Access to RSS feeds for the IWMW 2008 event is now available on Netvibes. [22 June 2008]

A page has been setup on the IWMW 2008 Web site which provides access to Seesmic video blog posts. [30 June 2008]

The Scribblelive live blog service will be used to provide a commentary on the plenary talks at the IWMW 2008 event. A test Scribblelive blog page has been set up to allow users to familirise themselves with the service. [4 July 2008]

Full delegate information including details of accommodation location is now available. [9 July 2008]

The University of Aberdeen Sport and Recreation department are able to offer all delegates preferential rates for using the Sports facilities for the duration of the conference. [11 July 2008]

A number of new blog posts including a 'Welcome to Aberdeen' message have been added to the video blog page. [16 July 2008]

Following changes to the terms and conditions of the Ning social networking service a copy of the IWMW 2008 Ning social network has been taken. [16 August 2008]

Danny Sullivan, independent consultant, gave a talk entitled "Getting Your Web Site Listed".

, University of Cambridge, gave a talk entitled "Indexing Your Web Server(s)".

Andrew Cormack, UKERNA, gave a talk entitled "Web Security".

James Currall, University of Glasgow, gave a talk entitled "Experiences with XML: Beyond The Hype".

ian Roddis, Open University, (together with David Christmas) gave a talk entitled "Beyond Brochureware - Building Functional University Websites".

David Christmas, Open University, (together with Ian Roddis) gave a talk entitled "Beyond Brochureware - Building Functional University Websites".

Michael Wilson, CLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, gave a talk entitled "SMIL: Multimedia on the Web".

Greg Newton-Ingham, University of East Anglia, gave a talk entitled "Multimedia and The Corporate Web".

Joe Passmore, University of Ulster gave a talk entitled "Building Relationships Online: ... the road ahead or the road less travelled by?".

John Slater, University of Kent at Canterbury, gave a talk entitled "Who will rid me of this troublesome beast".

Stephen Tanner is Head of IT Services at Colchester Institute in North Essex, a large mainly FE college but with some HE provision. Previously involved in integrated systems initiatives in the NHS, since 1998 he's been pursuing a standardised and integrated IT & MIS strategy college wide with particular emphasis on Web based applications, through partnerships with commercial suppliers. He likes to think he might eventually be getting somewhere.... The title of Stephen's talk is "The Lecturer's MIS Menu: Why Silver Service Is Off And Drive- Thru's In".

Mark Simpson has been working as the User Issues researcher on the De Montfort University, MLE project, since October 2001. Previously, he has worked on the following: aircrew operational issues of flying in icing weather, funded by the CAA and European Community; training and human factors issues for real-time, full motion simulators; the design of photocopier manuals and control panel information; and the design of process plant control rooms. He has a BSc in Ergonomics, a Postgraduate diploma in Computing and a MA in Industrial Design. The title of Mark's talk is "Designing For Usability".

Lawrie Phipps is an environmental science graduate turned learning technologist. He worked on the development of Web-based resources, computer simulations and 'virtual' fieldwork for several years before running the JISC-funded TechDis Service, which looks at all aspects of Technology and Disabilities in the further and higher education sectors. Lawrie maintains a research interest in virtual lab and fieldwork in the sciences. The title of Lawrie's talk is "Legislation, Disabilities and Educational Web Sites".

Iain Middleton is based in the Learning Technology Unit at the University of Aberdeen where he is currently working on a 3-year JISC-funded project to develop Web teaching and learning packages around the Museums and Special Collections, having previously been Web Editor at The Robert Gordon University where he played a leading role in the comprehensive redevelopment of the institution's Web presence. He holds a degree in Human Computer Interaction from Heriot-Watt University and a Masters in Information Analysis (Distinction) from The Robert Gordon University where he also spent 5 years in research at the School of Information and Media, specialising in help desks, online user support systems and communication on the World Wide Web. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and maintains his research interest in the co-ordination of Web sites and help desks in user support, and the role of the Web in Higher Education. Iain gave a joint presentation with Mike McConnell on "Centralised Control Or Departmental Freedom?".

