence, working in a research-led institution at the University of Bath, She will reflect on her previous talk and report on whether or not her approach and vision has changed. She'll be answering the questions many of you wish to ask: Is it just 'easier' to get things done in a new University? Should your vision for the web be dictated by the type of institution you are? Having moved to a research-led University is she now eating her words? Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:45:00 GMT http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/bristow/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/bristow/ Rob Bristow, JISC as Programme Manager for e-Administration gives a plenary talk on Institutional Responses to Emergent Technologies - What JISC is Doing. As users of all sorts become more familiar with new technologies (including both Web 2.0 type software tools and user-owned devices) and become used to, and expectant of, managing their own data through 'self-service' applications and systems, questions are asked of institutions as to how they will respond to these new demands. JISC has been investigating this area through strands within its e-Learning and Users and Innovation programmes which have been focussed in the main on the learners' and users' experience. JISC has recently funded a further series of projects that address the way that institutions are responding to these new challenges, looking at organisational policies, practice and strategies, as well as funding pilot projects that demonstrate actual institutional responses. This work is in its early stages but the scope of the responses to the call for projects and some of the early results of the landscape study will provide some interesting real life information about institutional responses from across the sector. This talk will describe the work that JISC is doing and relate it to the Institutional Web Manager world. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:00:00 GMT http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/currall/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/currall/ James Currall will be giving a Plenary Talk on The Tangled Web is but a Fleeting Dream ... but then again... "Just a quick phone call to ask you if you could set up something to archive the University Web site, it should be pretty straight-forward for someone with your technical know-how." It is only a matter of time before someone in "Corporate Communications", the " Freedom of Information Office" or some similar department comes to you with this sort of request. How would you (have you) react(ed) to it? Many acres of virtual text have been penned on the subject of Web archiving (a fair proportion of them no longer available because the sites no longer exist:-) One of the major problems, which is well illustrated by the Wikipedia article on the subject, is that most authors have concentrated almost entirely on "How?" to do it and the (technical) difficulties that arise. The speaker will argue that "How?" is the least of your problems. What is your institutional web site for and what purpose is archiving it supposed to serve. To put it another way, the questions: "What?", "Why?", "When?" and "Where?" come well before deciding if the "Who?" is you, or trying to determine "How?". As usual Currall asks awkward questions and never seems to provide any useful answers, just turning seemingly simple problems in complex, issue-strewn minefields. He hasn't written the talk yet, but you can be sure that it will raise some very fundamental issues and give you something serious to think about and discuss and aside from manufacturing Shakespearean quotes, will probably quote from the most read book in the English Language, although you might feel the need to check that he isn't just making it up! Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:45:00 GMT http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/taylor/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/taylor/ The Institutional Repository (IR) had a meteoric rise to fame. In a brief blaze of glory, it was heralded as the facilitator of a free exchange of information within the academic research community - a faster, cheaper and more effective way to conduct scholarly communications in the twenty-first century. Then, just as quickly, fame changed to infamy. The technology, the ownership, and the very ideal of the IR has been called into question by many and varied voices in the wider academic community and beyond. I would like to explore the really controversial aspects of the IR, and ask my audience to consider that perhaps, just perhaps, there was something useful there all along. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:30:00 GMT http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/mcintosh/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2008/talks/mcintosh/ Ewan McIntosh will be giving a Plenary Talk on Unleashing the Tribe. University and 'real life' are often seen as distinct entities by students, and employers. Outside academia huge changes in the way we interact and how knowledge is shared and analysed have been afoot for some time. A generation of Bebo Boomers are repeating the solidarity and participation witnessed by the baby boomers forty years ago. The net, gaming and mobile technologies are encouraging more collaboration across greater distances and cultures than ever before. Such stories should be encouraging rapid change in the nature of schooling. So what are the main routes down which educators could go and what are the main challenges to overcome? Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:00:00 GMT