Transcript MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/seminars/emuit-2006-11/
Web 2.0: Opportunities and
Challenges
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
Acceptable Use Policy
Recording/broadcasting of this talk,
taking photographs, discussing the
content using email, instant
messaging, Blogs, SMS, etc. is
Email
[email protected] permitted providing distractions to
others is minimised.
emuit-seminar-2006-11 tag used in del.icio.us
UKOLN is supported by:
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This work is licensed under a AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
(but note caveat) www.ukoln.ac.uk
Contents
• Introduction
• Where Are We Now?
• Web 2.0:
 Web 2.0 technologies
 Web 2.0 culture
• Deployment Challenges (slides available
–but no time to cover)
• Conclusions
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
About Me
Brian Kelly:
• UK Web Focus – post funded by JISC and MLA to advise
UK HE / FE and cultural heritage sectors on Web
standards, emerging technologies & best practices
• Based at UKOLN, University of Bath
• Helped set up Web service in Leeds University in Jan '93 first in UK(?) & in first 50 registered at CERN
• Web evangelist from 1993 (vs. Gopher orthodoxy!)
• Helped persuade several universities/groups to deploy the
Web (Sheffield Hallam, Oxford University, TLTP)
• Attended 10+ WWW confs since first in 1994 (including
WWW 2006 in Edinburgh in May 2006
• Author of many peer-reviewed papers
and given many talks on Web issues
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Introduction
About This Talk
This talk uses Web 2.0 technologies & attitude:
• PowerPoint slides contain links to relevant
resources
• Resources bookmarked on del.icio.us
(with tag emuit-2006-11
)
• Add your own related resources using the same tag
• Virtual ? WiFi network can be used by audience for
discussions (you can think about implications)
• Possibly use of Skype to maximise access to talk
• CC licence for slides (and talk)
• Always beta – not everything will necessarily work,
but that's not the end of the world
Note ~ 70 slides, which you can read at yourwww.ukoln.ac.uk
leisure!
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Introduction
National Picture: We're Doing
Well 
Positive aspects of the UK HE Web community:
• Willingness to share experiences (e.g. on websupport and website-info-mgt JISCmail lists)
• A well-established annual event (IWMW)
• Avoidance of the ghetto mentality: senior managers,
information professionals, designers, software
developers, trainers, … meet, talk & socialise
Challenges we face:
• Managing with limited resources
• Managing service vs supporting user needs
• Role(s) of our Web services
•…
and
exploitation
of new
stuff – covered today
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of expertise
in digital information
management
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Introduction
What About Web Standards?
Early Days
• HTML+CSS+WAI WCAG = 
(Netscape's support for CSS was a problem)
Later
• XML a winner
• New W3C formats (PNG, SMIL, SVG, …)
• Limited take-up – and other solutions have benefits
(e.g. Flash)
More Recently
• Complexity and Confusion: Semantic Web, Web
Services, deployment difficulties (e.g. XHTML 2.0),
patent issues, process issues, …
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Introduction
Summary – UK HE Web In 2004/5
State of play in 2004/5:
• Web is mission critical
• We have Web teams and resources (but
we'd like more)
• We have a Web/Information Strategy
• Focus tends to be on publishing and "standand-deliver" model of e-learning?
• Key applications areas:
 Institutional Web site
 VLEs
 Digital repositories
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 Intranets
 Portals
 …
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Introduction
8
Web For 2006+
Significant changes seem to be happening:
• Blogs and Wikis
• RSS and Podcasting
• Mobile devices
• Pervasive networks (WiFi, broadband at
home, 3G, …)
• Integration of services ("mashups")
• Microformats
• Google developments
• SOA
• ofWeb
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expertise2.0
in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Web 2.0
Web 2.0
What Is Web 2.0?
Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather
than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology”
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)
Web2MemeMap, Tim O’Reilly,
• Trust and openness
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2005
Web 2.0
The "Web 2.0" Term
Web 2.0 term is contentious is some circles:
• Marketing hype
• Ill-defined – not a rigourously defined term
technical people often prefer
• Doesn't-scale (what comes next?)
