MIRIAD Online Group

A Discussion Document - Mar 12

1. Introduction
by Lewis Sykes Having initiated, implemented and managed a little over six months of MIRIAD Online activity I think its important to reflect on whats been achieved to date. Id also like to recommend a more strategic approach to this aspect of academic research activity. Key for me is involving other PGRs - and so Ive been discussing general development with Hannah Allan and David Jackson. Wed like to set up a more formal structure - the MIRIAD Online Group (MOG) - to research and help develop strategies for a number of areas related to MIRIAD and Web technologies. This would be an open forum for PGRs and staff to discuss and develop considered approaches to the academic Web. Underpinning this proposal is the belief that the Web has revolutionised the way in which information is shared and exchanged and a conviction that this should be reflected in the way that academic institutions and individual researchers respond to its potentialities. An Art & Design Institute that calls itself the Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art & Design must not only have a professional and progressive presence on the Web but should also have a coherent ideological and practical strategy for engaging with it. The development of this strategy will be guided by requirement and best practice - by creating a workspace to meet the needs of students and staff in response to their feedback and through research into innovative dissemination and research methods.

3. Work to date
MIRIAD Online is MIRIADs own hosting provision and WordPress network an unofficial Web technology infrastructure that allows the Institute to disseminate academic material freely via the Web. It comprises of: A portal site (i.e. www.miriadonline.info) that links to a network of subdomain sites and will broadcast new/important work on those sites. Subdomain sites (e.g. rip.miriadonline.info): quick and easy for MIRIAD members to set up, these sites provides a space to promote and disseminate research activities, to test ideas and work through projects and for documentation and contextualisation. These currently include Research in Practice, PARCNW, PPR, MIRIAD Writing Group and more recently added sites for groups such as Ecology in Practice, {CODE Creatives}, DARE and students such as Hannah Allan.

2. Mission statement
The MIRIAD Online Group (MOG) will operate as a forward looking, student-led initiative seeking to instigate an uptake of inventive Web technology within MIRIAD to disseminate student and staff research to the wider academic community. MOG will realise this through the following strategies: Identifying best practice Collating examples of artistic practices that leverage Web technologies Promoting an agenda of related issues Practical rollout of Web infrastructure Seeking feedback from users Training

4. Feedback on work to date

Initially, we have worked to assess the requirements of users of the online content and gather their feedback on the first stage of the MIRIAD Online network of portal and project sites. Borne out of this reflective stage planned actions and a strategic direction have been identified. The analysis and feedback has been based on the three initial online projects - PARCNW, PPR and Research in Practice.

4.1 Website Analytics - Hannah Allan

Google Analytics has been employed to evaluate the use of the web portal and the three project sites from its launch in August to the end of 2011. Although the site is still in development statistics point towards some emerging trends. The figures have been interpreted as indicators of the effectiveness of the individual sites and pages,

with suggestions on improving traffic to the sites, and altering content of the project areas to meet demand.

Conclusions
Generally the training was seen as positive, providing not just a better technical overview and hands-on practice in using Web technologies but also a deeper insight into the reasons why PGRs should use them as part of their research methodology. Several PGRs claim to be more confident in using Web technologies as a result of attending the workshop.

Actions
Link wherever possible The figures demonstrate repeatedly that direct linking to the site is the most effective driver of web traffic if this link is to relevant or useful information there is an increased chance of a returning visit. (i.e. RiP reminder emails to contain link to the calendar, PARCNW mailouts contain direct links for further info). When researcher blogs develop these should always link back to the www.miriadonline.info homepage, as should all the existing sites RiP, Writing Group etc. Content Specific and practical information acts as a hook for visitors (timetables for an event, an explanation of research terminology). Keep all content up to date and include as much of this as possible slides from RiP presentations, notes from the writing group sessions and encourage interested readers to make use of the RSS feed. Presence Look into SEO. Request link from mmu.ac.uk site. As more students take up research blogs and interact with the global research community this should improve (linking back clearly to the portal site is important to take advantage of this). Portal The majority of website visitors arrive at www.miriadonline.info so developing the presentation and content of this area will be key in guiding traffic through to the relevant site and demonstrating the scope of activity taking place.

