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Shaping a new a-n.co.uk
By: Richard technical@a-n
a-n is planning the next reincarnation of a-n.co.uk. This blog logs the process and seeks your advice and ideas. We will, a bit further down the line, run the new site as a beta version alongside the existing - an experimental playground that we can all explore.
Richard technical@a-n
I'm building a-n's new website - shaping requirements and wish lists, commissioning designers and programmers and checking functions, features and the user interface.
# 14 [12 April 2012]
Responding to some of the comments made in the blog survey:
>>Do you think that artists use blogs primarily as publicity and marketing?
I don't think we have any view as to how artists want to make use of the blogs. Reading the blogs clearly shows that they are being used for a whole host of reasons and in quite different ways. We want to maintain this diversity.
>>I do NOT want "likes" or similar buttons on my blog.
>>I do NOT want my blog to be linked with 'social media' websites.
>>Would like seamless integration with other social networks.
>>Ability to transfer blog to Facebook would be good.
The comments show strongly contrasting views on relating the blogs to other social networks and making use of social networking tools. We think that the blogger should be in control of their own blogs. If you want to link into social networks you should be able to so, if you don't you needn't. Each blog will have some settings that will enable the blogger to control what they turn on and turn off.
>>if it wasn't so easy to copy and paste [images]
It's not possible to prevent copying of images from a website. If you can see an image on your screen its already been downloaded. There are ways to make it slightly more difficult but it can't be stopped. One approach is to watermark the image (done in Photoshop or smilar) - but that ruins the image.
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Hi Richard - I agree with what Carys says. I started my blog years ago on Blogger but have found copying the relevant content over to a blog on a.n. really valuable. i want to contact a wider audience as well as friends and family but it is very important to have feedback from a professional visual art forum as well. I will continue to write my blog with a.n. after my degree and welcome the changes
posted on 2012-05-27 by Rosie Kearton
You are right that it is not so easy to prevent someone to copy image from your website. Rx online pharmacy
posted on 2012-05-10 by James Olson
Hi Richard - I recently started writing an artists blog on wordpress.com, partly because I wanted it readable outside the a-n community. It would be great if a-n had both a core content area, but also some way to link related stuff in - I found the advice on blogs here invaluable, but started on WP because I could see how to link it in to my website. Are some of the technical issues about embedding versus linking as well? In a way I agree with the comments below about using individual 'streams' like twitter, wp, for what they can do best, and would like to join in the a-n artists talking without histing my blog here...
posted on 2012-04-29 by Carys Davies
# 13 [11 April 2012]
Early feedback on the blog survey.
In the following results I only include results to questions getting 50% or more "Very important" responses:
+ equals "Very important"
- equals "Not important
Embed images, video and sound in the text block: +58% -17%
Access the number of views the blog has received: +67% -8%
Add social media links to your blogger's profile: +75% -8%
Embed an a-n blog in your own website: +50% -13%
Short personalised url for your blog +79% -4%
Ability to broadcast your posts to your twitter/facebook accounts +50% -17%
Include live urls in the comment text: +57% -9%
Ability to share your posts to social networks: +50% -13%
Ability to follow blogs and receive email notifications of newposts and comments: +63% -0%
The only question receiving more than 50% "Not important" was:
Ability to upload an avatar to your profile: +8% -71%
A more considered analysis will come soon.
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David As publishers we monitor all blog posts and comments - but we maintain a very light touch - we have pulled maybe less than half a dozen posts since the blogs started - and have advised on some textual changes in another half-dozen. But that's notall the same thing as the blogger being able to moderate the comments. We'll explore this further. As part of the overall revamp we are looking at ways in which subscribers / members can interact and communicate with each other privately, in groups or openly. But yes, and thanks for the suggestion, we need to tease out more clearly the relationships within and without the a-n blogging community.
posted on 2012-04-12 by Richard technical@a-n
Comment removed by the writer [7 July 2012]
posted on 2012-04-12 by David Riley
# 12 [3 April 2012]
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Thanks for your reply richard, I agree with what you say about the links to social networking sites and I didnt tick them on the survey as I dont believe a blog is best presented like that. I believe each social networking platform requires different approaches ie; my tweets are very different from blogs, which again is different from how I present things on my website. I was really thinking of stats behind the bloggers own 'dashboard' once they logged in for personal analysis only ........... David Reily is right about the isolation of Blogger and Wordpress and the 'artist community' aspect to the AN site is as far as I can see unique and very special, providing mutual support for what is now a national (could argue international) collective of artists working in the UK and abroad. I think what he is saying is the comments under the posts are almost yet another type of communication platform, one which only AN can provide due to its position in the arts landscape.