• O'Reilly had to right to create a new term
On the other hand:
• It has generated excitement & interest
• Its lack of precision allows the flexibility needed in
a user-focussed context
• The word is now widely accepted, and who has
the right to reject a term now so widely accepted
My view – No Web 2.0 without responsibility (thanks to
this
insight
at WWW 2006) www.ukoln.ac.uk
AAndy
centre ofClarke
expertise infor
digital
information
management
10
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 Exemplars
Let's look at some examples
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Web 2.0
Google as a Web 2.0 Exemplar
Google – developed
GMail, Google Maps, …
Use AJAX to provide richly
interactive interfaces
• Is your campus map
rescalable (without
loss of resolution)?
• You will still have work to
do, though. For example
is your building on the
map?
Or do you have a campus map in GIF format: poor
quality when printed, not reusable, but at least you
own it and you've got the University logo on it.
A centre of
in digital information management
(Northumbria
isexpertise
an exception)
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Note:
• Greasemonkey
environment
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Mashups
Syndication
Mashups
Mashup – merging
information from
multiple sources (cf
music mashups)
Can you merge data from 3rd party
sources with your maps, like this merging
of Google maps and BBC traffic data?
See <http://www.backstage.co.uk/> for
examples.
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
RSS
See RSS
briefing paper
E-mail has its role but:
• Why send messages which time-out when many users will
read them too late?
• Why not use delivery channels which are spam-free?
• Why not use delivery channels which are more suited to
receiving information (as opposed to discussions)?
• Why not allow users to select their preferred channels?
RSS:
• Syndication of content
• A light-weight standard
used in the JISC IE
• View on Web, using one of
many dedicated RSS viewers,
Opera or Pluck IE plugin
Shouldn't RSS viewers be standard on desktops?
Google for "rss is opt-in
Shouldn't we be creating RSS feed for news
authenticated email"
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
alerts
–
and
not
just
adding
to
email
overload?
15
RSS, Syndication, OPML
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/
workshops/webmaster-2006/rss/
RSS
AJAX
Syndication
IWMW 2006 makes use of
RSS for:
• News about the
event
• Syndication of main
areas of Web site
(talks, ..)
• Integrating RSS for
disparate sources
e.g. local & remote
services such as
Wikis, search
engines,…
• OPML tools also
used to provide
access to disparate
RSS files
Note
Blogbridge
as desktop application
A centreNewport
of expertise in use
digital information
management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
16
Netvibes.com
RSS
AJAX
Syndication
Example of a
personalised Web
environment – just
add your favourite
RSS feeds
Can be:
• Conventional
news feeds
• RSS from email
(e.g GMail)
• Dynamic RSS
from searches
Note that Netvibes has an AJAX interface,
so that the windows can be dragged around • Podcasts
browserA area,
closed, etc. 
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• …
17
http://www.netvibes.com/
RSS
RSS As A Navigational Aid
http://www.cultivate-int.org/
RSS feeds for
structure of
Cultivate Interactive
created recently
RSS file for home
page (and similar)
provides links to
each issue
RSS file for an issue
provides table of
contents for issue
RSS files created in Aug 2006, using
RSSxl
A
centre of expertise in digital information management
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
RSS
RSS & OPML As A
Navigational Aid
OPML provides an
import/export function
for groups of RSS
files
Can also be used for
navigation
Mashups – take the information to the
people, don’t force them to come to you
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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But I can provide such
navigation using my
CMS?
Yes, but remember that
the interface can be
embedded on 3rd party
Web sites – which your
CMS doesn’t manage
www.ukoln.ac.uk
RSS
Searching RSS Space
http://www.technorati.com/search/edina
http://www.technorati.com/search/jisc
Technorati
provides a
searching service
for Blog
space/RSS space
Thoughts – if you
want to be visible
in Technorati,
you’ll need to
create RSS – or
encourage others
to Blog about you
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Long tail
Web 2.0 Repository Services
http://slideshare.net/my-slidespace
Slideshare.net provides an
good example of a Web 2.0
service for accessing slides:
Features:
• Upload PowerPoint slides
• Provide tags
• Users can provide
comments
How does this compare with
our repository services?
See Andy Powell’s posting about this
Are we putting our data on our own (boring) services & expect users
toA centre
access
it or putting the data where the users go (e.g.www.ukoln.ac.uk
YouTube)?
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Mobile Devices
Potential of mobile
devices in learning,
research, etc.
Lectures on iPods; studentcreated Podcasts; ..
