Appropriation & Transmission beyond projects… · starter-guide.pdf Euromed Heritage 4 workshop, Tangier 16-19 Nov 2011 - Ylva Berglund Prytz Before you end your project \⠀瀀爀攀昀攀爀愀戀氀礀
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Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012 Appropriation & Transmission Brussels 20-22 March 2012 Websites beyond the project... Christophe Graz RMSU Euromed Heritage Ylva Berglund Prytz Oxford University
At the end of your project you have two options – keep maintaining the site or leave it to deteriorate. If you do not intend to let it deteriorate, you need resources to keep it ‘alive’.
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
Before you can decide what to do with your site after the end of your project you need to be clear about what the purpose of the site is. You have to weigh what you want to preserve and/or maintain and what you want the site to do against the resources you have at your disposal. It may help to consider your message, your audience and your methods for communicating when you decide what to do with your website.
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
Websites have different functions and purposes. Considering which ones you want to keep is important when thinking about your website beyond the project. You may want to change some aspects. If no project staff is available after the end of the project you may, for example, choose to use the site only to broadcast information and remove communicative elements (if there is nobody available to answer email queries or analyse feedback, do not offer your users an email address for queries or a feedback form).
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A schematic overview of a website and what it needs to be available Content of site = Webpages, pictures, information etc Page design = what makes the site look like it does The content and design is put on a web server The web server has an address and webpages on the server can be viewed in a browser if you know this address (URL). Some sites also has a special URL linked to them – a website address that does not relate to where on a server a page is found (a bit like a shortcut or nickname) If one of these breaks or disappears (content, server, special URL), the website will not work.
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
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An example of a ‘website problem’. The page cannot be found – they material is not on the server at the particular URL that is used.
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If a page (‘content’ ) has been removed from the server or moved to another place on the same server or put on a different server, it will not be found by using the original URL. Material may be removed either if the server is changed or broken or if the project is no longer paying for the service. Therefore, make sure web hosting is arranged and paid for to cover the time well beyond the project. If content is moved, it is possible to put automatic re-direction service in place to avoid the user getting the ‘Page not found’ message.
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We have already seen how a design can become ‘tired’ and look old very quickly. Changing a page design is a complex process and may require considerable involvement by various specialists, which takes time and requires resources. A site is more than the design, and there are ways to make the site remain functional also without further involvement by the project. External links can be a problem – if someone changes their site, the link on your page may become unusable or point to something other than what you originally intended. To avoid this, keep links to material that is outside the project’s control to a minimum. You can also minimise the risk of your site not functioning properly by limiting the use of scripts and technical solutions that may need updating or that may pose a security risk.
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
There are several ways you can add material to your site dynamically. Many services, like Twitter. Blogs and news providers will offer a feed – often called ‘RSS’ (see Wikipedia explanation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS)
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
Using dynamic material to make your page feature new material and appear up to date has many benefits. It is, however, important to remember that there are draw-backs as well. Allowing external material to be displayed on your site means you have less control over it. If you are using a particular Twitter hashtag (‘keyword’) as the trigger for your feed means you will be displaying anything with that tag, whether it is relevant or suitable for your site or not. If you do not have the resources to monitor and/or curate the dynamic material that makes your site vulnerable – someone could (intentionally or not) write something that you do not wish to display. You cannot depend on externally generated material to be always relevant or accurate. You could also find that unless anyone contributes to the source where the feed comes from, you will not get any material at all. A slightly different issue is that if you have up-to-date dynamic material on your site, users may expect the site to be active and up-to-date too. If that is not the case, they may get the wrong idea about your project (which is why it is important to updated the website text if a project is finished and the site content is not updated any more)
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RunCoCo’s three sustainability strategies*
A. Aim for two-way engagement
B. Be where your users are – be part of your community
The Great War Archive experiences of community collections have been further developed and described by the RunCoCo project. In its final report, RunCoCo offers three sustainability strategies
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In 2008 the University of Oxford invited the general public to submit their material and stories from the First World War to an online archive
In 4 months, 6,500 items were collected
Website: www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa
Funded by JISC (for 4 months only), after that using Flickr to collect further contributions.
The Great War Archive was a ‘community collection’ which ran in the UK in 2008. The public was invited to submit on a website (digital versions of) their stories, photos, diaries, letters and other material related to the First World War. The initiative was very successful and the project generated considerable interest and received a lot of material. When it finished, it was felt that it was important to keep the momentum and interest alive even though the project did not have the necessary resources to keep the collection going. To allow the continued sharing of material, a Flickr Group was established. Users were encourage to post their pictures to the (free) picture sharing site Flickr and make them part of the Great War Archive group. This has become very popular, and thousands of pictures have been uploaded. Together with the pictures come stories, and users comment on each other’s material and offer further information, allowing the community to communicate and grow.
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
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The Great War Website features information about the Flickr group and some pictures from the collection there. At the bottom of the screenshot can also be noticed a blog article (Editor’s pick). This is the same article that appears on the Europeana 1914-1918 site – an illustration how the same dynamic material can be used and re-used in different contexts.
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Before you end your project (preferably early on in the project), make sure that your website can be found online. There are a number of strategies – see
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There are several reasons why IP-issues are important. You want o be sure you are not breaking the law and you may want to protect your material from inappropriate (re)use. An important factor to consider is your users. If it is easy to see that something can be reused, they are more likely to reuse it (and thereby helping spread word about your project). You can also help the user by giving examples of how they should acknowledge your project as the source of the material. You can do this by, for example, offering some text that they can use. Don’t forget to acknowledge the source of the material you are using (for example pictures on your website). If you are disseminating material (for example pictures), make sure you have a take-down policy in place which specifies what someone should do if they, for example object to you publishing a picture (example at http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/about/takedown). Make sure you have the processes (and staff) in place to deal with such issues – usually this means removing the material from the website while trying to resolve the conflict, for example checking that you do indeed have the right to make this available.
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Creative
Set of ‘ready-made licences’
Multi-national
Allow re-use with possible restrictions on re-distribution, modification, commercial use.
Creative Commons (CC) offers a set of ‘ready-made’ licences that allows you to easily define how your material can be used and make the information easily available to your users. “There is no registration to use the Creative Commons licenses. Licensing a work is as simple as selecting which of the six licenses best meets your goals, and then marking your work in some way so that others know that you have chosen to release the work under the terms of that license.” (from http://creativecommons.org/)
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
Appropriation & Transmission Bruxelles 20-22 Mars 2012
