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LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS
Adolf Hobbacher (Germany), and the 4th Edition of
Reference Radiographs for Assessment
of Weld Defects
by Deutscher Verband für Schwei
β
en (DVS), the German welding society,
which were issued in 1996.
25
Both these publications were well received. In the case of the
reference radiographs these had been produced using the latest digital copying techniques
and were to become one of the more important sources of revenue from publications
for IIW.
26
Diminishing interest in the database, noted earlier, together with a need to market the
Institute’s image more effectively, was to stimulate a corresponding level of interest in the
development of a website for IIW, specifically to attract a much wider audience. Reacting
to the use of new technology in digital communication, the CEO of IIW’s Secretariat, Mr
Michel Bramat, made a presentation in 1998 to the WG
Publications
to promote a project
for the creation of a website at a cost of FRF 130 000. Expressions of interest were sought
from a number of parties to provide resources to undertake this project. Following a review
of the respondents regarding the project, the WG
Publications
recommended to the Board
of Directors an offer of FRF 90 500, including one third of the cost going towards the
integration of the database into the website.
Within nine months of final approval the Internet site became functional
in April 1999. However, it did receive mixed reviews during its first year of
operation due to the normal problems associated with an initiative such as
this. Further improvements were made to respond to criticism and a new
version was launched in 2001 with an updated user-friendly navigation tool
and facilities for access to both public and restricted areas of the website. The
next stage was to improve the content of the website and by 2003 all Working
Units were using it for the storage and distribution of their documents. With
these improvements, the usage of the website went up considerably. Within
two years, visits per week went from around 500 to 1 150. This was viewed
as an indication of increased popularity and satisfaction in the changes made.
With a marked increase in downloadable documents and with over 12 000 records
in place the website was becoming a victim of its success, moderate though that was, and
the increase in website traffic was starting to cause the website to crash or slow down as a
result. Not surprisingly this was often due to difficulties caused by multiple entries of the
same document into the database.
27
It was evident that a major upgrade would be required to
keep it functioning satisfactorily. By 2007 the need for change became acute and the Chair
of WG-COM&MARK, Mayer was to comment on the difficulties that faced the Secretariat
and that modification of the website was somewhat more problematic than thought. As a
result, in-depth discussions began with the aid of feed-back from the users of the website to
improve the situation.
28
A steering committee was eventually set up to look into the development of a
new, interactive website that would better respond to the needs of IIW’s members and its