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Note that Talis (UK library vendor)
are publishing Blogs and
Podcasts about "Library 2.0"
And UKOLN/CDNTL have also
been experimenting
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
PDF
http://www.everyobject.net/static.php?page=interactive
Are your University
Podcasts available
through iTunes?
Aren't you missing
out on a major
distribution channel?
(Note Student's
Union radio shows
are leading
the way)
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Web 2.0
Blogs
Users
Syndication
Blogs (1)
Google "auricle bath" for URL
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/
http://www.technorati.com/
Blogs seem to be ideal for
use in HE:
• Use by students:
sharing learning;
reflections on learning;
developing writing &
social skills; …
• Use by researchers:
sharing knowledge and
ideas; maximising
impact; …
(plus above)
Use
to e-learning
search
new
postings
in Blogs.
Keep
informed
of
developments
HighTechnorati
profile
e-learning
Blog
from
Bath Univ.
Will
/ your
researchers)
out?
from
Scott
Wilson's
(CETIS)
Blog.
Note
Noteyou
reference
to Podcast
–miss
another
very
(NB
~ 100
hitsoffor
UCISA
oninformation
14/03/2006)
use
of
anAtechnology
RSS
reader
of chunks).
relevant
for
HE.
centre
expertise
in(reuse
digital
management
25
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Blogs And IT Services
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/johndale/
entry/student_mobile_ownership/
Blogs
Users
Syndication
University of Warwick
seem to be leaders in the
UK with their Student
Blogging service:
• Listen to Auricle Blog &
Podcast with John Dale
• Note that "students will
say and do the wrong
thing" issue has been
addressed!
Want to engage with your users? Why not set up an IT Services
Blog? Here John Dale has received 20 comments on a posting
about student mobile ownership (a typical high response rate)
Or read AOwen
Blog
about
recent UCISA conf. www.ukoln.ac.uk
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information
management
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Web 2.0
Wikis (1)
Wikis
Users
Trust
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_of_Warwick
Wikis provide
collaborative, easy-touse Web-based
authoring.
Sounds ideal for HE:
• Students,
researchers and
support staff:
 collaborative work
 focus on content,
not on authoring
tools
 ..
Issue: (for Web/marketing people)
• Shouldn't you be proactive in ensuring content is accurate, …
• Should
you seek to lead in order to define structure? www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Wikis (2)
Wikis
Users
Trust
How can you not have
a Wiki, for (e.g.)
• Systems
documentation
• Better note-taking
• Student group
working
• Collaborative
research work
• …
Should we be promoting/providing Wikis? UCISA/UKOLN event, Nov 2004
Yes. There could be real benefit and exciting possibilities in every area of institutional
activities: teaching & learning, research, administration and user support. We need to
get in there first and understand what users need and what they might do. We also
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
28need first make better use of wikis ourselves so we can ..
Wikipedia
Wikis
Collaboration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWMW
Note see advice provided to
Museums community
Summary of IWMW series
available in Wikipedia:
• High profile location
• Google friendly
• Maximise impact
• Community can update
• Good guys seem to win
• CC rights assigned
• Clean URI
• May provide stable URI
Shouldn't all information
professionals be helping to
improve the quality of information
in such a popular service?
Clean, stable URIs? Mashups, integration, annotation, etc. helped
by use of
clean
(e.g. inapplication
independent)
and stablewww.ukoln.ac.uk
URIs
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of expertise
digital information
management
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Web 2.0
30
Social Bookmarking / Folksonomies
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/
events/workshops/ucisa-wlf-2004-11/
Social bookmark services
introduced "folksonomies":
• User-defined tags
• Used for bookmarking,
shared photos, etc.
Comments:
• Librarians point out flaws
in approach
• But can miss the
potential benefits
As well as resource discovery,
social bookmarking can help:
What
Who
are
these
their
interest?
other
else
have
I bookmarked
with the
Looksare
a good
event
–people?
I'll bookmark
it
• Identify impact
'UCISA'
tag? Itag).
notice others have
(with 'UCISA'
• Find related resources (cf
bookmarked the same page.
A centre of expertise in digital information management
Amazon) www.ukoln.ac.uk
http://www.flickr.com/
+
“folksonomies”
Issues
• Should you "claim your
tag" (e.g. "iwmw-2006")
and convention (e.g.
“derby-publicity", “derbygraduation-2006") for your
photos, Blogs, etc.?
• Should you proactively
make you photos, etc.
available?
