About The Workshop

The call for submissions was published on 22 January 2008:

The Institutional Web Management Workshop 2008 (IWMW 2008) will be held at the University of Aberdeen from 22 – 24 July 2008.

As participants at previous events will be aware this workshop is aimed at those involved in management of institutional Web services. The workshop aims to address a broad range of topics including strategic, managerial, resourcing and technical issues.

A key feature of the workshop is the importance placed on participative and interactive sessions, including hands-on sessions, group discussions, etc.

and went on to suggest topics for debate:

The Web management community is increasingly working in a environment in which users are making significant use of Web 2.0 services. We need to ask:

  • How does this effect the existing provision of institutional Web services?
  • Are Web 2.0 services a distraction to traditional, well-managed high quality Web resources or do they signal the direction for in-house development activities?
  • Are Web 2.0 companies and others in a position to provide a credible and sustainable alternative to institutional services?
  • Has the vision of the “network as the computer” arrived, providing users with choice in their selection of services?
  • How is the role of the institutional Web manager changing?
  • What does this debate tell us about the role of the higher educational institution in a globally networked environment?

These are issues our institutions are currently facing. And it seems there may be disagreements within the Web management community regarding the benefits and risks associated with use of a distributed portfolio of services.

Organising Committee

Members of the IWMW 2008 organising committee were:

  • Brian Kelly, UKOLN
  • Marieke Guy, UKOLN
  • Mike McConnell, University of Aberdeen

 

Sponsors

The sponsors for the IWMW 2008 event were:

  • TERMINALFOUR: sponsor of the delegate bags, badges and lanyards.
  • Eduserv: sponsor of the Conference drinks reception at the Aberdeen Art Gallery
  • Nedstat: sponsor of the drinks at the workshop dinner

In addition the following companies also provided sponsorship:

  • Auros
  • Facet Publishing

Workshop Content

Plenary Talks

The following plenary talks were given:

  1. Science in the YouTube Age
  2. Web 2.0 and Brand: Theory and Practice
  3. The 2008 Museum Landscape
  4. Use of Ning at the University of Bradford
  5. Web 2.0 – Whatever Happened to Web 1.0?
  6. Look Who’s Talking Now…
  7. Institutional Responses to Emergent Technologies – What JISC is Doing
  8. The Tangled Web is but a Fleeting Dream…but then again …
  9. Institutional Repositories: Asset or Obstacle?
  10. Unleashing the Tribe

In addition there was an Engaging the Community session which featured an Innovation Competition.

Parallel Sessions

Parallel session A:

  1. Embracing Web 2.0 Technologies to Grease the Wheels of Team Cohesion
  2. Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Support a Brand Focused Marketing Strategy
  3. Coping with Forms: Implementing a Web Form Management Application
  4. Stuff what We’re doing at Edge Hill University
  5. The ‘other’ Accessibility Guidelines – the Importance of Authoring Tool Accessibility Evaluation in a Web 2.0 World
  6. Mashups: More than Maps
  7. Introducing Socialearn
  8. Mind Mapping for Effective Content Management

Parallel session B:

  1. Approaches To Web Resource Preservation
  2. Web CMS and University Web Teams Part II – the Never Ending Story?
  3. The Real Information Environment
  4. Hands Up if You Haven’t done Yours Yet…
  5. Tactics to Strategy, and Back Again
  6. Battling Bureaucracy
  7. What’s the Point of Having Developers in a Web 2.0 World?
  8. Podcasting and iTunes U: Institutional Approaches to Scaleable Service

In addition there were also two barcamp sessions.

Barcamp 1 (14.15-14.35 on 23 July 2008):

  1. Sex, Lies and Microsites
  2. So What Is A Good Open Source CMS
  3. Stuff You Need To Know About iTunesU
  4. How Can A WCMS Save £3.4 Million In 12 Months?
  5. Tenish 5-Minute Ways To Improve Your Website
  6. Web Analytics Guiding Web Development
  7. Web 2.0 In Student Activism: What We Can Learn From Anonymous
  8. How Qualified Do You Have To Be To Manage A Website?

Barcamp 2 (14.40-15.00 on 23 July 2008):

  1. Canadian View On Life, Dearth and Social Software
  2. DIY CMS – Building A Low Budget System, Getting People To ‘Buy-In’
  3. Immediacy WCMS In Action
  4. T4 CMS / Sitestat / Redesign / Rambling Q&A / Discussion
  5. Barriers To Making Things Work On Second Life
  6. Simple Scriptaculuous
  7. Forum: Feedback on Nedstat
  8. Migrating Into A CMS – What Is Your Experience?
  9. Live@EDU

Evaluation

General comments on the event included:

  • Very positive. First time but felt part of a friendly community with informed opinions and suggestions
  • Excellent as always. Please don’t go ‘virtual’
  • Enjoyable. Gave me answers/approaches to some questions I had but just replaces more issues with a whole load of new questions!
  • The workshop exceeded my expectations. Presentations were set at the right level and provided me with topics for further consideration Well done!!!
  • I’d prefer to have spent more time in small discussion groups problem solving and brain storming. Too many longish talks
  • Good mix of sessions. Bar camp was an excellent idea that should be utilised more in the future
  • Very worthwhile, thank you. Inspiring, useful and fun

In addition to the summary of the evaluation, a workshop report by Adrian Tribe is available in Ariadne Web Magazine, issue 56, 30 July 2008. The report concludes:

By my reckoning the Workshop this year was a great success, giving us much to think about, many ideas to explore and apply, some really productive networking opportunities and the chance to enjoy that apparently rare phenomenon of three continuous days of sunshine and >20°C temperatures in Aberdeen. A big thank you to the organisers for putting together such a good event and to God for the fantastic weather. And long may the Institutional Web Management Workshop continue to be a real, physical ‘space’ for face-to-face interaction.

Event Summary

Location: University of Aberdeen

Date: 22-24 July 2008

Length: 3 days

Cost (including 2 nights accommodation): £370

No. of plenary talks including Community Session: 9

No. of plenary speakers: 10

Gender ratios: 7 M (70%) and 3 F (30%)

No. of workshop sessions: 16

No. of workshop facilitators: 24

Gender ratios: 20 M (83%) and 4 F (17%)

No. of participants: 182

Total length of sessions: 4.5+(3.5+3.5)+3.5=15.00 hours

Delegate contact time: 15.00*182= 2,730 delegate hours

Evaluation: 3.7 out of 5 (content) and 4.1 out of 5 (organisation).

Special features: Special features of IWMW 2008 included: