Hi Don, sorry for the delay in replying.

>I've now checked with our Council's IT department. Unfortunately we
>can't set up our own server using their access line. They suggest
>that we purchase webspace from a commercial host. Would this work?
>Could we set up the conversant software on that site? Are there any
>other options?

I'm not surprised that the Council's IT folk are anti-server. It's
a pity but there are alternatives.

One possibility is to co-locate/host a PC/Mac running Conversant with
some commercial host. This would entail purchasing the PC/Mac and
funding the cost of the educational license for Conversant and,
normally, a monthly/yearly charge for the co-location. The downside
of this option is that there are no local (read UK), Conversant,
hosting/co-locating, services that I know of. Perhaps dunbar.org
could be persuaded to co-locate a Conversant server?

Another possibility is to use Macrobyte's hosting service. Macrobyte
are excellent but there the remoteness and time-zone difference are a
slight downside. But this option is certainly worth considering.

A third option that could be explored is to see if Strathclyde (i.e
my Department) would be willing to co-locate/host a Conversant
server. This is a more likely option if the project could
incorporate a research outcome of some kind. My department is
heavily involved in supporting schools through, mainly, the STORM
project, so there is potential to leverage the
work/contacts/credibility arising from that project.

A fourth option - but one that I have least enthusiasm for personally
- is to investigate some other 'platform' that may be more readily
available from a UK co-location/hosting service. Typically, these
platforms would be implemented in perl/php/python and, often, under
open-source licensing terms.

A final option is just to exploit the capabilities that are already
available to you on the existing DGS (dunbar.org) server. However,
this may limit the scope of the experiment.

Perhaps the best way to proceed is to flesh out the project more
taking into account (some of) the above options. We may need to
compromise if the available funding/technologies impose restrictions
upon us.

Cheers,

Duncan

PS I'll post this e-mail in the XL thread on Duncan's Jotter too.