Saving at Risk Internet Resources

East Midlands Knowledge Network (EMKN) is an online resource which is currently at risk, due to the demise of regional development agencies, the imminent closure of the company upon whose server it sits and the uncertain future of the East Midlands Universities Association (EMUA), who created the resource. However the information held on within the site (technologies, business services and facilities within EMUA’s institutions is valuable.

Site statistics indicate that EMKN is well used in the region, considering the small target market (BLAs) and attracts significant interest from further afield. Feedback from users has been very favourable, and the site is valued by both member HEIs and brokers (see attached letters of support).

EMKN is therefore ‘at risk’ and the issues are these

•EMKN brings together valuable resources that will promote and assist business community interaction, in line with government policy both on HE-business engagement and on-line information provision.

•EMKN was designed to meet the specific needs of (BLAs). It needs updating to be accessible by businesses directly and possibly to be incorporated into, or linked to, businesslink.gov.uk

•emda’s innovation website has content that would be a valuable addition to EMKN, but EMUA has neither the resources nor the skills in-house to incorporate these into EMKN.

•EMKN must be moved from its private sector host server by January 2011.

•EMKN is currently maintained by EMUA staff. It should be moved to an alternative server, as EMUA is also under threat.

•If the site was upgraded, maintenance could be reduced using automatic data uploads such as RSS feeds, and the content and accessibility of the information could be improved.

Therefore this project will use the need for migration of this site as a case study on protecting a valuable resource in an economical and sustainable way. The approach will:

•use free server space on Google Sites (www.google.com/sites/overview.html)

•Skilled students will be used within the migration this has the benefit of providing valuable experience for the student involving a ‘real-world’ client.

Google Sites (www.google.com/sites/overview.html) has been selected as the alternative platform for several reasons:

• It is a freely available resource, allowing this approach to be replicated with other at risk reources.

• It allows changes for individual pages or the entire site remotely by subscription

• It supports native RSS feeds for:

o Announcements pages

o Comments

o Recent site activity

• It integrates with a number of Google-based tools (such as Analytics, Webmaster tools, YouTube, Google Docs and Picasa).

Development of the site in this way will also enable the web resource to capture and include some aspects of the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) Innovation portal, which itself will no longer exist post March 2011, due to the abolishment of RDAs. 


This project has been supported by a grant from JISC.

IT Skills for the Recession / Recovery

Date/Time
Wednesday 9th March 2011, 18:30 for registration, start at 19:00. 

Venue: 
Newton Grand Hall, Newton Building, Avenue Campus, University of Northampton, St Georges Avenue, Northampton, NN2 6JD

Maps: http://www.nvision-ipt.com/Contactus.aspx
Participants will be able to park around the back. You just need to drive down the small road to the left of the building and press the intercom button on the barrier and say you are there for the BCS event. 

Cost:
Open to members and the general public, no cost.

Speakers:
Large Business, Local Business, Recruitment / HR Agency, University, IT Training provider

Summary:
"Skills needed during a recession can differ from those when it’s ‘Business as usual’.  Appreciating this difference is essential to surviving in the current climate.

We have a new Government which is looking hard at budget cuts and this means redundancies in both public and private organisations. There is optimism that IT will play an important role in the economic recovery that is already being felt in certain sectors.

So, How do you know what skills are needed in this day to strengthen your value within your firm and wider industry? How do you prepare for a job search in this environment?
How do you hold down a job and progress within your organisation? How do you set yourselves apart from your peers?

Finally, if you are a fresh graduate, then what can you do to increase your chances of securing a job?"

For more information:
http://northampton.bcs.org/forthcoming_events.php?menu_id=4

Contact information regarding event and on the day:
Sarith Chandra MBCS (csarith@bcs.org - 07919113702)

 

MSc Computing Generic Google Maps Project.

An MSc student project (2011) at the University of Northampton looked into the feasibility of the Google Maps API v3 and Street View to produce a generic system with commercial potential incorporating Geocoding, Reverse Geocoding and directions.

Alpaben Buddhabhatti applied a wide range of internet related technologies including PHP 5.2, HTML and Ajax to produce a generic mapping system. A case study of a property search company was used that allowed for the searching of properties around a user specified area; show directions and StreetView images; searching based on where the user clicks and also to include other information extracted from a database to present the user with further information on the properties.

Computing Courses

BSc and HND Computing Provision (click on the links below for more details of the courses)

• BEng/MEng Computing (Computer Networks Engineering)
• BEng/MEng Computing (Computer Systems Engineering) 

• BSc (Hons) Computing (also available part-time)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Graphics and Visualisation)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Internet Technology and Security)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Mobile Computing)
• BSc (Hons) Computing (Software Engineering)
• BSc (Hons) Computing - One Year Top-Up 
• BSc  Computer Games Development
• HND Computing (Compute​r Net​works Engineering)
• HND Computing (Computer Systems Engineering)
• HND Computing (Graphics and Visualisation)
• HND Computing (Internet Tech​nolog​y and Security)
• HND Computing (Mobile Computing)
• HND Computing (Software Engine​ering) 
• HND Com​puting

The University of Northampton's, Department of Computing and Immersive Technologies offers five courses within the MSc Computing postgraduate provision (shown below) all available either part-time or full-time. 

• MSc Computing
• MSc Computing (Internet Technology and Security)
• MSc Computing (Computer Networks Engineering)
• MSc Computing (Software Engineering)
• MSc Computing (Immersive Technologies)

The contents are the opinion of the author(s) and not necessarily the view of the University of Northampton.