The IWMW 2010 blog used a Buddy Press plugin which allowed a community to be created around the blog. Some posts offer thoughts on the role of Buddy Press.

Blog Statistics

We are publishing the following statistics for future reference. They are intended to inform others about the lifecycle of the blog.

Active Dates: Posts were published on this blog between 18th May 2010 and 27th October 2010.
Number of posts: 81 published posts, 13 of which were guest posts.
Number of comments: 75 comments were published.
Users: 5 Administrators, 2 editors, 2 contributors, 121 subscribers.
Akismet statistics: 1,352 spams caught, 62 legitimate comments, and an overall accuracy rate of 99.788%.
Details of blog theme: BuddyPress Default 1.2.4.1 by BuddyPress.org.
Details of plugins used: Akismet, Buddy Press, BP Disable Activation, Google Analyticator and Lifestream, Lux Vimeo. Note that the functionality of the Lux Vimeo plugin was replaced by the Embed Object plugin on 13 July 2011 and details of embedded Vimeo video clips updated.
Details of type and version of software used: WordPress (2.9.2).
Blog licence:
This blog is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence (Attribution – Non-commercial – Share Alike). Comments are also covered under this licence.

Screen dump of IWMW 2010 blog

During July there were 2,696 visits. As might be expected, and illustrated in the graph, the blog was visited the most during the three days of the event, with the peak of 474 visits taking place on Tuesday 13 July 2010, the second day of the event.

<a href="http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/“>

But how many visitors came to the blog?

As shown in the accompanying image once again the peak occurred on the second day of the event, with 363 visitors.

Overall during July 2010 there were 363 visitors, according to the statistics provided by Google Analytics.

The browser statistics  are not very interesting: 37.7% of the views came from Firefox; IE was in second place with  21.5% followed by 17.8% for Safari and 17.6% for Chrome.

64% of the views came from browsers running MS Windows with the Macintosh OS in second place with 25%.  However Apple were also in the 3rd, 5th and 6th places with 5%, 1.4% and 1.2% of the market for the iPhone, iPod and iPad devices. Linux was in 4th place with 1.6% with Android devices trailed at 1%.

I’m note quite sure what these statistics might tell us, but I feel it is worth publishing these summaries as this information might be used to support decisions on the provision of blog to support events in the future and to enable comparisons to be made.

If you are looking to see what other shave said about the event sign.ma might prove to be a useful starting point for your search.  Note that at the time of writing there are 46 sources which have been found.  If you search for iwmw you will find many more resources (200 at the time of writing) including those about previous IWMW events.

Search on sig.ma for 'iwmw10'

We hope you find this a useful resource.

General

• Dan Wiggle – Institutional Web Management Workshop 2010
• Deborah Fern – Insomnia and IWMW10
• Marieke Guy – Summing up IWMW10
• Keith Doyle – IWMW 2010 Report

Plenaries

• Mike Nolan – Will you be our expert?
• Ranjit Sidhu – Adding Value- Next steps for universities?

BarCamps

• Mike Nolan – He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone
• Keith Doyle – Instant Usability Testing

Parallel Session

• Keith Doyle – Developing Your Personal Contingency Plan

Technologies

• Brian Kelly – Further Reflections on IWMW 2010: Innovation and Sustainability
• Martin Hawksey – Twitter subtitling, the three E’s: Embed, embed, embed

Remote Participation

• Ann Priestley – #iwmw10 follow-up (1): eavesdropping on the conversation

If anyone else has any more we’ve missed just add them in the comments. Thanks.

Where do you work and what do you do?
I work for the University of Essex as their Systems Programmer. The title is a bit misleading as I look after any web related servers whilst also doing my fair share of programming.

What are your main areas of interest?
Whilst I am primarily focused on looking at server technology, I’m an analyst programmer at heart with a particular interest in making code shareable, testable and stable. In terms of IWMW and what with coming from a very different background, I am really interested to see how other institutions are working.

Are you working on anything exciting?
The universities web servers are due for renewal very soon so I’m busy looking at IIS7 web farm options and the possibility of using webdav to allow our devolved authors to have editing access. The challenge to tick all the boxes for our userbase and yet satisfy our own demands for a scalable IT solution is immense, but that’s part of the fun right??

Have you been to IWMW before?
No. I only just accepted my new position here just as IWMW @ Essex Uni was finishing. Which was a bit of a shame as it would have been ideal to get an insight from day one. However I’ve heard a lot of good things so I’m hoping it was worth the wait

What has been the best bit this year so far?
All of it has been brilliant. By far the highlights were Sid and Paul Boag’s p5/p6 talks, however the StudentNet portal was a great technological demo. If pushed to select just a single highlight, I would go with Josef Lapkas StudentNet – to save me having to decide between Sid & Paul! The project management parallel session also deserves a mention.

What will you take away?
I think it has given us all a lot to think about. It seemed the theme or emphasis was on being more like the commercial world, and I think that personally is where I want to spend my efforts focusing us. We need to be flexible, dynamic and enthusiastic about change and I felt IWMW really pushed that message out.

Will you do anything differently as a result of IWMW?
I don’t know I will do anything differently as I am still relatively new here and so I already want to do things quite differently to how they were/are. However IWMW has provided that ‘caffeine boost’ to make sure I carry out those changes that I can and hassle people to make the changes I can’t.

