Transcript Powerpoint 97/2000 Format

Webzine Technologies
Brian Kelly
UK Web Focus
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath, BA2 7AY
Email
[email protected]
URL
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
Acknowledgments to
Marieke Napier, UKOLN who
contributed to these slides
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.
Contents
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
What Are Webzines?
The Reader’s View
The Author’s View
The Publisher’s View
What About Funding?
Conclusions
Your input is
welcomed
Please feel free to
contribute at any
point during the
seminar
These slides are available from
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/>
2
About The Speaker
Brian Kelly:
• UK Web Focus:
*
– A JISC-funded
post to advise the UK HE and
FE communities on Web developments
– Important dissemination role, through events,
articles and publications
• Spoke on “Electronic Magazines: Issues in
Implementation” at ILI 2000 conference
• Will run half-day session at ILI 2001 on “Publishing
Web Magazines, e-Journals & Webzines”
• Based at UKOLN, University of Bath
3
* JISC – Joint Information Systems Committee
See <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/>
Please shout if I use an unexplained acronym
About UKOLN
UKOLN:
• UK Office For Library and Information Networking
• A national centre of expertise in digital information
management
• Located in University of Bath
• Funded by JISC and Resource (funding body for
cultural heritage sector in UK)
• Additional funding from EU, UK, etc. project work
4
Our Web Publications
5
Ariadne
• Started in January 1996
• A longstanding, first generation Web magazine
• Funded by eLib (UK HE programme) and is aimed
mainly at library & information professional in UK HE
Exploit Interactive
• Started in May 1999
• Covered EU Telematics For Libraries programme
and was aimed mainly at library and information
professional in Europe
Cultivate Interactive
• Started in July 2000
• Covers EU DIGICULT programme and is aimed at
cultural heritage community in Europe
Exploit Interactive: 1999 - 2000
Ariadne: 1996 -
6
Cultivate Interactive: 2000 -
About You
What would you like today’s session to cover?
Any specific interests, concerns, etc?
7
Possible Interests
Funding models
Quality control
Evaluation
Statistics
Citation
Awareness
Learned journals
Interests
Design
House magazines
Inhouse or
out-source
Standards
Functionality
Lightweight vs
heavyweight solution
8
Authoring issues
Technical architecture
What Are Webzines?
What are we talking about?
How does a Webzine differ from a Web site?
Any suggestions?
9
What’s Out There?
http://www.bath.ac.uk/impact/
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/
http://ais.cern.ch/newsletter/issues/
10
Characteristics
Added to continually
Content may be fixed
No notion of issues, volume, etc.
Can be professional, social, etc.
Web site
Consistent
Are “published”
look- and-feel
Contain “articles”
Have a “publication date”
Webzines
Have (an external?) publisher
News
Can be professional, social, etc
Articles
Professional (academic /
scholarly) online
publications will have
notions of fixed content /
permanent record
11
Content
Academic
Publicity /
promotion
Weblogs
Vanity press
Self-publication
Issues of “Quality”:
Peer reviewed /
Editor / editorial board
Author-defined quality
Terminology:
Webzine
Web magazine
Online journal
Definition
In this talk:
• Webzine will refer to an online (or Web) publication
• Webzines can include:
 Online journals (Web journals) – peer-reviewed
 Online / Web magazines – not peer-reviewed – focus of
this talk
• Some use term Webzine to refer to online fanzines
NOTE: A pragmatic definition for this seminar only - which
focuses on technical and not philosophical issues!
See <http://www.stm-assoc.org/intconta/aaas/
recommend.htm> for a more rigourous proposal and
<http://www.issn.org/brochure/The_ISSN.htm>
for a discussion about serials and ISSN
NOTE: Stevan Harnad will cover eprint archives next month
12
Why Do it?
Reasons to provide a Webzine:
• Accessibility
• To a wider audience • Worldwide
• Reduction of cost?
• Functionality
• Searching
• Links
• Interactivity
• Annotations
•…
• Fewer limits on article size
• Image (you’re progressive in IT)
• …
UKOLN also uses Webzines to provide
a testbed for our research interests
13
The Negative Aspects
•
•
•
•
•
•
14
Resourcing
Financial implications
Loss of some audience
May require a change of culture
Loss of control of information
Development of technical architecture
(addressed here)
L
The Reader’s View
What might a reader expect from our Web
publication?