Recommendations
Within the first term: 1. A formal session as part of the Induction Week programme to properly introduce www.miriadonline.info and the opportunities it presents. 2. A repeat of this years Research in Practice programme of two Web technology based sessions Design Your Own Research Website and Disseminating and Promoting your Research Online. 3. A two session workshop - A Quick start Guide to Designing Your Own Research Website. 4. A Web Technologies 101 minimum two session introductory workshop for newbies. 5. A regular two-weekly practical and developmental workshop for those interested in setting up their own Tumblr blogs or WordPress websites to share methods, insights and resources. From the second term: 1. A continuation of the practical workshop if the group request/require it a rolling sharing and support forum. 2. A workshop focused on Writing for the Web. 3. One-to-one support sessions with individual PGRs who are either more advanced or need more specific support. It would also be a good idea to identify and promote other Web technology focused training opportunities within MMU and the wider academic community such as VITAE.

4.2 Training - Lewis Sykes

The training feedback responds to the workshop sessions run by Lewis Sykes through Semester One 2011/12. Demonstrating the request for, and response to, targeted training for researchers using online methods of dissemination, and suggestions for how this would be developed and refined in future training programmes and workshops.

4.3 Survey - David Jackson

The survey data was collected through January and February 2012 and gave the opportunity for users of the sites to indicate how they use and respond to the available technology and content. These collated comments will guide the development of the next stage of the portal and network sites.

Conclusions
In summary, the sentiment of feedback was neutral/ positive sites receiving approx. 63% satisfaction rates overall, but with much comment on the need to improve communication of facilities and navigation inter-site. (To date, a direct response to this feedback has been to add links to relevant sites in the weekly MIRIAD email.) Other requests ranged from the ability to discuss research topics online more easily (social tools) and the facility for every student to have their own profile page.

We could establish an agenda of key topics, perhaps including: Intellectual Property Rights in digital contexts; The ways in which research institutions support innovation and research through the Web; New web methodologies used by research students in all stages of research; Online publishing mechanisms - e.g. Right On Press. We propose opening up a debate on these topics at the PARCNW workshop in April 2012 with a view to running a symposium on best digital research practice later in the year. 4. Web-based Artistic Practice Wed like to explore the notion of the Web as an artistic medium in its own right and collate examples from the UK and internationally of artists/ researchers that use the Web as part of their creative practice and research methodology, with the aim of both celebrating this work and bringing effective practices to bear within MIRIAD. These artistic themes could also be developed as part of the PARCNW symposium proposed above. 5. Training The two-weekly workshop series following the Designing your own Research Website session as part of the Research in Practice training programme has generally been well received, though it has identified a wide range of skill sets, levels of experience and confidence. We need to develop a training and support programme that meets individual needs in a more focussed way - a briefing session as part of the Induction Week programme, introductory training for newbies, practical hands-onworkshops, one-toone support for more advanced users etc.

5. Proposal of work for MOG

In response to these three pieces of data collection and analysis, we have developed a strategic plan setting out the position and objectives of the MIRIAD Online Group. We aim to respond thoughtfully to this feedback informed by forward looking initiatives and best practice examples identified from other academic Art & Design research centeres. 1. Practical Rollout As the network continues to proliferate, it is becoming increasingly important to develop the main www.miriadonline.info site as an effective portal for this activity. Once this development has happened MIRIAD staff and PGRs should be alerted to this resource and encouraged to use the infrastructure to set up their own websites and blogs. 2. Responding to Feedback While MOG members can certainly identify areas that need attention and development what we really want to do is to implement future functionality based on ongoing direct and indirect feedback from users - to try and genuinely respond to the needs of the MIRIAD PGR and staff communities. Methods of feedback gathering summarised in the Feedback section should become part of the cyclical development of the site, conducted at regular intervals throughout the year, especially following phases of development. 3. Review of best web practice at research institutions Wed like to inform future development by looking at wider examples of best practice by Art & Design Departments and Institutes in the UK and internationally, collating examples of the ways they use Web technologies.

