Dear Neil,
Thanks for raising the question about portals, it has been really
interesting reading the replies. Within the subject area of the historic
environment all sorts of portals and gateways are emerging, some are
'thick' and some are 'thin' while others are geared towards specific
user communities - to schools, to higher education or to professional
users. Each has its own value and role.
The 'Opening Doors' conference aims to bring people together who are
developing portals and gateways relating to the historic environment. We
hope that it will provide an opportunity to look at portals of all
types, to discuss common issues and for the sector to develop its
understanding of this area.
with best wishes,
Kate Fernie
'Opening Doors: web portals for the historic environment'
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/HEIRNET/conference.html
Neil Handley wrote:
>
> The following response to my enquiry concerning the definition of 'portal'
> is forwarded to the list at the author's request. The most important point
> Chris makes is, perhaps, in his last sentence:
>
> Neil Handley, Curator
> British Optical Association Museum (and guardian of the APERTURE
> 'Gateway'!!!)
> The College of Optometrists
> 42 Craven Street, London. WC2N 5NG
> Tel: 020 7839 6000. Fax: 020 7839 6800.
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> Web: http://www.college-optometrists.org/college/museum
>
> Dear Neil,
>
> Your email to the MCG list has been forwarded onto me as you may be
> interested in some of the work JISC is doing in the portals area.
>
> As you can see from my signature, my main responsibility is the development
> of portals and associated strategy and thinking for JISC. In other words,
> considering the role of portals within Higher and Further Education.
> Information on the work in this area can be found at
> http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=programme_portals, including details of
> the projects currently being funded. The work is based around three ways
> users may wish to access information: subject-based, data-type based, and
> user community based (not on the list of projects as yet but due to start in
> the spring).
>
> The page above addresses your initial question to some degree, but please
> also see the Portals FAQ that has been developed to address such issues at
> http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=ie_portalsfaq. Within JISC's
> development strategy, a portal is an interactive and proactive discovery
> tool that allows access to a number of distinct information sources through
> a common interface. This is more the 'thick' type of portal that is
> described in the FAQ, an example of which is HEIRPORT at
> http://www.ads.ahds.ac.uk/heirport/ and run by the organisers of the Opening
> Doors event. A list of links such as you maintain would be of the 'thin'
> type.
> The primary difference is that from your site users would then go out to the
> external sites/resources they need; in a 'thick' portal, the user sends out
> a search and the information is brought to them from the external
> sites/resources.
>
> These distinctions affect the terminology applied to sites. I would only
> use the 'portal' label where there is some level of pro-active interaction
> and use the term 'gateway' for a list of links; it is certainly the case
> that each has their value and role. Your resource is akin to the service
> provided by the hubs of the Resource Discovery Network
> (http://www.rdn.ac.uk) which use the term 'gateway' and also 'catalogue' to
> indicate the collection of links they maintain. In a sense, a portal could
> be seen as an extended gateway.
>
> I hope this information answers your questions, but please get in touch if
> you would like to discuss this further. In regards of the conference being
> organised (which I am not involved in), I suspect a portal will be as I have
> indicated above, but it is certainly worth clarifying so that the Museums
> sector can reach a common understanding on this.
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris
>
> PS. Please forward this to the MCG list if it fails to appear there. I have
> copied it there but am not sure if non-members can post and it may bounce.
>
> ****************************************************************************
> Chris Awre
> Programme Manager, Portals
> JISC
>
> 3rd Floor, Strand Bridge House
> 138-142, The Strand
> London WC2R 1HH
> Tel: 020 7848 2820
> email: [log in to unmask]
> ****************************************************************************
>
> > | -----Original Message-----
> > | From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
> Neil Handley
> > | Sent: 20 February 2003 10:26
> > | To: [log in to unmask]
> > | Subject: Re: 'Opening Doors' - conference announcement
> > |
> > |
> > | Would anyone define for me what a 'portal' actually is. When is a
> > | portal just a links page? I cite as an example my own 'portal'
> > | called APERTURE because it is an opening onto the web for those
> > | seeking sites on historic spectacles and optical devices.
> > | http://www.college-optometrists.org/college/museum/aperture Ideally
> > | this would be policed by some special sort of software such as
> > | ROADS, as used by the National Maritime Museum but we are too small
> > | an organisation to do that and the site is small enough for me to
> > | check each link manually on a regular
> > | basis.
> > |
> > | Am I in error to call this page a portal? Would a sophisticated
> > | portal actually achieve anything better than the current page?
> > |
> > | Neil Handley, Curator
> > | British Optical Association Museum
> > | The College of Optometrists
> > | 42 Craven Street, London. WC2N 5NG
> > | Tel: 020 7839 6000. Fax: 020 7839 6800.
> > | E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> > | Web: http://www.college-optometrists.org/college/museum
>
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--
Kate Fernie
Project Officer
Archaeology Data Service: The Dept of Archaeology,
University of York, The Kings' Manor, York, YO1 7EP, UK
email: [log in to unmask] tel: 0044 (0)1904 433973
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/HEIRNET/
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