Publishing An e-Journal

Publishers Requirements

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.

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Session Aims

In this session we will:• Discuss what publishers might expect from our

Web publication(s)• Highlight any issues which will need to be resolved

in order to satisfy these requirements• Look at some examples

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Exercise

Complete exercise on “Publisher Requirements”

What publisher requirements have you identified?

What issues need to be addressed?

E

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Publisher Requirements

Ensure the service works

Support the user requirements which have been identified

Ability to deploy new functionality

Solutions matchstaff expertise & financialresources

Quality

Functionality

Support Users

Technical Issues

Support Authors

Support the author requirements which have been identified Resources

Publisher Requirements

Scalable architecture

Databases / CMS

Statistics on use of publication

Statistics

Techniques to promote the publication

Promotion

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Contents

• Identifying Publisher Requirements• Promoting the Publication• Statistics• Syndicating Content• Maintaining Content• Standards• Architecture• Applications

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Find Article From AltaVista

Search engines can drive much traffic to a Webzine, esp. if articles contain unusual names:

• Be proactive in ensuring e-journals are indexed by major search engine vendors

• Ensure that e-journals 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

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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

http://www.scrubtheweb.com/http://www.scrubtheweb.com/

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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. Tracerlock)

http://www.tracerlock.com/http://www.tracerlock.com/

Tracerlock 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?

Tracerlock 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?

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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

NOTE:Think about this from the startOnce 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)

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Approaches to StatisticsCultivate Interactive uses two externally hosted statistical services:

• Nedstats (stats for individual articles)

• SiteMeter (stats for entire Webzine)

and analysis by WebTrends

http://sm6.sitemeter.com/default.asp?action=stats&site=sm2-exploit-home&report=33

http://sm6.sitemeter.com/default.asp?action=stats&site=sm2-exploit-home&report=33

Externally-Hosted: Minimal resource

requirements Extra info (PC analysis) Email notification Loss of info Reuse may be difficult

Externally-Hosted: Minimal resource

requirements Extra info (PC analysis) Email notification Loss of info Reuse may be difficult

See <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-focus/> and <http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue7/statistics/>

See <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-focus/> and <http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue7/statistics/>

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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 online publication• Proportion of publication which has been indexed

http://www.linkpopularity.com/http://www.linkpopularity.com/ http://www.altavista.com/http://www.altavista.com/

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News Feeds For Others To UseYou 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

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

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Auditing And MonitoringYou can make use of Web-based services to audit and monitor your electronic publication:Web Site Health Check

• Check HTML and CSS compliance, performance, download times, etc using DrHTML, NetMechanic, etc.

Accessibility• Browser emulators and accessibility checkers such as Bobby

Dissemination• Check link popularity, pages indexed, etc using

LinkPopularity

Monitoring Server Availability• Notification if server is unavailable, such as

WatchMyServer.com

See workshop materials at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/stimulate-2001/benchmarking//>

See workshop materials at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/stimulate-2001/benchmarking//>

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Article MaintenanceWeb 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• …

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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,..)• …

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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)?

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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

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StandardsThe 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

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ArchitectureKey feature – use of neutral fragments which are transformed, easily managed and reused

TitleAuthorURLdate

HeaderFooterArticle body

TranslateSee also

DTDCSSHEAD

Various fragments are processed by server scripts and can be managed

Add new functionality:• Print all• Translate• See also

Manage functionality:• New translation• Update Web stats• Manage metadata

Add new format, etc:• PDF, WAP, eBook,

email, ...• Full list of authors• User-defined views

variables

content

HTML

Render article

Render issue

Createsite map

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Applications

What applications can be used to implement this architecture?

Cultivate Interactive

MS SiteServerMainly used for indexing functionAlso provides site management toolsAuthor upload facility is of interest

HTML Authoring ToolsHotMetal / FrontPage / HTML Kit

Web StatsNedstats / Sitemeter (Web-based)Misc submission tools

Software Development (ASP Scripts)Visual InterdevNotepad

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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

availabilitySee article at <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-focus/> but note potential problems due to decline in ad revenue

Use of mainly free Web-based service:• Web statistics • Submission to search

engines• Polling services • Monitoring service

availabilitySee article at <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-focus/> but note potential problems due to decline in ad revenue

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Applications – A CMS

The model for Cultivate Interactive has worked wellFor 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

• Manage application developmentIssues:

• Open source (e.g. Zope) vs. Licensed• Capital costs vs development costs• Entry point (size of Webzine, budget, …)• Support

author editor pre-release site review publication

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IdentifiersPublisher should provide short memorable identifiersIt’s wise to avoid platform & application dependenciesIt’s also useful to use directories to group issues and articles

www.cultivate-lib.org/issue3/presentations/

www.cultivate-lib.org/issue3/presentations/intro.htm

www.cultivate-lib.org/issue3/presentations/intro.asp

www.cultivate-lib.org/get-article?issue=3&title=presentations

Short, memorable, language & format independent

Longer, format specific, scope for confusion: .htm or .html

Also application-specific, possible mirroring / indexing problems

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

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Mirroring / PreservationIf your Webzine is popular you be be asked if it can be mirrored (low bandwidth areas, Intranets, ..)Also consider the long term preservation 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• Own domain for apps (eg. wwwsearch.cultivate-int.org)

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

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

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D-LibD-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 • Long URL of UK mirror

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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)

• …

See <http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI> for background info

See <http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI> for background info

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Questions

Any questions?