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Web 2.0
32
Instant Messaging (IM)
IM – popular, widely
used, with benefits for
collaboration, but
banned in some places
Meebo:
• Web-based IM client
• An AJAX application
Issues:
• How do you ban it?
• Interoperability
• Doesn't it break WAI
guidelines?
http://www.meebo.com/
Should IT Services ban applications when there are trivial
ways around such bans? What is the reason for such bans:
A centre
of expertise inmanagement;
digital information management
ideology;
resource
support; security; www.ukoln.ac.uk
…?
Web 2.0 and IWMW 2006
Communications: Chat
IRC chat facility was popular
at IWMW 2005/6.
Gabbly being evaluated:
• If no systems effort
available
• On-the-fly chatting
How long to set up:
• Go to
<http://gabbly.com/>
• Create chat on your
institution’s home page
• How long?
This provides on-the-fly
creation of chat facilities 
Too good to be true? Suspicious
of anything this simple? See risk
assessment
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of expertise in digital information management
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Users
Collaboration
AJAX
Syndication
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Web 2.0
Skype / VoIP
Users
Communications
Skype is a good example of
Internet telephony:
 Integrated voice, IM,
Web (and now video)
 Can be high quality
 Free / cheap calls
 Conference calls
 Accessibility benefits
 Proprietary
 Network and
management issues
VoIP is coming, so now’s the time to gain experiences. What
are the implications of ‘free’ always-on telephony (i.e. it's not
just about
software)
you
couldmanagement
be broadcasting thiswww.ukoln.ac.uk
talk now!
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of expertise in digital
information
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Building A Community
http://www.frappr.com/iwmw2006
Users
Collaboration
Syndication
Building a community for
your Web site can:
• Maximise impact by
allowing interested
parties to discuss
their shared
interests
• Provide you with
feedback & ideas
• Allow you to provide
targetted information
Web 2.0 services such as Frappr, Blogger, MySpace, etc. allow
Web communities to be easily set up (and may be particularly
centre
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
valuableA to
the
'Net Generation')
35
Web 2.0
Microformats (1)
Microformats:
• Highlight of WWW 2006
• Semantic markup on the cheap – builds on
existing XHTML pages
• No need for complex software
• See <http://microformats.org/>
Using microformats:
• Add some simple semantics using <span>, <div>,
etc. classes:
<span class="fn">Brian Kelly</span>
36
• Firefox plugins, harvesters, etc can process the
semantic markup e.g. add names to your Outlook
contacts, events to your Google calendar, etc
• Bath Univ created thousands of pages with
A centre of
expertise in digital information
microformats
usingmanagement
simple tweak to Perlwww.ukoln.ac.uk
scripts 
Web 2.0
Microformats (2)
Network as application
Syndication
http://www.worldcupkickoff.com/england/
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/
workshops/webmaster-2006/sessions/kelly
Pages
37
on IWMW
2006 Web site have
microformats
Plugins such as Tails
display contact and
event details & allow
them to be uploaded
to Outlook, Google
Calendar, etc
World Cup Web site also has microformats. This
avoids the cumbersome downloading dates, entering
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
calendar,
selecting import, finding file, …
Web 2.0 and IWMW 2006
Maps
APIs
AJAX
Mashups
Syndication
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/
workshops/webmaster-2006/maps/
Google Map of University of
Bath embedded on Web
site
Provides:
• Usability (rescalable and
repositioning through
use of AJAX)
• Can be personalised
(map from my home)
• Effective use of scarce
resources (avoids
techies duplicating
Risk: What if Google go out-of-business?
existing services)
Response: What if local staff leave? What
if other development work they should do
fails to get
done?
A centre
of expertise in digital information management
38
Note: Northumbria have
www.ukoln.ac.uk
better examples
Location Services
Google Maps Mashups
http://northumbria.ac.uk/browse/radius5/
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/
workshops/webmaster-2006/maps/
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Google Map ‘mashup’
used for IWMW 2006
event:
• ~ 20 lines of
JavaScript.
• Code taken from
Google Maps Web
site and
coordinates added
More sophisticated
mapping applications
are being developed,
such as Radius 5 at
Northumbria
Univ.
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Location Services
Location Metadata (1)
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/
meetings/edinburgh-2006-09/
Embedded location
metadata can now by
exploited by various
3rd party tools
Note I shouldn’t do
this, the organisation
should be responsible
for its own metadata
(I’ve probably got the
wrong building!)