Paul Browning is Information Strategy Co-ordinator at the University of Bristol (but was an earth scientist who ran a departmental network in a former life). He is a member of the institutional Web Team and is fed up using a bucket and spade to build and maintain the University Web; he has been on the lookout for a JCB and thinks he might have found one in the form of Zope. Paul is co-author of the JISC TechWatch Report on Content Management Systems. Most likely to say: "Can I have the keys to your information silo?" Least likely to say: "I think yet another portal is a smart idea." Paul has been invited to give a talk on Portals and CMS - Why You Need Them Both following the cancellation on the talk on The My.Sunderland Portal: A Case Study. Paul is also taking part in a panel session on Avoiding Portal Wars.

Andrew Aird is the Director of Web Services at King's College, London. Previously he ran the Web service at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has written and lectured on various aspects of Web management, including ecommerce for higher education, Web strategy and designing parallel Web structures. His commercial experience stems from many years in the music and publishing industries, notably as managing director of an international music software company. The title of Andrew's talk is "Virtually Everything Virtually Everywhere: Pursuing A Radical Web Strategy".

William G Nisen became Chief Executive of the E-Institute in 2001. Prior to assuming his duties at the E-Institute he co-founded South Fork International (an international management consultancy), and before that, he was President of McGraw-Hill Home Interactive, where he successfully launched the company's consumer retail business. Mr Nisen has a long association with Scotland. From 1987 through 1993 Mr Nisen was President and CEO of OWL International, a joint U.S./Scottish company, where he directed a turn-around of the company, managed its growth with sales exceeding $10MM, sold it and successfully transitioned all operations to Matsushita Electronics Industrial. Mr Nisen also has held management positions at Lotus Development Corp. and Harvard University's Computer Graphics Laboratory. Nisen also serves on the board of directors for several technology companies. William gave the opening keynote plenary talk on day 2 on Knowledge Based Web Sites: A Preliminary Investigation.

Derek Law is the Librarian and Head of Information Resources Directorate at the University of Strathclyde, Professor in the Department of Computing and Head of the Centre for Digital Library Research, University of Strathclyde. He has worked in several British universities since 1970 and have published over 150 book chapters, articles and conference papers since then, some of them republished in seven other languages. Most of his work has been to do with the development of networked resources in higher education and with the creation of national information policy. Recently I have worked on the use of wireless technology in developing new methods of teaching and learning. Derek was awarded the Barnard prize for contributions to Medical Informatics in 1993, Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1999 and was awarded an honorary degree by the Sorbonne in 2000. Derek gave the opening keynote plenary talk.

David Sweeney is the Vice-Principal, (Communications, Enterprise & Research) at Royal Holloway, University of London. David gave a plenary talk on "Sky High or Free Fall - All Aboard the Web Rollercoaster".

Duncan Ireland has been in the Internet Officer role at the University of Strathclyde since late 2002. His time is largely taken up with rolling out the T4 Sitemanager CMS (see http://www.strath.ac.uk/terminalfour/). Before arriving in academia, Duncan could be found at Scottish Amicable (latterly Prudential) where he worked on a project to implement the MediaSurface CMS. Prior to that he worked for BAE Systems where he saw the introduction of standard desktops, internet access and an Intranet. His leisure time is largely spent learning how to duck(!) while training with Caledonian Muay Thai in Glasgow (see http://www.caledonianmuaythai.co.uk/) - he refutes any suggestion that this training was deliberately undertaken to bring more folk round to his way of thinking in meetings. Duncan took part a panel session on "Whose Web Is It Anyway?" with Andrew Cox and Brian Kelly. Duncan can be contacted at Duncan.Ireland AT strath.ac.uk

Tom Franklin runs Franklin Consulting which offers consultancy services in educational technology. His particular interests are in portals, educational technology standards and VLEs and MLEs. He is technical advisor to the Higher Education Academy's Connects portal, where his work has included the selection and definition of appropriate standards and developing appropriate techniques for developing the channels in Web sites and portals. Franklin gave a plenary talk on "There Is No Such Thing As A Silver Bullet: CMS And Portals Will Not Solve Your Problems!" and facilitated a workshop session on "Embedding Third Party Services in Web Sites and Portals - From Links to WSRP the Pros and Cons". Tom can be contacted at tom AT franklin-consulting.co.uk

John Dale is the head of development at e-lab, University of Warwick. He has overseen the introduction of several Web applications, including content management, collaboration software, authentication services and more. John gave a plenary talk on "University blogging: what happens when everyone can publish?". John can be contacted at j.dale AT warwick.ac.uk