posted on 2012-04-12 by Rob Turner
Rob The new website will have a very different interface for managing blogs. As many of you have said the current version is very clunky and takes an unnecessary number of clicks to do things. And we will ensure that the user's most current blog comes at the top of their list of blogs. There's some strong feelings against going too far done the social networking route of likes and most popular, etc - these features scored fairly low on the "Very important" score. However there is also strong interest from others in these kind of analysis/monitoring features. Yes there are likely to be some but handled discretly rather than in your face distractions from the blogs themselves.
posted on 2012-04-12 by Richard technical@a-n
Richard another thing just crossed my mind on this blog set up wish list......I have several blogs accumulated here over a few years and I have to scroll along way down to reach the current blog! Can this be reversed so the most recent blog or entries are at the top?........as this is a wish list what about stats like 'blogger' provides, with info like: which is the most popular blog, or which entry gets the most views, or which image gets the most views, most for serched topic, so the artist can tell what viewers are interested in, and why they are visiting the site?
posted on 2012-04-10 by Rob Turner
[enlarge]
www.a-n.co.uk August 2003
# 11 [20 March 2012]
Clearing up the office for our imminent move to the Toffee Factory revealed the archives of an early version of our website (August 2003) - then with the url www.anweb.co.uk. Safely stored with all the other archive zip disks and cds in an ageing safe that came along with the office - the door having become obstructed by years of accounts paperwork.
This is the home page.
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looking good
posted on 2012-03-21 by Clare Smith
# 10 [19 March 2012]
Reporting back from a very constructive meeting with representatives from AIR.
1. AIR to have its own public facing pages under the www.air-artists.org domain
2. a-n to similarly have its own public facing pages under the www.a-n.co.uk domain.
4. These to have mutual links to each other as sister sites.
5. A set of logos needed to reflect the inextricable but semi-autonomous relationship between AIR and a-n activities.
6. All material on the public-facing sites will be freely accessible.
7. The AIR site to focus on the public presentation of its representation and campaigning activities
8. The a-n site to focus around four themes - visual arts news service, blogs, reviews and research
9. Wherever possible sites to shared the same functions/tools to minimise development costs.
10. All sites to have a shared Login and Membership subscription functions.
12. On logging in the user is taken directly to the user's personalised dashboard in a cross AIR, a-n members area.
13. The members area to allow (optional) the logged-in user to fine tune their dashboard to reflect their particular interests but this will not prevent or hide away access to the complete set of resources.
14. The members area will contain a mix of resources, with personal and group profiling, tools for locating and communicating with other members, information resources with personal filtering and bookmarking, professional development tools, polling and campaigning, and event tools.
15. Members will be able to control at will the breadth and depth of their visibility within the community - all profiling data will be optional and members will be able to decide who can see what.
This is a very broad outline that will guide future more detailed planning.
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Hello Susan and Richard, thank you for your comments. I would be very interested if there is a way that us 'offliners' could download printer friendly versions of (bits of) the new a-n. For me this could just be the more 'editorial' items (ie. not 'jobs and opps'). I admit that I have no technical knowledge and I might be suggesting something that is not easy, if so I apologise! I also admit that I have always been a bit confused about the AIR/ a-n relationship and casually assumed it was just a neat way of separating the readership into practicing artists and people who are not (ie art historians, managers, etc and those who do not need the benefits of AIR!) . Thanks again.
posted on 2012-04-17 by Stuart Mayes
Stuart AIR and a-n won't exactly be separate websites - they will be part of the same set up (server, database, etc). There will be a fluid inter-connection between them - as if different sections of the same site. But AIR wants/needs its own public identity semi-autonomously from a-n. AIR has a different role than a-n - we've perhaps not been as clear about this in the past as we could have been, and we want the structure of the new website to rectify this.
posted on 2012-04-12 by Richard technical@a-n
This is a note from the Publisher - we're listening hard to comments and ideas about how to achieve our mission in the years to come, and whilst so many of the structures - publishing and otherwise - around and about are changing. This is in part due to the economic and social environment and in part because there are better ways now to do some informational things than there was. And yes, we know from the surveys and consultations that there is a need for some kind of 'physical', lean back reading - we all need to do this. But it's a question of how to make this viable to produce, so we're researching the partnerships to make this happen. The viability of print is something that much bigger companies such as The Guardian are also wrestling with!
posted on 2012-04-12 by Susan Jones
I do not understand the need for separate AIR and a-n sites and domain names - apart from a (very) slight shift in focus (points 7 and 8) they sound like the same thing. Is it significant that editorial content, letters, interviews, commissioned articles and features are not mentioned? I feel that the days are numbered for those of us that value time offline.
posted on 2012-04-09 by Stuart Mayes
I'm afraid I am still not convinced - however it is put - I will not read it as I did the magazine. Is there any hope of any 'physical version' of the magazine - or am I wasting my time even asking about it? Could there be a middle ground solution for all the luddites out here?
posted on 2012-03-19 by Sophie Cullinan
# 9 [12 March 2012]
Tomorrow we will be discussing with AIR how a revamp of the website can help with AIR's advocacy and representation roles as well as general communications with and between AIR members.
