Publishing An e-Journal

Reader 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.

Pres 4

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Session Aims

In this session we will:• Discuss what readers 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 “Reader Requirements”

What reader requirements have you identified?

What issues need to be addressed?

E

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Reader Requirements

Access to individual articlesAccess to complete issues

Accessible (to blind / no plugins needed)

Citable and bookmarkable

Articles maintained (no broken links)

Searchable (in various ways)

Table of Contents

Available on Web

Feedback mechanism

Available by email, on PDA, etc.

Annotation / discussion

Innovative

Usable interfaceAttractive design

Quality

FormatNavigation

Functionality

Content

Good, relevant content

Everything works

Innovative

Interface

Reader Requirements

Ease of printing No adverts

Notification when released

Customisable

Findable (via search engine)

Persistent

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Contents• Identifying Reader Requirements• Design Issues• Identifiers• Notification• Printing • Searching• Handling:

• Out-of-date content• Broken links

• Architecture• Identifiers

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User Interface

Cultivate Interactive and Exploit Interactive:• Design brief produced• Design outsourced• Simple but usable interface• Uses CSS and (X)HTML• Accessible to all browsers & robots• E-Book format being evaluated

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Design of Electronic Publications

What type of interface should you use for the home page:

• Preamble • Menu• News • Content “teaser”• Flash screen• …

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Attractive Design

“Having had a look around at several web sites and e-journals, we found that you have managed to combine simplicity, elegance, completeness and advanced technical backing.”Susan Leech O'Neale, CERN, Sep 99 http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/indicators/http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/indicators/

http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/mag-features/http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/mag-features/

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Design Brief

Design brief for Exploit Interactive produced:• Background about publication• Definition of structure (Feature Articles, Regular

Columns, News & Events, Etc.)• Preferred solutions (standards based, no use of

Flash, PDF, etc.)• Importance of accessible design• Available budget• Design solution provided by ILRT, University of

Bristol

Issue:Do you outsource the design (and information architecture) or do it inhouse?

Issue:Do you outsource the design (and information architecture) or do it inhouse?

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Design Features

Indented margins (IE only)

Footer (enhanced during lifetime)

Footer navigation

Acknowledgments

Local navigation (here in Features section)

Flagging external (and broken) links [added later]

Global navigation (home & search page)

<h2> with grey background

Internal links to references

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Cultivate Interactive Design

http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/vakhum/http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/vakhum/ Key featuresKey features

Indented margin

Indented margin

Site-wide navigation

Site-wide navigation

Issuenavigation

Issuenavigation

Lead-in / abstract: used asmetadata

Lead-in / abstract: used asmetadata

LogoLogo

Similar approach taken for Cultivate Interactive with minor differencesSimilar approach taken for Cultivate Interactive with minor differences

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Cultivate Interactive Design

Internal links to references

Internal links to references

References can be followed from print

References can be followed from print External links

flagged

External links flagged

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Cultivate Interactive DesignAuthor details, including photo, contact info. and biography

Author details, including photo, contact info. and biography

Citation detailsCitation details

Link to translation service

Link to translation service

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Changing Look and FeelUse of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes it easier:

• Support new media types (e.g. print)• For publisher to change appearance (single file)• To allow reader to change appearance either using browser

options or by selection of CSS

Note we provide different style sheets for IE and NetscapeNote we provide different style sheets for IE and Netscape

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Changing The Look-and-FeelA Style Sheet Selector is being developed to allow readers to change the appearance. Of use for:

• Visually impaired• Specialist devices

A Style Sheet Selector is being developed to allow readers to change the appearance. Of use for:

• Visually impaired• Specialist devices

Issues:• Should we allow readers to be

able to chose an ugly appearance

• Shouldn’t this be done in the browser?

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User Control Over Look and Feel

Giving users control over the look and feel: Is good for accessibility (visually impaired, colour

blind, etc.) Can provide support for new devices (digital TV,

…) Can be useful for standard device in unusual

conditions (PCs in bright conditions, …)

But: Lose control over branding Users can do silly things

User control – what do you think? Good idea Bad idea

User control – what do you think? Good idea Bad idea

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Design - Issues To Consider

Design Brief• It’s needed. But should it be outsourced?

Design Technologies • What formats and technologies, should you specify in

the design brief – Flash, Shockwave, JavaScript, …

Testing The Interface• How should you test the design?• What if it’s not acceptable?

Personalisation• Should readers be able to change the design?

