Stakeholder Requirements for Institutional Portals : Nobody Wants the Weather
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Transcript of Stakeholder Requirements for Institutional Portals : Nobody Wants the Weather
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Stakeholder Requirements for Institutional Portals:
Nobody Wants the Weather
Paul Miller & Liz Pearce
10 June 2003
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
Outline
• Some background…• The institutional portal• Surfacing external content• Understanding Stakeholders• Understanding real use• Conclusions
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
Some background…
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
Where we’re coming from…
UK
Westminster, COWestminster, CO
See www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/See www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
Post-16 education in the UK
– 171 Universities and Colleges of Higher Education– Over 500 Colleges of Further Education– All (except one university) funded by Government
• Higher Education Funding Councils in England, Scotland and Wales
• Learning & Skills Council in England• Further Education Funding Council in Scotland• National Council for Education and Training for Wales• Department for Employment & Learning in Northern
Ireland
– Target for 50% of population to ‘experience HE’– A lot of interest in ‘Lifelong Learning’.
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
The role of the JISC
Joint Information Systems Committee– Funded by all of the UK’s Further and Higher
Education Funding bodies
– Funds • SuperJANET network• National Data Centres• A range of services, such as the Resource Discovery
Network• Support/advice/strategy providers, such as UKOLN• Development programmes, through targeted calls.
See www.jisc.ac.uk/See www.jisc.ac.uk/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
The ‘Information Environment’
Image by Andy Powell of UKOLN
See www.ukoln.ac.uk/distributed-systems/jisc-ie/arch/See www.ukoln.ac.uk/distributed-systems/jisc-ie/arch/
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The ‘Information Environment’“The JISC’s Information Environment [IE] will provide a
range of services, tools and mechanisms for colleges and universities to exploit fully the value of online resources and services. It will enable presentation, delivery and use of online resources in ways tailored to support individual and institutional requirements in learning, teaching and research.”
• Underpinned by IE Architecture, developed by UKOLN– Set of shared standards and protocols to discover, access,
use, and publish physical and electronic resources.
See www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=ie_homeSee www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=ie_home
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
The Common IE
• Work now underway to extend this beyond Further and Higher education– National Health Service– The UK e-Science Grid– Museums, Archives, Libraries– Culture Online
See www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=wg_cie_homeSee www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=wg_cie_home
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JISC and portals
• JISC Portals Programme primarily concerned with national portals– Subject portals– Media-type portals
• Institutional portal developments largely taking place independently, or on the back of other JISC programmes.
See www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=programme_portalsSee www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=programme_portals
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
The institutional portal
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
The Portal in Context
“a [thin] layer which aggregates, integrates, personalises and presents information, transactions and applications to the user according to their role and preferences.”See www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue30/portal/ See www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue30/portal/
See www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue33/portals/ See www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue33/portals/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
PORTAL project
Presenting natiOnal Resources To Audiences Locally– Funded by the JISC’s FAIR Programme
• 18 Month project, from September 2002• University of Hull and UKOLN
– Building upon Hull’s development of an institutional portal
– Surfacing external content and services– Addressing content provider issues– Understanding user needs
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
Surfacing external content
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/See uk.jstor.org/See uk.jstor.org/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/See www.rdn.ac.uk/See www.rdn.ac.uk/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/See ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/See ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/See www.nelh.nhs.uk/See www.nelh.nhs.uk/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/See www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/See www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/See news.bbc.co.uk/See news.bbc.co.uk/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
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Using external content
• A wealth of external content is available– Much of this is quality assured and
of high value
• Funders and policy makers such as the JISC spend significant sums on procurement, marketing, development and support– Yet awareness and use remain low
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
Understanding Stakeholders
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
User Requirements
• Stakeholder Requirements for Institutional Portals
- 3 Months- Generic ‘institutional portal’ issues- Further & Higher Education
Community
See www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/deliverables.htmlSee www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/deliverables.html
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
Approach
• Quantitative– How do I do this survey?
