A WORLD WIDE WEB SITE
FOR THE
EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
www.eipa.nl
Maastricht, The Netherlands
LEONARDO DA VINCI European Programme
Training Contract AT&Q – 0739
(September 1 - October 10, 1997)
Author: Giuseppe Chiasera
University of Trento (Italy)
Supervisor: Veerle Deckmyn
European Institute of Public Administration (The Netherlands)
SUMMARY
Introduction
1
1. PROJECT: INTERNET & INTRANET WWW
2
2. WEB SITE ANALYSIS
• Unix server
• NT server
• Analysis conclusion
3
3. NEW EIPA'S WWW SITE STRUCTURE
• Preliminary
• New structure: a recurrent approach
• Description:
• The home page
• Frames to manage the topics
• Implementation
• Database integration
6
4. USERS' SUGGESTIONS
12
5. HOW TO UPDATE AND MAINTAIN THE SITE
• Standard layout
• Users and Services
13
6. COPYRIGHT
14
Conclusions
15
Thanks
URL: http://www.jus.unitn.it/users/chiasera/eipa_www/
ii
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
Introduction
The European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) is a non-profit-making
organization which serves the public administrations of Member States of the European
Union. EIPA was founded in 1981 on the occasion of the first Maastricht European
Council. The objectives of the Institute, as laid down in its statutes, are ‘to provide civil
servants and other interested parties with training courses of a European character
relating to public administration in the European Union and the collection and
development of knowledge regarding public administration in the European Union or in
relation to it.’ Thus, the Institute is dedicated to supporting the practical management of
European integration through the provision of European-level training, applied research
and consultancy, as a complement to national and sub national programmes. EIPA is
especially qualified to carry out this task thanks to its unique combination of
characteristics:
European character
While retaining all the advantages of institutional autonomy, EIPA has a truly
European character and institutional structure which enables it to profit from close links
both with the national administrations of the EU Member States and with the European
institutions.
Bridge between theory and practice
EIPA has a distinct vocation as a bridge between theory and practice in the field of
European law, policy and public management. EIPA's permanent scientific staff
includes experts in different disciplines both from academic backgrounds and from
national administrations.
At the forefront of managing new challenges
EIPA not only employs and develops innovative teaching methodologies, but is also
at the forefront of setting up new forms of European training and mobility programmes
for public servants, such as the Karolus and EuroManagers programmes.
A broad network
EIPA draws on a broad network of institutions and expertise. The Institute
cooperates on a daily basis with EU institutions, national institutes of public
administration and national, regional and local governments, as well as with universities
from the various Member States.
To complement its working relationship with other organizations, EIPA has set up two
antennae; the European Centre for Judges and Lawyers in Luxembourg and the
European Centre for the Regions in Barcelona.
(extracted from EIPA’s presentation brochure)
Giuseppe Chiasera
1
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
1. PROJECT: INTERNET & INTRANET WWW
LEONARDO DA VINCI European Community Program Project n. I/96/0739/PL/II.1.2.b)/FPC
Working Program: World Wide Web and Databases in the European Union
These days, in the informatics field, hardware and software capabilities strike a good
balance between performance and cost. The impact in the everyday life of these
technologies is exemplified by the “inter networking digital data exchange” better
known as that phenomenon - the INTERNET.
A major consequence of this synergy is the easy exchange of a large amount of
information: e-mail, news, hypertext, database, etc.
In this context the availability of data in real time can change the approach in some
fields of research and administration.
All the major organizations have an advanced information system. They have planned a
structured collection of documents in a digital form and made these available world
wide through the internet.
The traditional software instruments to receive digital information and to interact with
remote hosts were ftp and telnet. Nowadays the new easy and powerful instrument is the
World Wide Web browser and its related tools; it permits interaction with a remote data
system using an easy and intuitive graphic interface. Some firms already use this
approach to promote their services and information, moreover a WWW site can support
the INTRANET information system too.
The decision to adopt an information system could be already made or it can be
suggested by the intranet structure.
The first step is to analyze the aim of the firm and the target of its services.
The implementation can begin by a translation or digitalization of the existing material
in a suitable form.
During this time it is possible to introduce the personnel to a deeper knowledge of the
web instrument and tools.
The other aspect of the same project is the remote access of information systems and
data bases of public and private institutions. An interdisciplinary approach can increase
the benefits of these powerful tools.
