The UK Web Focus Consultancy
Background
Since 1995 Brian Kelly has supported effective use of Web technologies across the UK’s higher education community, initially as senior trainer at Netskills then, for over 16 years, as UK Web Focus at UKOLN. Following cessation of UKOLN’s core funding Brian worked as Innovation Advocate at Cetis for about 19 months. However this finished following the cessation of Jisc funding which led, after a period of two years, the closure of the organisation at the University of Bolton.
After working as a Web and technology adviser for the UK’s higher and further education communities since 1996 Brian Kelly is now an independent consultant. This web site provides details of Brian’s consultancy work, access to the UK Web Focus blog and links to Brian’s papers and presentations.
The UK Web Focus Blog
The UK Web Focus blog was launched in November 2006 and originally hosted by WordPress.com. The blog has been migrated to the ukwebfocus.com web site and will continue to contain posts about use of Web technologies, especially developments of interest to the higher education community.
The IWMW Event
IWMW, the Institutional Web Management Workshop series, was launched in 1997. The event has proved to be sustainable, with continued interest across the UK’s web management community in participation in an event which focusses on the challenges of providing large-scale web services in higher education.
IWMW 2016 marked a special occasion – the event was the 20th in the series. The event was held at Liverpool John Moores University of 21-23 June 2016.
IWMW 2017 was held at the University of Kent on 11-13 July 2017.
IWMW 2018 was held at the University of York on 11-13 July 2018.
IWMW 2019 was held at the University of Greenwich on 25-27 June 2019.
IWMW 2020 was scheduled to be held at the University of Dundee on 30 June – 2 July 2020 but was postponed due to Coronavirus.
Testimonials
UK Web Focus blog
IWMW 2016: The Resources
This post provides access to video recordings and slides of the plenary talks at the IWMW 2016 event.
Reflections on #IWMW16: The Talks
About IWMW 2016 IWMW 2016, the annual Institutional Web Management Workshop, took place at Liverpool John Moores University on 21-23 June. This is the first of a number of posts which provides the event organiser’s perspective of the event. For those who are...
IWMW In Miniature
IWMW - the Annual Event IWMW, the Institutional Web Management Workshop, celebrates its 20th anniversary on 21-23 June, with the IWMW 2016 event taking place at Liverpool John Moores University. As is the norm, the event provides a wide range of plenary talks (14 in...
IWMW 2016 Now Open For Bookings!
I'm pleased to announce that bookings for the IWMW 2016 event are now open. This year's event will be held at Liverpool John Moores University on 21-23 June The IWMW 2016 event is the leading event for those with responsibilities for managing institutional web...
Do You Have Memories Of IWMW Events?
20 Years of IWMW! This years annual Institutional Web Management Workshop, IWMW 2016, will be the 20th in the series. The event was launched in July 1997 with a two-day event. Although initially envisaged as a one-off event the feedback for the first event made it...
Brief Thoughts on Day 1 of the Jisc Digital Festival 2016
The Jisc Digital Festival 2016 The two-day Jisc Digital Festival began early today and continues tomorrow. This was my first Jisc event for some time and provided a valuable opportunity to gain an overview of Jisc developments and, perhaps more importantly, meet...
IWMW 2016: Call For Submissions Open
IWMW 2016, the annual Institutional Web Management Workshop, will be held at Liverpool John Moores University on 21-23 June 2016. The theme of this year’s event is "Understanding Users; Managing Change; Delivering Services". The event, the 20th in the series, is aimed...
Should We Boycott Academia.edu?
The "Why Are We Not Boycotting Academia.edu?" Event I recently came across a tweet which announced an event which addressed the question "Why Are We Not Boycotting Academia.edu?". As described on the Eventbrite booking page: With over 36 million visitors each month,...
Back to the Future at #ILI2015
Looking To The Past To Predict The Future On Monday Tony Hirst and myself co-facilitated a workshop on "Preparing for the Future: Technological Challenges and Beyond" which preceded the ILI 2015 conference. In the workshop we explored ways in which librarians...
Reflections on a Twitter Discussion About ORCID
"Can't Get Excited About ORCID" On Friday (4 September 2015) I took part in an interesting discussion about ORCID which began when I came across the following tweet which provided a link to an interesting post about ORCID, a standard for IDs for researchers: Why I'm...
Feedback on #IWMW15 (and Plans for #IWMW16)
About IWMW 2015 IWMW 2015, the 19th annual Institutional Web Management Workshop, took place from 27-29th July at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk. As described last year in a post on Reflections on #IWMW14 the event is undergoing a transformation: after 17 years of...
Reflections on #IWMW15
About IWMW 2015 IWMW 2015, the annual Institutional Web Management Workshop, took place at Edge Hill University on 27-29 July 2015. Following the recent series of guest posts from participants at the event this is the first of two posts which provide the event...
Guest post: Evolution at its finest in the Higher Education sector
This year's IWMW 2015 event attracted larger numbers of speakers and participants from beyond the HE sector than in the past. This guest post by Rachel Rennie, Head of Edinburgh at Precedent is the fourth in a series of guest posts from participants at the IWMW 2015...
Guest post: Reflections on IWMW Events from Jean Jumelle
Jean Jumelle, Web Communications Analyst at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh is retiring shortly. Jean has attended several IWMW events since 2007 and, in this third guest post by IWMW 2015 participants, gives his brief reflections on the events. I am retiring in...
Guest post: Reflections on IWMW 2015 from Charlotte Harry
Yesterday Emma Cragg gave her Reflections on IWMW 2015. Today's second guest post about the IWMW 2015 event is written by Charlotte Harry, another IWMW first-timer. Since attending my first Institutional Web Management Workshop (IWMW) in July I’ve been chastising...
Guest post: Reflections on IWMW 2015 from Emma Cragg
IWMW 2015, the 19th annual Institutional Web Management Workshop, took place recently at Edge Hill University. In this, the first guest blog post about the event Emma Cragg gives her thoughts from the perspective as a first-timer at the event. At the end of July I...
Is Wikipedia Relevant to University Web Managers?
Areas Apparently Not Being Addressed By Web Managers Yesterday in a post entitled "Pondering the Online Legacy of my Work" I described how two recent Facebook messages highlighted areas which appear not to be being addressed widely across the web management community...
“Pondering the Online Legacy of my Work”
Neglected Areas for Web Managers? Yesterday I came across two posts in my Facebook stream which addressed areas which appear to be neglected by those with responsibilities for providing institutional web services. In the first of two posts I comment on...
Time To Update Web Accessibility Policies?
Institutional Web Accessibility Policies What type of policies do institutions provide on the accessibility of corporate web sites? This question is very relevant to the workshop session on "BS 8878: Systematic Approaches to Documenting Web Accessibility Policies and...
Finalising Plans for IWMW 2015
IWMW 2015: A Recap The 19th in the annual Institutional Web Management Workshop series, IWMW 2015, will take place at Edge Hill University on 27-29 July. The event is aimed at members of institutional web management teams, who have responsibilities for managing...