Web Governance: Buzzwords, Bywords

Mr. Lothar WedekindHead, News & Information Section

Division of Public InformationInternational Atomic Energy Agency

November 2006Web4Development Forum, United Nations

The Panel

• Geoff Barnard, Head of Information, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/

• Sharon Rusu, Coordinator, ReliefWeb, the UN gateway to information on humanitarian emergencies and disasters.http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm

The Panel

• Robert Valantin, Manager, Development Information, Information Solutions Group, World Bank http://www.worldbank.org/

• Daria Lavrentieva, Regional Web Coordinator, South Asia, World Bank http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/sar/sa.nsf

What’s Web Governance?

• In short, how websites are operated, designed, & managed

• Issues of control, accountability, responsibility, & authority

What’s Web Governance?

“Web governance is the structure of people, positions, authorities, roles, responsibilities, relationships, and rules involved in managing an agency’s website or sites.” – US Web Managers Advisory Council definition

What’s Web Governance?

Different management models:

• Centralized: Tight control over organization’s website look, feel, content; one central web office or group

• Decentralized: Distributed oversight; multiple websites determining content; often similar look and feel

What’s Web Governance?

• Getting things done:

“Management and coordination have become the primary limiting factors of many Web initiatives. Organizations must improve their Web governance structures if Internet, intranet, extranet and portal projects are to meet their full potential. ”—Gartner Analyst Jeff Martin, Advance Web Governance Step by Step, July 2005

What’s Web Governance?

• The buzzword & byword often is budget:

“Governance is the latest marketing buzzword” like “paperless office” in the 1980s. “Although the term is overused, it still fills a need for organizations to find ways toquantify and qualify the IT or applications investments they’re making.”—Analyst David Kelly, Web expert writing in ebiz.net

Informal Survey: Vienna

• United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) – Peter Holzleitner contact http://www.unido.org/

• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) –Alexei Tepaev contact, on behalf of multiple UN organizations based in Vienna http://www.unodc.org/unodc/index.html

Informal Survey: Vienna

• Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- Lucinia Bal-Doebel contact http://www.osce.org/

• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) –Horace Agbogbe contact http://www.iaea.org

Survey: Web Publishing Policy, Guides, Procedures?

• Guidelines, rules partially or fully in place

• Need for updates to keep pace with tech developments

• Fewer approvals of content required than for publishing print products

• In some cases, contributors publish directly, with editing done after the fact as needed

• Web team, if within public information setup, has final word/ editorial control

Survey: Web Publishing Apps, Tools, Training?

• Content management systems, some home-grown and tailored to site; sometimes by IT staff, sometimes by editorial staff

• Web evaluation/feedback applications

• Organizational web-related training tends to be within IT environment

Survey: Multiple public sites/collaboration?

• Many public sites/sub-sites common, up to 20+ including multiple languages

• Separate editor, support staff initially, but not necessarily sustained

• Some organizations have web group meeting once a week; others meet two or three times a year

• Some have web newsletters, emails, etc.

Survey: Size/Composition of Web teams?

• No magic number – five to seven staff often reported for main public website

• Can include…• Website manager• Writer/Editor(s)• Webmaster/infrastructure manager• Web architect/designer• Programmer (reported as outsourced)• Web editorial assistants

• Few activities outsourced (some reported Web server maintenance and/or programmer support)

Q & A: What’s your experience?

• Just another day for the web team….