What approaches can we, as publishers, take
to satisfy these requirements?
15
What Does the Reader Want?
Entertaining
No hype
Well-written, interesting,
informative, relevant article
Article should be available
for a long time
Easy printing
Everything works
(links, HTML, …)
The
Can contact author
Can comment on article
Attractive and easily-navigable
Publication is easy to find
Article is easy to find
Article is easy to read
Article is accessible
Available on Web to
all browsers
Reader
No adverts
Available on WAP phone,
e-book, by email, …
Article exploits technology: (interaction,
simulation, multimedia, …)
Can read comments from others
Issues:
Notification when
Are these requirements the same as for the author?
it’s released
How easy is it for the publisher to implement?
16
Content
Content is king:
•
•
•
•
17
Useful to have a quality publication already
Need to encourage and nurture your authors
Can you use a stick?
Think about syndication and reuse of existing
content
Add Variety
A publication full of factual articles can be boring. Why not
add a variety of content?
http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue3/game/
http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue7/xword/
As well as adding variety, games, crosswords, etc this can allow the
publisher to evaluate new technologies such as DHTML (scramble game),
Java (crossword), user-agent-driven links to technologies (both), etc.
18
Or Use Cartoons & Jokes
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue26/cartoon/
19
Add jokes for free from <http://onyoursite.com/jokes/>
.. Or Caption Competitions
Issues:
• Copyright
• Rights
• Payment for creator
(e.g. cartoonist)
• Prizes for
competition winners
(sponsorship?)
20
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue26/caption/
News Feeds
You can add news
content to your
Webzine by using a
news feed.
Many news feeds can
be obtained for free:
• The news provider
benefits from you
providing a link to their
content
• You benefit by getting
content for free
21
See <http://w.moreover.com/>,
<http://www.isyndicate.com/>, etc.
Design of Webzine
What type of interface should you
use for the home page:
• Preamble
• Menu
• News
• Content “teaser”
• Flash screen
22 • …
Attractive Design
http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/mag-features/
“Having had a look around at several
web sites and e-journals, we found
that you have managed to combine
simplicity, elegance, completeness
and advanced technical backing.”
23
Susan Leech O'Neale, CERN, Sep 99
http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/indicators/
Design Issues
Design brief for Exploit Interactive produced:
• Background about publication
• Definition of structure (Feature Articles, Regular
Columns, News & Events, Etc.)
• Preferred solutions (standards based, no use of
Flash, PDF, etc.)
• Importance of accessible design
• Available budget
• Design solution provided by ILRT, University of
Bristol
24
Issue:
Do you outsource the design (and
information architecture) or do it inhouse?
Design
Features
Local navigation (here
in Features section)
Global navigation
(home & search page)
Indented margins
(IE only)
<h2> with grey
background
Internal links
to references
Footer navigation
Acknowledgments
25
Flagging external
(and broken) links
[added later]
Footer (enhanced during
lifetime)
Changing Look and Feel
Use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes it easier:
• Support new media types (e.g. print)
• For publisher to change appearance (single file)
• To allow reader to change appearance either using browser
options or by selection of CSS
26
Note we provide different style sheets for IE and Netscape
User Control Over Look and Feel
Giving users control over the look and feel:
 Is good for accessibility (visually impaired, colour
blind, etc.)
 Can provide support for new devices (digital TV,
…)
 Can be useful for standard device in unusual
conditions (PCs in bright conditions, use in lecture
theatre - with red gun broken!, …)
But:
L Lose control over branding
L Users can do silly things
27
User control – what do you think?
 Good idea
 Bad idea
Exploitation of Technology
The reader will want the Webzine to exploit
technologies, especially in providing
functionality not available with print:
•
•
•
•
Rich searching
Alternative browsing
Enhanced printing facilities
Automated translation (is this a gimmick or will
technological developments make it usable /
controlled vocabularies allow it to be useful in limited
domains?)