What do you think would be the impact on you or your organisation if there was no IWMW?
Having never been to one I really was quite sceptical it could live up to what other people were saying. However I thought it was fantastic. It was great to actually meet people in similar roles in other institutions and talk to them face to face. Much of what I got out of IWMW was actually in the breaks between talks, forcing myself to talk to people I hadn’t come with and so I could learn how places like Oxford, Bath, Kent, Canterbury, Colchester Institute and more differed in their web and overall IT approaches.

Not having IWMW would definitely isolate the institutions from each other a lot more, and in the current climate I don’t think we can afford to do that.

BarCamps Session 1

1. Open data / Linked Data:  Suraj Kika, Jadu
2. An Insight Into Website Quality Assurance and Enterprise Search: Site Improve
3. Client Update and Feedback Session: Terminal Four
4. Making Your Site Mobile-Friendly: Patrick H Lauke, Opera
5. Gett9ing On With Plone: Helen Sargan, University of Cambridge
6. Course Finders and Beyond: Mark Eyles, Squiz
7. Building a Business Case for Mobile: Chameleon Net
8. Have You tested Your Site Externally To Ensure It Doesn’t Fail Your Visitors, Site Confidence

BarCamps Session 2

1. Slate My Website: Mike Nolan, Edge Hill University
2. Promoting Your Institution with Wikipedia – an insider’s view: Martin Poulter, The Economics Network, ILRT, University of Bristol
3. Web Teams Must Blog: Brian Kelly, UKOLN
4. What Makes For a Great Online Video? – review live examples: Amy Chamier, Institute of Education, University of London
5. Instant Usability Test – let’s do one, with volunteer website and participant: Keith Doyle, Extreme Usability
6. Helping Your Users Get Satisfaction: Martin Morrey, University of Edinburgh
7. Fighting the System (Politics): Paul Boag
8. Apache Wookie & W3C Widgets: Scott Wilson, University of Bolton

Barcamp Board, by jayneandd, Flickr

Everyone at this barcamp had experience of commissioning online videos, either from independent agencies, freelance producers or in-house media services.

1. Columbia University, School of Journalism (5 minutes)
Target audience = new international students
Secondary audience = prospective international students

Cheers

• Witty introduction
• “Students-interview-students” format gives a fresh and credible feel to the content
• Cheap production values creates a fly-on-the wall, documentary look

Boos

• Patronising introduction
• “Students-interview-students” format is a PR mistake, for example a comment about the subway being unsafe will deter prospective students
• Cheap production values give a grainy, unprofessional look

2. University of Westminster, School of Social Sciences (8 minutes)
Target audience = prospective students for an MRes programme

Cheers

• Prospective students can “meet” the course tutors

Boos

• Hard-to-read pre-roll (too much information)
• Feels too long, and the visual content doesn’t add anything to the audio content
• “Staff-talking-direct-to-camera” format feels stiff and unnatural, plus they look as if they are reciting a script from memory
• Plants waving about in the wind, in the background, are a distraction

3. Cranfield University, School of Management (13 minutes)
Target audience = all stakeholders

Cheers

• Professional feel, because filmed in a studio, with an interviewer and multiple cameras
• Interview format and production quality is congruent with the target audience

Boos

• Hard to read pre-roll (too much information on second shot)
• DOG (digital onscreen graphic) takes up too much screen space, and is it really necessary?

Amy Chamier, Web Editor
Institute of Education, University of London

Where do you work and what do you do?
Northumbria University, Senior Web Developer

What are your main areas of interest?
Java, PHP, AJAX

Are you working on anything exciting?
Currently we are developing an iPhone/Android app for our prospective
students

Have you been to IWMW before?
Yes, Aberdeen 2008

What has been the best bit this year so far?
Really enjoyed Patrick Lauke’s plenary on HTML5 and bar camp on making mobile-friendly sites.

It has been very interesting getting an insight into what others are
doing, especially in the mobile/app field.

What will you take away?
I am eager to start looking into HTML5 after seeing a taster here.
Some good ideas & inspiration for mobile services

Will you do anything differently as a result of IWMW?
What I’ve seen here especially in terms of mobile services/apps will
inform our future developments/enhancements in this area.

What do you think would be the impact on you or your organisation if
there was no IWMW?
We’d be a lot more insulated and would lack awareness of what others are doing. It is very helpful to see how other institutions approach common problems.

____________________

Will web managers be the first to go when public sector cuts bite? This was the unsettling question put to us by independent web consultant Susan Farrell.

Susan, a former head of web services at Kings College, London, explained how those with front-end skills are most at risk. Although we make the web work for visitors – with our knowledge of writing for the web, information architecture, usability, accessibility and search engine optimisation – these skills often go unappreciated.
The rapid spread of easy-to-use web tools, such as content management systems, is leading senior managers to look on everyone as a web expert now. Departments keen for a bigger slice of the web cake, are quick to endorse this view. So how do we communicate our value as web specialists? Susan’s advice is to demonstrate the competitive advantage we deliver in turbulent times. We must show how websites run by web managers cut the cost of: (a) generating new customers (b) back office administration and (c) service delivery. And also, how websites run by amateurs can put an organisation’s reputation at risk. In wrapping up, Susan left us with a final question. Without recognised qualifications and a professional body, do web managers and their specialist skills run the risk of extinction, as our duties are absorbed into other roles? Answers on a post-card for next year’s workshop, please.

NOTES:

• Susan’s presentation (on Slideshare)
• If you liked this session, you might like this article (by Gerry McGovern)

By Amy Chamier, Web Editor
Institute of Education, University of London

Video clip of Martin Hamilton at IWMW10 from the UKOLN Vimeo account. If you are unable to view this video, please view the video on Vimeo.