Website Sustainability

Ahsan Anderson has being working with Scott Turner from the University of Northampton on issues around Web Sustainability using a website designed to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) outreach activities as the vehicle. The work is being funded through a  Nuffield Science Bursary .  The project has been in three parts: Investigating possible tools and approaches for web sustainability; Developing a sustainable website to specification. Investigating possible tools . Details of this are available through these blog posts Best free tools for website sustainability -  http://websitesustainability.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-best-free-tools-for-website.html How to get it out there for pennies -  http://websitesustainability.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/hosting-how-to-get-it-out-there-for.html STEM site The site was the first we developed using the principles of web sustainability. Developed and hosted using  Weebly  beca...

Should all the web resources produced during a publicly funded project be required to store them sustainably? By sustainably I mean that: Hosting option should keep the resource on-line after the money for the project or organisation is no longer available; Ownership the resources can be transferred easily; Content should be relatively easily transferred either to other sites or archived in an accessible way. I think the answer is yes and possibly it should be part of the funding criteria. We are talking about using a scarce resource public money, to get the best value for that money if a resource has been developed using that money it should be available for those who paid for it. If a resource was worth investing in, why wouldn't it be worth something later. The nature of the resource may change with time, possible going from a resource about current activity to be a resource of historic interest. A JISC funded project " Sustaining "At Risk" On...

By Ahsan Anderson, (anderson.ahsan@gmail.com)  Nuffield Bursary Student . All views are Ahsan Anderson not necessarily the views of the blog editor. It’s easy to be lured in by a website offering you unbeatable deals on their web packages with ‘Cheap Hosting’, a myth in my eyes. What is hosting? Before you commit to going with said website, you should consider what is actually meant by hosting and understand that maybe, it could turn out to be A LOT cheaper than you think. Consider what your site is; A blog, multimedia, press, social, a band page. Whatever the site is, in conjunction to an appropriate web builder (such as Weebly) you could get away with not having to pay a penny! How you ask? Simple! 1)   DIY Hosting can keep everything in the house/office. Instead of forking out ‘£x’ per month, why not look at spending the same/equivalent on buying a mini server? Or if you have an old laptop or Desktop that’s gathering dust you can make use of...

By Ahsan Anderson, (anderson.ahsan@gmail.com)  Nuffield Bursary Student . All views are Ahsan Anderson not necessarily the views of the blog editor. I’ve created a few websites in the past, varying from those for business use or those to advertise bands in local areas, but with my line of work they’ve all had the same thing in common, and that’s money. When I’ve created them I have used a variety of tools; web builders for example, and one very key thing to these is that they all cost money for hosting. There are a few hurdles you can’t overcome, for example, there is no escaping the cost you will have to pay to have your domain name bought, but when building your website, sometimes there is no need to have to pay for the tools, as I will explain now. Whether you are willing to pay for the hosting or you wish to host yourself (or use free sites like 000hosting.com) this list will narrow down the choice of good modern builders that you can use. I was looking for...