This project might be ambitious but is abtainable. The aim is to update knowledge in the
informatics field, as it applies to the web, and its application in support of users needs.
The experience gained since June 1996 in setting up the WWW server and related
services at the LAW faculty of Trento University will be applied.
Giuseppe Chiasera
2
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
2. WEB SITE ANALYSIS
Here is described the WWW site that I found at EIPA when my training begun. I wrote
these notes while I was investigating the content.
UNIX SERVER
http://www.eipa.nl/index.html
This server is hosted by CobWeb provider (http://www.cobweb.nl/) who use a Linux
operating system; the default file name of the web site is index.html
All the links inside the page are absolute and point at the NT server at the address:
http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/default.htm (or eipatop.htm)
NT SERVER
http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/default.htm (or at eipatop.htm)
Hosted by EPMS Company (http://www.epms.nl/), the default file name of the web site is
default.htm, in some addresses there is a link to the eipatop.htm file.
The home page contains the EIPA's logo, an animated icon (a rotating globe) and the
links to the topics described below.
The initial EIPA's home page site.
Giuseppe Chiasera
3
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
OVERVIEW: http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/eipa01.htm
It contains the html version of EIPA’s brochure, in a single file (27 KBytes) with a
index and some capability to navigate through the document. There are some links to email and a back link to the eipatop.htm main menu.
STAFF DATABASE: http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/staff.htm
It contains the html version of the Eipa’s Staff list in English, it is a single file (15 KB)
with the e-mail addresses pointed out.
It is linked to a ‘en français’ file called fac0705f.htm (18 KB) with the same
characteristics of the previous one and a link back to the ‘English version’. These files
don’t contain any link to the home page.
ACTIVITIES: http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/activit.htm
It is an HTML form (2KB) to search EIPA’s activities in a DBText database file named
ACTIVITI (~ 30KB). A full search can be made using the “*” symbol.
The search program used by the form is http://www.epms.nl/dbtcgi.exe
LIBRARY: http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/catalog/catalog.htm
It is an HTML form (3KB) to search in EIPA’s library DBText database file named
CATALOG (10 MB), must be noted that both files are in catalog sub-directory.
The search program used by the form is http://www.epms.nl/dbtcgi.exe
It contains more than 20,000 titles, search must be carried out carefully.
The form page contains a link to the home page “eipatop.html”
PUBLICATIONS: http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/eipapubl.htm
It is an HTML file (93KB) containing a list of titles (only) with hyperlinks (about 40
titles). The hyperlinks point inside the same HTML document, there isn’t any reference
to the home page.
EIPASCOPE: http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/eipalist.htm
It is an HTML file (14KB) containing an index of Special edition (4 files) and the
EIPASCOPE standard edition from 1991/1 to 1997/1 (19 files).
Below is a list of the editions with their corresponding files.
Special edition: Newsletter of the Regions in the European Union 97/1 (REG_97-1.htm)
Special edition: Newsletter of the Regions in the European Union 96/3 (REG_93-3.htm)
Special edition: Newsletter of the Regions in the European Union 1995 (95-REG.htm)
Special edition: EIPA's 15th Anniversary (1996)
(SPEC96.htm)
Giuseppe Chiasera
4
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
1994/2 94-004.htm; 94-005.htm; 94-006.htm; 94007.htm:
1994/1 94-001.htm; 94-002.htm; 94-003.htm;
1993/3 93-015.htm; 93-016.htm; 93-017.htm; 93018.htm;
1993/2 93-011.htm; 93-012.htm; 93-013.htm;
1993/1 93-008.htm; 93-009.htm; 93-010.htm;
1992/3 SCOP92-3.htm
1992/2 SCOP92-2.htm
1992/1 SCOP92-1.htm
A list of EIPASCOPE bulletin
publication: from 1991/1 to 1997/1:
Y/#
file(s)
1997/1 SCOPE97_1.htm
1996/3 SCOPE96_3.htm
1996/2 SCOPE96_2.htm
1996/1 SCOPE96_1.htm
1995/3 95-011.htm; 95-012.htm; 95-012.htm
1995/2 95-010.htm; 95-009.htm; 95-008.htm;
95-007.htm
1995/1 95-005.htm; 95-004.htm; 95-003.htm;
95-002.htm; 95-001.htm
1994/3
94-008.htm; 94-009.htm; 94010.htm; 94-011.htm; 94-012.htm;
94-013.htm; 94-014.htm
Each file starts with an hyperlink index to
the subject, inside the same file, and a
back link to the main index eipapubl.htm.
