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WSG Minutes - Michaelmas Term 2009

 PresentSR, JN, CM, AB, CS, JA, SW, GA, AP, CE,
 ApologiesRM, JH, PJ, RB, SF
 Abbreviations
Full names and details of WSG members

Matters arising

  1. Introduction of new member Gail Anderson on behalf of Sean Faughnan
    
Gail Anderson is the Communications and Marketing Manager for the Department of Continuing Education.

  2. Oral report on the creation of two new groups (WISOG and WISDG) to look at web information strategy in UAS

    Jennifer Noon gave a brief history of the creation of these two groups, as agreed by the GPC of Council, and reported on their initial meetings, WISDG (Web Information Strategy Development Group) on 8 September and WISOG (Web Information Strategy Oversight Group) on 21 September. Final wording on their principles and responsibilities is still being refined but they will be concerned with the policy, procedures and protocols for the UAS web presence with the aim of leading by example for the wider university. A strategy for disseminating information on the work of the two Groups will be drawn up when their responsibilities and objectives have been fully agreed and endorsed by the two Groups themselves.



    GPC has decided that the work of the WSG will be subsumed into these groups and Jeremy Harris, through Susannah Wintersgill, informed members of the WSG that this would therefore be the last formal meeting of the Group. Concerns about representation on the WISDG and WISOG were noted from both the Colleges and the Divisions and would be reported on to the new Groups.

  3. Survey on search facilities at other Russell Group universities

    Sebastian Rahtz shared a RUGIT survey and confirmed that Oxford is in the mainstream with regard to the provision of search: all but 2 universities used either the GSA or Ultraseek. It was felt that more could be done to fully use the capabilities of the GSA across the University and Sebastian agreed to look into the possibility of setting up a new course to help web editors make the most of the GSA via the IT Learning Programme at OUCS or via drop-in clinics.

Main items

  1. Update on .tel domains and use of http://ox.ac.uk

    Christopher Eddie informed the group that PAD have accepted the responsibility for looking after the .tel domains and that a request has been passed on to Paul Jeffreys, Director of IT, that http://ox.ac.uk be used for the website.

AOB

  1. Although acknowledging that this was now the last meeting of the WSG, Christopher Scotcher informed the group that it would have been his last anyway and the group thanked him for his participation which spans back to the very first meeting.

  2. Christopher Eddie asked if there was any particular reason why OUCS had not implemented the University branding. Sebastian Rahtz felt that it was not a high priority for his team and that since October 2007 when the branding launched, they had been too busy.

  3. Sebastian Rahtz drew the group’s attention to the recent launch of m.ox.ac.uk, the mobile portal for Oxford. Those in the group who had used it voiced their admiration. Sebastian raised the question of ownership of the site once its current funding ran out in Easter 2010.

  4. Anne Bowtell updated the group about the progress of BRII (Building the Research Information Infrastructure), a project that the Medical Sciences Division and Oxford Research Archive are running to manage information about researchers. The project should be delivered to JISC in March 2010 and there will be a demo of it on the MedSci website in Jan/Feb 2010.

  5. Gail Anderson asked Susannah Wintersgill if there were any plans for keeping the web and communications staff informed of future web developments, and raised the possibility of a joint communications and web network. At present there are no plans for such a network but this may be looked at in the future.
     
  6. The possibility of continuing WSG meetings informally was discussed.

Submitted papers