Transcript MS PowerPoint

Pres 6
Publishing An e-Journal
Publishers Requirements
UKOLN is funded by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries,
the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher and Further
Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the
European Union.
UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.
Session Aims
In this session we will:
• Discuss what publishers might expect from our
Web publication(s)
• Highlight any issues which will need to be resolved
in order to satisfy these requirements
• Look at some examples
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E
Exercise
Complete exercise on “Publisher Requirements”
What publisher requirements have you
identified?
What issues need to be addressed?
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Publisher Requirements
Support Users
Support the user
requirements which
have been identified
Support Authors
Support the author
requirements which have
been identified
Promotion
Techniques to
promote the
publication
Ability to deploy new
functionality
Statistics
Statistics on use
of publication
Publisher
Requirement
Technical Issues
s
Quality
Ensure the service works
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Functionality
Scalable architecture
Resources
Solutions match
staff expertise &
financial
resources
Databases / CMS
Contents
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Identifying Publisher Requirements
Promoting the Publication
Statistics
Syndicating Content
Maintaining Content
Standards
Architecture
Applications
Find Article From AltaVista
Search engines can drive much traffic to a Webzine,
esp. if articles contain unusual names:
• Be proactive in ensuring e-journals are indexed by
major search engine vendors
• Ensure that e-journals are indexed in a timely
manner (just before new issue released)
• Provide a search engine friendly site map (e.g.
issue or volume table of contents) containing lists to
all (all new) articles and submit it to search engines
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Tools
Many tools are
available for submitting
Web sites to search
engines, including
desktop applications
and Web services
NOTE:
• Submit the URL of a
page with links to all
pages (e.g. table of
contents, site map,
What’s New page)
• Beware of spam
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http://www.scrubtheweb.com/
Has It Worked?
After indexing:
• Use (e.g.) AltaVista search
facility to count nos. of pages
it has indexed
• Use tools to check position for
typical query (e.g.
Tracerlock)
Tracerlock sends regular emails
with info on position of query in
AltaVista
• Why is my Webzine not in top
10 for query?
• Should I resubmit?
• Is the service incorrect?
• Should I use another service?
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http://www.tracerlock.com/
Avoid Junk Being Indexed
A search for your Webzine gives you:
• The pre-release information, contained in the
editor’s personal home page
• The pre-publication Web site
To avoid this happening make use of a robots.txt
file and the Robot Exclusion Protocol (REP):
robots.txt
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
Pre-release Web site
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NOTE:
Think about this from the start
Once a page is indexed, it’s difficult
to get it removed
You can also control robots by using the
<meta link=“robots”
content=“noindex”> tag in HTML pages
(e.g. don’t index news pages)
Approaches to Statistics
Cultivate Interactive uses two externally hosted statistical services:
• Nedstats (stats for
http://sm6.sitemeter.com/default.asp?action
=stats&site=sm2-exploit-home&report=33
individual articles)
• SiteMeter (stats for
entire Webzine)
and analysis by WebTrends
Externally-Hosted:
 Minimal resource
requirements
 Extra info (PC analysis)
 Email notification
 Loss of info
 Reuse may be difficult
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See <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-focus/> and
<http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue7/statistics/>
Other Indicators
Web stats are of uncertain quality due to effects of
caching, robots, single visitors, etc.
Other useful performance indicators:
• Nos. of links to your online publication
• Proportion of publication which has been indexed
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http://www.linkpopularity.com/
http://www.altavista.com/
News Feeds For Others To Use
You can provide news feeds
from your Webzine:
• Additional dissemination
• Remote site drives traffic to you
UKOLN has developed
CGI and Javascript
parsers for RSS news
feeds:
• CGI version works
for any browser, but
use requires CGI
privileges
• JavaScript version
requires JS-support,
but can be used by
HTML author
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Auditing And Monitoring
You can make use of Web-based services to audit and
monitor your electronic publication:
Web Site Health Check
• Check HTML and CSS compliance, performance, download
times, etc using DrHTML, NetMechanic, etc.
Accessibility
• Browser emulators and accessibility checkers such as Bobby
Dissemination
• Check link popularity, pages indexed, etc using LinkPopularity
Monitoring Server Availability
• Notification if server is unavailable, such as
WatchMyServer.com
See workshop materials at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/
events/workshops/stimulate-2001/benchmarking//>
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Article Maintenance
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Web sites deteriorate:
• Information becomes out-of-date
• Hot news becomes stale news
• Links start to break
• Metadata changes (email and postal address of author, etc.)
• New formats are introduced (HTML -> XHTML)
• New functionality is introduced (automated translation)
What should be done if:
• The links from an article become broken
• The author’s email and postal address changes
• An article now contains incorrect information
• You wish to change the font used initially
Should:
• They be fixed
• They be left – don’t tamper with published information, as this
sets a dangerous precedent
• …
What Is The Article?
A published article may be treated as an
aggregation of resource fragments:
• HTML / CSS stuff (DTD, <HTML> elements, CSS
attributes, …)
• Navigational fragments (header, footer, …)
• Branding (name of publisher, funder, etc.)
