Slides for talk given at IWMW 1999 held at Goldsmiths College on 7-9 September 1999. See http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-sep1999/materials/ou/

1. Beyond brochureware - building
functional university websites (the ‘gestalt’
view)
David Christmas
Ian Roddis
September 1999
‘The Next Steps’

2. 2
Presentation Outline
• Four classes of website we know
• OU examples and their key
characteristics
• Summary of the evolutionary process
• Lessons, recommendations and some
questions - ‘OUr way’

3. 3
The four classes
1 Indie Sites
2 Webmaster Sites
3 Embedded Sites
4 E-business

4. 4
Key characteristics
• What does it do ?
• Who is involved ?
• Who is it for?
• How does it affect the organisation ?
• What technology does it use, and who
decides ?

5. 5
Indie-site 1
Screenshot of any classic home
page (including picture of cat,
motorbike and recent birthday
party perhaps)!

6. 6
Characteristics of indie-site 1
What ? Vanity publishes static content
Maybe accepts feedback
Plenty of external links
Who ? An (undefined) audience (possibly)
The author
Effects ? Develops author’s skills
Uses up server space and
bandwidth
How can you measure?
Technology ? Miscellaneous plug-ins
Various authoring tools
Personal Web server/ISP space

7. 7
Indie-site 2
beagle2.open.ac.uk/

8. 8
Characteristics of Indie-site 2
What ? Gives information about a specific activity.
Maybe encourages feedback
Links to useful resources
Who ? An audience
A (skilled) (paid) author
The project owner/team
Possibly a “host” institution
Possibly tied into a network of similar sites
Effects ? Supports a well defined activity
Publices and enhances image at low cost
Technology ? Fairly disciplined use of gimmicks
Various authoring tools
Institutional Web server

9. 9
A Webmaster site

10. 10
Characteristics of Webmaster sites
What ? Provides “official information”
Probably replicates brochures
Allows feedback to a Webmaster
May have forms for simple transactions
Who ? Customers/students/funders/decision makers
Enthusiastic management
A Webmaster in the IT department
Content owners (e.g. PR, Marketing from a
distance)

11. 11
Characteristics of Webmaster sites
Effects ? Raises internal Web awareness
Establishes Web bridge-head in IT
department
Possibly contributes slightly to organisational
objectives
Technology ? Unadventurous, but robust
Version control and backups (possibly)
Institutional Web server

12. 12
Embedded site 1 - a prospectus
www.open.ac.uk/courses

13. 13
Embedded site 2 - a web gateway
www.open.ac.uk

14. 14
Embedded site 3 - Student record access
www.open.ac.uk/students

15. 15
Embedded site 4 -summer schools booking
www.open.ac.uk/residential-schools/

16. 16
Characteristics of embedded sites
What ? Provides official information about a major
activity
Brochure data + database extracts + Web
content
Some interaction, but fitting around non-Web
processes
Who ? Customers/students
Explicitly funded as a Web project
Involves managers of the business function
Multi-skilled development team
Developed by Web specialists
Web Agencies
IT department
Data maintenance staff

17. 17
Characteristics of embedded sites
Effects ? Supports departmental objectives
Begins to shift business to the Web
Raises issues about IT support,
security, testing, robustness, content
ownership…
Technology ? Robust professional IT approaches
Some back-end integration, but
incomplete.
24x7 a problem
Partial automation of updating
Possible parallel management of print
and Web content

18. 18
An e-business site
www.dell.com/

19. 19
Characteristics of e-business sites
What ? A major organisational function
Key to strategic aims
Could possibly only exist in that form
online
Who ? Key customers/students
Major funding stream
Involves top management
Highly professional developers
Web agencies

20. 20
Characteristics of e-business sites
Effects ? Transforms business model
Vital to health of organisation
Other media are subordinate to the
website
Technology ? Robust professional IT approaches
Total integration with “back-end
systems”
Single access security
Dynamic content
Business driven

21. 21
The evolutionary process
• Function
• Organisational involvement
• Effects
• Technology

22. 22
The evolutionary process
• Function
– From “a website”
– To “our business”

23. 23
The evolutionary process
• Organisational involvement
– Who is it for
– Who makes it happen
– Who pays for it
– Who builds it
– Who maintains it
– Who evaluates it
– Who cares

24. 24
The evolutionary process
• Effects
– Strategic impact
– Process changes
– Cultural consequences
– Cost of failure

25. 25
The evolutionary process
• Technology
– Integration with other IS
– Development tools
– Robustness
– Standardisation
– Quality assurance
– Security

26. 26
The evolutionary process
Indie Webmaster
Embedded E-business

27. 27
Moving beyond brochureware
• Ownership
• Involvement
• Culture
• Meeting needs
• Processes change
• Adequate technology