Transcript MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/seminars/helf-2008/
Institutional Implications of the
Emergence of Social Software
IWR Information
Professional
of the Year
About This Talk
Many educators are becoming excited about the potential
of social software to support informal and formal learning,
and the term e-learning 2.0 has been coined to describe
such approaches.
But how are institutions responding to the threats and
opportunities which such developments provide?
Brian Kelly, UKOLN, University of Bath, Bath, UK
[email protected]
Resources bookmarked using the ‘helf-200804' tag
UKOLN is supported by:
This work is licensed under a
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
2.0 licence (but note caveat)
Contents
Introduction
• About the speaker
• About the talk
Social Software
• Personal case study: example of use of
social software
Addressing the institutional barriers:
• Understanding risks and benefits
• Risk assessment & risk management
• Sharing and learning
Conclusions
2
Introduction
About The Speaker
Brian Kelly:
• UK Web Focus: a national Web advisory post
• Works at UKOLN – a national centre of expertise
in digital information management, located at the
University of Bath, UK
• Funded by JISC and MLA to support UK’s higher
and further education & cultural heritage sectors
• Involved in the Web since January 1993
• Active in promoting best practices for Web 2.0
• Awarded prize for Information World Review’s
Information professional of the year in Dec 2007
Note not actively involved in e-learning - but there are parallels with
institutional implications for personal research environments (PREs)
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Introduction
4
About This Talk
Social networking software:
• You know about social networks eg. Facebook, Flickr, del.icio.us
• You’ve heard how these are used in an e-learning content
• You now that many ‘e-learning 2.0’ advocates are passionate
about their vision
But:
• You’ve some concerns or your colleagues may be sceptical
• You’re keen, but your institution is putting barriers in place
• Your keen, but you still have concerns
This talk:
• Acknowledges that there are legitimate concerns
• Describes deployment strategies based on:
 Advocacy, listening & refinement
 Risk assessment & risk management
 Engagement with your users & your peers
• Makes suggestions for future activities
Introduction
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Social Software
What do we mean by ‘social software’?
 Collaborative software which facilitates team
working?
 That will be JISCMail mailing lists then?
 Social networking software which include some
notion of ‘friendship’?
 Installation of Elgg open source social
networking software at Universities of Brighton
and Leeds, for example?
These examples fail to illustrate the main challenges to
institutions or cover users understanding of the term
‘social software’ or ‘social networks’
Introduction
Challenges of Web 2.0
What Is Web 2.0?
Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather
than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology”
Web2MemeMap, Tim O’Reilly,
6 2005
Characteristics Of Web 2.0
• Network as platform
• Always beta
• Clean URIs
• Remix and mash-ups
 Syndication (RSS)
• Architecture of participation
 Blogs & Wikis
 Social networking
 Social tagging
(folksonomies)
• Trust and openness
Introduction
7
The Specifics
No longer (?) institutional challenges:
• Allowing students to chat on IM
• Installing blogging & wiki software locally
(resourcing & scheduling challenges)
Main institutional challenges:
• Use of 3rd party services: promoting, supporting,
sustainability, liability, …
• Purposes of the services
• Do they deliver the goods: assessment,
improvements, …?
• User perspective: will they use them, info.
literacy, misuse, …?
Case Study
Using Social Software
Case study: my most recent talk
Background
• Invited speaker at NDAP 2008 conference in
Taiwan, 18-20 Mar 2008
• Three day conference with WiFi network
• Talk on Library 2.0: Opportunities and Challenges
• Talk (and pre- and post-activities) aimed to
demonstrate benefits of social software
Case study is intended to illustrate benefits and issues
associated with use of SNS in a research context & to
explore possible relevance to e-learning
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Case Study
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Blogging
Many ideas given in talk
had been written about in
blog posts on UK Web
Focus blog
This provides an
opportunity for:
• Readers to comment on
& criticise ideas
• Conference participants
to visits posts to see
expanded discussions
Note that blog posts are
bookmarked to facilitate
finding
Case Study
Slideshare
Plans to sync audio with slides to create
Slidecast. Note Intro to Fb Slidecast has
had > 3,700 views & 302 downloads
10
Slideshare provides:
• Exposure of ideas
to wide audience
• Tags to aid finding
• Bookmarking to
make easier to use
• Option for
embedding & reuse
• Annotation
•…
Case Study
Creative Commons Licence
Note that:
• Title slide contains a
CC licence and a link to
caveats
• On Slideshare the
slides also have the CC
licence
• The slides can also be
(a) embedded & (b)
downloaded
• CC licence granted for
the talk (photos, audio
& video)
Benefits of such openness include (a) maximising impact of ideas (b)
maximising access (c) minimising preservation barriers and (d)
demonstrating commitment to openness
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Case Study
Use of Video
Video of talk at NDAP 2008 conference not
yet available. Using example from talk at
UCISA conference
12
Video & sound recordings of
talk made
Intention is to:
• Sync with slides
• Upload to Google Video
& services such as
Zentation
Reason:
• Maximise impact
• Allow use on podcast &
vidcasts
• Assist reuse of slides by
showing how they’ve
been used
Case Study
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Tagging
Del.icio.us used to
bookmark resources
used in talk:
• Resources also
embedded in Web
page
• Tag ‘ndap-2008’ used
• If other speakers at
event use same tag,
the resource can be
aggregated
‘ndap-2008’ tag also
used in blog, Slideshare,
…
Was ‘ndap-2008’ the right tag
to use? What if NDAP have
other events in 2008? And
NDAP is now called
TELDAP.