Appendix 1: MIRIAD.INFO Report Google Analytics (1st August - 31st December)

Totals
676 visits total Traffic Sources: 31% searches | 17% referred | 53% direct

When
General trend of increased site usage, (coinciding with RiP development) dropping off towards end of term, although not consistent from day-to-day peaks and troughs. Clear peaks occurred during the sign up time for a PARCNW opportunity, the start of the semester when new intake informed of site, and the highest peak coinciding with the November PARCNW symposium, when a direct email link was sent with very useful info (the symposium times and info) Over a third (9 of 23) of the peak days a Wednesday - RiP

Keywords
Keyword 1. parc nw symposium 2. parc north west 3. parcnorthwest 4. parc northwest 5. parcnw Visits 32 16 16 13 8 Percentage 15.38% 7.69% 7.69% 6.25% 3.85%

Pages
2342 pages viewed across the site | 1067 home page views Most viewed pages :
Top 10 (01.08.11-31.12.11) 1. Home 2. Registration open (PARCNW) 3. About (PARCNW) 4. Calendar (RiP) 5. Past events (PARCNW) 6. RiP home (RiP) 7. Subscribers (PARCNW) 8. Call for proposals (PARCNW) Top 10 (01.11.11-31.12.11) Home Calendar (RiP) RiP home (RiP) About (PARCNW) Past events (PARCNW) Overview (RiP) Research methods slide (RiP) Consortium (PARCNW)

PARCNW and its events clearly lead, i.e. most visitors arriving from search engines are looking for specific information about PARCNW and its events. This could indicate that the website is not known of by those interested or involved with the group could it be linked to/cited more frequently? Using search terms relating to PARCNW the www.miriadonline.info site is in top 3 results, this isnt the case when using search terms when relating to MMU/MIRIAD, so keywords/SEO for these could be improved. Following on from this, we have no visitors using these loose terms which would indicate that interested parties (prospective students/academics from other universities) who want to find out about the departments activities are being led first to the mmu.ac.uk website and individual staff members pages.

9. Carnival contributors (PARCNW) Additional (RiP) 10. Carnival programme (PARCNW) Research ethics slide (RiP)

The November-Decemember Top 10 gives a more accurate impression of usage as all sites then active on GA. A shift towards RiP usage is demonstrated, the calendar and practical information/advice on research skills feature as usage themes. (PARCNW was less active during this time in terms of events and website updates).

Visitors
66% returning 224 only visit once Average visit 3.43 pages, 4 minutes 22% visitors logging in through MMU network (over a fifth of all users on campus students/ staff) 4% Salford Uni,1% Chester, 1% RN College music The last figures are assumed to be a result of PARCNW involvements/events and should be higher. Partner university staff/students are aware of the site from email links, why are they not using the site whilst at work? (Could be a reflection of wider issues of involvement)

Vimeo
Source, Event date, Presenter 1. PARCNW 28.04.10 Robin Nelson 2. PARCNW 28.04.10 John Schad 3. RiP 12.10.11 Jim Aulich 4. PARCNW 07.07.10 Michael Bracewell 5. PARCNW 13.04.11 Fari Mohammadian-Bajgiran # plays 29 21 21 20 20

RiP videos have moved up rankings quickly considering time uploaded contain specific advice on the research programme/milestones.

The most played video (Robin Nelson) was linked to via email to all MIRIAD researcher students with a recommendation that the content would be particularly relevant in understanding types of research/terminology.

Appendix 2: Designing your own Research Website Workshop

Feedback from Participants - Jan 12
Attending the DyoRW workshop has ...de-mystified the uses of blogging in research and personal practice contexts and has helped to clarify, for me, distinctions between knowledgebased reticence and personal inhibition.
Clinton Cahill

...given me the confidence and skills to create research websites (Tumblr, WordPress) and utilise integrated social media and tools. As a result I have created a plan and structure for developing the websites and integrated this into my PhD as method for carrying out and disseminating research.
Hannah Allan

...really built my confidence in using blogs. I now have two, which I actively use. I feel I have a stronger web presence, which I feel is important in this current age. I understand technical web terms better and find it less scary. The blogs have themselves helped me organise my thoughts and interact with others who are interested in my research area.
Sabbi Kaur