The size of each file is considerable (100KB)!
CONTACTS: http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/contact.htm
It is an HTML file (2KB) containing a list of the Contact addresses with e-mail links.
MORE: http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/
CATALOG
directory
CATALOG.ACF
CATALOG.BTX
CATALOG.DBO
CATALOG.DBR
CATALOG.DBS
CATALOG.HTM
CATALOG.IXL
CATALOG.OCC
CATALOG.SDO
20B
9,000 KB
125 KB
10,000
KB
4 KB
2 KB
3 KB
6,228 KB
36B
CATALOG.TBA
CATALOG.TTB
TYPE.HTM
type.txt
6 KB
3 KB
1 KB
2KB
whatsnew directory
booklet.htm
default.htm
eipalist.htm
ieap97.htm
scop96_3.htm
87 KB
239 B
12 KB
31 KB
121 KB
Analysis conclusion
A rather large amount of data with no logic at all, requiring an urgent change in the
structure of the whole web site.
Giuseppe Chiasera
5
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
3. NEW EIPA’S WWW SITE STRUCTURE
Preliminary
The present depicted situation shows the quite confusing arrangement of the site between
http://www.eipa.nl/ starting address and the subsequent http://www.epms.nl/www/eipa/
site where all the pages are resident. This arrangement has an historic reason: essential
parts of the site use DBSearch to consult the Activities and Library database.
In order to overcome this dichotomy and meet EIPA's aim of promoting its own site name
www.eipa.nl, it was decided to realize the web pages on the CobWeb Provider’s Unix
machine and assume default.htm as default name of the site.
In order to maintain the transportability of these pages to so as to assist in realizing, in the
near future, an Intranet site, a relative path address will be used wherever possible.
New structure: a recurrent approach
An analysis of the present and near future needs of EIPA led to the choice of the following
main topics or categories:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ACTIVITIES
EIPASCOPE
LIBRARY
ORGANIZATION
PUBLICATIONS
SERVICES*
USERS*
*suggested new categories
It is proposed to arrange the site using main directories with the same names as the above
categories.
This choice has two advantages:
1. the creation of a main structure arranged by topics;
2. the creation of meaningful addresses like
http://www.eipa.nl/activities/ or http://www.eipa.nl/eipascope/ etc.
The idea is to realize the same structure for each topic with a common method of
navigation. To this aim it is planned to develop standard home pages with an integrated
browsing environment.
Giuseppe Chiasera
6
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
Description
At the root of the web site we’re planning to put only the home page and a few generalpurpose files. This choice must be maintained in the future in order to have a fully
structured approach, with no exceptions.
In this phase of development, we have at the root the following files: default.htm;
leftup.htm; help.htm; frontcover.htm.
The home page
The choice to use default.htm comes from the wish that not only the home page, but also
the starting point in each directory, should be the default name of the web server. The main
advantage of this is that the desired effect will be achieved without typing the full address
complete with file name. Secondly, it is possible to arrange a repeating name structure.
The home page characteristics must match the following aims:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Look good;
Download fast;
Highlight the main topic of EIPA's Activities and Structure:
Highlight the EIPA NEWS.
The first two needs are achieved by inserting EIPA logo and the “Van Eck” picture in low
resolution versions, the “ Van Eck ” picture can be clicked to view a higher resolution if
desired.
New EIPA's home page.
Giuseppe Chiasera
7
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
Two groups of links are arranged inside two titled tables.
EIPA NEWS contains links to new important news in the EIPA site in order to catch the
attention of internet visitors. This part must be promptly updated in order to maintain a
high interest and stimulate the users to visit the site regularly.
The standard topics are arranged in a table named ACTIVITIES & SERVICES and
ORGANIZATION & ANTENNAE. In this group we find Activities, EIPASCOPE,
Library, Publications, Services, Users, Organization, Staff, Luxembourg, Barcelona and
Bruxelles. Clicking one of these hyperlinks will go straight to a new navigation interface.
Frames to manage the topics
The reasons of adopting a frames approach are easier browsing and preventing user
disorientation.
Three frames named leftup, leftdown, and right were defined. In practice, the default.htm
files (except the main home page) use a frame set definition as follows.
