IWMW 2010 http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 08:45:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 Closing the 2010 blog http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/10/27/closing-the-2010-blog/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/10/27/closing-the-2010-blog/#comments Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:27:58 +0000 m.guy http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=814 We no longer intend to provide any more significant posts on the IWMW 2010 blog. The blog will remain here as a resource for you to use though comments have now been closed.

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

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How Well-used was the IWMW 2010 Blog? http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/08/13/how-well-used-was-the-iwmw-2010-blog/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/08/13/how-well-used-was-the-iwmw-2010-blog/#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:29:25 +0000 b.kelly http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=803 How well-used was the IWMW 2010 blog? Looking at the Google Analytics summaries for the month of July 2010 the following information is available.

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/“>IWMW 2010 blog page views

IWMW 2010 blog page viewsBut 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.

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Searching For Semantic Information About IWMW10 http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/30/searching-for-semantic-information-about-iwmw10/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/30/searching-for-semantic-information-about-iwmw10/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:29:23 +0000 b.kelly http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=800 The sigm.ma search engine is described as a ‘Semantic Information Mashup’ service.   If you search for ‘iwmw10‘ you will find a whole host of resources, most, if not all, of which appear to relate to the IWMW 2010 event.  The search results tend to come from structured information sources such as blogs, popular Social Web services and various RSS feeds.

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'

Search on sig.ma for 'iwmw10'

We hope you find this a useful resource.

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Blog Posts about IWMW10 #2 http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/23/blog-posts-about-iwmw10-2/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/23/blog-posts-about-iwmw10-2/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:09:25 +0000 m.guy http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=755 A few more posts for you (following on from the recent post on Blog Posts About IWMW10 #1):

General

Plenaries

BarCamps

Parallel Session

Technologies

Remote Participation

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

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Five minute Interview: Danny Blanchette http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/21/five-minute-interview-danny-blanchette/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/21/five-minute-interview-danny-blanchette/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:01:16 +0000 m.guy http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=540 Who are you?
My name is Danny Blanchette, 31 years old and new (as of September 2009) to the HE/public sector! I’ve been in IT since I was 19, working for BT Labs, then as an Analyst Programmer for Jobserve.com.

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.

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BarCamps at IWMW10 http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/21/barcamps-at-iwmw10/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/21/barcamps-at-iwmw10/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:49:45 +0000 m.guy http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=762 We are trying to pull together a list of all the Barcamp sessions that ran. Here’s what we have so far. Did you run or attend one that isn’t on our list?

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

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          Barcamp Review: “What makes for a great online video?” http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/19/barcamp-review-%e2%80%9cwhat-makes-for-a-great-online-video%e2%80%9d/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/19/barcamp-review-%e2%80%9cwhat-makes-for-a-great-online-video%e2%80%9d/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:00:39 +0000 guest http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=740 As facilitator, I showed three university videos on YouTube. And then invited delegates to award cheers and boos. The first video got mixed reviews. I loved it and thought it spot on for the target audiences. Others disagreed. Opinions about the subsequent videos were pretty unanimous.

          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

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          5 Minute Interview: Rich Manley-Reeve http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/19/5-minute-interview-rich-manley-reeve/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/19/5-minute-interview-rich-manley-reeve/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:00:02 +0000 m.guy http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=516 Who are you?
          Rich Manley-Reeve

          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.

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          Session Summary: “Are web managers still needed when everyone is a web 'expert'?” http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/19/session-summary-%e2%80%9care-web-managers-still-needed-when-everyone-is-a-web-expert%e2%80%9d/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/19/session-summary-%e2%80%9care-web-managers-still-needed-when-everyone-is-a-web-expert%e2%80%9d/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:14:28 +0000 guest http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=727 Amy Chamier gives us her summary of the plenary session: P2 “Are web managers still needed when everyone is a web ‘expert’?”, presented by Susan Farrell.

          ____________________

          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

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          IWMW10 Take Away: Martin Hamilton http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/17/iwmw10-take-away-martin-hamilton/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/2010/07/17/iwmw10-take-away-martin-hamilton/#comments Sat, 17 Jul 2010 12:03:23 +0000 kirsty-pitkin http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/?p=725 IWMW first-timer Martin Hamilton from Loughborough University explains what he will be taking away from the event and the value of the experience in this short video interview …

          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.

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