• Qualitative– What’s a portal?
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Quantitative
• Survey of Institutional Portal Features
• Set of Sample Features
• Survey Development
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Your Portal Priorities
• Survey designed using Learning Object from the JISC-funded ICONEX repository
See www.iconex.hull.ac.uk/See www.iconex.hull.ac.uk/
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
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Your Portal Priorities
• Survey designed using Learning Object from the JISC-funded ICONEX repository
• Launched November 2002• Closed 14 February 2003• Generally very positive response
See www.learndev.hull.ac.uk/portal_survey/See www.learndev.hull.ac.uk/portal_survey/
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Results
• 557 Participants• 265 Students • 264 HE Staff
– Administrative– Research– Teaching– Support
• 44 portal focused comments
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Top Ten Features
• Search favourite resources • Library administration • Access or update teaching materials • Personal information • Library and quality Internet resources alerts • Access your institutional email • Handbook • Deadline alerts • Access or update reading lists • Campus news
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
What users want…
Postgraduate Students:Library adminSearch your favourite resourcesDeadline alertsLibrary & Internet resource alertAccess reading lists
Higher Education Undergrad:Deadline alerts Review marksLibrary adminAccess teaching materialsSearch your favourite resources
Admin Staff:Staff development Personal informationForms & documentationSearch your favourite resourcesAccess your institutional emailCampus news
Faculty:Search your favourite resourcesLibrary & Internet resource alerts Library adminPersonal informationUpdate teaching materials
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
What users want…
Postgraduate Students:Library adminSearch your favourite resourcesDeadline alertsLibrary & Internet resource alertAccess reading lists
Higher Education Undergrad:Deadline alerts Review marksLibrary adminAccess teaching materialsSearch your favourite resources
Admin Staff:Staff development Personal informationForms & documentationSearch your favourite resourcesAccess your institutional emailCampus news
Faculty:Search your favourite resourcesLibrary & Internet resource alerts Library adminPersonal informationUpdate teaching materials
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
…and what they don’t
• The Weather !• News• Catering Bookings• Salary Data• Voting in Student
Elections
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Interviews and Focus Groups
• 5 Institutions around the UK
• 53 Focus Group participants
• 27 Interviewees
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Additional Features
• Single Sign On– Internal – External
• Accessible • Targeted Announcements• Remote Access• Reliable!
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Issues Raised
• Enthusiasm (with caveats!)• Internal & External• Overcoming email overload• Who is managing information?• Scale of customisation
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Issues Raised
• Information separated from context– Exam results (pastoral support)
– External Resources (learning objectives)
• Technology Rich / Technology Poor– Who’s driving all this?
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External Content in Portals?
Issues to address• Dynamic learning / teaching /
researching space• Highly valued if relevant• Letting go of content • Conformance to standards
See www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/deliverables.htmlSee www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/deliverables.html
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
Understanding real use
www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/
Evaluation
Is what users say they want really what they want?– Move beyond abstraction to look at practice– Identify half a dozen real implementations
• In the UK and beyond– Work with institutions over Summer to draw up mutually
beneficial evaluation framework• Revised web Survey tool• Focus Groups (early 2004?)
– Reports for participating institutions, and overarching report for the community
• Delivered March/April 2004.
Contact [email protected] Contact [email protected]
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Conclusions
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Conclusions
• Portals are everywhere– JISC, like everyone else, is in a portal-building frenzy
• Institutional portals have an advantage– Knowledge of users– Familiarity to users– Ability to surface relevant content and services
• User requirements matter– Don’t give it to them just because you can– Changing roles changes requirements
• Talk to your users…
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……and keep talking to and keep talking to them…!them…!
(because they’re fickle, and their needs change)
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PORTALPresenting natiOnal Resources To Audiences
Locally
See www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/ See www.fair-portal.hull.ac.uk/