Policy Brief – homepage – UK public policy initiative – think tanks is an example of a site that lists policy briefings in a form that can be easily browsed. The policy briefs are written in a form that can be used in various contexts; this 'Policy framework for supported employment' offers different levels of detail, plus a link to related findings, a printable pdf format for distribution, and the full background report.
Will RSS kill the newsletter? A Globe and Mail story today described RSS as a technology that might supplant email newsletters and help to eliminate spam. Most online Globe articles become unavailable after a few days, so here's an excerpt:
“RSS, short for Really Simple Syndication — also known as Rich Site Summary — is most commonly described as a news aggregator designed to facilitate the distribution of on-line content. Developed in Extensible Markup Language (XML), this system doesn't require the use of e-mail to reach consumers. Instead, news headlines and associated links are delivered directly to the user, who can view stories in a program browser or click through to the complete articles on-line. …
“RSS is being touted as the latest weapon in the fight against spam and the newest solution to on-line content distribution. It's a system that's easy to install and employ; RSS readers can be Web-browser-based, stand-alone desktop applications, even integrated into Microsoft Outlook (NewsGator and FeedDemon, both for Windows, and NetNewsWire for Mac OS X, are among the more popular programs). … There are currently tens of thousands of free opt-in RSS publisher “feeds” available on the Web (see Syndic8.com and News Is Free for directories). The top 100 most subscribed feeds, as listed by Radio UserLand, regularly include Wired News, CNN Sports, The Wall Street Journal and Business 2.0. But feeds also exist for the smallest of Web logs (blogs), housing the thoughts of random Internet users in on-line journal form.”
This is really interesting. I've seen RSS in use for years, but never thought of them as a mainstream alternative to email newsletters. It allows users to manage their subscriptions directly instead of trying to remember which newsletters they signed up for and whether they are risking more spam if they try to unsubscribe. The approach could be used to communicate between community groups, especially on advocacy issues, as an alternative to ActionApps slices. It would be neat if Rabble.ca had an RSS feed…
For more information and resources on RSS readers, see Weblogs Compendium – RSS Readers. For example, NewsGator works within Outlook, pulling all of your subscribed newsletters into a folder that you can read or manage when you're offline. The latest version allows you to post directly to your weblog from NewsGator through plug-ins that work with Blogger, Radio and several others.
Rural Policy Research Institute. “In the past several decades, a number of policy institutes and think-tanks have been formed to open a substantial dialogue about issues affecting rural communities. The Rural Policy Research Institute is one of these organizations, and involves scientists and policy analysts from Iowa State University, the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska and other affiliated institutions. The Web site is divided into a number of sections, including a publications area, a section that contains editorials written by Institute fellows and staff members, and an area dedicated to providing information about helpful resources such as basic statistics about rural America. On the left side of the home page, visitors can also browse the Web pages of the Institute's affiliated centers such as the Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis and the Rural Poverty Research Center. Finally, users can elect to sign up for an electronic newsletter that will update them about upcoming events, conferences, and publications related to rural policy issues.” From the Internet Scout Report.
DotOrg Media: Electronic Mailing Lists. Here's a recent article on mailing lists that can be used by nonprofits, including Sympa, Convio, Topica, Yahoo Groups, Mailman, and lots of email marketing products. It's a good place to start if you're looking at alternatives. From a quick look-through, focusing on interactive mailing lists with web-based archives, Sympa looked the best. Yahoo Groups and Topica are popular free lists, but I can't stand the advertising. Tightcircle is an interesting hosted mailing list with web-based archives – worth looking at.
NPOGroups offers Sympa newsletter groups through an inexpensive paid hosting service.
For 'no compromise' applications Lyris is another choice. It offers an interactive mailing list or mail newsletter service starting at $200/month US for 2000 users and up to 3 lists – expensive, but it's built for high end companies and email marketing campaigns.
There are two general approaches to creating an inexpensive web site. One is to hire web programmers to design a site using html software like Dreamweaver or FrontPage. To update content (for example, to correct a typo or to add a sentence), you must hire a programmer or expert to post it on the site.
The other approach is to use a Content Management System (CMS) that allows users to post content directly to the site without needing special software. The web programmer merely designs the look and structure of the site. A good CMS will allow agencies to separate the roles of (a) writers who post content, from (b) editors who approve and revise the content before posting it publicly, from (c) programmers who change the graphic design and structure of the site.
This blog is an example of a content management system. It is free and easy to use, but is based on a complex and powerful software platform that just makes it look easy. You can change the structure and look of it in seconds by giving it a new template.
Here's a good article that summarizes CMS's at various price points. Inexpensive CMS's include Trellix, which offers its site-building tool through web hosts like Earthlink and Interland; Windows SharePoint Services hosted by services like UnifiedWebMedia or Apptix; MacroMedia's Contribute; Ektron CMS100;Bricolage; Plone; and ActionApps. Also see Mark Surman's review of mostly open source CMSs, and Robin Good's review of inexpensive ones.
