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Linking You
@alexbilbie
#iwmw12
Monday, 25 June 12
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@alexbilbie
Developer working at @unilincoln
#PHP #CodeIgniter #APIs #REST #MongoDB
#OAuth #LinkedData #whisky
Monday, 25 June 12
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Linking You
JISC funded project
Infrastructure for Education and Research
Programme
February 2011 - April 2011
Looking at the management and planning of .ac.uk
identifiers
Monday, 25 June 12
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Why?
Growth of lincoln.ac.uk
Influences on the website from many different
departments
Over 600 subdomains on the domain
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File > Save > Publish
Many different publishing tools
WordPress
SharePoint
Terminal Four Site Publisher
and many more
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600 domains +
Many publishing tools =
No common URI structure
portal.lincoln.ac.uk/C18/C2/ICT/default.aspx
posters.lincoln.ac.uk/campaign/library2012
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Departments change name over time = redirects
needed
New UCAS codes = redirects needed
Staff get married and change their names =
redirects needed
Tonight Matthew I’m...
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Subdirectory hell
lincoln.ac.uk
/lr -> Library
/bl -> Business and Law
/cjmh -> Criminal Justice and Mental Health
/lishpa -> Lincoln School of Performing Arts
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*@#%@$ !!!
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How do we clean
up this “mess”
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The new approach
Start from scratch
Ruthlessly get rid of “unnecessary” things
Flatten the structure of the institution
Cool URIs
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The “academic” bits
/faculty
/school
/course
/module
/unit
/research
No acronyms!
e.g
/socs
becomes
/school/computing
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Level 2
/school/computing -> School of Computer Science
/course/C604 -> BSc Golf Science
/module/CGP2001 -> Games Computing (year 2)
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Level up!
/course
/C604
/fees
/staff
/entry-requirements
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Computer speak
/course/C604 text/html
/course/C604.xcri application/xml
/college/science/contact text/html
/college/science/contacts.vcard text/vcard
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The “news”
/news
Not:
/newsandevents
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The “news”
/news
/linking-you <- The article slug
/tag
/research
/rss
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Undergrad, postgrad
and international
/undergraduate
/courses
/postgraduate
/courses
/international
/courses
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Undergrad, postgrad
and international
/undergraduate
/courses
/postgraduate
/courses
/international
/courses
Simples!
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Other bumf
/about
/vc
/message <- buried away
/governors
/lincoln
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Good practises
Domains should work without the “w w w dot”
404s and other errors shouldn’t redirect
Sane subdomains:
e.g. topup.lincoln.ac.uk, not
topupmyprintcredit.lincoln.ac.uk
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Demo
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lincoln.ac.uk/faculty/mht/
socs/default.aspx
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lincoln.ac.uk/school/computing
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Which one can you remember?
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Which one will your prospective
students remember?
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The model
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institution.ac.uk
• /{ucas_code} → Redirect to appropriate /course/{id}.
• /courses
• /course/{id}
• /undergraduate
• /courses
• /{id} → Redirect to appropriate /course/{id}.
• /search/{query}
• /entry_requirements
• /prospectus
• /postgraduate
• /courses
• /{id} → Redirect to appropriate /course/{id}.
• /search/{query}
• /entry_requirements
• /prospectus
• /foundation
• /courses
• /{id} → Redirect to appropriate /course/{id}.
• /entry_requirements
• /prospectus
• /events
• /opendays
• /conferences
• /public_lectures
• /graduation
• /business
• /incubation
• /ktp
• /research
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• /research
• /academic_depts
• /{id}
• /courses
• /undergraduate → Redirect to /undergraduate/courses/search/{query}.
• /postgraduate → Redirect to /postgraduate/courses/search/{query}.
• /staff → Redirect to /contact/search/{query}.
• /news → Redirect to /news/search/{query}.
• /support_depts
• /{id}
• /staff → Redirect to /contact/search/{query}.
• /news → Redirect to /news/search/{query}.
• /about
• /vc
• /parents
• /{city}
• /campuses
• /{id}
• /search
• /press
• /facts
• /news
• /{date}
• /{id}
• /search/{query}
• /jobs
• /legal
• /policies
• /data_protection
• /environment
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• /news → Redirect to /news/search/{query}.
• /about
• /vc
• /parents
• /{city}
• /campuses
• /{id}
• /search
• /press
• /facts
• /news
• /{date}
• /{id}
• /search/{query}
• /jobs
• /legal
• /policies
• /data_protection
• /environment
• /equality
• /foi
• /ict
• /website
• /regulations
• /contact
• /staff
• /{id}
• /search/{query}
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The poster
http:/
/lncn.eu/bdp8
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State of the union
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Spreadsheet
http:/
/lncn.eu/bcx5
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What now?
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Implementation
Work with CMS vendors
Develop mod_rewrite, nginx, ISS rules generator
Understand the challenges faced by web managers
and other stakeholders with a survey
Improve understanding of DNS and HTTP status
codes
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Fin.
@alexbilbie
Monday, 25 June 12