• Annotation
• Notification
• …
28
Rich Searching
http://www.cultivate-int.org/cat-search/
You should provide a
search facility for
your Webzine
If resources aren’t
available, try a third
party service, such
as Atmoz or Google
If resources are
available, try to use
metadata and
configure the search
facility to reflect the
Find articles in all issues published as
Webzine structure
Feature Articles which concern
29
DIGICULT-funded projects
Ease of Printing
Readers may wish to print an entire issue (e.g. to read
on the train)
Problem:
• Articles are self-contained HTML resources, so
printing the entire issue requires initiating a print for
each article
Solutions:
• Make use of <LINK REL=“next”> which defines
an “issue” and a specialist browser (e.g. Amaya)
which can print all pages
• Specialist desktop applications
• Server-side assembly of HTML resource fragments
• Server-side creation of PDF version
30
Interface For Print Entire Issue
http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue7/print-all/print-all.asp
31
Cultivate Interactive Solution
header
.ssi
Cultivate Interactive makes use of
HTML fragments
DTD.
ssi
Article 1
article1
.ssi
article1/
default.asp
An article is displayed by
merging the DTD
declaration, navigational
headers, the body, the
footer, etc.
figure1.gif
footer
.ssi
figure1.gif
DTD.
ssi
article1
.ssi
All articles are displayed
by merging the DTD
declaration, navigational
headers, the content for all
articles, the footer, etc.
32
printall/
default.asp
article20
.ssi
figure1.gif
Article 1 …
Article 20
NOTE: location, name &
links to images is an issue
Adding New Functionality
The use of resource fragments allows new facilities to
be easily deployed:
•
•
•
•
•
Add an accessibility / validation check (for editors only?)
Add an annotation service
Add automated translation of article
Add a “See similar articles” services (planned)
…
Only display to editors?
33
Notification
http://www.exploit-lib.org/notify/
Rather than “spamming”
mailing lists when a new issue
is released, a notification
service may be preferable
http://www.cultivate-int.org/notification/
You can:
• Use Netmind’s free Mindit
service
• Build your own list
34
New Reader Functions
Ideas for new functionality for the readers:
• Automated news feeds (summaries of articles)
which can be embedded in third party Web sites
• Summary information available using WAP phones
[to evaluate ease of conversion of other XML types]
• Email access to newsletter
• View similar articles (using search and metadata)
• Personalised interface
• VRML, simulation, …
New author / editorial board functions could also be
added:
• If cookie=“editor” display validation checks
• If cookie=“author” display statistics
35
The Author’s View
What might an author expect from our Web
publication?
What approaches can we, as publishers,
take to satisfying these requirements?
36
What Does the Author Want?
To provide everything the
reader needs:
(quality article, easy-to-find,
annotation, etc)
Value added services
from editorial processes
A simple publication process
A sophisticated
publication process
The Author
Metadata and
advanced searching
Submission to search engines
Search engine friendly Web site
For the article to have an “impact”
37
Stats on access to article
An attractive, usable
design
A “permanent” location for
the article
Kudos (and hits) through
proximity to others
Guidelines
It is important to provide
guidelines for authors:
• Background about the
Webzine (aims, target
audience, etc.)
• Requirements for article
• Submission procedures
• Editorial control and
conflict resolution
• Use of images
• Copyright
38
http://www.cultivate-int.org/
author-guidelines/
Encourage authors to make use of photographic digitisation
services such as <http://www.fotango.com/> (e.g. photos of
conferences) and clip art collections?
Upload Processes
39
It is desirable to enhance the processes for submission and
processing of articles submitted by authors
Currently:
• Files emailed to editor alias (which has a Web archive)
We’d like:
• Web-based upload area, with author supplying metadata
in standard format
• Automated MS Word -> HTML fragment conversion
• Publish in pre-publication
Author Upload Area
area with automated link
Browse
File
creation
Abstract
Can we do this with limited
Article Type: Feature  News 
technical resources and
budget? We need to explore Expiry date (news items):
MS SiteServer features
Authoring Issues
HTML
tool
Word
format
HTML
format
Email
FTP
Need to avoid bottleneck in Word  HTML
processing and misuse of HTML templates
HTML
form
40
HTTP / WebDav
QA
distributed ed. board
peer-reviewing
HTML
import
filter
Word / RTF
 HTML
converter
QA (format, proofing, etc)
MS Word
QA (format, proofing, etc)
Editor
Author
HTML
format
QA – Manual
Automated
HTML
format
Statistics
Authors may want immediate access to statistics for their article
Total number of pageviews: 2434.
