Research sites, institutes and chairs
- Paul Seiler (Unlicensed)
The following table contains the results of a high level scan across all identified research centres, institutes and chairs (plus the various other collaborative structures and activities that were "stumbled" across, such as projects, groups and initiatives). From now on all these are referred to as "collaborative entities", even if this is not true from a legal stand-point. The listing combinations those identified in the high level scope document, spreadsheets and comments provided by 'Tash (and other team members), and a check against every faculty and schools webpage of research entities and structures. There are more than 70 entities in total.
The table has captured only a few of all the possible attributes, so is exhaustive only in how many rows or entries, not in the data on each one. The purpose behind the analysis is to identify if the site/page should be in scope or out, and if in how we should approach it. As such, the most important column is the right-hand one.
The key findings from this analysis are:
- Similar key activities: Almost all of the collaborative entities are involved in research, many in teaching (if PG supervision is defined as teaching. Note that some state explicitly that they offer this service and others are silent on it, leaving me wondering if it is tacit knowledge or they don't do supervision), most have a public or policy engagement function, most share news and events, and many have resources available.
- School-like: A school template might be a good proxy/starting point for a research entity template, as many of the facets or dimensions of information are similar.
- Inconsistent primary attachment: As in it could be (occasionally a staff member) the school, the faculty, the University or outside or scope/mandate/orbit. And it is often multi-faceted. Maybe we ought not try to "attach" these to one University unit but have them more loosely "associated" with as many as necessary?
- New templates are required: Due to the similarity of function and information, most collaborative entities can be handled by one of two or three new templates (or patterns):
- Standard entity: With the exception of the smaller entities most have similar activities (see above), information and functions. This means that most of the content could be accommodated with a standard set of pages/tabs/sections, especially if we provided the flexibilities on which are mandatory and what they are called
- Simpler entity: Some of the entities are much simpler, as in they currently only have one page. Even allowing for some that would like more space and functionality, there is a need for a simple (probably single page) template to cater for these entities. It would provide some web presence for basic descriptive and contact information, but not much more.
- Use metadata elements: Given the efficiency of having a small repertoire of templates to cater for many different entities we would benefit from some metadata element to allow us to categories entities (for search, listings, etc).
- Explore how school-like entities are: Once we finalise what the new school template (where CSP information is stripped out and they are integrated into the faculty site) will look like we should consider if this is a good starting point for the new standard entity template. Although there are some differences, there are also many similarities. If we can reuse prior WIP work we not only save resources in the project phase but set up a more efficient maintenance path for the future.
- Resources: Many of the entities have valuable resources that they want available, some of the sites are really only this. Maybe there is a better way to represent this offering and increase patronage? Examples include the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection which is a part of the library and the Language Learning Centre.
- Service provision: How should we handle a unit offering services (and not doing research)? Examples include the Victoria Psychology Clinic (when to students one thinks student information/services but what about when to the public?) and the Language Learning Centre.
- Curated listing plus show all option: I believe there is a place for a curated listing of research entities, much like we currently have on the web. However, I also think there needs to be a "show all" and possibly that the search needs to look across them all, maybe prioritising results on the curated list. These secondary entities would be tagged and therefore searchable, addressable (with a url), connected in context and provide exposure/celebration of researhc outputs, bnut not listed/indexed.
Note from Jane Young (Unlicensed): The web presence of many of these entities looks the same because of what they were offered, not because this is what they all wanted. This might not be a bad thing (and we may even wish to perpetuate this) but it is useful to remember why things are the way they are.