Case Study
Talking
Twitter:
• Used for reflecting on talks
& sharing with others
• #hashtag used to
aggregate related tweets
• Didn’t work well – too
intrusive to Twitter
followers. Other Twitterers
only found on final day
Jaiku:
• Alternative micro-blogging
app also tried
What to do next time: (a) explore other ways of using Twitter (b) use
other micro-blogging tools or (c) use other IM tools (which may not be
easily aggregated via tags or RSS)
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Case Study
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Opportunities & Challenges
Why have I used social services in this way?
• Benefits have been explained
• Institutional software not relevant
• Benefits to others may be appreciated (for use by
students, for supporting students or for
supporters peers)
What of the challenges to institutions?
• Risk in using services (Slideshare, del.icio.us,
Google Video, Zentation, …)
• Fragmentation of discussions
• Legal issues
• IT Service barriers
Deployment Challenges
Engagement Strategy
Barriers:
• Institutional inertia
• Vested interests, power struggles, …
• Sustainability, reliability, interoperability
• Privacy, copyright, …
Addressing the barriers:
• Encouraging the enthusiasts
• Removing barriers
• Demonstrating benefits
These approaches have already been taken and are
continuing
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Deployment Challenges
The Challenges
Areas of concern:
Institutional inertia, vested interests, power
struggles, …
 Applicable for any significant change
Sustainability, reliability, interoperability
 The technical challenges
Privacy, copyright, …
 The ethical challenges
Finding time, finding resources, expertise, …
 The deployment challenges
See “Web 2.0: Addressing the Barriers to Implementation in a
Library Context” for example of barriers in a Library context
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Deployment Challenges
Technical Issues
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Reliability & Sustainability
I use Slideshare to (a) maximise exposure to my ideas
(b) solicit feedback (c) allow content to be easily
embedded elsewhere and (d) measure impact
Note URI for
master copy
on managed
Web site is
provided on
slide & in the
metadata
Technical Issues
Slideshare Example (2)
What happens if
Slideshare goes down –
and it has happened!
Does this demonstrate
that you can’t trust
externally-hosted
services?
But local services also go
down – as this example
from the Open University
shows
And note prompt
response from
Slideshare
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Ethical Issues
Use of Social Networks
Social networks
such as Facebook
are used to discuss
Library 2.0 issues
But:
• Aren’t they for
social, not work,
purposes
• What about the
ownership
issues and the
dangers of
mandating use
of SN?
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Ethical Issues
User-Generated Content
Portsmouth
Library Teen wiki
encourage user
content
But what if the
content is:
• Inappropriate
• Difficult to
read
• Has spelling
mistakes
Will such concerns conflict with organisational policies related
to the quality of its Web sites and editorial processes?
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Addressing The Concerns
Some approaches to addressing these
concerns:
• Risk assessment
• Data migration
• Being user-focussed
• Institutional transformation
• Working collaboratively
• Guidelines for use of social networking
services (e.g. Facebook)
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Risk Assessment (1)
Risk
Assessment
Management
Loss of service (e.g.
company bankrupt,
closed down, ...)
Implications of sudden or
gradual loss of service
Use for non-critical
services; have
alternatives available ...
Data loss
Likelihood of data loss.
lack of export capabilities
Non-critical use; testing
of export, ....
Performance
problems or
unreliable service
Automated monitoring
…
Lack of
interoperability
User education
User education
See “Risk Assessment For Use Of Third Party Web 2.0 Services”
QA Focus briefing document
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Risk Assessment (2)
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25
University of Oxford
Risks Revisited
Are these risks scary?
Remember to include:
• Risks of doing nothing
• Risks associated with
using existing services
Case Study
Open Source Software
can also fail to be
sustainable. The
ROADS software was
developed in UK to
support academic
subject gateways – but
is now no longer
supported.
26
Transforming IT Services
IT Services:
• They won’t let us innovate
• They get in the way
• They don’t understand learning
Does this ring bells?
