Half Day Tutorials

Sunday
Half Day Tutorials

Introduction to Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) - Steve Ball
Building Better Presentation Skills and Presenting Effectively on the Web - Les Burr with a guest spot by Andrew Treloar
Information Architecture for the Web: An Introduction - Sally Burford

Outline: Scalable Vector Graphics is an XML language for 2D vector graphics.  It has many features comparable to Flash, and more.  Because SVG is based on XML, familiar tools can be used to generate SVG diagrams - it is easy to  "draw" your data using an XSL transformation!  Also, SVG is fast becoming the industry standard for mobile phone graphics.  This session will show the basics on drawing with SVG, as well as advanced features.

Topics covered will include:
• Drawing basic shapes
• Paths
• Text
• Colouring, gradients and patterns
• Clipping and masking
• Filter effects
• Simple animation
• Responding to events

Biographical Details: Steve Ball is the Chief Technical Officer of Packaged Press - the innovative electronic publishing company - and Explain.  He is author of Web Tcl Complete (McGraw-Hill), several magazine articles and numerous research papers.  Steve has developed and manages a number of Open Source software projects, including the DocBook round-tripping system, the XSLT Standard Library and the TclXML family of packages. Since 1997 Steve has been involved in XML standards and in developing best practises for engineering XSL stylesheets and designing XML-based systems.  He has been an Information Architect and XML consultant for several organisations, including the Federal Parliament of Australia, the ABC, State and Federal Government Departments.  Steve has been training Web authors and developers in all XML related topics, such as XML, XSL, XML Schemas, SVG and DocBook for many years.Previously, Steve was a researcher at the Australian National University and the Advanced Computational Systems Co-Operative Research Centre.

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Outline: This half-day tutorial is a partly subsidised AusWeb professional development activity for those who wish to improve their conference presentation skills. The first part of the session will analyse the role of the presenter in the context of the audience and the message.  The second part of the session will focus on the role of the Web in presenting, particularly as it relates to the AusWeb Conference format.

Topics covered:
• Considering the audience as learners
• Presentation styles
• Presenting your message upwards to the big picture and downwards to the detail
  
• If there is a web then why are we all here at AusWeb?
• Benefiting from the AUSWEB format
  
• Speak selectively rather than quickly
  
• Provide a linked presentation
• Consider alternatives to Powerpoint
  
• Update, don't recap, your paper
  
• Provoke discussion, don't play safe
  
• Leverage meatspace. No this is not a typo for meatsafe! Come along to find out what Andrew means!

Biographical Details:  Les Burr was born. Despite several early attempts to reverse that process, one involving the disassembling of a fully wound clockwork train, another a practical investigation of charged paper capacitors, Les still finds himself fascinated by the relationship between learning and technology. Les has an extensive background in educational technology with qualifications in educational research, teaching, technology and management.  In 2003 he was awarded an MPhil for a thesis which analysed the nature of online interaction. For the past five years, as Manager of CSU Online, Les was responsible for Charles Sturt University's online environments. Recently he has been appointed Deputy Director of Student Services at Charles Sturt University. Les is a regular contributor to AusWeb. He presents regularly to a variety of audiences and is also a part-time media commentator.

You can find out far more than you want to about Andrew Treloar at http://andrew.treloar.net/

NOTE: This workshop is being partly subsidised by AusWeb and neither presenter is receiving payment. AusWeb attendees are encouraged to take advantage of this discounted professional development opportunity.

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Outline: Seeking information on the web is a frequent, necessary and ever increasing activity in our daily lives.  On one hand, optimal design of information structures is an increasing expectation of our web site audiences, whilst on the other, the demand to provide online information and service increases daily. This workshop provides an introduction to information architecture processes and outcomes and will enable participants to be better informed about the strategies needed to provide an optimal information design for their web sites.

This half day tutorial will focus on:
• User research
• Content analysis
• Creating categories for information
• Labeling information to ensure it will be discovered
• How to represent an information architecture - site maps and page layout diagrams
• Card-sorting techniques

The tutorial will be conducted using lecturer presentation and will give opportunity for interaction and group exercises.

On completion of the workshop, participants will be able to: 
• Discuss the need for a logical architecture for the information on a web site.
• Construct simple content hierarchies and categories
• Recognise the need for accurate and consistent labeling of web content for optimal discovery
• Describe techniques and strategies for creating an optimal IA
• Be aware of  appropriate diagramming techniques for communication of an IA design to all stakeholders

Biographical details: Sally Burford is a Senior Lecturer in Internet Communication at the University of Canberra where she teaches in the area of web information architecture.  She is Course Convenor for the Masters in Internet Communication and has considerable industry experience in managing online environments.  Sally led a successful Content Management System implementation during her management of the University's Web site.

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