Familiarity with social and mobile websites is redefining today’s student expectation of institutional interaction. Their expectation is moving away from web applications delivered centrally via a portal or website, towards services delivered into multiple platforms from social websites (FaceBook, iGoogle), to mobile devices (iPhones etc) – with the student choosing the platform. However, the economic climate is shrinking budgets as fast as additional platforms become available. How can HE institutions – with combinations of corporate applications be expected to deliver on these demands, and avoid the high risk of locking into one technology?

Building on LSE’s Library Widget project, this project takes a service orientated approach (SOA) to deliver a framework for widget/portlet/gadget development that is highly extensible, reusable and adaptable to each institution’s needs.