Tradition role of IT Services:
• Focus on managing in-house services
• Prioritising scarce resources
• Minimising variability in order to maximise
benefits of support (“support software”)
27
IT Services 2.0
IT Services 2.0:
• Term coined by Mark Sammons, Edinburgh Univ
• Idea revisited in plenary talk at UCISA 2008
Management Conference (myself & Andy Powell)
• Feedback from blogging IT Service managers
IT Services 2.0 – ongoing definitions
• Happy with use of in-house & 3rd party services
• Encourages peer-support
• Provides new media literacy
• Has a risk management approach
• Provides support in a era of richness of service
Overwhelming vote at UCISA 2008 not to ban social networking services.
IT Services are transforming themselves – but what about academics?
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Embracing 3rd Party Services
What will happen when student
leave (as they do)?
Casey Leaver has documented
experiences in migrating her
blog from Warwick:
• The blog has been delete
• Not all data could be migrated
(pictures & comments are
also lost)
Thoughts: institutional blogs
aimed at staff; support provided
for students using 3rd party
blogs
29
When Things Go Wrong
What would happen if a 3rd party service was taken
over by a porn company?
It has happened to me!
This embedded
code (which
converted RSS feed
to HTML) changed
to a porn Web cam!
30
The Incident (1)
The Incident
• Email message received saying news page for
workshop contained embedded Web cam
What We Did
• Removed embedded code
• Contacted company
What We Found
• Company had failed to renew domain name
(credit card had expired & administrator was on
holiday)
• Domain name grabbed by porn company – but
retrieved within 24 hours
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The Incident (2)
What We Had Already Done
• A Risk Assessment page had already been created,
documenting use of 3rd party services
What We Learnt
• This was a records management issue
• It’s not new – Microsoft failed to renew HotMail domain
some time ago (also Australian Univ)
• It could happen with our hosted domains (e.g. EUfunded projects)
What We Concluded
• We need to share such experiences
• We need to be able to switch off services quickly if
problems occur
• We need to manage our domain name subscriptions
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Risk Assessment
Risk assessment
summaries
provided for
events which
embed 3rd party
services
Audit kept of
incidents (1 to
date)
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Data Migration
When useful
information is
stored on a 3rd
party wiki the
data is copied
to a managed
environment
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Transforming Ourselves
It’s not just about institutional inertia & IT Services
What about:
• The academics who don’t care for change
• The academics who jump on every new
bandwagon
• Those in between these extremes
There’s a need:
• To ensure enthusiasts reflect on mistakes &
lessons learnt
• To recognise that e-learning (2.0) may not be for
everyone
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Personal Audit
Personal audit:
• There’s a need for responsible Web 2.0
enthusiasts to carry out their own risk audit
Departmental audit:
• There’s a need for own risk audits for
services used by others (cf. my events)
Institutional audit:
• Should institutions (& funders) require selfassessment audits to protect their
investment?
36
Vision For The Future
Where are we now?
• People are using social networking
services
• But some are unhappy with this
Should we:
• Welcome the potential of social
networking services
• Grudgingly accept that they will be used –
but expect this to last for a short term
• Attempt to ban or dissuade such usage
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Revisiting The IE (nee DNER)
We had early visions
for the JISC DNER
I subsequently
developed my view
for how the DNER
might develop:
• Applications on the
Web e.g.
bookmarking
(del.icio.us!) and
word processing
tools (Writely!)
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Web 2.0 As A DNER Development
The DNER got a lot right:
• Networked services
• Lightweight standards
• Importance of RSS
• Trust (in the funded institutions)
What we missed, which Web 2.0 is providing:
• Commercial providers of services
• New business models (we were Old Labour)
• Lightweight development
• User-generated content (we thought it would be
the professionals)
• Trust – in the individuals
• The power of the network – services which get
better as more people use them
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Why HE? Why Now?
World is changing:
• Web 2.0, ubiquitous networks, mobile devices,
declining prices, increasing functionality
How should society respond to maximise potential?
• At school: starting point, but this will be
protected a environment
• At work: too late & employers will expect new
media literate graduates
• At university: ideal place for students to develop
skills & ethical values for the digital citizen
Staff & students will use 3rd party services in their social lives.
They need their own risk assessment / management skills.
Providing a 100% safe institutional environment will hinder this
40
Guidelines For SNs
Facebook (for example):
• Popular
• “Provide data & services
where users are”
• Development platform
available
But:
• “Facebook is evil”
• Data lock-in
• Users may not want to
open up their social spaces
Need to develop & share best guidelines: Fb as one (of many) interfaces;
access decoupled from social links; master held elsewhere; ….
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Conclusions
To conclude:
• E-Learning 2.0 and Web 2.0 are here and
won’t go away
• Institutions need to engage with Web 2.0
• There are many issues which need to be
addressed
• Solutions are available
• Probably the most important is
collaborative working with one’s peers
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