Increasingly even regular web design software like Dreamweaver and FrontPage are selling themselves as CMS's (for example, SharePoint is included in FrontPage.) Some of them require an experienced programmer to set them up and host them before you can begin using them. Others, like blogs, can be instantly used by newbies but don't offer much functionality.
The tasks involved in creating a web site using a CMS are:
1. Decide what you want in a web site (see this article for some tips).
2. Hire someone to help to design the structure, functionality and type of content for your site. If your needs are simple and generic, you can copy someone else's site or use templates like the ones provided by Trellix or FrontPage; in that case, you don't have to hire anyone. But if your needs are more complex, you probably should ask someone to help you figure out who you want to serve and what you want the site to do for you.
3. Select a content management software platform and web host for your site. This should be done after you have defined the site requirements in step one, and at the same time you're designing the site.
4. Create the content and post it. Writing the content should be done in parallel with the previous steps. You won't know what your site should look like if you don't have example content to put into it. And most agencies suffer from writer's block when it comes to populating the site – don't be in the position of delaying a web site launch for months because no-one was writing the material that you want to post.
5. Define the processes for updating it and maintaining the site. Staff must be assigned to ensure that content is updated and that the web site is monitored. You may need to switch web hosts occasionally if service is not adequate, especially if you're using inexpensive services that can be unreliable.
Look for content management and hosting services with the following capabilities:
- Writers should be able to post content using a web browser, without needing to know html. It shouldn't take more than 20 minutes to show a writer how to post content, and preferably less than that.
- There should be a way for editors to review and revise content before posting it publicly, even if it's just to check for spelling mistakes.
- For visitors to your website, it should be compatible with a wide range of browsers, not only the latest version of Internet Explorer. However, it is acceptable to ask your writers and editors to use a specific browser unless you want community members to post content.
- There should be a way to back up data in case the host's server goes down or the host goes out of business.
- You should be able to easily switch programmers and/or web hosts if service is not satisfactory. Don't get locked into a proprietary system or one that only a couple of people know how to use.
- The service should match your needs and your budget. Don't pay for functions that you will not need within the next two or three years. Just make sure you can switch to another platform if necessary. In other words, make sure you can export content. In a small site with just a few pages, you can save content into a word processor. In a big site you need to export content in some kind of database-compatible format.
Services change quickly, and basic Content Management Services are getting cheaper all the time. On the other hand, highly complex needs still require big budgets. (See full-featured services by Atomz for example, as well as this comparison between Ektron and Rhythmyx.) In the next few years, deciding on a web site platform will be as easy as deciding on a word processor. There will be a few big competitors, but all of the serious contenders will be compatible with each other. You won't need to hire a consultant to develop a basic site, just as you don't need to hire a professional desktop publisher to type up a report. Until then, keep up to date with the choices and try to stay as simple as possible.
Update – November 5 2003 – I just looked at Pmachine, a nice looking portal program that appears both inexpensive (under $130 US) and powerful. It's built on PHP and MySQL, and is especially strong at incorporating multiple weblogs into the portal.
Microsoft Office Consumer Evaluation You can now order evaluation copies of MS Office and related software. The evaluation software is free but expires after 60 days, so it's useful for I.T. staff who are deciding whether to upgrade to Office 2003, or whether to buy one of the new products like OneNote or InfoPath. The software won't actually be sent out until the end of October. It will be possible to download a 60 day version of OneNote, which is a really cool program. I got a beta version a few weeks ago.
Recommendations for managing software projects according to the Chairman of Standish Group, the consulting firm that published the famous CHAOS report in 1994. The CHAOS report stated that only 16% of large projects were successful. An updated report (available to those who can pay several hundred dollars for it) found fewer project failures, mostly as a result of better project management processes. However, total project successes were still under 30%.
From a summary by Rick Freedman:
“The 2000 report is based on an analysis of 30,000 IT projects from large companies like Fidelity Investments and Compaq Computer and government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service. Thousands of smaller companies were also part of the study.)
- 28 percent of projects were delivered on time, on budget, and within spec.
- 49 percent of projects are now considered “challenged.”
- 23 percent of projects fail or are cancelled.
“More significant improvements were reflected in cost and budget control, which improved to 45 percent from 189 percent in 1994. While that’s still not as accurate as customers expect, it’s an improvement that suggests that the practice of applying structured and robust methods to budget management is working.
“Busted schedules also improved, down to 63 percent from 222 percent in the earlier study. While clients may not be thrilled to discover that, on average, their IT project will take 63 percent longer than expected, at least these numbers are heading in the right direction.”
