The Operations of The British Council Web Paul

The Operations of The British Council Web Paul Squires Webmaster The British Council, Web Team Manchester Ukoln Conference September 98

The future of the British Council • Policies of Blair government , channelled through • Foreign and Commonwealth Office • Department for International Development • Panel 2000 • promoting the UK as a nucleus of modern arts and culture • Visioning • addressing the shape of the Council Ukoln Conference - September 98

The Activities of The British Council Promote the UK to the world Promote English language and education overseas Ukoln Conference - September 98

The British Council Home Page Ukoln Conference - September 98

Ukoln Conference - September 98

Vital Statistics z 16, 500 HTML files and 6, 000 graphics z 150 pages updated every day z 140 web co-ordinators and 200 web authors across 109 countries z over 100 countries find the site, across a plethora of operating systems and browsers z 50 -250 pages uploaded per day z 15 local languages and 21 local servers z 3, 000 hits/month with 10% monthly increase Ukoln Conference - September 98

Web Authoring Diagram Ukoln Conference - September 98

Web Authoring Services z Remote Authoring System complete , a suite of templates and tools for web production z Web Discussion Forums service z Regional Web Training , co-ordinated in Manchester but delivered globally z Comprehensive split statistics z CD Rom of Internet, RAS, Intranet z Ratings exercises and Quality Assurance to preserve the corporate web Ukoln Conference - September 98

Local Servers and Content z Establishing local lingusticcontent is also encouraged y projects more of a local presence y empowers local offices y capture more of a potential audience y make more of a cultural link in-country y provide greater services COUNTRIES THAT HAVE LOCAL LANGUAGE CONTENT Argentina Chile Estonia Mexico Turkey Bolivia Colombia Germany Peru Venezuela Brazil Ecuador Hong Kong Taiwan Wales MIRRORED Australia www. bc. org. au Canada www. britcoun-canada. org Chile www. britcoun. cl Estonia www. bctallinn. ee Germany www. britcoun. de Greece www. britcoun. gr Hong Kongwww. britcoun. org. hk Israel www. britcoun. il Italy www. britcoun. it Malaysia www. britcoun. org. my New Zealandwww. britcoun. org. nz Pakistan www. britcoun. org. pk Poland www. britcoun. org. pl Portugal www. britcounpt. org Slovenia www. britishcouncil. si Sri Lanka www. britcoun. lk Taiwan www. britcoun. org. tw Thailand www. britcoun. or. th Turkey www. britcoun. org. tr Ukraine www. bc. kiev. ua USA www. britishcouncil-usa. org Ukoln Conference - September 98

Bad Design Examples z Non-white or graphic backgrounds z Including unnecessary, clip-art or hand-drawn graphics z Realigning and tinkering with templates z Adding unnecessary links when a concise array of content will do z Frames z Animated GIFs Ukoln Conference - September 98

Compliance • Managers, Executives and Board Members must feel that the Web is a Principal instrument for branding • Link site auditing with Design and Corporate Affairs Content owned by board • Evaluation of managerial performance Direct correlation with country/department web page performance • Ratings and QA for each office Every quarter Ukoln Conference - September 98

Reshaping content and technology development principles z user focused z established ownership z cutting edge technology, applied in a rational manner z simple yet powerful and navigable design z flexible Ukoln Conference - September 98

Corporate IT and Information Services Management Ukoln Conference - September 98

NT Server in the Web strategy The primary function of NT in our strategy is to serve • Robust applications • Applications that can be easily built and developed by Council staff • Functionality not served to such an extent (functionality, TCO etc) by U However, for the Internet at large, our OS of choice will continue to be Unix Ukoln Conference - September 98

Forthcoming Web services z Portable streaming media server: likely to be either Real. Video or Microsoft Net. Show. Built around portable NT server and telecommunication links, with fixed point server z Document management system, likely to be database driven z Development of content and technology for Web. TV Ukoln Conference - September 98

Technological change versus corporate security concerns Implications for the Web Team and Corporate IT • Security • Author Training The processing of these implications results in • Service Level Agreements • Password management services • Connectivity • Overseas staff training funding • Infrastructure and server programs • Support for office connectivity overseas • Effect on Corporate Network Ukoln Conference - September 98

BC Web Team Activities Editorial Assistants Assistant Web Master Web Manager • co-ordination of incoming material • editing • quality testing • uploading • maintenance of the site • introducing new technologies • policy and outreach Training Manager • co-ordination and delivery of training • development of Remote authoring sys • liaison with authors and ratings Intranet Manager • intranet content development and pu • works with all BC departments • outside, but with close relations to, w Ukoln Conference - September 98

The British Council on the Web www. britcoun. org Ukoln Conference - September 98