On 14-16th June UKOLN (a national centre of expertise in digital information management based at the University of Bath, UK) will be hosting the annual "Institutional Web Management Workshop". This year's event, the tenth in the series, will be held at the University of Bath.
Brian Kelly, who established the workshop series in 1997 said "The workshop is the main event for the UK University Web management community. Over the years it has evolved from a much smaller event which enabled new Web managers to hear about best practices from some of the experts in the field to a more collaborative event in which everyone can contribute and engage in discussions."
The event is designed to facilitate such collaboration and open discussions. A small number of plenary talks provide a common theme and a shared experience for all participants. The main feature of the event, however, are the parallel sessions and discussion groups which enable topics of interest to participants to be addressed in more depth.
This year the event returns to UKOLN's host organisation. The event also sees a change in responsibilities, with Marieke Guy replacing Brian as the workshop chair. Brian said "Marieke has brought a fresh approach to the event".
Marieke comments that "This year Web 2.0 has really taken off and we will be offering hands-on sessions on RSS, microformats and Podcasting as well as looking at the institutional barriers Web managers might face when trying to deploy such technologies. We are also planning much greater use of collaborative technologies such as chat rooms, video, Wikis and Blogs to support the event. These tools are used to enrich the event, with the emphasis being on their potential and the benefits they can provide rather than technology for its own sake."
She adds "We are sure that all the delegates who come over to Bath for the workshop will have a great time. Bath is a beautiful city with a lot of historical and cultural sites including the Royal Crescent and Circus. The social schedule includes a barbecue at the University with live band, and a drinks reception at the Roman Baths."
The workshop hopes to attract over 180 delegates from UK university Web management teams.
The workshop series was first held over 2 days at King's College London in 1997, where it attracted almost 100 delegates. Since then it has moved to a 3-day format and has travelled to Newcastle, London, Bath (in 2000), Belfast, Glasgow, Canterbury, Birmingham and, last year, to Manchester.
The workshop Web site is available at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2006/>. Note that bookings for the event close on 26th May.
The workshop meal will take place in the UBSA Building, University of Bath campus on Wednesday, 14th June, which will be foillowed by music from el Vino Cheapo, Bath University's resident band followed by a rapper sword dance display from Northgate Rapper. A reception will be held at the Roman Baths on Thursday, 14th June.
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Last modified: 29th August 2007
