Transcript Electronic Magazines: Issues in Implementation Brian Kelly UK Web Focus
Electronic Magazines: Issues in Implementation
Brian Kelly
UK Web Focus UKOLN University of Bath
Email:
Acknowledgements to Bernadette Daly, Editor of
Exploit Interactive
(1998-9)
Aims:
• Describe approaches to publishing a web magazine aimed at European library / information community • Share experiences • Describe other approaches • Provide advice to those wishing to publish web magazines UKOLN is funded by the Library and Information Commission, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher 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.
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Contents
• • • • • •
Background The User's View Searching The Editor's View Other Interesting Approaches Conclusions
About UKOLN
UKOLN:
• UK Office for Library and Information Networking • Based at University of Bath 3
Awareness and Advisory Services
• UK Web Focus • Interoperability Focus • Public Library Networking Focus
Research Interests
Metadata Distributed libraries UK and EU project work
Dissemination
Events (workshops, seminars, etc.) Publications Web Magazines
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Experiences
UKOLN publishes two web magazines, with a third due to be launched shortly
Ariadne
• First published in January 1996 • 22 issues to date • Originally funded by eLib • Long-standing first generation web magazine
Exploit Interactive
• First published in May 1999 • Four issues to date • Funded by EU Telematics For Libraries Programme
Cultivate Interactive
• To be released in a few months • Funded by EU DIGICULT Programme (covers museums, archives and library areas)
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Ariadne
Ariadne
: • 22 issues published Jan 1996 - Dec 1999 • Published every 3 (originally 2) months • HTML pages created using HTML authoring tool (HoTMetaL, FrontPage, etc.) • Apache web server on Unix http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/
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Exploit Interactive
Exploit Interactive
: • 4 issues published (every three months) • Informs communities on Telematics for Library projects • Aims to provide
quality content
, be
innovative
and be
standards compliant
• NB: Little funding for software development!
http://www.exploit-lib.org/
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Exploit Int. Architecture
Exploit Interactive
: • Runs on a Windows NT server • Microsoft SiteServer software used
Why?
• Gain experiences of NT-based information system in order to help in advisory role • Make use of shrink-wrapped solutions to minimise software development • Investigate whether standards-based solutions can be implemented in a Microsoft environment
Resources
• Funding for 0.5 FTE over 2 years • Editor, project manager plus bought-in systems support effort
The User View (1)
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Exploit Interactive
: • Sub-menu pages for Features, Regular Columns, etc.
• Context-sensitive navigational bars • Links from all pages to: –Main entry point –Issue entry point –Editorial –Features menu –Regular Columns menu –News and Events page –Et Cetera menu –Search facility D
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The User View (2)
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) used to: • Define margin settings • Define fonts • Background for headings Benefits of Cascading Style Sheets: • Ease of maintenance (appearance defined in single file) • Re-use of resources • Performance • Accessibility D
Behind The Scenes
Behind the Scenes:
• Article fragments used and assembled into HTML resource using ASP (Active Server Pages) • ASP server script used for server-side includes (SSIs) and for manipulating variables article_title="The CULIVATE project" issue_num="1"
Assignment of variables
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Citation Details
<%=article_title%>, <%=author%> Exploit Interactive <%= issue_num%>
Use of variables
The File Store
The file store structure for a typical article is shown below issue4 cultivate resources citation.ssi
Some files stored next to article Others stored in central area (parameter 11 passing) default.asp
content.ssi
assembles fragments and processes variables content – simple HTML fragment citation details (based on author and title variables)
article_defaults.ssi
author, title, etc. variables
figure-1.gif
The Bigger Picture
12 In order to minimise maintenance, we want to store scripts, CSS files, etc. once and include them as appropriate
default.asp
Read article variables Read issue variables Read global variables Define HTML DTD
Create DC metadata
…
Navigational bar Include content Include citation
Problems - Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): • Separates content from presentation • Reduces maintenance • Simplifies HTML (no complex tables, clear.gif
hacks, etc.) • Accessible resources 13
But
Netscape (esp.) implements CSS very badly: • Images can float over text • Too much white space around tables • Problems in printing • Other minor differences
Solution to CSS Problems
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In order to address CSS problems:
• "User-agent" negotiation used to include simpler CSS file to Netscape users • Uses a single SSI fragment • Tables stored in single table cell – a hack • Should images be included with conditional SSI?
