Information%20Flow%20

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Information Flow the Institutional WWW

• Colin K. Work

University of Southampton Computing Services
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Scope of Discussion

• the institutions WWW based information service
• courseware research data etc. not included
• technology independent

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What is Information Flow ?

• The movement of information objects from point of
  origin to target user over time.
• simple objects may combine to form complex
  objects
• the object is modified along the way
• the object may be used at different points in the
  flow
• there is no end user
• ALL aspects of information provision should be
  considered, not just WWW

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Managerial Attributes of Information Objects

• Author content of object
• Owner (publisher) availability of object
• Encoder/printer data/text processing
• All objects should have a single owner, though
  they may have multiple authors/encoders
• There is also an implied attribute - the
  Authority of the object if not made explicit,
  false assumptions may result

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Information Flow the WWW

• A web page is a snapshot of the information flow
• Where does it come from? Where is it going?
• Is the snapshot at the right point in the flow?
• Does the snapshot carry the required authority?
• Is ownership clear?
• Is the author owner aware of all uses of the
  data.

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Tools for Managing Information Flow

• Information strategy goal setting
• Information policy methodology for achieving the
  goals
• Acceptable use policy regulatory constraints
• Editorial board/Webmaster enforces application
  of above
• Costs/charging (real or notional)

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How is the Flow Managed?

• No management
• Centralised management
• Distributed management

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No Management - Advantages

• our policy is not to have a policy
• Rapid service growth
• Hot house for development
• minimal Red Tape
• expediency responsiveness

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No Management - Disadvantages

• institution lacks cohesive presentation
• material may lack authority
• uneven representation/presentation
• navigational problems
• contradictory material
• maintenance issues
• who is accountable?
• inefficient use of resources

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Centralised Model

• the way we were

Departments
Info service
central processing
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Centralised - Advantages

• little training/support required
• consistency in style/presentation
• good authority control
• good quality control
• good cost control/resource management
• low risk
• maximises efficient use of resources

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Centralised - Disadvantages

• does not scale well (?)
• potential bottleneck to information flow
• perceived as restrictive - threat to academic
  freedom
• will tend toward conservative
• unresponsive

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Distributed Model
Faculty/Dept. WWW
Faculty/Dept. WWW
Faculty/Dept. WWW
E d i t o r i a l B o a r d
institution home pages - who is responsible?
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Distributed - Advantages

• distributes the workload
• reasonably responsive and flexible
• greatly improves institutional WWW awareness
• departments/groups in control

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Distributed - Disadvantages

• less of efficient use of resources
• tends toward no management unless
• good info policy/strategy
• editorial board in place
• requires good inter-department liaison
• how is institutional WWW achieved?

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Combined Models
Centrally managed institutional top level pages
Personal Pages
Editorial Board
free from editorial control within accepted constr
aints (eg. AUP)
Distributed faculty/dept. web sites
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Impediments to Information Flow

• Lack of information processing resources
• Lack of IT skills
• Inadequate technology
• Attitudes
• territoriality - this is MY information!
• technophobia
• resistance to change - but we always do it this
  way
• Management tools may be real or perceived
  impediment

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Prospectus - Hard Copy
Departments course info
Faculty
Other info (PR, Accomm.)
UNIVERSITY
Editor(s)
authority
Print
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Prospectus - WWW Ver. 1
Departments course info
WWW
Faculty
- reformatting - inappropriate design -
inflexible - untimely
Other info (PR, Accomm.)
UNIVERSITY
Editor(s)
authority
Print
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Prospectus - WWW Ver. 2
Departments course info
WWW
- expedient - better format - flexible - no
authority - quality control?
Faculty
Other info (PR, Accomm.)
UNIVERSITY
Editor(s)
authority
intercept
Print
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Prospectus - WWW Ver. 3
Departments course info
Faculty
WWW
Other info (PR, Accomm.)
Authority? Quality control?
UNIVERSITY
Editor(s)
authority
Print
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Prospectus - WWW Ver. 4
Departments course info
Faculty
Other info (PR, Accomm.)
UNIVERSITY
Editor(s)
authority
- resource? - expertise?
WWW
Print
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Role of the Webmasterand/or Editorial Board

• Advise on flow management
• Authentication of information
• Establishing liaison links
• Enforcing policy
• Facilitating and enabling
• Promoting the service internally
• Matching service to available resources

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In Summary ...

• Info strategy policy is required to establish
  and/or clarify responsibilities
• Editorial board/Webmaster must be empowered to
  enforce policy
• Distributed / Centralised models of management
  have strengths and weaknesses - choice may depend
  on organisation of the institution.

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Questions

• How much time/money do you think is being
• spent in total across your organisation putting
• up WWW pages?
• What sort of a service do you think you could
• develop if you could harness that resource?