Business with Information Technology

Libri, 2003, vol. 53, pp. 118–129 Printed in Germany · All rights reserved

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Copyright  Saur 2003 Libri ISSN 0024-2667

Design and Development of an Academic Portal
Academic Information Service, University of Pretoria, South Africa

HEILA PIENAAR

A Web portal can be defined as a Web site for a specific audience that aggregates an array of content and provides a variety of services including search engines, directories, news, e-mail and chat rooms. This article investigates the factors that must be considered during the design and de-

velopment of an academic portal. Personal interviews were conducted with academics in order to identify the content, functions, appearance and value of an academic portal. A working academic portal, the Infoportal, was developed to support academics’ task performance.

Introduction
The introduction of the portal concept to the Web has opened new possibilities to address some of the issues concerning the personal management of academic information and knowledge. Some of the main issues are the lack of integration, personalisation and customisation of existing academic information sources and systems. A Web portal can be defined as a Web site that aggregates an array of content and provides a variety of services including search engines, directories, news, e-mail and chat rooms. Portals have evolved to provide a customised gateway to Web information. A high level of personalisation and customisation is possible (Melzer 1999; Boye 1999). It was felt that the portal concept could be further developed to function as a sophisticated Web interface that can support the task performance (teaching and research) of academics.

• What can be seen as the personal management of academic knowledge and information? What is the impact of the Internet on the scientific knowledge cycle? • To what extent can the concept and functionality of Web portals support the personal management of knowledge and

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