...enabled me to begin to develop a webpresence and also establish semi-structured outlet for my scholarly thoughts and impressions on visual culture.
Gary Bratchford

Reviewing the feedback

12 PGRs/staff attended at least one of the five sessions held every alternate Wednesday during the Autumn Term with an average attendance of seven per session, a core of four regulars and eight PGRs offering formal feedback. Generally the training was seen as positive, providing not just a better technical overview and hands-on practice in using Web technologies but also a deeper insight into the reasons why PGRs should use them as part of their research methodology. Several PGRs claim to be more confident in using Web technologies as a result of attending the workshop. The first couple of sessions were better attended with feedback from a PGR who didnt continue being I learned what I needed. This suggests future training for the new intakes should include a Quick

Start Guide over a couple of sessions for those who want to get up and running quickly and easily. Theres clearly a wide range of Web technology expertise, confidence and existing practical usage within the PGR and staff community and this wasnt appreciated and reflected in the workshop sessions. An example being a session on usability where Lewis tried to skip the initial questions on the function and audience of the website only to find that attendees definitely wanted to talk about these issues.

Appendix 3: Survey soliciting feedback on MIRIADonline websites

Population of survey respondents
The survey was open from the 25th September onwards (survey is currently still open). The last contribution was on the 8th February. Overall, ten people responded to the call for feedback and represented a cross section of both staff and full-time and part-time students as well as one interested party of unspecified affiliation.

Respondents use of MIRIADonline and other academic websites

According to the feedback both Research in Practice and PARC North West were both used equally frequently (6 of 10) with PPR featuring less prominently (3 of 10). In addition to the MIRIAD Online websites other academic websites named by respondents included Academia.edu, a social network that allows academics to share and read papers within an academically focused social network, the MIRIAD Ning Social Network, Mendeley.com, a reference management online tool, as well as an arts journal and the MIRIAD Facebook page. The majority of other academic sites mentioned had a social network element.

Suggestions for improvement of MIRIADonline

This was backed up by a request for better facilities for students to comment on research issues (5/10), although the most popular request was for better communication of existing services (6/10). This suggests that there is work to be done in integrating web-based information into the day-today communication infrastructure at MIRIAD. Other improvement option suggested by the survey the ability to set up your own blog received less general support (3/10).

Individual site feedback

Research in Practice Site The primary function of this site is apparently to check the times and dates of the lectures taking place each week (3/7) and others using it to watch lectures they have missed or get hold of lecture materials (4/7 collectively). The site is checked at between once a week and once a month by 6 out of 7 respondents. Notably, six out of seven respondents would like email updates when new resources are added

and new lecture dates. Again, this suggests that users feel that there could be more effective communication of online assets on a day-to-day basis. One respondent also comments on navigation, saying: everything seems circular, and I always end up on the front page. Score(out of 10): 6 PPR Site The function of the PPR site is primarily for others to catch up on recent group events (3/4) with most users (3/4) catching up at least once per month. Score (out of 10): 7 PARC North West Site The primary function of the PARC North West site for users is to broadcast opportunities and symposium details to members of the group. Most respondents who use this site check it at least once a month. Score (out of 10): 6

Final thoughts on MIRIADonline websites...

Respondents were asked if they would like to make any final comments about MIRIADonline. One observable theme is focused around getting the student body more represented on the sites: Id like to see more PGRs on the site and more groups like PPR from across all PARC members That would be great if you prepare a page in MIRIAD Website about your current students and their research. ...more integration with staff and student online presences. The other is better communication and navigation features of the current MIRIAD Online Sites network: I attended two PARCNorthwest events in 2010. I didnt know these were archived online until you sent this questionnaire. I have now revisited a particular session (Robin Nelson) via your Vimeo website and it has been extremely useful. To improve dissemination, my suggestion would be to email all your contacts with a description of each website and who they are for, with direct links. I think that it needs to be more streamlined in organisational comms - perhaps one site as digest for the rest I think it would be far easier to have clearer links between each website - its a case of having to navigate through lots before getting to what you want to check.