Presentation Legend

Illini Room Entrance (west side of building)

Illini Room A

Illini Room C

Room 404 (4th floor)

Programming Sessions

Practical uses of XML
Lance Campbell, B2B Object Solutions
In this demonstration of some practical uses of XML, Lance will provide a brief overview of XML and related standards such as XSLT, XHTML, and WML. Through specific project examples, he will illustrate how to determine when XML is a logical solution and how these technologies can enhance information storage and delivery.

A brief introduction and demonstration to ASP.NET
Dale Sinder, CITES
Bill Reynen, University of Illinois Foundation
Dale and Bill will briefly overview some of the strengths of ASP.NET, contrast it with ASP, and suggest resources for getting started with .NET development. As an illustrative example, they will develop a simple web database application using Visual Studio for .NET.

Design Sessions

Prototyping a web design in Photoshop
Matt Hutton, principal, Spinlight Studio
Matt will show how to initiate a design for a web page layout in Photoshop, and how to assemble the web page using tools such as slices and layers.

Visual hierarchy in web design and other good stuff
Robb Springfield, program chair, Graphic Design
Robb will be speaking about visual hierarchy and how to use the brain's natural ways of grouping object to create more effective web pages. He will also discuss symbol design.

Content and Site Management Sessions

Streaming media
John Tubbs, multimedia communications specialist, Information Technology Communication Services (ITCS) in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

Evangeline S. Pianfetti, associate director, Office of Educational Technology, College of Education

John and Evangeline will demonstrate examples of streaming media they have developed on UIUC web sites, and the tools, techniques, and best practices they use. The session will cover a variety of streaming formats, including RealMedia and Quicktime, and the basics of encoding and streaming server considerations.

Content management systems: proprietary and commerical solutions
Tom Habing, research programmer, Grainger Engineering Library
John Barclay, research programmer, College of Education

Tom will give an overview of how Grainger Engineering Library handles web content management and incorporates database and metadata technologies. He will explain how their system handles some fundamental issues of content management: storing information, delivering content via multiple media, reporting on status and workflow of projects, and supporting multiple authors and sources. Tom will also discuss conditions unique to a large, academic library, including archiving, searching, and delivering electronic materials, and limiting and verifying access to its content.

John will discuss the criteria the College of Education established for their CMS search, and their comparison/shopping process. He will also discuss their test implementation of Macromedia Contribute.

General Sessions

Welcome
Jack Brighton, director of Internet development, WILL-AM-FM-TV
and 2002-2003 Webmasters Coordinating Group Chair
Jack will give a quick overview of the day's events and introduce David Weinberger, the Forum's keynote speaker.

Keynote address: What's the web for anyway?
David Weinberger, verb
The Wall Street Journal called him a "marketing guru." He's the co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, the bestseller that cut through the hype and told business what the Web was really about. His new book, Small Pieces Loosely Joined has been published to rave reviews hailing it as the first book to put the Internet in its deepest context. Dave Weinberger is a frequent commentator on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered". He's written for the "Fortune 500" of business and tech journals, including The New York Times, Harvard Business Review and Wired. David is also columnist for Darwin Magazine and Knowledge Management World, and writes an influential business technology newsletter and a daily "weblog." He was a philosophy professor for six years, a comedy writer for Woody Allen for seven years, a humor columnist for Oregon's major daily newspaper, a dot-com entrepreneur before most people knew what a home page was, and a strategic marketing consultant to household-name multinationals and the most innovative startups. He knows business, he breathes technology, he understands the long sweep of history and ideas. Full biography

A Report from Campus Web Services
Kip Knox, Director of Web Services
It's been a little more than a year since Campus Web Services was established. Kip will talk about what has been done during the past year, including a review of the new UIUC site. He'll also talk about how his office has approached projects, what he's learned, what code or tools he has to share with the campus web development community, and what the Office of Campus Web Services is considering for the future.

Cool Sites Awards
Tim Offenstein, CITES
The annual Cool Sites Awards will honor campus sites that represent excellence in categories of design, content, or programming. The People's Choice Award, a new category this year, will go to the site that gets the most nominations. Sites may be nominated by members of the Webmasters listserv, and by members of the Webmasters Coordinating Group which serves as the awards panel. Winners are featured at the Webmasters Forum, and are bestowed a nice plaque and bragging rights.

View the 2003 Cool Web Site Award Winners