1.0 Title: Topic Site
2.0 Purpose: A topic site is collection of references and smaller sized information artifacts organized in a way that allows the site to grow as objects are added while not loosing the visual clues that assist the reader in relocating and using previously stored information. They are usually multiuser sites with restricted access.
They are also assumed to be one "node" in a larger collection of nodes and need to be carefully circumscribed and linked to other topic sites.
3.0 Usage: The Topic Site is generally project related (i.e. don't bother doing one if there is no funding for it) - but is also intended to be re-usable for other, later projects. In some cases Topic sites may serve several projects at once - or one after the other, and this should be kept in mind when adding information to the site. Culling good quality information just because it doesn't meet the relevance criteria for the active project is not good practice for a Topic Site.
Many projects require an in-depth, big-push creation and smaller, continuing update effort on one or more subjects to set the basis for the engineering of the project. Much cost and effort is spent in these collections and this device is an attempt to make the collection useful for the project for which it was created, and theoretically - reusable for future projects. <fat chance>
4.0 Frequency: In general a new site is created when the information in existing sites and sources is insufficient for the project at hand. The site should be updated as required for the duration of the project, and "as used" after that. Small error corrections and updates can be made continuously if funds are available.
5.0 References:
5.1 background notes file for km15 <here>
6.0 Responsibility:
7.0 Ownership
Because the Topic Site is intended as working tool to capture publicly available information, (not necessarily free - but certainly within the copyright terms) it is only the concern of the Project Manager for the duration of the work order. After that the site should be turned over to the nearest available SIG - who should have had an active member in the project if the information is to be of high quality.
8.0 Effort: For Google sites, the effort of creating a new site is minimal - however the process of adding information to the site can be formidable for complex subjects. (And if the subject isn't complex - don't bother with a Topic Site).
<more>
9.0 Risks:
The best reason not to do a Topic Site is that it can become a larger project than the project that was funding it. There is a temptation to get carried away on subjects that become interesting for their own sake - and to forget that the project has a limited objective and focus and the project owner probably wasn't interested in paying for that.
The best reason to do a Topic site is that it provides a structure and method for both identifying and searching the information in a traceable way.
10.0 Contents
Home Page
The top page should contain the critical information about the purpose and boundaries of the topic site - as well as links to the funding work order.
1.0 summary
<create a brief abstract of the topic intended to be an executive summary plus be easily picked up by local search engines>
1.1 disclaimers
site boundaries and limitations
-- included information
-- excluded information
-- site membership & restrictions
– expiry date
-- original purpose of site
-- extended purpose of site
- site disposal
2.0 Discussion
5.0 Knowledge Management Gimmicks
Taxonomies, Ontologies, Topic Maps, etc
- Timeline tree of topic headers
- Topic Map
- Ontologies
- Taxonomies
- tag clouds
- topic nodes (did I just make this up?)
node type
node title
-------------------------------------------------
References & Resources
Literature
Bibliography
Subject Matter Experts
Product Categories
- Software
-- Product Summaries
-- Comparison Tables
- Hardware
-- Product Summaries
-- Comparison Tables
10.8.1
10.8.2 Life Cycle of Site
10.9.0 Tutorials
11.0 MetaData
The information that occupies most websites may be characterized in several ways;
- by file type (i.e. pdf's, xml, databases, etc)
-- this is a rather poor way to file information on a given topic as even something like an Academic paper may be any number of formats (including - heaven forbid - PostScript)
- by output type (i.e. videos, audio files, web pages, CAD drawings, fax pages, hand sketches, spreadsheets, graphs, etc)
-- only slightly better for purposes of logically arranging information about a specific subject of discussion
--
12.0 File Handling Policy
13.0 Procedures
14.0 Tutorials