| Name and url | Attached to (associated with, owned by) | Functional (cf static) content | Dependent on school or faculty site | Squiz (Y/N) | Web comment | Teaches (Y/N) | Looks like | Recommendation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | International Institute of Modern Letters | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences | N/a but just in case Events, News, Staff listing, Course listing, Newsletters (including archived), Also links off to their Twitter, You Tube and Wordpress accounts. | N | Y | Old template | Y | School | Treat like a school |
| 2 | Antarctic Research Centre | Faculty of Science Co-located with School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences | N/a but just in case Events, News (including archived), Staff listing, Postgraduate student listing, Course listing (although looks more like content than functionality. Maybe courses could benefit from one of our planned new discipline usage types?), Newsletters (including archived), Publications listings, | N | Y | Old template | Partially | School, although seems to do more research than teaching | New research centre/institute template |
| 3 | Centre for Applied Cross Cultural Research | School of Psychology | N/a but just in case News, Staff listing (although wrongly labelled faculty staff), Sign-up to email list, Other people listings, Newsletters (including archived), Also links off to their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Slideshare and You Tube accounts, | N | Y | Old template, Dreamweaver | N | Research | New research centre/institute template |
| 4 | Centre for Logic, Language and Computation | No one home, but rather people from:
| N/a but just in case All content and much of it out of date. Not much else | N | N | Old template, pre-2007 | N | Research and promoting cross-school study | New research centre/institute template |
| 5 | New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre | Based at Victoria University (FHSS?), with five other university members:
| Events (including archived), News, Staff listing, N/a but just in case Course listing, Publications (including archived), | N | Y | Old template | N | Research and public engagement | New research centre/institute template |
| 6 | Confucius Institute | Victoria University (FHSS?) | N/a but just in case Events (including archived), News, People listing, Sign-up to email list, Publications (including archived), | N | Y | Old template | N | Cultural exchange and collaboration | New research centre/institute template |
| 7 | Institute for Governance and Policy Studies | School of Government | N/a but just in case Events (including archived), People listing, Publications (including archived),
Old/out of date (see events) A tab for search??? | N | N | Old template, Dreamweaver, pre-2007 | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template Standardise url |
| 8 | Language Learning Centre | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences | N/a but just in case Events (including archived), News, Staff listing, Publications/resources (including archived), Embedded video, | N | Y | Old template | N | Resources and services | New resource centre template |
| 9 | Stout Centre | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences | N/a but just in case Events (including archived), News, People listing, Newsletters (including archived), Publications (including archived), | N | Y | Old template | Y (PG supervision) | Research and supervision | Treat like a school or New research centre/institute template |
| 10 | Ferrier Institute | Science related but site professes no link | N/a | N | Y | Responsive | Y (PG supervision) | Research and supervision | Move to out of scope |
| 11 | Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation | Was Victoria Business School Now closed | N/a as it is closed and maybe one day somebody will pull the plug | N | N | Old template, pre-2007 | n/a | n/a | Archived content Move to out of scope |
| 12 | Allan Wilson Centre | One of New Zealand's seven Centres of Research Excellence Hosted by Massey University, with other members:
| N/a | N | N | Not hosted on our server | n/a | n/a | Not ours so move to out of scope |
| 13 | Malaghan Institute | Victoria University | N/a | N | N | Not hosted on our server | N | Research and raising funding | Ours New research centre/institute template if we must, else Strengthen the association with VUW (see WIP-251) |
| 14 | New Zealand Institute of International Affairs | Not sure on the association, if any, with VUW | N/a | N | N | Not hosted on our server | N | Policy/public engagement | Not ours so move to out of scope |
| 15 | New Zealand Association for Comparative Law | Contact people in Faculty of Law Association is incorporated under the Charitable Trusts Act. It is affiliated to the International Association of Legal Sciences which operates under the auspices of UNESCO and the International Council of Social Sciences | All just content but very old and ugly. | Y | Y | Old template, Dreamweaver, pre-2007 | N | Promoting research and training | Determine if it is ours New research centre/institute template or Alternative hosting |
| 16 | Problemsourcing.com | Not available | N/a | N | N/A | Not hosted on our server | n/a | n/a | Not ours so move to out of scope |
| 17 | Wai-te-ata Press | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, but not stated on site? | N/a but just in case Events, News (including archived), Publications (including archived),
| N | ? | ? | Y | Research, teaching and public engagement | ??? |
| 18 | Treaty of Waitangi Research Unit | Stout Research Centre (in turn in FHSS) | N/a but just in case Only content | N | Y | Old template | Y (PG supervision) | Research | New page or Alternative hosting template |
| 19 | Security and Surveillance Project http://www.victoria.ac.nz/stout-centre/research-units/security-and-surveillance-research-unit | Stout Research Centre (in turn in FHSS) | N/a but just in case Only content | N | Y | Old template | N | Research | New project page or Alternative hosting template |
| 20 | Centre for Building Performance Research | School of Architecture | Only content, with plenty of archived reports | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template |
| 21 | New Zealand History Group (in the above centre) http://www.victoria.ac.nz/architecture/centres/cbpr/new-zealand-history-group | School of Architecture Inter-institutional collective of academics, post-graduate students and independent scholars | Only content | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New project page or New research centre/institute template |
| 22 | Earthquake Hazard Centre http://www.victoria.ac.nz/architecture/centres/earthquake-hazard-centre | School of Architecture | Only content and mainly archived newsletters. | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template |
| 23 | Robinson Research Institute | Science related but site professes no link | N/a | N | Y | Responsive | N | Research | Move to out of scope |
| 24 | Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sbs/research-centres-institutes/centre-biodiversity-restoration-ecology | School of Biological Sciences, with links to
| Only content, including news and events (both with archived), People listing, and Newsletter archives | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template |