A three frames structure effect
<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>European Institute of Public Administration ( EIPA )</TITLE>
<FRAMESET cols="25%,*" FRAMESPACING=0 FRAMEBORDER=NO BORDER=0>
<FRAMESET rows="25%,*" FRAMESPACING=0 FRAMEBORDER=NO>
<FRAME src="../leftup.htm" name="leftup" scrolling=off MARGINWIDTH=2 MARGINHEIGHT=2>
<FRAME src="menu.htm" name="leftdown" MARGINWIDTH=2 MARGINHEIGHT=2>
</FRAMESET>
<FRAME src="../frontcover.htm" name="right" MARGINWIDTH=5 MARGINHEIGHT=2 bordercolor="#003300"
frameborder="YES">
</FRAMESET>
</HEAD><BODY></BODY></HTML>
Default.htm contents file inside the organization\overview directory
Giuseppe Chiasera
8
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
The first frameset tag divides the screen in two columns with a width ratio of 1:3, the left
one is subdivided into two rows with a height ratio of 1:3.
Uploading this file gives a three frames or windows structure with a file displayed in each.
In leftup the leftup.htm file called main or anchor menu is displayed. It contains the
animated EIPA logo, which is a link to the home page, and eight icons of capital letters
with the following relationships and links to the default file of the appropriate directory.
Anchor menu
ICON
FULL NAME
CONTENT
A
E
L
O
P
S
U
?
Activities
EIPASCOPE
Library
Organization
Publications
Services
Users
Activities programme
EIPASCOPE bulletin and special edition
Library facilities
Organization structure and staff
Publications
Services, useful databases, etc.
Users home pages
This page(s)
Help
The action of clicking on a capital letter causes that topic menu to be displayed in the
secondary frame (leftdown).
The secondary menu (leftdown frame) contains a list of hyperlinks relating to the selected
topic and a link back to the parent menu. A click on the main menu usually, but not
always, changes the secondary frame.
The result of a click on the secondary menu list can have two effects:
1) The display of another nested menu in the same frame;
2) The display of the content of a file in the right frame.
The main display window (right frame) is the place where the main hypertexts are shown.
Giuseppe Chiasera
9
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
Implementation
We will now say a bit more about the layout of the main categories and the reasons for the
choices.
ACTIVITIES - The activities are grouped by year at the first level and by project number
at the second level.
The menu permits access to the following features:
• Open: a list of open activities with hyperlinks;
• Contract: a list of contract activities;
• Search: a form to search the online, periodically updated, activities database;
• Online info form: a form to obtain more information;
• Info: name and address for direct contact;
• BackView: a list containing the main points only of current and past activities, with
links to more detailed information; arranged by year.
EIPASCOPE - EIPA's bulletin, published three times a year and includes a supplement on
the regions. In this case too, the structure of one directory per year with subdirectories for
each number and special edition seems to be adequate. For faster browsing, it is suggested
that a file subdivision by article and an appropriate (table) menu are used.
A new and powerful improvement we adopted for EIPASCOPE 1997/2 (September): is the
ability to download the complete, fully typeset, bulletin or a single article, in PDF format.
PDF files can be read by the free software ‘Adobe Reader’. A link to obtain this is
provided.
EIPASCOPE’s main menu permits access to the following elements:
• Copyright: copyright statement concerning restrictions on reproduction of the
contents;
• Online reply coupon: a form to obtain more information;
• Info: name and address for direct contact;
• Index: organized by year, leading to sub menus showing contents and numbered
articles.
LIBRARY - Mainly permits searching in the library catalog.
Its menu permits access to the following elements:
• Search: a form to search the online library catalog;
• Structure: a description of the organization and contents;
• How to use: including examples;
• Info: names and addresses for direct contact.
ORGANIZATION - Depicts the EIPA's structure and its human resources. Each link
leads to a sub-topic menu that makes easier the exploration.
The main categories are the following:
• Overview: it shows the web version of the EIPA's presentation brochure;
Giuseppe Chiasera
10
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
•
•
•
•
•
•
Staff: EIPA's human resources;
Antenna Barcelona: Europen Centre for the Regions in Barcelona;
Antenna Luxembourg: Europen Centre for Judges and Lawyers in Luxembourg;
Office in Bruxelles: reference to the EIPA's office in Bruxelles;
Department: main internal functional structures;
Info: name and address for direct contact.
