The IWMW Blog
The IWMW blog has been set up to support providers of institutional web and other digital services across the UK’s higher and further education sectors. The initial focus of the blog is the history of the IWMW event.
The blog was established for IWMW 2016, the 20th anniversary event to provide a record of memories of the event and the development and growth of the UK Web management / digital community. The blog continues to fulfil that purpose, with posts tending to be published around the time of the annual IWMW event.
Contributions to the blog are invited from all members of the institutional web management community – please read the guidelines if interested, which also has a list of the guest posts.
IWMW 2020
The 24th annual Institutional Web Management Workshop, was due to take place at the University of Dundee on 30 June – 2 July 2020. Due to Covid this event was cancelled.
The HE Digital Slack Community
The HE Digital Slack group was set up by members of the IWMW Advisory Group to provide a forum for sharing and discussions of topics relevant to those working in institutional web and digital teams in the UK higher education community.
A post on the IWMW blog provides further information.
I Blame Brian!
Iain Middleton attended IWMW events when he worked at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen – and his career path was influenced when he attended a Netskills workshop in 1996, as Iain describes …
Looking Back at Web Accessibility Sessions
Kriss Fearon has attended 14 IWMW events. Looking back she feels that two things remain with her: “The first is the friendships that came out of IWMW … And secondly, I feel even more strongly about the importance of web accessibility: it has grown, rather than diminished”.
The Ebb and Flow of IWMW
In this guest post Gareth Saunders reflects on the 10 IWMW events he attended since starting work at the University of St Andrews.
Amplifying IWMW
Kirsty Pitkin, official event amplifier at several IWMW events, describes the approaches taken to event amplification taken at recent IWMW events.
Getting Inspired by IWMW
IWMW events have always aimed to provide opportunities for active participation. As Martin Hawksey described in this guest post discussions about event amplification at IWMW events led to ‘inspiring’ development work based on capturing, visualising and reusing event tweets.
A Brief Look Back Down the Road
The IWMW event is 20 years old this year. But – clearly – the event for university web managers was reliant on the existence of the web! In this guest blog post George Munroe revisits the early days of the web and concludes by reminding us of the value of the ‘webmaster’: the need for “web managers to think things through properly” and “the risk they must face is not embracing change but ignoring or missing it!”
Beyond Your VLE: Strategic Challenges
In 2003 Professor Mark Stiles gave a talk on “Beyond Your VLE: Strategic Challenges”. In this post he looks back at the talk and concludes that, 13 years after delivering the talk, interoperability is still a major issue in technology-enhance learning.
IWMW – More Than Just a Community
In 2006 Ian St John had no idea what the ‘IWMW’ was. Ten years later Ian feels that “IWMW is about the people you meet and network with on the social nights and who you become friends with” – friends who, in Ian’s case, helped him through a personal tragedy.
IWMW: Scaling Learning and Innovation to Build a Successful Community
Lorcan Dempsey was appointed Director of UKOLN in 1994. Two years later Brian Kelly started work at UKOLN. One of Lorcan’s initial suggestions was that Brian should organise an event for university web managers. In this post Lorcan describes how the event was instrumental in “successfully building a community around shared questions and directions”.
An Update on IWMW 2016 – Additional workshops Now Available!
This post provides updates on plans for the IWMW 2016 event which will be held at Liverpool John Moores University on 21-23 June 2016. In brief a number of additional parallel sessions are available – and the event dinner will be held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. As can be seen this is an amazing location!
Core and Chore, or Me and More Disruptive Thinking
David Harrison revisits his talk at IWMW 2009 on “Servicing ‘Core’ and ‘Chore'” which explored challenges institutions were beginning to face in making use of new ‘Cloud’ services. David concludes with a plea for institutional web managers: remember the individual in your service offering!
“In 1999 I was a freshly fledged World Wide Web Coordinator”
In 1999 Rob Bristow attended his first of 6 IWMW events. When he was unable to attend some subsequent events he “felt the loss of that stimulus and refreshment of my knowledge and interest” and explained “I felt like I missed the start of the whole Web 2.0 thing as a result”.
Looking Back at IWMW 2003, University of Kent
Paul Anderson facilitated a workshop session on “Online Research and Technology Transfer Expertise Systems” at the IWMW 2003 event. In this post he looks back at the session and the event held at the University of Kent.
Designing a Logo for IWMW
In this guest post Stephen Ashurst describes how he came up with the idea of a logo for the IWMW 2016 event.
It’s About People!
Neil Allison is a plenary speaker and facilitator at a master class at the forthcoming IWMW 2016 event. Neil is also a great supporter of IWMW events, for the reasons he describes below.
IWMW 2016 Now Open For Bookings!
Bookings for the IWMW 2016 event are now open. This year’s event, the 20th in the series, will be held at Liverpool John Moores University on 21-23 June. Read on for further details …
What Six Years of IWMW Tells Us About Developments in Digital
Stephen Duncan feels that “We have an incredible community. It still amazes me that as a sector we can be so open with each other about our challenges, and so willing to freely share our knowledge”.
Digital is More than Just the Web – Lessons from IWMW 2014
Steve Boneham, local organiser for IWMW 2014, reflects on the event and describes how these days “digital is more than just the Web”.
“For once I want to be the car crash!”
Derek Law spoke at IWMW 2009 but felt that in the talk he “underestimated the importance of preservation and curation”. In this guest post he provides examples of the loss of digital information and services.
Lynn Boyle’s Memories of IWMW 2012 and 2013
In today’s guest post Lynn Boyle, an academic from Dundee University, describes her encounters with the IWMW event as being a bit like Glastonbury: You had to be there!