| 25 | Centre for Biodiscovery http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sbs/research-centres-institutes/centre-for-biodiscovery | School of Biological Sciences | Only content, including news and events (both with archived), Staff listing, and Newsletter archives | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template |
| 26 | Victoria University Coastal Ecology Laboratory http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sbs/research-centres-institutes/vucel | School of Biological Sciences | Mostly content, including People listing, and image gallery Resource booking via intranet, Embedded video and links to Twitter and Facebook | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template |
| 27 | Centre for Academic Development http://www.victoria.ac.nz/learning-teaching/academic-development | ??? | N/a | N | Y | Responsive | N | Resources and services | Recently redone Move to out of scope |
| 28 | Centre for Accounting, Governance and Taxation Research | School of Accounting and Commercial Law | Content only | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template |
| 29 | Chair in Public Finance | School of Accounting and Commercial Law | Content only, including Events (including archived), News (including archived), People listing, Publications (including archived), | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute templatee |
| 30 | Centre for Labour, Employment and Work | School of Management | Content only, including News and events | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template |
| 31 | Competitive Advantage New Zealand http://www.victoria.ac.nz/som/research/research-projects/competitive-advantage | School of Management | Research project, maybe not a Centre, Institute or Chair. Content only, including lots of archived reports/publications | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New project page or Alternative hosting template |
| 32 | Health Services Research Centre http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sog/researchcentres/health-services-research-centre | School of Government | Content only, including Lots of archived reports/publications
| Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template |
| 33 | Chair of e-Government | School of Government | Content only, including duplicate content for Master of e-Government | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template |
| 34 | Diana Unwin Chair in Restorative Justice http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sog/researchcentres/chair-in-restorative-justice | School of Government | Content only | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template |
| 35 | Deaf Studies Research Unit | School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies | Content only | Y | Y | Old template | Y (or is it the school that does the teaching?) | Research and maybe teaching | New research centre/institute template |
| 36 | New Zealand Dictionary Centre http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/centres-and-institutes/dictionary-centre | School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template | |
| 37 | Institute of Geophysics http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sgees/research-centres/institute-of-geophysics | School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences | Y | Y | Old template | N | Reseach | New research centre/institute template | |
| 38 | New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute | School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences | Y | Y | Old template | N | Reseach | New research centre/institute template | |
| 39 | New Zealand Climate Change Centre | joint initiative by New Zealand’s Crown Research Institutes and three universities (Massey University, the University of Canterbury, and Victoria University of Wellington | N | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Not ours so move to out of scope | |
| 40 | MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology | Hosted by Victoria University but are they really "ours" | N | ? probably no | n/a | N | Research | Rebuilt on WP last year. Candidate for the alternative hosting Move to out of scope | |
| 41 | New Zealand Centre for Literary Translation | School of Languages and Cultures | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research | New research centre/institute template | |
| 42 | New Zealand Centre for Public Law | Faculty of Law | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 43 | New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law | Faculty of Law | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 44 | New Zealand Electronic Text Collection | Library at VUW | N | ? | ? | N | Resources | New resource centre template | |
| 45 | New Zealand India Research Institute | School of History, Political Science and International Relations | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 46 | Centre for Strategic Studies | School of History, Political Science and International Relations | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 47 | Antipodean East European Study Group | School of History, Political Science and International Relations | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 48 | Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families http://www.victoria.ac.nz/psyc/centres-and-institutes/mckenzie-centre | School of Psychology | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 49 | Victoria Psychology Clinic http://www.victoria.ac.nz/psyc/centres-and-institutes/vic-psyc-clinic | School of Psychology | Y | Y | Old template | N | Service delivery | New resource centre template | |
| 50 | Victoria Institute for Links with Latin America | Victoria??? | N | Y | Responsive | N | Research, resources and services | Recently redone, so move to out of scope | |
| 51 | BNZ Chair in Business in Asia http://www.victoria.ac.nz/smib/professorial-chairs/chair-in-business-in-asia | School of Marketing and International Business | Y | Y | Old template | Y | Research, teaching and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 52 | Chair in the Economics of Disasters http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sef/professorial-chairs/chair-in-economics-of-disasters | School of Economics and Finance | Y | Y | Old template | Y | Research, teaching and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 53 | He Pārekereke (Institute for Research and Māori Development) | School of Education. | Y | Y | Old template | Y | Research, teaching and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 54 | Institute for Early Childhood Studies http://www.victoria.ac.nz/education/research/institute-early-childhood-studies | Faculty of Education | Y | Y | Old template | N | Research and policy/public engagement | New research centre/institute template | |
| 55 | New Zealand Annual Review of Education | Faculty of Education | Y | Y | Old template | N | Resources, historic | In scope but move to library or other resource catalogue | |
| 56 | New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities | led by the University of Otago, of six universities - Otago, Canterbury, Victoria, Massey, Waikato and Auckland - two Crown Research Institutes, Landcare and NIWA and BRANZ | Y | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Not ours so move to out of scope | |
| 57 | 10 research groups | School of Engineering and Computer Science | Y | Y | Old template | Y | Research and teaching | New research centre/institute template or something simplier | |
| 58 | 5 Design Research Innovation Labs | School of Design | Y | Y | Old template | Y | Research and teaching | New research centre/institute template or something simplier |