Publishing An e-Journal Author Requirements UKOLN is funded by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher and Further 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. Pres 5

2 Session Aims In this session we will: Discuss what authors might expect from our Web publication(s) Highlight any issues which will need to be resolved in order to satisfy these requirements Look at some examples

3 Exercise Work through the exercise on Author Requirements What author requirement have you identified? What issues need to be addressed? E

4 Author Requirements HTML Guidelines Graphics Guidelines Access to statistics Feedback from readers Editorial processes which enhance article Writing guidelines Whos looked at my page? Whos linked to my page Why write? Article easily found by browsing Article easily found by local & remote search engines Quality Motivation Support and Guidance Technical Issues Feedback Feedback from authors Peer review, proofreading, etc. Access Author Requirements Article functionality works No broken links Permanent location for article Kudos (and hits) through proximity to others An attractive, usable design

5 Contents Identifying Author Requirements Guidelines Motivation Submission Procedures Citation Statistics Feedback Syndication

6 Author Guidelines Author guidelines are essential, especially for a new publication What do you think should be included in the guidelines?

7 Author Guidelines Target audience Type of publication Writing style File formats Publication process Format conversion Readers interests Type of article Use of graphics Use of unusual technologies Commissioning and Publication Processes Author and Editor responsibilities Rejecting articles Quality of writing Inappropriate content Additional information Citation style Copyright Aims of publication,

8 Graphics Guidelines Dont forget to include guidelines for use of graphics Images can easily deteriorate in quality Think about: File formats Tools to capture screen images Encourage authors to make use of photographic digitisation services such as (e.g. photos of conferences). Are clip art collections of use? Encourage authors to make use of photographic digitisation services such as (e.g. photos of conferences). Are clip art collections of use?

9 Why Should I Write? How can you motivate potential writers to write for your publication?

10 The Exploit Interactive flyer was aimed at potential readers and writers

11 Submission Processes Submitting articles: Often done by ing file to author Better to use mailing list (messages can be dealt with if editor away) Useful to provide a Web-based archives of messages This approach: Simple Limited in functionality (difficult to apply any automated processes)

12 Upload Processes It is desirable to enhance the processes for submission and processing of articles submitted by authors Currently: Files ed to editor alias (which has a Web archive) Wed like: Web-based upload area, with author supplying metadata in standard format Automated MS Word -> HTML fragment conversion Publish in pre-publication area with automated link creation Can we do this with limited technical resources and budget? We need to explore MS SiteServer features Author Upload Area File Browse Abstract Article Type: Feature News Expiry date (news items):

13 Authoring Issues Author Word format MS Word HTML tool HTML format FTP HTML import filter HTML format Word / RTF HTML converter QA (format, proofing, etc) Editor HTML form HTTP / WebDav Need to avoid bottleneck in Word HTML processing and misuse of HTML templates QA – Manual Automated QA distributed ed. board peer-reviewing

14 Citation Readers and authors will want accurate citation information: Memorable URLs Consistent terminology, style, content, etc. Cultivate Interactive stores names, article title, issue number, publication date, etc in neutral format. A server-side script (ASP) transforms this into the published version. For citation purposes: Kelly, B. "What's Happened To My Slides: Giving Presentations at Conferences", Cultivate Interactive, issue 3, 29 January 2001 URL: Brian Kelly UK Web Focus UKOLN University of Bath Bath Phone :

15 Contact Details The approach to providing citations helps us to be consistent But what should be done when: An author changes her name (e.g. marriage) or status (becomes a Professor)? An authors or postal addresses changes? Ideally we should: Store information in database and allow reader to view original and latest details For citation purposes: Kelly, B. "What's Happened To My Slides: Giving Presentations at Conferences", Cultivate Interactive, issue 3, 29 January 2001 URL: Authors address has changed: [View current information]

16 How Popular Is My Article? Authors may be motivated by having access to usage statistics for their article What are the pros and cons of this approach?

17 Who Links To My Article? Authors may be motivated by finding out who links to their article Linkpopularity.com can provide this information You can follow the links back to the page which links to the article Linkpopularity.com can provide this information You can follow the links back to the page which links to the article

18 Does The Article Work? An author may reasonably expect that: Internal links will work The article is indexed by the local search facility Any additional features will work correctly (e.g. page translation, feedback, etc.) You should have developed procedures to ensure this, especially if you use manual editing processes Are these linked to the correct article Is this correct? Do these work?

19 Finding The Article Authors will be motivated if the Web magazine promotes their interests in ways which they may not be able to do for themselves Google search for Inside The Digital Library puts an Exploit Interactive article at no. 1 Exploit Interactive is a search engine-friendly Web site New issues are submitted to search engines The number of links helps with citation-aware search engines, such as Google Exploit Interactive is a search engine-friendly Web site New issues are submitted to search engines The number of links helps with citation-aware search engines, such as Google

20 Feedback Online publications can make it easy to provide feedback: Feedback from the readers (discussion of issues raised) Voting (90% agree with the user that …) Author annotation (last year I said x, now I think y)

21 Annotation Jakobs Neilson Alertbox is a valuable resource for Web developers. Jakob provides annotation which allows him to add text to previously published articles, without changing the content of his original article

22 Polls Polls can help to get feedback: On the Webzine itself On the content of articles Polling software includes: Externally-hosted services Locally-developed software For a review of online polls see Providing User Feedback services through Polling Software at

23 Experiences Little use of Hypernews to comment on Exploit Interactive articles Should we: Promote moreHave comments inline Provide timed realtime chats (e.g HumanClick.com) …

24 Use By Authors? Or annotations could be used to allow authors to update their articles

25 Inline Comments Comments could be made available alongside the article

26 Invisible Authors Dealing with authors can be time-consuming Think about syndication and reuse of existing content: Material has already have benefited from QA processes Possible useful to provide content in specific areas Reuse of existing materials makes best use of resources - environmentally friendly

27 Add Variety To Content A publication full of factual articles can be boring. Why not add a variety of content? As well as adding variety, games, crosswords, etc this can allow the publisher to evaluate new technologies such as DHTML (scramble game), Java (crossword), user-agent-driven links to technologies (both), etc.

28 Or Use Cartoons & Jokes Add jokes for free from

29.. Or Caption Competitions Issues: Copyright Rights Payment for creator (e.g. cartoonist) Prizes for competition winners (sponsorship?)

30 News Feeds You can add news content to your Webzine by using a news feed. Many news feeds can be obtained for free: The news provider benefits from you providing a link to their content You benefit by getting content for free See,, etc.