The system of Shared Authoring in general is based on one or more authors independently adding content to a web site by filling out web-based forms that provide various shortcuts. A series of original ColdFusion scripts and database files created in the Innovation Center invisibly support this process. Collaborating authors can use Windows or Macintosh, Netscape or Explorer, at home or the office. Their hardware and software requirements are merely whatever conventional means they use to access the Web.

Authorized contributors to a WebScribe publication begin the process of publishing content by signing into a password-protected web site. The main editor of the web site can assign and deactivate accounts as needed, forming a staff to share the work (although in some cases, the editor uses WebScribe alone, with no collaborative staff). The main editor of the site may also vary levels of authority among the staff, to determine who may edit pages and who may authorize them to become viewable for the general public. The editors also may control the general layout and color schemes for the site, within parameters that guarantee consistent standards of usability and navigation.

The usual task of adding a page to a WebScribe publication, after sign-in, is a simple matter of copying and pasting (or typing freehand) a body of prepared text into the WebScribe form, and providing a headline by which to link the resource to the rest of the web site. Some of the optional features the author may employ for the body of a page include bylines, outline formats, content imported from other locations, dynamic category menus, images, and the attachment of non-HTML files. With the click of a button, the content and other options for the page are loaded into a database to await publishing approval -- whether by the same author (if allowed), or by the editor who manages the site. Unpublished material is available for view, in the form of a restricted-access version of the web site, to the staff members who have logged into the WebScribe input interface.

WebScribe can also send e-mail notifications to the main editor (in the role of a manager or advisor), if desired, when submissions to the web site are made in order to keep track of assignments and/or editing and publishing tasks relating to the web site.

[Proceed to A Description of the Innovation: How the Public and Campus Community Access WebScribe.]