Also use CSS @media to allow different style sheet for printing
Searching
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Exploit Interactive
enables UKOLN to demonstrate its research interest in metadata: • Capabilities of SiteServer search facility investigated • Fielded searches provided. Can search by
Author
,
Title
,
Abstract
and full text • Uses Dublin Core (DC) metadata • DC metadata (HTML format) created using ASP fragment • Can easily create metadata in other formats (e.g. RDF)
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Errors
The 404 error message has been tailored: •
Exploit Interactive
look and feel • Embedded search facility • Tailored message: The link to this resource is incorrect – please inform web master or You have entered an incorrect URL
Extending the Web Site
The web site is being extended to provide more than simply access to information Experiment to search a project's web site, from an article about the project 17 Evaluation of discussion software to enable readers to comment on articles
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The Editor's View
Development work which may not be noticeable by readers includes:
•
Promotion of the web site
Making sure that people know about the magazine and can easily find it •
Checking the web site
Ensuring that the web site works, is accessible and conforms to appropriate standards •
Auditing the web site
Monitoring the popularity of the web site and being pro-active in maximising popularity
Web Site Promotion
Promotion of web site addressed by:
• Having own domain name: < www.exploit-lib.org
>
Note
shorter variants (e.g. exploit.org
, exploit.com
, etc.) are not available.
• Having short, easily-cited URLs: http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue1/pride/ 19 Note use of server default file name to avoid longer and possibly confusing file name and extension: http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue1/pride/intro.htm
http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue1/pride/intro.html
http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue1/pride/Default.asp
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Finding The Web Site
Aim:
• We want web site and articles to be indexed by search engines and catalogued by directories
Approaches:
• Articles contain "AltaVista" metadata (generated as described for DC metadata) • Internal links to directory, avoiding links to .asp
extensions • Use of robots.txt
file and tag to avoid indexing of unnecessary resources (e.g. statistics, etc.)
Submission to Search Engines
Exploit Interactive
resources submitted to search engines – see < http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue4/ promotion/ > 21 1. New issue URL submitted to AltaVista 2. Evaluation of Submission software 3. Creation of single page containing links to all articles
Does It Work?
Exploit Interactive
articles: • First (out of 421,122) for "
exploit
" in
AllTheWeb
• Fourth for "
news exploit
"in
• Fourth for "
(electronic and paper) near delivery
" in
AltaVista
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Note
: Searches found from referrer logs
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Notification of a New Issue
Notification of new issues is sent to several mailing lists. But what about readers who aren't on the mailing lists?
http://www.exploit-lib.org/notify/ We now provide a notification service of new issues using
Netmind
Checking The Web Site
Prior to release of new issue we use:
•
SiteServer Analysis
to check broken links •
Bobby
software to check accessibility of web site
Summary
On 10 January 1999: 906 pages 5,180 internal links 1,818 external links 0 broken links Web site passes Bobby 24 accessibility test
Broken Links – Whose Problem?
Internal links are responsibility of editors But what should be done with broken links in articles?
• Fixed: the web master is responsible for providing a quality web site • Nothing: articles should be left
as is
• Flagged (and perhaps fixed): giving reader an indication of original status
Our approach:
• Authors provide links as references with visible URLs • External links indicated by icon • Icon and link change if link is 25 broken • Display external links in new window (personalised option?)
