Web Governance: Buzzwords, Bywords

1
Web Governance Buzzwords, Bywords

• Mr. Lothar WedekindHead, News Information
  SectionDivision of Public InformationInternation
  al Atomic Energy AgencyNovember
  2006Web4Development Forum, United Nations

2
The Panel

• Geoff Barnard, Head of Information, Institute of
  Development Studies, University of Sussex,
  Brighton, UK http//www.ids.ac.uk/ids/

• Sharon Rusu, Coordinator, ReliefWeb, the UN
  gateway to information on humanitarian
  emergencies and disasters.http//www.reliefweb.in
  t/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm

3
The Panel

• Robert Valantin, Manager, Development
  Information, Information Solutions Group, World
  Bank http//www.worldbank.org/

• Daria Lavrentieva, Regional Web Coordinator,
  South Asia, World Bank http//lnweb18.worldbank.or
  g/sar/sa.nsf

4
Whats Web Governance?

• In short, how websites are operated, designed,
  managed
• Issues of control, accountability,
  responsibility, authority

5
Whats Web Governance?

• Web governance is the structure of people,
  positions, authorities, roles, responsibilities,
  relationships, and rules involved in managing an
  agencys website or sites. US Web Managers
  Advisory Council definition

6
Whats Web Governance?

• Different management models
• Centralized Tight control over organizations
  website look, feel, content one central web
  office or group
• Decentralized Distributed oversight multiple
  websites determining content often similar look
  and feel

7
Whats Web Governance?

• Getting things done Management and
  coordination have become the primary limiting
  factors of many Web initiatives. Organizations
  must improve their Web governance structures if
  Internet, intranet, extranet and portal projects
  are to meet their full potential. Gartner
  Analyst Jeff Martin, Advance Web Governance Step
  by Step, July 2005

8
Whats Web Governance?

• The buzzword byword often is budgetGovernanc
  e is the latest marketing buzzword like
  paperless office in the 1980s. Although the
  term is overused, it still fills a need for
  organizations to find ways to

quantify and qualify the IT or applications
investments theyre making.Analyst David
Kelly, Web expert writing in ebiz.net
9
Informal Survey Vienna

• United Nations Industrial Development
  Organization (UNIDO) Peter Holzleitner contact
  http//www.unido.org/

• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
  Alexei Tepaev contact, on behalf of multiple UN
  organizations based in Vienna http//www.unodc.org
  /unodc/index.html

10
Informal Survey Vienna

• Organization for Security and Cooperation in
  Europe (OSCE) -- Lucinia Bal-Doebel contact
  http//www.osce.org/

• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
  Horace Agbogbe contact http//www.iaea.org

11
Survey Web Publishing Policy, Guides, Procedures?

• Guidelines, rules partially or fully in place
• Need for updates to keep pace with tech
  developments
• Fewer approvals of content required than for
  publishing print products
• In some cases, contributors publish directly,
  with editing done after the fact as needed
• Web team, if within public information setup, has
  final word/ editorial control

12
Survey Web Publishing Apps, Tools, Training?

• Content management systems, some home-grown and
  tailored to site sometimes by IT staff,
  sometimes by editorial staff
• Web evaluation/feedback applications
• Organizational web-related training tends to be
  within IT environment

13
Survey Multiple public sites/collaboration?

• Many public sites/sub-sites common, up to 20
  including multiple languages
• Separate editor, support staff initially, but not
  necessarily sustained
• Some organizations have web group meeting once a
  week others meet two or three times a year
• Some have web newsletters, emails, etc.

14
Survey Size/Composition of Web teams?

• No magic number five to seven staff often
  reported for main public website
• Can include
• Website manager
• Writer/Editor(s)
• Webmaster/infrastructure manager
• Web architect/designer
• Programmer (reported as outsourced)
• Web editorial assistants
• Few activities outsourced (some reported Web
  server maintenance and/or programmer support)

15
Q A Whats your experience?

• Just another day for the web team.