Desire | Research, Deliverables: D3.4 Information Gateways Handbook, Peer review

	About Us	News	Services	Research	Subject Gateways
	\| Working Papers \| Publications \| Demonstrators \| Software \| Deliverables \|

Research: Deliverables: D3.4 Information Gateways Handbook: Peer review 3

Project Number:	RE 4004 (RE)
Project Title:	DESIRE II - Development of a European Service for Information on Research and Education II
Deliverable Number:	(D3.4)
Deliverable Title:	Information Gateways Handbook v1.0
Deliverable Type:	(PU)
Deliverable Kind:	(RE)

Principal Reviewer:	Name	Sarah Ashton
	Address	National Maritime Museum, Park Row, Greenwich, London, SE10 9NF
	E-Mail	sjashton@nmm.ac.uk
	Telephone	+44 (0)181 312 6662
	Fax	+44 (0)312 6722
	Credentials	February 1998 I joined the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich to set up a subject-based information gateway pointing to maritime related resources and providing a range of related electronic services. The gateway, known as Port, was launched at Easter 1999 after close collaboration with the ILRT, Bristol (http://www.port.nmm.ac.uk/). MA in Librarianship, University of Sheffield (1995 - 1996)
Other Reviewers:	(if relevant)
Summary:	Relevant	5 (1 = poor, 5 = excellent)
	State-of-Art	4
	Meets Objectives	4
	Clarity	4
	Value to Users	5
Specific Criticisms	1	The icons within the sections could perhaps be more prominent.
Specific Criticisms	2	The large number of links from the homepage makes it seem very ‘busy’, leaving the feeling of which link do you follow first? Parts of the navigational links on the right of the screen seem unnecessary as they are mentioned in the top and bottom navigational bars which are consistent throughout. Some links are repeated 3 times (e.g. A-Z Index). The L shapes are nice to illustrate how the 3 sections are all part of the same puzzle, but when they come together you end up with a strange shape!
Specific Criticisms	3	Authors navigational button as part of the top of page navigation bar. I expected this to credit the authors particular to each section. All credit to the authors, but does it need to be part of the top navigation bar? A mention in the footer instead?
Specific Criticisms	4	Some sections still incomplete. Needs proof-reading.
Developer Response:		The user interface will be looked at again for areas of improvement. The issues highlighted concerning the homepage navigation and number of links will be looked at as a priority. Incomplete chapters are due for updating over the next month, the other issues raised by the reviewer will be addressed at the same time.

Strengths and weaknesses

In reviewing the DESIRE Information Gateways Handbook, I have concentrated on the strategic and information issues sections.

The Handbook is an excellent resource. I would have appreciated this step by step manual (particularly section 2) had it been around last summer when I was setting up the National Maritime Museum’s gateway! In the initial stages of setting up the gateway, this manual would have saved me a great deal of emailing and running around trying to establish how other gateways had gone about things. While this in itself was valuable and allowed me to make contact with other gateways, it is not feasible for people outside the UK and indeed not feasible for these established gateways to constantly support people such as myself. Furthermore, I’ve found some of the advice mentioned in section 2 genuinely useful to my day-to-day administrative activities.

I like the way that the Handbook is split into three sections. The structure of each section is clear and helpful. I particularly like the inclusion of the ‘target audience’, ‘background’ and ‘in this chapter…’ headings, which break chapters up into manageable chunks. The ‘remember’ icon is also well used. Users can jump from section to section to find the required information, without getting lost thanks to the helpful icons. All of these factors make the handbook quick and easy to use. I think the case study examples will be particularly appreciated and the quantity of additional references and links to further online support (such as the Internet Detective) make the handbook very comprehensive indeed. I was pleased to see that some of the case study examples are in other European languages, reflecting the demand for subject gateways outside the UK. Should time and resources permit, it would be good to see the entire handbook available in other European languages too.

The guidance in section 1 was good, but parts of it could only be applied in an ideal world (e.g. staff and skills overview); I was struck by the differences between this ideal approach to setting up a gateway and how it actually happened here due to lack of resources. Perhaps Port is a case apart, but if it were not for the external experts Port would never have got off the ground.

The writing style makes the Handbook accessible and pleasant to read. However, missing punctuation, inconsistent use of bullet points or overlooked editorial corrections could let down an otherwise professional resource. Very occasionally, the narrative voice becomes confused (for example, 2.3 Resource discovery strategies for staff, the voice slips into that of a SOSIG developer). However, this was clearly a complex document to put together and all credit to the authors concerned. I am sure that it will be time and effort well spent.

PS Picky point, but we refer to Port just as Port, not NMM Port.