1. lisanti@mit.edu Portals: the buzzword of 1999 Suzana Lisanti CWIS Facilitator Massachusetts institute of Technology Common Solutions Group, October 1999

2. lisanti@mit.edu Portals What are they? –Mega-portal (AOL, Yahoo, Netscape) –Enterprise portals –Special-interest portals (vortal) Benefits Risks

3. lisanti@mit.edu “Our” enterprise portal

4. lisanti@mit.edu “Your” enterprise portal Audience self-selects by type

5. lisanti@mit.edu Search engine mega-portal Add Disney and Infoseek and you get Infosqueak more than bookmarks

6. lisanti@mit.edu Mega-portal: MSN

7. lisanti@mit.edu “My” portal Usually enabled by cookie technology To change layout I was told to use MS Explorer!

8. lisanti@mit.edu Knowledge management

9. lisanti@mit.edu Benefits of “my” portal Daily content in one location Easier login (goal) Navigational value – Time saved not having to type favorite urls, search terms E-commerce linkage may facilitate workflow the model has changed from being the reference librarian on the internet toinformation management, or being an interactive work center

10. lisanti@mit.edu Semantic confusion - new services as “portal” Typical lists –Academic Services –Course Resources: syllabi, access to teacher’s online office hours, eConferencing, discussion forums and student/teacher homepages –Campus auctions, event calendars, student communities, and post/find it tools (rideshare, roommates, tutors, etc). –Research Center –Career Center –Web Shopping (discounts on Travel, Computers, Books, Clothing, Music, Events )

11. lisanti@mit.edu A successful portal Recognizes the user Displays dynamic content Facilitates Workflow –single login to disparate services –moves the customer through business processes Has customizable views and tools Is clear about its scope

12. lisanti@mit.edu Relationships Build community or balkanize? –my.mit, my.sloan, my.physics –Peoplesoft uses “roles” concept Cognitive maps –internal vs external, marketing/service –referrals require a common language The new AOL Search service blends matching content from within AOL and from across the web into one results screen. The external version that will be accessible via the web won't list content only available to AOL members.

13. lisanti@mit.edu “Our” UCLA

14. lisanti@mit.edu My UCLA: overlap?

15. lisanti@mit.edu Personalized information

16. lisanti@mit.edu

17. Our green

18. lisanti@mit.edu StudentU.com

19. lisanti@mit.edu Course Site (blackboard.com)

20. lisanti@mit.edu E-commerce “Keep out e-commerce” is a red herring The devil is in the details - manage the contracts Guidelines for linking, sponsorship, and ads Barnes & nobles runs some college bookstores Sherlock, in OS8, searches Internet from HD extended to do online shopping if you search for moon landing, you’ll also get apollo- related merchandise from ebay and amazon

21. lisanti@mit.edu Define “acceptable” ads Logo “postage stamps” from www.redherring.com

22. lisanti@mit.edu Affiliates guidelines Search boxes that pay

23. lisanti@mit.edu Privacy Whose customer? –A school, department, or university? Privacy policies –can we trust 3rd party companies as data guardians Portable profiles, possibly customer-managed? Yahoo has a universal shopping basket

24. lisanti@mit.edu Full disclosure Require full disclosure Hidden deals for placement on search results Browsers act like search engines –internet key words, destinations On what basis does a link show up

25. lisanti@mit.edu Someday Portals will seem really “flat” What’s coming is more interaction with the human being on the other side of the screen

26. lisanti@mit.edu the next phase

27. lisanti@mit.edu A real person behind the screen

28. lisanti@mit.edu The tool shot over the net

29. lisanti@mit.edu Build, buy, or barter? Pressure to develop a portal without a pragmatic web strategy Define clear goals Acceptable authentication & security needs to be in place

30. lisanti@mit.edu I/T management risks Increased complexity in security, privacy, administration, and service Expensive to integrate legacy apps Expensive to manage vendors