Miles Banbery is the Web Editor at the University of Kent. Miles manages the University Web Team, a small group of people within Communications & Development at the University of Kent. Communications & Development's remit covers internal communications, corporate publications (largely student recruitment support), congregations (graduation ceremonies) and events, alumni relations, press and media relations and development and fund raising. Miles is a member of the Programme Committee and was chair of the final morning including the panel session on "Responding To The CMS Challenge". Contact details in hCard format Miles Banbery can be contacted at m.e.c.banbery AT kent.ac.uk

Andrew Cox is conducting a PhD in the Research School of Informatics, Loughborough University. He was previously a manager of the digital library research centre, LITC, at South Bank University. Andrew took part in a panel session on "The Web Management Community: Present and Future" with Duncan Ireland and Brian Kelly. Andrew can be contacted at A.M.Cox AT lboro.ac.uk.

Professor Mark Clark became the Director of Information Systems at The Victoria University of Manchester in September 2001 and his role encompasses responsibilities for all University IS as well as providing hosting for the Research Council's National Supercomputing Service, CSAR, and the JISC's National Data Services incorporating MIMAS, as well as many other services. With the merger of the old Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST, Mark was appointed as Director of Information Systems, and has overseen the restructuring of computing support for the new institution, The University of Manchester, incorporated in October 2004. Previously Mark held the post of Director of Academic Information Systems at the University of Salford for six years (a converged service where he had responsibility for both Library and Computing). Prior to that he was Director of Computing at the University of Essex where he also held a Senior Lectureship in the Department of Electrical Systems Engineering, researching and teaching in the area of networks and computing systems. Mark holds a BSc and MSc in Electrical Engineering (Digital Systems and Telecommunications), and his PhD subject was speech coding using digital adaptive delta modulation. Mark was invited to join the UKERNA Board as HEFCE nominated Director; he also is the Chair of Internet Facilitators Ltd and of Net North West Ltd. Mark gave a plenary talk on "Challenges at The University of Manchester arising from Project UNITY".

Ian Bartlett has worked in the student recruitment field at UCL since 1992. Based in the Department of Educational Liaison, which covers all aspects of UK and international student recruitment from first point-of-contact up to the point of admission, Ian's role is to structure, develop and maintain the student recruitment section of the UCL Web site (see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/. By working closely with the student recruitment publications team at UCL (with whom he shares an office), he is able to use the ready-audited text of printed publications in order to ensure that the content of the Prospective Students site is accurate and regularly updated. However, with the growing volume of information now expected and needed by prospective students, he is keen to ensure efficient use of staff resources and is working with Jeremy Speller on a system of parallel publishing tied in with a CMS interface to speed production of printed and Web materials. Ian and his colleague Jeremy Speller gave a plenary talk on "Publish and Be Damned: Re-purposing in the Real World".

Michael Webb is Head of IT and Media Services at the University of Wales, Newport. He joined Newport in 2003, and has worked in Higher Education for 15 years. A substantial part of Michael's career has been focussed on making innovative use of Internet technologies to support and improve the student experience, both in a technical and strategic role. Michael gave a plenary talk on "Developing a Web 2.0 Strategy". Michael can be contacted at michael.webb@newport.ac.uk.

Ranjit Sidhu is a Sitestat Account Manager for Nedstat, European leader in Web site analytics. Nedstat are the Gold Sponsors for this year's workshop. Ranjit has been at Nedstat since the end of 2004, working closely with the University Sector to understand their Web analytics requirements. He now account manages over 20 UK universities that are using Sitestat to improve their online performance. He played an important role in the creation of benchmarking statistics for the university sector (Sector Statistics) and Nedstat's 'Get more online Education' free event in April 2006. Previously, Ranjit attained a law degree at University of Leeds and LPC from College of Law. He has worked within the Education and Government sector including Kings College University and The Western Austalian Governement. Ranjit gave a plenary talk on "Sector Stats". Ranjit can be contacted at R.Sidhu@nedstat.com.

Andy Powell is Head of Development at the Eduserv Foundation, a Bath-based charity that supports the effective use of ICT in education. As a member of Bath University Computing Services he was the first 'webmaster' at the University of Bath, moving in 1996 to UKOLN where he was involved in a number of European and JISC funded 'digital library' projects. More recently, Andy has liaised closely with the JISC, advising them on the standards and protocols needed to support e-learning and e-research, notably through the development of the JISC Information Environment and the e-Framework for Education and Research. Andy gave a plenary talk on "Reflections on 10 years of the Institutional Web". Andy can be contacted at andy.powell@eduserv.org.uk.