PUBLICATIONS - To provide information on EIPA’s publications.
The menu permits access to the following elements:
• Forthcoming: a list of soon to be available publications;
• Current book list: the main list of publications with links to summaries;
• Backlist: a list of older publications, included the ones out of print;
• Online order form: a form to order EIPA's publications;
• Online info form: a form to obtain more information;
• Info: name and address for a direct contact;
• Booklist: table of current publications arranged by year.
SERVICES - This category is intended to provide general interest services. The present
release offers categories or groups of links related to the Institute’s activities and expertise.
Its menu gives access to the following elements:
• Links: general interest links;
• EU links: links related to the European Union;
• Database: display online databases and how to consult them;
• Info: name and address for direct contact.
USERS - A suggested approach of how publish on internet. This should be the starting
point to give our users the opportunity to publish themselves on EIPA’s internet site.
The menu gives access to the following elements:
• Faculty: a Faculty users proposed home page approach;
• Guests & Trainees: list of guests and trainees at EIPA;
• Supporting staff: idem as for Faculty;
• Others: others users proposed home pages or online work;
• Info: name and address for direct contact.
It will be seen that some elements like online form or info, are repeated. This is necessary
to allow access to information and certain others general tasks from within topics.
Giuseppe Chiasera
11
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
Database integration
The existing databases for the activities and library, are based on the DBsearch (NT
version) program by INMAGIC. The data is exported in a suitable form by DBtext in a
fully indexed format. A query can then be performed by an online form.
We experimented with the export and manipulation of the online activities database to
achieve direct control and easy update.
4. USERS' SUGGESTIONS
On Wednesday 1st October we gave the first presentation of the new look site in an internal
seminar in order to get first impressions from the users. The meeting began with an
introduction by Veerle Deckmyn, then followed my presentation illustrated directly from
the pc by projection onto the conference room film screen. I demonstrated the contents, the
structure and the navigation facilities between the topics.
The following discussion lead to some suggestions from the users, the main observations
were the following:
•
EIPASCOPE copyright: the question arose from a recent problem caused by the
unauthorized publication of an article from EIPASCOPE’s bulletin. The initial solution
was to display a copyright statement at the entry point to this topic.
•
Bilingual version: due to the multilingual character of the Institute. The reply was that
bilingual documents would be provided when available; the full bilingual approach
requires more resources than are currently available.
•
More links to EU Member States: a suggestion was to introduce, under Services, links
to national schools of public Administration and to national government departments
such as Foreign affairs, training etc.
•
A form to search by keyword in the site: this request arises from the need to find a
person or item in the site easily. This omission can be partially overcome by the
ordered arrangement of the information and easy retrieval.
Giuseppe Chiasera
12
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
5. HOW TO UPDATE AND MAINTAIN THE SITE
Standard layout
Maintenance is achieved by the everyday updating the activities list, publications
(including abstracts) and other information. The continuous update can be shown by
organizing the lists so that the more recent item are at the top.
Correct use of the EIPA NEWS can improve the impact on both the regular or casual site
visitors.
Users and Services
These newly suggested categories ought be similar in structure to the standard categories
like activities, and should provide the deep knowledge and expertise of the Institute in the
field of European Union administration.
Services can be a good tool for the external visitors as well useful for everyday research
and work. A continuous feedback from the users can be helpful to meet their needs.
The Users pages can be a medium to exchange personal interests and activities. The home
page can be a starting point to publish on internet.
Giuseppe Chiasera
13
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
6. COPYRIGHT
Giuseppe Chiasera
14
www.eipa.nl
A World Wide Web site for the European Institute of Public Administration
MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands
Conclusions
A good experience from all points of view: the people, the life and the profession.
Thanks
The idea of this external experience was raised by Prof. Roberto Toniatti, dean of the
Law Faculty of the University of Trento, and supported by Andrea Mongera, head of
Informatics Services.
Grateful thanks go to Veerle Deckmyn, head of the Information / Documentation and
Publications Services at EIPA, who gave me the opportunity to carry out this project and
made me feel at home.
Thanks to all staff that I met at EIPA for their kindness.
Last but not least many thanks to Christopher Dart for the collaboration and suggestions
in building up the new EIPA site and patient check out of this script.
A kind greeting to Christine, Daniela, Georg and Inma; my neighbours at 4 Koestraat.
Giuseppe Chiasera
15
www.eipa.nl