The Standish Group's recommendations on best practices are simple. First, projects should be divided into micro-projects of no more than 60 days each, permitting many iterations and improvements. It's hard to get into too much trouble if deliverables are always due within 2 months. Second, users must be involved early and often. Third, senior executives must support the project and communicate its value throughout the organization.
Manitoba Centre for Health Policy's Research Page provides a number of useful tools for researchers working with their health data sets, including a concept dictionary and glossary.
Centre for Health Services & Policy Research at UBC offers many resources for researchers, including this flow chart describing the process by which researchers can access data at the BC Linked Health Database.
Program in Policy Decision-Making is a research program affiliated with McMaster University, run by Dr. John Lavis and funded in part by CPHI to promote links between research and policy. The site attempts to summarize key messages based on evidence, and communicate them in a way that will influence decision-makers.
Science Next Wave Canada is a site aimed at young Canadian researchers. It provides articles on how to write grant proposals, how to build one's career, where to find funding, and so on. It's a generic site for academics.
Community of Science is an international web-based resource for scientists from all backgrounds. It is a subscription service offered to universities, and most Canadian universities (and their faculty) are members. It provides funding alerts, biographical information, and several other services. It is free to sign up for the Workbench and see some of the features of the site.
The National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project “is the creation of complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional representations of the normal male and female human bodies. Acquisition of transverse CT, MR and cryosection images of representative male and female cadavers has been completed.”. ..
“The Visible Human Project data sets are designed to serve as a common reference point for the study of human anatomy, as a set of common public domain data for testing medical imaging algorithms, and as a test bed and model for the construction of image libraries that can be accessed through networks. The data sets are being applied to a wide range of educational, diagnostic, treatment planning, virtual reality, artistic, mathematical and industrial uses by over 1,400 licensees in 42 countries.” It is related to Anatquest, a database containing all of the images collected through the Visible Human Project.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, like the World Health Organization, attempts to serve many audiences on issues related to health and well-being. It's more policy-focused than WHO.
I've just started a new blog on web sites relevant to distance research collaborations. I've linked to it on the side here. It uses one of the many blog templates available at blogger.com.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Synthesis Project is an initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to produce concise and thought-provoking briefs and reports that translate research findings on perennial health policy questions. By synthesizing what is known, while weighing the strength of the research evidence and exposing gaps in current knowledge, the project gives decision-makers reliable information and new insights on complex policy issues. The project pairs researchers with policy analysts to produce Synthesis reports and briefs.
WHO: World Health Organization provides health information for consumers, policymakers and researchers. Note the right column that lists urgent information on disease outbreaks. The Research Tools subsite offers lists of datasets, classifications and other resources relevant to international health researchers.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services. “In examining what works and does not work in health care, AHRQ's mission includes both translating research findings into better patient care and providing policymakers and other health care leaders with information needed to make critical health care decisions.”
The AHRQ site includes a National Guideline Clearinghouse listing evidence-based clinical guidelines that are selected through a multi-level peer review process. The site attempts to serve consumers and patients as well as researchers and policy-makers; it's a rich, complex site with masses of health information.
UK Data Archive. “The UK Data Archive (UKDA) is a resource centre that acquires, disseminates, preserves, and promotes the largest collection of digital data in the social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. Its primary aim is to support secondary use of quantitative and qualitative data for research and learning.”
The UK Data Archive houses Qualidata – Qualitative Data Service, which “provides a national service for the acquisition, dissemination and re-use of social sciences qualitative research data. It is a specialist unit housed within the UK Data Archive (UKDA) at the University of Essex. Together with the UKDA, the Service works with the ESRC to operate its Datasets Policy that exists to enhance the potential use of research data arising out of ESRC funded projects. Qualidata offers specialist advice on research project management, issues of confidentiality and consent, and documentation of data with regard to archiving data. It further offers a resource discovery hub via both the UKDA online catalogue and its own online catalogue, Qualicat, enabling users to locate accessible sources of qualitative data across the UK.
“Qualidata's focus is now on acquiring data collections created during the course of research projects from ESRC Research Programmes, from mixed methods research and from UK based 'classic studies'. Where possible these data are stored and disseminated electronically via the UKDA, but the Service also facilitates, for large paper based collections, the deposit of data with a range of prestigious archives across the country.
“Qualidata offers training and seminars to encourage professional researchers and research students alike to make full use of the rich sources of existing data held in archives or remaining with principal investigators. ”
Fortune.com – Fast Forward – Will a New Software Strategy Lift the Dark Clouds Over Sun? Well, well – Sun is releasing a full enterprise software system, including desktop applications to replace MS Office – based on Linux systems and costing a total of $150/employee/year US. This is incredibly attractive pricing if Sun can make it work financially. Even nonprofits that can get MS software on charity pricing have to pay full costs for much enterprise software. More details here.
