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The Integration Challenge

The Integration Challenge. Bringing Web Management Systems Together. Eric Behrens Swarthmore College. Web Archaeology. A rchaeology … is the peeping Tom of the sciences. It is the sandbox of men who care not where they are going; they merely want to know where everyone else has been.

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The Integration Challenge

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  1. The Integration Challenge Bringing Web Management Systems Together Eric Behrens Swarthmore College

  2. Web Archaeology Archaeology … is the peeping Tom of the sciences. It is the sandbox of men who care not where they are going; they merely want to know where everyone else has been. --Jim Bishop

  3. The <Angle Bracket> Age • The creation of the initial hierarchy of interrelated pages • Focused on content presentation/distribution • Essentially libertarian • Big challenges were user training, design, and organizational buy-in. • Emblematic tool is the WYSIWYG HTML editor • Emblematic product is a department home page

  4. The Submit Button Age • Scripting & dynamic content development • Focused on information transactions • Essentially bureaucratic/administrative • Big challenges were meeting client demand, technical staff recruitment/retention, ROI, scalability • Emblematic tool is Cold Fusion • Emblematic product is online registration

  5. The Age of Industrialization • Proliferation of commercial and open source applications to manage and manipulate general or specialized content databases on the web • Answering scalability • Essentially egalitarian • Big challenges include funding, project management, customization and integration • Emblematic tool is Blackboard Learning System (with developer API’s) • Emblematic end-user project is a Blog

  6. Blackboard, WebCT, Sakai Ingeniux, RedDot, .NET Presentation WWW Portal(s) Course Management ContentDM, Luna Insight, DSpace Information Management Systems Content Management Digital Asset Management End-user Administrative Applications Library Management Information Infrastructure One-Card/ Commerce ERP Directory Services Scheduling

  7. The Challenges At Hand

  8. Strategic Planning vs. Reactive Thinking • Integration requires strategic planning • Adapting to the flavors-of-the-month and disruptive technologies • Responding appropriately to distracting ideas • Importance vs. urgency

  9. Communication • Connecting projects to core mission(s) for senior staff and other decision makers • Few aware of full extent of project relationships & interdependencies • Disagreement, competition (What? Never.) • Marketing: before or after implementation?

  10. Staff • Job splintering • Sharing the load • Alignment of the stars’ stars • Retention and/or knowledge transfer

  11. Best of Breed vs. Single Vendor • Maximizing the value of web management systems • Risk scenarios • Vendor lock • Customization lock • Opportunity Cost • The finality of product selection.

  12. A Very Little Advice • Strategic planning takes time • Strategic planning takes place at and between multiple layers of organization • Our institutions rely on our stewardship • A lot of small goods can equal excellence • Wait for the Ideal? Speed/agility are also virtues • Mind the store

  13. Now for the pep talk…

  14. Go, team, go!

  15. Fight, Fight for the inner light,Kill, Little Quakers, Kill!-Traditional Swarthmore cheer

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