Checking The Web Site (2)
In issue 4 we provided a service for the readers to check for and enhance access to articles: • Translation Service • HTML Validation • Accessibility Check • … The link to further information is stored as a single SSI file, allowing changes to 26 be made just once
Auditing The Web Site
We use
SiteServer Analysis
to provide statistics In issue 4 evaluated third-party services which provide (e.g): • Last 10 visitors to page • Profile over time • Referrer for last 25 visitors
Third-party Service Issues:
• Performance • Dependency on 3 rd party • Open vs. restricted access to statistics
NOTE:
Comparison of
SiteMeter Nedstat
and can be easily made due 27 to use of SSI fragments
Who's Linking To Us
The
LinkPopularity.com
web site is used to: http://www.linkpopularity.com/ • Provide information on numbers of links to web site • Monitor growth in nos. of links • Identify friends • Spot gaps Information on links to web site and nos. of resources indexed is useful and is 28 being monitored regularly
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The eLib Programme
http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/ eLib programme funded several e-journals – see < http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ services/elib/projects/> http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/clic/ Much can be learnt from the experiences of the eLib projects
Other e-journals: EPRESS
• eLib-funded project which provides an administrative system (rather than a publishing one) for refereed academic journals • Addresses (time-consuming) administrative issues • Used by
Sociological Research Online
and
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
30 See < http://www.epress.ac.uk/ >
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Other e-journals: D-Lib
D-Lib magazine:
• Currently mirrored at 4 locations including UKOLN • Is making use of DOIs (Document Object Identifiers) • Each article has DOI which provides persistent, location-independent identifier • "Handle" system can return multiple values e.g. 10.1045/december99-gladney can return five URLs • Interesting idea for the future (resolution by proxy or browser plugin) • • Use of multiple values could be used for related resources (e.g. metadata, translation, etc.)
Exploit Interactive
is considering a similar approach
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Other e-journals
Library and Information Studies departments are active in producing e-magazines and exploring various issues For example see
Information Research
, published by the Department of Information Studies, Sheffield Univ.
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/ I-M/is/publications/infres/ircont.html
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Exploit Interactive's Key Features
Exploit Interactive
fragments for: uses (normalised) resource
• Server-side scripts • Navigational elements • Standard text fragments • CSS Separation of Content / Navigation / Functionality is useful for: • Ease of maintenance • Introduction of new functionality (e.g. print all articles, personalisation)
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Challenges
Use of resource fragments:
• Requires advance planning • Some complications in use of authoring tools • Some complications in validating resource fragments (no compilers to spot, say, unassigned variables) • Useful to have a programmer's or DBA perspective (identification of reusable fragments) In addition use of ASP variables / file-based fragments means: • NT-dependencies (until Open ASP matures) • Difficulties in managing variables which are defined in scripts
Future Developments
Make use of article and navigation fragments to provide a configurable interface http://www.ljdigital.com/
Navigational bar:
Located: • Top and bottom • Side (in frame or embedded) Configurable: • Sections of interest • cf MS Office 2000 35
References & Related Links
As above
Future Developments
36 Ideas for the future: • Variables stored in database (NB: performance issues) • Use of XML For Metadata and Articles (e.g. news items) Would also like to provide enhanced searching (structured browsing): • Search issue 1 & issue 3 • Search Regular Columns • Search Regular Columns in issue 1 • Search for articles about EU projects • Counts nos. of articles in these categories
Future Developments
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Processing articles is time-consuming. Would like to automate processes:
Enter document c:/docs/article.doc
Document Type • MS Word Abstract HTML Keywords Programme: • Browse TAP, digitisation, … ELIB EU (4 th EU (5 th Framework) Framework) • Replace email submission by web form • Automate conversion to HTML • Author submission of keywords metadata • Automated upload to draft area for editor review
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Conclusions
To conclude:
•
Exploit Interactive
has shown the benefits of an architecture based on: – Resource fragments – Style Sheets – Server-side scripting – Resources in neutral format to enable reuse • It is possible to provide an innovative, standards based solution on an NT platform • Similar solutions also possible on Unix (e.g. PHP) • We look forward to further developments based on use of database technologies / XML
Questions welcome