Top day so far: 30 January 2001 with
592 pageviews
http://uk.nedstat.net/viewstat.asp?name=cultivate-3-presentations
The use of externally-hosted Web statistical services such
as Nedstat can provide this with minimal work from the
publisher
41
Citation
Readers and authors will want accurate citation information:
• Memorable URLs
• Consistent terminology, style, content, etc.
Cultivate Interactive stores names, article title, issue number,
publication date, etc in neutral format.
A server-side script (ASP) transforms this into the published
version.
For citation purposes:
Kelly, B. "What's Happened To My Slides:
Giving Presentations at Conferences",
Cultivate Interactive, issue 3, 29 January 2001
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue3/
presentations/>
42
Brian Kelly
UK Web Focus
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
Email: [email protected]
Phone : +44 1225 323943
Contact Details
The approach to providing citations helps us to be
consistent
But what should be done when:
• An author changes her name (e.g. marriage) or
status (becomes a Professor)?
• An author’s email or postal addresses changes?
Ideally we should:
• Store information in database and allow reader to
view original and latest details
For citation purposes:
Kelly, B. "What's Happened To My Slides: Giving Presentations at
Conferences", Cultivate Interactive, issue 3, 29 January 2001
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue3/presentations/>
Author’s email address has changed: [View current information]
43
Annotation
Jakob’s Neilson Alertbox is a valuable resource for
Web developers.
Jakob provides
annotation which
allows him to add
text to previously
published articles,
without changing
the content of his
original article
44
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/981227.html
Polls
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-focus/
Polls can help to get feedback:
• On the Webzine itself
• On the content of articles
Polling software includes:
• Externally-hosted services
• Locally-developed software
http://ais.cern.ch/newsletter/issues/
45
For a review of online polls see “Providing User Feedback
services through Polling Software” at
<http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue3/polls/>
Experiences
46
Little use of Hypernews to comment on Exploit Interactive articles
Should we:
• Promote more
• Have comments inline
• Provide timed realtime chats (e.g HumanClick.com)
• …
Find Article From AltaVista
Search engines can drive much traffic to a Webzine,
esp. if articles contain unusual names (e.g. orgs such
as CERN):
• Be proactive in ensuring Webzines are indexed by
major search engine vendors
• Ensure that Webzines 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
47
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
48
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.
Informant)
Informant 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?
49
http://informant.dartmouth.edu/
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
50
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)
The Publisher’s View
What might a publisher wish to provide for its
Web publication?
What approaches can we, as publishers, take
to satisfying these requirements?
51
Statistics
An analysis of Web statistics is needed:
• For reporting to funders and other stakeholders
• To spot trends
• To aid in dissemination
• For server performance monitoring
• To identify browser characteristics
But:
• It can be addictive
• It can be time-consuming
• It can be misleading
For further info on Web statistics see article at
<http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/indicators/>
52
Approaches to Statistics
Cultivate Interactive uses 2 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
L Loss of info
L Reuse may be difficult
53
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 Webzine
• Proportion of your Webzine which has been indexed
54
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
55
Article Maintenance
56
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,..)
• …
57
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)?
58
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
59
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
60
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
61
Applications
What applications can be used to implement this architecture?
Cultivate Interactive
62
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 (under review)
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
63
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
64
• 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
65
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, or Intranets, ..)
You may also wish to consider the longterm
preservation of the Webzine
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
66
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
67 • 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)
•…
Area is of interest to
68UKOLN and JISC
See <http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI>
for background info
Funding Issues
How is our Web publication to be funded?
What suggestions do you have?
69
Funding Options
Your Webzine could be funded:
• In-house: it’s part of your job
• From savings from replacing the print edition
• Through advertising revenue
(see <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/
events/conferences/ili-2001/advertising/>)
• Through subscription
• From grants, project funds, etc.
• …
Any comments on these options?
Which is likely to be feasible for your
publication (and your culture)?
70
Questions
Any questions?
71