Brian Kelly is UK Web Focus - a post funded by the JISC and MLA which provides advice and support to the UK Higher and Further Education communities and the museums, libraries and archives sector on Web issues. Brian is based at UKOLN. Brian's interests include Web standards, Web accessibility, quality assurance for Web services and innovative Web developments, including collaborative Web tools. Brian gave a plenary talk on "What Does Openness Mean to the Web Manager?" with Randy Metcalfe and facilitating a parallel session on "Web 2.0: Addressing Institutional Barriers" with Lawrie Phipps. Brian can be contacted at b.kelly@ukoln.ac.uk.

Paul Miller is a technology evangelist for Talis. Paul joined Talis in September 2005 from the CIE, where as Director he was instrumental in scoping policy and attracting new members such as the BBC, National Library of Scotland and English Heritage to this group of UK public sector organisations. Previously, Paul worked at UKOLN where he was active in a range of cross-domain standardisation and advocacy activities, and before that he was Collections Manager at the Archaeology Data Service. At Talis, Paul is exploring new models of collaboration and identifying further areas in which our technology or knowledge would be of value. Paul has a Doctorate in Archaeology from the University of York. Paul spoke in a panel session on Web 2.0. Paul can be contacted at Paul.Miller@talis.com.

Iain Middleton is a lecturer in E-Business and ICT at the Robert Gordon University. He played a co-ordinating role in RGU's 2005 site-wide Web redevelopment - the second time he has done so, having previously been Web Editor when the site moved to a CMS in 2000. In the intervening years he worked at the University of Aberdeen's Learning Technology Unit, developing educational Web sites and project managing the development of staff and student portals. He has also been a researcher and a help desk slave. Iain is a writer for Faulkner Information Services and has published on help desks and user support, Web strategies and educational technology. Iain participated in a debate on "CMS: Challenging the Consensus". Iain can be contacted via http://www.imiddleton.com/?page=contact.

Randy Metcalfe is the manager of OSS Watch, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) national advisory service on free and open source software for UK further and higher education. Randy concentrates his efforts on raising the level of awareness of free and open source fundamentals amongst senior IT decision-makers in UK colleges and universities. He also spends a considerable amount of time exploring aspects of community building prevalent within open source development projects. Years ago, he lived a different life as an academic philosopher researching the nature of disagreement in moral theory. Randy gave a plenary talk on "What Does Openness Mean to the Web Manager?" with Brian Kelly. Randy can be contacted at info@oss-watch.ac.uk.

Kate Forbes-Pitt has 15 years experience of working with electronic document management systems. She started working with paper based systems, electronically generated, at London Borough of Lambeth in 1991. She joined the LSE in 1999 to procure and implement a new electronic document management system. In addition, during the last 15 years, she has completed two degrees at LSE, and now pursues document and content management as areas of academic research. She has spoken about document management at many conferences, has recently published on the structure of documents and content and is currently researching the effects of electronic documents on work ownership and identity. Kate gave a plenary talk on "Delivering Information: Document vs. Content". Kate can be contacted at K.Forbes-Pitt@lse.ac.uk

Helen has worked at the University of Southampton for just over three years. Prior to working at the University, she worked at a national charity and before that for the National Union of Students. Helen was due to give a plenary talk on "Web 2.0 and Brand: Theory and Practice" and facilitate a workshop on "Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Support a Brand Focused Marketing Strategy" both with James Souttar. However due to illness she was unable to attend.

Matthew Wood is Head of Software Engineering and Architecture at BBC Audio and Music. He runs a team of software engineers and client side developers and likes making things. Matthew gave a plenary talk entitled "How the BBC make Web sites" with Michael Smethurst.

Michael Smethurst is a Senior Information Architect at BBC Audio and Music interested in building highly linked data driven websites that are accessible for people, machines and search engines. Michael gave a plenary talk entitled "How the BBC make Web sites" with Matthew Wood.