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URL Naming SchemeEntry Point

• Main entry point is <http://www.cultivate-int.org/>:– Memorable address– More manageable Web site

Issues• Issue has URL of form:

<http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue1/>Articles

• Article has URL of form:<http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/vakhum/>

Avoidance of File Names• URLs make use of default file name i.e. not:

<http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/vakhum/default.htm><http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/vakhum/default.asp>

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NotificationHow do users find out when a new issue is available?“Spamming” lists can be irritating

http://www.cultivate-int.org/notification/http://www.cultivate-int.org/notification/

http://www.cultivate-int.org/notify/http://www.cultivate-int.org/notify/

Cultivate Interactive has 2 notification services:

• Netmind service (email sent when page changes)

• Local database of interested readers

Which is best?

Cultivate Interactive has 2 notification services:

• Netmind service (email sent when page changes)

• Local database of interested readers

Which is best?

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Print All

The “Print All” feature:

• Allows all articles to be viewed on single page

• Developed to allow single printout of all articles to be produced easily

http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/print-all/http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/print-all/

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Search FacilityYou should provide a search facility for your online publicationIf resources aren’t available, try a third party service, such as Atmoz or GoogleIf resources are available, try to use metadata and configure the search facility to reflect the Webzine structure

http://www.cultivate-int.org/cat-search/http://www.cultivate-int.org/cat-search/

Find articles in all issues published as Feature Articles which concern projects funded by DIGICULT

Find articles in all issues published as Feature Articles which concern projects funded by DIGICULT

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Out-Of-Date Articles

What do you do when an article becomes out-of-date?

What parts of an article are we discussing?

What are the pros and cons of different approaches?

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue5/metadata-masses/intro.html

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue5/metadata-masses/intro.html

Published 11 September 1996Widely cited and linked to

Published 11 September 1996Widely cited and linked to

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Annotations

You could allow the author to annotate the article

For example, see Jakob’s Nielson’s Alertbox column

What are the pros and cons of this approach?

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9709a.htmlhttp://www.useit.com/alertbox/9709a.html

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User Feedback

You could provide a general article feedback mechanism

What are the pros and cons of this approach?

http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/fd/http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/fd/

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Updating Broken Links

Links in Exploit Interactive articles were breaking.

Should they:• Be fixed:

– Articles provide historic information and updating broken links would be rewriting history

– Readers of articles simply want links to work

• Be left– Fixing links is time-consuming– If you fix them, will you (the editor) know that the link is

pointing to the correct resource?

• Be annotated:– Annotated links so that end users get working links, but

are also aware that a change has been made?

• Use some new piece of magic?

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Updating Broken Links

Links in Exploit Interactive articles were becoming broken

Broken links in references:

• Contained icon indicating they were a link

• Icon updated once broken link spotted

http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/exploit-audit/http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue5/exploit-audit/

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People Information

Case Study:• A regular contributor to Ariadne marries and changes her

name. Her email name is also changed.• What should we do to the contact email address in old articles?

In General

Information about people is volatile:• Names change (marriage, etc.)• Email addresses change• Postal addresses and affiliation changes• Status change (Miss, Mrs, Dr., etc.)

Possible problems:

• A search by Author will not find full set of articles

• Contacting authors via email or post may not work

In General

Information about people is volatile:• Names change (marriage, etc.)• Email addresses change• Postal addresses and affiliation changes• Status change (Miss, Mrs, Dr., etc.)

Possible problems:

• A search by Author will not find full set of articles

• Contacting authors via email or post may not work

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From Locators to Identifiers

The effectiveness of the Web to provide access to quality information is deteriorating:

• Increasing numbers of links are becoming broken• Resources change address as Web sites are

reorganised to:– Reflect organisational changes– Exploit new technologies (e.g. content management

systems, databases, etc.)

• Resources are moved when authors move to new jobs

A move from locators to (more stable) identifiers is needed in order to provide end

users with more reliable services and to ensure that important resources are not lost

A move from locators to (more stable) identifiers is needed in order to provide end

users with more reliable services and to ensure that important resources are not lost

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From Static HTML To DatabasesA move from storing information in HTML files to use of structured databases is needed:

• In order to be able to update information in a manageable way (e.g. Jane Smith has married, John Brown is a Professor, etc.)

• In order to be able to deploy new technologies

These architectural issues are needed in order to provide more robust user services.They will be discussed in the Publisher Session

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Future Developments

Ideas for new functionality for the readers:• Automated news feeds (summaries of articles) which

can be embedded in third party Web sites • Summary information available using WAP phones

[to evaluate ease of conversion of other XML types]• Email access to newsletter • View similar articles (using search and metadata)• Personalised interface• VRML, simulation, multimedia, …

New author / editorial board functions could also be added:

• If cookie=“editor” display validation checks• If cookie=“author” display statistics