• Core content (the bit which would be printed in a
conventional publication)
• Additional end user functionality (translate this
article, find similar articles, annotate article, …)
• Publisher / author functionality (validate this article,..)
• …
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Permanent Record or
Updated Resource?
How do you regard an article published in a Webzine:
• A fixed record which should not be changed
(unless, possibly, a formal update / reprint process
is gone through)?
• A resource which can be updated according to
pragmatic criteria (e.g. fixing errors, annotating
when out-of-date, but not changing the original
meaning)?
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A Pragmatic Approach
There is a need for a policy (and related procedures).
This will reflect the role of the Webzine.
How about:
• The meaning of published information will not be changed once
an article has been published
• References (hyperlinks) which become broken will be
annotated if they are fixed or removed. Original link information
will be available to the reader.
• The look-and-feel of the Webzine may be changed
retrospectively for published articles. If feasible, it should be
possible for a reader to return to the original look-and-feel
• Changes may be made to HTML, etc. elements.
• Changes made be made to the navigational and functional
fragments for an article
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Standards
The publisher should be interested in standards:
• To maximise potential readership
• To provide long-term access to resources
• To avoid application / platform dependencies
We use:
• HTML (moving to XHTML, but issues over tools)
• CSS (but issues over browser support)
• Dublin Core metadata in HTML
We are thinking about:
• Transforming XHTML into WML using XSLT
• Providing DC metadata in RDF
• Using RSS for news feeds
• Other areas which inform our research activities
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Architecture
Key feature – use of neutral fragments which
are transformed, easily managed and reused
Title
Author
URL
date
Header
Footer
Article
body
Translate
See also
DTD
CSS
HEAD
variables
content
HTML
Render
article
Add new functionality:
• Print all
• Translate
• See also
Render
issue
Manage functionality:
• New translation
• Update Web stats
• Manage metadata
Create
site map
Add new format, etc:
• PDF, WAP, eBook,
email, ...
• Full list of authors
• User-defined views
Various fragments are processed by server scripts and can be managed
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Applications
What applications can be used to implement this architecture?
Cultivate Interactive
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MS SiteServer
Mainly used for indexing function
Also provides site management tools
Author upload facility is of interest
HTML Authoring Tools
HotMetal / FrontPage / HTML Kit
Web Stats
Nedstats / Sitemeter (Web-based)
Misc submission tools
Software Development (ASP Scripts)
Visual Interdev
Notepad
Applications – Licensed or Free?
Background:
• Limited budget available for Cultivate Interactive
• Limited resources for software development
(bought-in Postgraduate help)
• Provided opportunity to evaluate / report on
potential for (free) Web-based services - ASPs
(Application Service Providers)
Use of mainly free Web-based service:
• Web statistics
• Submission to search engines
• Polling services
• Monitoring service availability
See article at <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/
web-focus/> but note potential problems due to decline in
ad revenue
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Applications – A CMS
The model for Cultivate Interactive has worked well
For a larger-scale project, a CMS (Content
Management System) may be needed:
• Manage access by multiple editors
• Manage access rights (design can change
appearance, editor can change content)
• Manage workflow processes
author  editor  pre-release site  review  publication
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• Manage application development
Issues:
• Open source (e.g. Zope) vs. Licensed
• Capital costs vs development costs
• Entry point (size of Webzine, budget, …)
• Support
Identifiers
Publisher should provide short memorable identifiers
It’s wise to avoid platform & application dependencies
It’s also useful to use directories to group issues and articles
www.cultivate-lib.org/issue3/presentations/ Short, memorable, language
& format independent
www.cultivate-lib.org/issue3/presentations/intro.htm
Longer, format specific, scope for confusion: .htm or .html
www.cultivate-lib.org/issue3/presentations/intro.asp
Also application-specific, possible mirroring / indexing problems
www.cultivate-lib.org/get-article?issue=3&title=presentations
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Very application specific, not indexable, caching and mirroring problems
But use of a database helps with Web site maintenance
NOTE: database generated resource can have static URL
Mirroring / Preservation
If your Webzine is popular you be be asked if it can be
mirrored (low bandwidth areas, Intranets, ..)
Also consider the long term preservation
Issues:
• Absolute vs relative URLs
• The root of your Web site and its structure
• Mirroring the content or the application
• Sucking the Webzine vs pushing (replicating) it
• Navigation on a mirrored site (where is home?)
• Mirroring exactly vs rewriting bits
• Own domain for apps (eg. wwwsearch.cultivate-int.org)
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If a site can be mirrored easily, it’s more likely to be easily preserved
or transferred to other platforms. So even if mirroring doesn’t appear
to be of interest, there may be other benefits
D-Lib
D-Lib is mirrored at UKOLN at
<http://mirrored.ukoln.ac.
uk/lis-journals/dlib/dlib/
dlib.html>
NOTE:
• Search and the results are
not at mirror
25 • Long URL of UK mirror
Developments With Identifiers
Library professionals
have an interest in
persistent addressing
URLs break when:
• An organisation is
renamed
• A Web site is
reorganised
Possible solutions
include:
• DOIs (but mirroring
issues)
• OpenURLs
(address mirroring
and resolution)
•…
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See <http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI>
for background info
Questions
Any questions?
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