David Newman is a Lecturer in Information Systems in the Queen's University Management School. At Queen's he has researched groupware use in co-operative learning, critical thinking in online and face-to-face discussions, and the use of the Internet by community groups. He ran a 0.5Euro million cross-border research project into electronic public consultation and then took part in the team evaluating the Irish Parliament's pilot e-consultation on the Broadcasting Bill. He is just starting a new European project which will get thousands of young people discussing Internet governance on their own Web 2.0 sites, then collect their creative ideas and feed them to national and European policy-makers. David gave a plenary talk entitled "Hub Websites for Youth Participation".

Derek Law has worked in several British universities and published and spoken at conferences extensively. Most of his work has been to do with the development of networked resources in higher education and with the creation of national information policy. This has been combined with an active professional life in professional organisations related to librarianship and computing. A committed internationalist he has been involved in projects and research in over forty countries. He was awarded the Barnard prize for contributions to Medical Informatics in 1993, Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1999, an honorary degree by the Sorbonne in 2000, the IFLA medal in 2003, Honorary Fellowship of CILIP in 2004 and was an OCLC Distinguished Scholar in 2006. He is currently Chair of the new JISC Services Management Company and Programme Consultant for the Libraries of the Future Horizon Scan. Derek gave a plenary talk entitled "Headlights on Dark Roads".

David Harrison is Assistant Director of Information Services at Cardiff University with responsibility for Strategy and Engagement. He had previously been a Director and a Head of Service at two other universities. He is also a past-Chair of the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA) and CEO of Welsh Networking. He has an interest in how emergent technologies from external providers (especially Web 2.0 tools) can be accommodated within traditional service delivery models but more especially he is interested in the cultural change agenda that needs to be considered in ensuring successful implementation and take-up of new technologies. In this, the role of enablement and education become of paramount importance, as does the concept of partnership working both within and outside the enterprise. David gave a plenary talk entitled "Servicing 'Core' and 'Chore': A framework for understanding a Modern IT Working Environment" with Joe Nicholls.

Dave Flanders is a programme manager at JISC where he works as part of the Information Environment team. Previously he has worked at the University of London and British Library in building cutting edge technologies specific to teachers, researchers, curators, librarians, administrators and learners. His experience working as developer, usability expert and manager provides a unique perspective on how innovation occurs across teams in the modern Web Environment. David will be talking on innovation and why it is essential (especially in times of recession) for institutions to take risks. Dave gave a video presentation of a plenary talk entitled "Agile Prototyping in Academia".

aul Boag describes himself as a user experience designer. He is a founding partner of Web design agency Headscape, runs the boagworld.com community for people who run Web sites, and is the author of many articles (for the likes of .net magazine and Think Vitamin). Paul is a charismatic and entertaining speaker (e.g. .net magazine podcast, Refresh06 and Web2Live). Paul has worked extensively in the higher education sector for clients such as; City University, Brunel University, JISC and the Universities of Portsmouth, Brighton, Southampton and Lancaster. Paul also has significant experience in running online communities and has done so as far back as 1995 when he was one of the original community leaders of geocities. He wrote his dissertation on virtual communities and the disabled back in 1994. Paul gave a plenary talk entitled "Making your killer applications... killer!" and facilitated a parallel session entitled "Twittering Techniques".

James Currall is a statistician who has always worked in multi-disciplinary environments. He has been involved in the support of software, ICT planning and user support and training at the University of Glasgow for nearly 20 years. His main job currently is as Director of Information Strategy where he interacts with records managers, archivists, librarians, information technologists, academics and university managers. From a position of being none of the above, James has on a number of occasions been described as an iconoclast as he does not hold dear much of the 'baggage' that these professions have accumulated through time. For two years he was on secondment to the University Learning and Teaching Centre, transforming the support of the University Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle) from a tool for enthusiasts into a well supported and managed service, during which time he was very much involved in the management and strategic planning of ICT in Learning and Teaching. James is also a Senior Research Fellow in the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII), where he has, for the last ten years, been developing applied research into information issues drawing on his service and strategic experience and also more theoretical work on the nature of digital objects and the problems associated with their management, security and retention. James has been involved with the highly successful Glasgow MSc course in Information Management and Preservation since its inception, in which he teaches about the transition from storage of information on physical to digital media, the management and preservation of digital materials, information security, the role of numbers as information and a variety of other topics including risk and information management as an investment. In this latter context he was the Project Director of the espida project which developed a sustainable business-focussed model for digital preservation. James gave a plenary talk entitled "What is the Web?".