JISC LMS meeting in Glasgow

Huw and I (Dan) went to Glasgow to the JISC LMS meeting.

So, if the joys of two nights spent catching sleep on the Caledonian Sleeper are the downside, what were the benefits?

Many actually. In three important ways.

First, we heard a lot of ideas. We plan to implement a fair few of them in our project. For example, another JISC-funded project, ConnectedWorks, has led to us investigating a browser plugin called iCite. When someone mentioned the idea of adding a "find in my library" button to amazon searches, we realised we had just the tool for the job. So we're going to add a web-assistant browse widget to the project. There were many other examples, some we will have time to do, others will have to wait for future projects.

Secondly, we learnt about other projects in the programme, including projects we could work with. The Wolfie project at UEA is a standout there, as is us using some of LSE's earlier work. Generally, lots of good networking went on.

Finally, we were helped to develop our arguments and pitches for our projects, to help us describe them to each other, and the various people who might be able to help us in their execution.

There was also some excellent discussion around UX, and how we might be better at pooling the outputs of our user research (to avoid duplicating effort) and be better critical consumers of UX research (we all know how much poor-quality UX research is there: how do we wind the diamonds amongst the glass?).