Brewery series raises future role of web portals
Dec 12, 2003
The latest "University in the Brewery" series, held on Wednesday 10 December, was focused on web portals andf their potential in the local community, with the topic Get Excited and Shout Yahoo about Web Portals - Gateways to your Community". It provided another event where the public could hear prominent researchers and private sector practitioners explain their ideas and research in a relaxed and participatory environment over a few foaming ales. The Decision Systems Laboratory at the University of Wollongong is working on a project to design and develop web portals that will serve the needs of local communities and remain sustainable in the long term. There are two types of portals being developed: * A community portal that will serve the needs of, and bring together, all members of the Wollongong community and provide an online space for them to interact and * A portal to support the needs of small businesses in the region Presenters explained what web portals are, showed some interesting examples of how they are being used (beyond the obvious - "Excite" and "Yahoo") and demonstrated how they can facilitate community interaction or support small business needs. The session was compered by Illawarra Business Chamber CEO Tim Lewis, who has extensive experience in developing portals for various vertical industries through his company PortalTech. Speaker included Lejla Vrazalic, a Lecturer in Information Systems at UOW, Dr Peter Hyland, Senior Lecturer in the School of Information Technology and Computer Science, and Professor Aditya Ghose, School of Information Technology and Computer Science at UOW and Director of the Decision Systems Laboratory. The Research and Development Manager at UOW, Dr Troy Coyle, is keen to hear from any businesses interested in any way in either starting up a linkage with the University, expanding on an existing one or with ideas for her "brewery" series. She can be contacted at 4221 4420 or email tcoyle@uow.edu.au
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