Whilst AIR and a-n are inextricably linked they have different focuses and the website will need to reflect both the distinctions and the homogenouity.
What developments can a-n and AIR share to maximise the cost effectiveness and timeline priorities? What features will be unique to either?
Initial thinking is that the site is conceptually split into 4 sections. Public - outward facing - sections for both AIR and a-n - which will be accessible to all and a members section for both AIR and a-n which will be behind the login.
____________________________________
| | |
| AIR | a-n |
| Public | Public |
| | |
| | |
__________________________________
| | |
| AIR | a-n |
| members | members |
| | |
| | |
____________________________________
Inevitably a number of things won't want to fix into those boxes, will want to be in more than one box or simply won't recognise any boxes at all.
The news service will fit into the a-n public section. The blogs will want to straddle a-n public and members sections. The login system will need to be in both the a-n and AIR members sections.
I foresee a planning session with flip charts and postit notes.
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# 8 [8 March 2012]
News
As promised here's a brief outline of the first section of the new website to be developed - News.
As a new feature it allows us to experiment a little bit with the basic structure, design and user interface without affecting anything already existing. We can use it to start building the foundations - the new database and templates.
It will run stories, news briefs and longer analysis covering arts and cultural politics, key events and activities in this country and internationally. And as you'd expect of a-n it will give good coverage of artist-led and independent-organiser activities without neglecting the bricks and mortar side of the industry.
And again as you'd expect from a-n - using news contributors from across the country and further afield - we will try to ensure there's neither a London-centric nor a regional bias.
It will carry sound and video as well as images and text.
We want to be able to group stories around a festival or event - a focus that can subvert the normal flow of stories for a day or two.
The news service will be freely available - not behind the subscriber/membership login-in - but subscriber/members will be able to opt for daily or weekly e-alerts of new news. We are also planning a monthly digest - the exact format, or formats, of which we are still exploring to ensure that it is accessible outside of web-pages.
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[enlarge]
'Swiss Army Knife - Crap at 100 Things'. "They’re shit. But somehow have become a metaphor for usefulness." - From Nick Donnelly's site: http://usabilityhell.com/post/898301158/swiss-army-knife-crap-at-100-things - An interesting site about website and app useability.
# 7 [7 March 2012]
Occasional conundrum #1
Swiss army knife or chef's knife?
A web and app developer we were talking to the other day raised this question as to which you would use to make a great meal.
We were discussing the balance between feature rich and simplicity when approaching a new project. His view was that the single purpose, the clearly-defined, simple but perfect for the job - the chef's knife - would give the best results.
But I have a liking for the Swiss army knife - the many-featured, multi-functional something that might help you survive in variable, less than perfect environment.
And of course the chef requires the use of several perfectly formed tools to survive Master Chef, not just the knife.
But changing the analogy I thought it would be rather sad and unproductive if iced-in ducks on a frozen pond were unable to socialise.
But the serious point and a dilemma here. The really good and successful apps and websites tend to have a single clear objective - Twitter for example. But the new a-n site has several different functions to perform, it will need to be a mixed bag - and to work as a mixed bag. It will need the parts to join up - the ducks to socialise - the blades to be connected.
Does this mean an inevitable loss of quality in each individual part - the Swiss army knife? Or can we have simple, great and joined up?
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Hi Elena - yes I think the problem still exists whatever the analogy. An example of the dilemma: it would be good on a what's on listing to be able to click a link to post a review of the show. This would join the show, the venue and the review - a feature that would enrich each of the three listings. Whilst this is a comparatively simple example, multiply this several fold throughout the site and layers of complexity are added. Deciding which enriching features to go for and which to leave out is something we will need to decide - and here advice from users will be an important component.
