Electronic Magazines: Issues in Implementation

1
Electronic MagazinesIssues in Implementation

• Brian Kelly
• UK Web Focus
• UKOLN
• University of Bath
• Email B.Kelly_at_ukoln.ac.uk

• 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

Acknowledgements to Bernadette Daly, Editor of
Exploit Interactive (1998-9)
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.
2
Contents

• Background
• The User's View
• Searching
• The Editor's View
• Other Interesting Approaches
• Conclusions

3
About UKOLN

• UKOLN
• UK Office for Library and Information Networking
• Based at University of Bath

• 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
4
Experiences

• UKOLN publishes two web magazines, with a third
  due to be launched shortly

• Exploit Interactive
• First published in May 1999
• Four issues to date
• Funded by EU Telematics For Libraries Programme

• Ariadne
• First published in January 1996
• 22 issues to date
• Originally funded by eLib
• Long-standing first generation web magazine

• Cultivate Interactive
• To be released in a few months
• Funded by EU DIGICULT Programme (covers museums,
  archives and library areas)

5
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/
6
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/
7
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

8
The User View (1)
D

• Exploit Interactive
• Sub-menu pages for Features, Regular Columns,
  etc.
• Context-sensitivenavigational 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

9
The User View (2)
D

• 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

10
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
lttitlegtExploit issue ltissue_numgt
ltarticle_titlegtlt/titlegt lth3gtCitation
Detailslt/h3gt ltpgtltarticle_titlegt,
ltauthorgtExploit Interactive lt issue_numgt
Use of variables
11
The File Store

• The file store structure for a typical article is
  shown below

default.asp assembles fragments and processes
variables content.ssi content simple HTML
fragment citation details (based on author and
title variables) article_defaults.ssiauthor,
title, etc. variables figure-1.gif
cultivate
issue4
resources
citation.ssi
Some files stored next to article Others stored
in central area (parameter passing)
12
The Bigger Picture

• In order to minimise maintenance, we want to
  store scripts, CSS files, etc. once and include
  them as appropriate

default.asp
lt!--inc file"article_defaults.ssi" --gt Read
article variables lt!--inc file"../issue_defaults
.ssi" --gt Read issue variables lt!--inc
file"../../global_defaults.ssi" --gt Read global
variables lt!--inc file"/resources/ssi/html_dtd.s
si" --gt Define HTML DTD lthtmlgtltheadgt lttitlegtExplo
it Interactive issue ltissue_numgt
ltarticle_titlegtlt/titlegt lt!--inc
file"resources/ssi/dc_metadata.ssi" --gt Create
DC metadata lt/headgt lt!--inc file"resources/ssi/n
av_top.ssi" --gt Navigational bar lt!--inc
file"content.ssi" --gt Include content lt!--inc
file"citation.ssi" --gt Include citation
13
Problems - Style Sheets

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Separates content from presentation
• Reduces maintenance
• Simplifies HTML (no complex tables, clear.gif
  hacks, etc.)
• Accessible resources
• But Netscape (esp.) implements CSS very badly
• Images can float over text
• Too much white space around tables
• Problems in printing
• Other minor differences

14
Solution to CSS Problems

• 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 singletable cell a hack ?
• Should images be included with conditional SSI?
• Also use CSS _at_media to allow different style
  sheetfor printing

15
Searching

• 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 createmetadata in other formats
  (e.g. RDF)

16
Errors

• The 404 error message has been tailored
• Exploit Interactive look and feel
• Embedded search facility
• Tailored message
• The link to this resourceis incorrect please
  inform web master
• or
• You have entered an incorrect URL

17
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
Evaluation of discussion software to enable
readers to comment on articles
18
The Editor's View

• Development work which may not be noticeable by
  readers includes
• Promotion of the web siteMaking sure that people
  know about the magazine and can easily find it
• Checking the web siteEnsuring that the web site
  works, is accessible and conforms to appropriate
  standards
• Auditing the web siteMonitoring the popularity
  of the web site and being pro-active in
  maximising popularity

19
Web Site Promotion

• Promotion of web site addressed by
• Having own domain nameltwww.exploit-lib.orggt
  Note shorter variants (e.g. exploit.org,
  exploit.com, etc.) are not available.
• Having short, easily-cited URLs
• Note use of server default file name to avoid
  longer and possibly confusing file name and
  extension

http//www.exploit-lib.org/issue1/pride/
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.a
sp
20
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 ltmeta name"robots"
  content"noindex"gt tag to avoid indexing of
  unnecessary resources (e.g. statistics, etc.)

21
Submission to Search Engines

• Exploit Interactive resources submitted to search
  engines see lthttp//www.exploit-lib.org/issue4/
  promotion/gt

1. Evaluation of Submission software
2. Creation of single page containing links to all
   articles

1. New issue URL submitted to AltaVista
22
Does It Work?

• Exploit Interactive articles
• First (out of 421,122) for "exploit" in AllTheWeb
• Fourth for "news exploit"in Google
• Fourth for "(electronic and paper) near delivery"
  in AltaVista

Note Searches found from referrer logs
23
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?
• We now provide anotification serviceof new
  issues using Netmind

http//www.exploit-lib.org/notify/
24
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 Bobbyaccessibility test
25
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 broken
• Display external links in new window
  (personalised option?)

26
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 be made just
once
27
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 3rd party
• Open vs. restricted access to statistics

NOTE Comparison of Nedstat and SiteMeter can be
easily made due to use of SSI fragments
28
Who's Linking To Us

• The LinkPopularity.com web site is used to
• Provide information on numbers of linksto web
  site
• Monitor growth in nos. of links
• Identify friends
• Spot gaps

http//www.linkpopularity.com/
Information on links to web site and nos. of
resources indexed is useful and is being
monitored regularly
29
The eLib Programme
http//elj.warwick.ac.uk/

• eLib programme funded several e-journals see
  lthttp//www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/projects/gt

http//www.ch.ic.ac.uk/clic/
Much can be learnt from the experiences of the
eLib projects
30
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

See lthttp//www.epress.ac.uk/gt
31
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 returnfive 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

32
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 theDepartment of Information
  Studies,Sheffield Univ.

http//www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/I-M/is/publica
tions/infres/ircont.html
33
Exploit Interactive's Key Features

• Exploit Interactive uses (normalised) resource
  fragments for
• 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)

34
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

35
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

References Related Links As above
36
Future Developments

• 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 provideenhanced 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

37
Future Developments

• Processing articles is time-consuming. Would
  like to automate processes

• Replace email submission by web form
• Automate conversion to HTML
• Author submission of keywords metadata
• Automated upload to draft area for editor review

Enter document
c/docs/article.doc
Browse
Document Type
MS Word
HTML

Abstract
Keywords
TAP, digitisation,
Programme
ELIB
EU (5th Framework)

EU (4th Framework)
38
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