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A Social Science Gateway in a Shifting Digital World

A Social Science Gateway in a Shifting Digital World. Shaping SOSIG for Users’ Needs of the Future. Lesly Huxley and Angela Joyce http://www.sosig.ac.uk. Presentation Outline. SOSIG in context - some history Responses to two related challenges: Users’ needs

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A Social Science Gateway in a Shifting Digital World

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  1. A Social Science Gateway in a Shifting Digital World Shaping SOSIG for Users’ Needs of the Future Lesly Huxley and Angela Joyce http://www.sosig.ac.uk lesly.huxley@bristol.ac.uk | angela.joyce@bristol.ac.uk

  2. Presentation Outline • SOSIG in context - some history • Responses to two related challenges: • Users’ needs • Sustaining a labour-intensive service • The shape of SOSIG in future • Identity, packaging, funding, user input lesly.huxley@bristol.ac.uk | angela.joyce@bristol.ac.uk

  3. SOSIG - a Short History • One of the UK’s first web-based subject gateways (1994) • Pioneering technical, metadata and other standards development work • Now part of the UK’s resource discovery network (RDN) • Diverse funding streams (JISC/ESRC) • Broad user bases (research and learning in all UK social science sectors) lesly.huxley@bristol.ac.uk | angela.joyce@bristol.ac.uk

  4. SOSIG home page, August 2003 http://www.sosig.ac.uk/

  5. Core team of technical, subject and management staff in Bristol Distributed team of c.50 ‘section editors’ contributing to the service Growth of catalogue to 25,000+ records, 17 main headings, 1000+ sub-headings ‘Community’ and personal features, additional content: courses, conferences A Significant Subject Resource lesly.huxley@bristol.ac.uk | angela.joyce@bristol.ac.uk

  6. Evaluation:the Big Questions • Content: are our selection criteria and collection management ‘right’? • Audience: who? What are their information needs? Are we meeting them? • Usability: is service design appropriate for the audience? • Service delivery: are speed and functionality appropriate? • Awareness: are we known to our target audiences? lesly.huxley@bristol.ac.uk | angela.joyce@bristol.ac.uk

  7. Input from our user communities • Workshops, focus groups, research, consultation day, usability study… some findings… - Must see users’ viewpoints - Search behaviours - Consultation day feedback - Legislation on accessibility - Size of SOSIG sections - 50 most visited sites lesly.huxley@bristol.ac.uk | angela.joyce@bristol.ac.uk

  8. Sustaining SOSIG • Collaborative research and services… some examples • European projects • Exchange and ‘wrapping’ of records • Collaborative cataloguing (LTSN) • Portalisation • Spring-cleaning exercise lesly.huxley@bristol.ac.uk | angela.joyce@bristol.ac.uk

  9. Shaping Sosig • Service design - user engagement – portalisation …In a shifting digital world… • New technologies • ‘Massification’ in higher education • SOSIG audience? • Surveys of digital library usage • SOSIG’s strengths lesly.huxley@bristol.ac.uk | angela.joyce@bristol.ac.uk

  10. Conclusions User-centred approach, Contextual drivers • Measure performance • Widen target audience • Software redesign • Selection criteria • Interface • Portalisation • SOSIG brand identity • Competition • Embedding in VLEs lesly.huxley@bristol.ac.uk | angela.joyce@bristol.ac.uk

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