posted on 2012-03-08 by Richard technical@a-n
I advise caution with expecting one website to satisfy all your demands. A website is a machine, a very complex one but a machine all the same, and a machine works best when it has one clear objective. I worked in the "internet bubble" at the turn of the century (! 1999/2000) and remember well the collapse of one-stop news, information, shopping, socialising websites such as boo.com. The website I worked for started with grand ambitions (and truck loads of 'venture capital') to revolutionise the art world, today it sells a few limited editions, prints and deals in the secondary market - no more editorial content, no blogs, no events, no projects ... no revolution but great memories of a couple of exciting years
posted on 2012-03-08 by Stuart Mayes
Surely we can think of a more useful analogy? Ant hill? bee hive? Or maybe a very long freight train made up of different wagons and coaches? I'm quite convinced a change in analogy will make all the difference! Perhaps not.
posted on 2012-03-07 by Elena Thomas
[enlarge]
www.a-n.co.uk 30 October 2007
# 6 [6 March 2012]
Thanks to Eleonora for her comment pointing me to http://web.archive.org that takes snapshots of websites. A new one on me. So this is the previous site on 30 October 2007 at
http://web.archive.org/web/20071030132810/http://w...
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Just wondering how this affects your grant funding? As a national portfolio organisation, a-n The Artists Information Company has been offered £211,321 in 2012/2013, £216,393 in 2013/2014 and £222,019 in 2014/2015. This is subject to a funding agreement being agreed.
posted on 2012-03-08 by Ivan Pope
# 5 [5 March 2012]
I have just been asked whether the new website will allow co-authoring of blogs. The simple answer is yes we intend to build this in.
We are thinking that one or more subscribers can adopt a shared profile under which the blog is published. But each person's post will be identified as having been written by them. And writer's will only be able to edit their own posts.
Some other things on our wish list for blogs - some of which probably won't make it to the final specification because of complexity or cost and others will have to be phased in:
- Ability to use larger images
- Ability to embed images within the text block
- The possibility of a gallery type presentation for a batch of images
- The possibility of using images from remote urls
- Ability to have both flat and threaded comments
- Ability for author to add tags to the blog
- Ability to search/filter blogs by tags
- Ability for user to have short/personalised/slug url
- Ability to import blogs from elsewhere via api: Blogger, Wordpress (not sure this is possible with wordpress).
- An api to embed an a-n blog in other sites
- Number of views
- Ability to 'like' a post
- Ability to embed links in the posts
- Ability to upload a new post by email
- A mobile app to post blogs (probably a long shot)
- Widgets to show various limited selections (editor's choice, most popular, most recent)
Please add your wish list (or things you don't want to see) in the comments below:
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Hi Rob Yes a slide show - this is on the wish list. There are several tools for achieving this. We would need a mechanism for the blogger to be able to group images into an ordered set so that they are identified for this treatment whilst other images are excluded.
posted on 2012-03-19 by Richard technical@a-n
Hello Richard, I am sorry to arrive rather late to this party, I hope not to late. On the wish list I saw .........'a gallery type presentation for a batch of images'........does this mean a slide show? flickr or photobucket provide html code you can bring to your blog and run a slide show. Not a link to another site. I think this is a really powerfull display medium. And viewers can see a series of related images in sequence. Is this something you tech guys can include? Many Thanks
posted on 2012-03-16 by Rob Turner
Hi Stuart - yes this is just the wish list for blogs - one step at a time.
posted on 2012-03-08 by Richard technical@a-n
Is this a blog specific wish list? I hope that it's not as I am wishing for a down loadable version of the magazine for us die-hard paper fanatics. For me it could be text only as I'll be printing it in 'grayscale' of course (and referring to the website for images). Is there an assumption that artists are enthralled with technology, and that they have constant access to it?
posted on 2012-03-08 by Stuart Mayes
I have just come across oEmbed - a protocol for easy embedding of videos, sounds, images and other resources. The service provider and the consumer (the website the resources is shown on) have to be set up for oEmbed. Providers include: YouTube | Vimeo | Flickr | Twitter | Soundcloud | Wordpress (apparantly there's a plugin) - Definately worth looking at - and perhaps we could make blogs available via oEmbed. I'll ask our developers to check this out.
posted on 2012-03-07 by Richard technical@a-n
Thanks David, Elena - I'll add those to the list. Elena - all existing posts will be carried across to, and fully incorporated in, the new site which will need to be backwards compatible. I'm not sure we want to handle sound directly from our servers but we are looking at being able to link to one or more sound serving sites.
posted on 2012-03-07 by Richard technical@a-n
Comment removed by the writer [7 July 2012]
posted on 2012-03-05 by David Riley
... soundcloud maybe?
posted on 2012-03-05 by Elena Thomas
I'd love to be able to post a sound file without having to construct a youtube or similar video for it please? All the above suggested improvements look great. Also...how will our previous posts sit within the new structure?
posted on 2012-03-05 by Elena Thomas