How? Install Greasemap script & add:
<meta name="geo.position" content="55.944…, -3.187…" />
<meta name="geo.placename" content="Edinburgh University" />
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40
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Location Services
Location Metadata (2)
Same location
metadata can be
used by other
applications.
http://geourl.org/near?p=http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
web-focus/events/meetings/edinburgh-2006-09/
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Note also Geo
microformats –
embed location
inline in HTML
text, which can be
exploited by
various www.ukoln.ac.uk
tools
GeoRSS
http://www.acme.com/GeoRSS/?xmlsrc=http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
web-focus/events/presentations-2006.rss
Location metadata can
also be included in RSS
feeds
Advantages:
• Simple encoding of
data in RSS
• Range of
applications to
process data
This example is linked in from a list of presentations at
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/presentations>
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
42
Creative Commons,
Science Commons,
Open
UK participants include:
Access, Open Source, … are
helping to drive Web 2.0.
National Archives
What's the UK HE's take on
Natural History Museum
this?
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
43
http://creativecommons.org/
See "Let's Free IT Support Materials!" (EUNIS 2005 paper)
as an example
of what UK HE could be doing
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
44
Barriers
Deployment Challenges
Such questions:
• How do we go about deploying Web 2.0?
• More importantly, should we (isn't it just hype?)
Challenges:
• The Web policy is owned by the marketing people;
they see the Web as a publishing vehicle not as a
communications tool
• We can't use Creative Commons, open access, etc.
• We shouldn't make use of commercial services
• These services are:
• Technically / philosophically flawed
• Don't reflect our views on open source / standards
• Breaking out of our existing culture, software, …
These issues will be addressed in the EMUITwww.ukoln.ac.uk
meeting
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45
Barriers
Technical & Cultural Barriers
Technical Barriers:
• Will it work?
 Is it interoperable?
• Is it secure?
 Is performance acceptable?
• Do we have the expertise, resources, …
• …
Cultural and Organisational Barriers:
What/who are the barriers?
• IT Services
 Librarians
• Academics
 Senior management
• Users
 …
I may need an escort out of the building after upsetting
all
of these groups!
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
46
IT Services Barrier
47
Nobody Likes Us - The Users' View
IT Services:
• Don't understand learning and teaching and think that
students only ever use the Web for messing around.
• Have no interest in what the users actually want and
generally prefer to give the users what they themselves
think they want. (I've seen senior IS staff dismiss the
data gathered in formal user requirements gathering
exercises because it doesn't fit their own viewpoint.)
• Tend to work in silos (example: student information
systems team which won't talk to the VLE team), and will
do anything to avoid working with others outside of their
own silo. They have no concept of team working across
services or with academic staff.
• Consultation usually consists of them telling you
what they are going to do. If you tell them what you
want they don't listen!
A centre of
expertise in digital
information
management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Do these
comments
ring
any bells?
If not, how can you
be sure?
IT Services Barrier
48
Nobody Likes Us - The Users' View
IT Services:
• Don't understand learning and teaching and think that
students only ever use the Web for messing around.
• Have no interest in what the users actually want and
generally prefer to give the users what they themselves
think they want. (I've seen senior IS staff dismiss the
data gathered in formal user requirements gathering
exercises because it doesn't fit their own viewpoint.)
• Tend to work in silos (example: student information
systems team which won't talk to the VLE team), and will
do anything to avoid working with others outside of their
own silo. They have no concept of team working across
services or with academic staff.
• Consultation usually consists of them telling you
what they are going to do. If you tell them what you
want they don't listen!
A centre of
expertise in digital
information
management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Do these
comments
ring
any bells?
If not, how can you
be sure?
IT Services Barrier
A Blairite Vision Of Control?
The government wishes to introduce:
• ID cards
• Greater powers of arrest
• …
in order to minimise the dangers of global terrorism
IT Services (esp. networking staff) seem to wish to:
• Manage applications used by users
• Ban certain software
• …
in order to minimise dangers of computer attacks
The rational for organisations to wish to introduce greater control
mechanisms is understandable.
But citizens / users may regard such measures as not also necessary and
may tolerate some level of risk-taking.
A centre
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(And do any
of of
the
above
"sexinformation
up" the management
information to achieve these
goals?)
49
IT Services Barrier
50
Beware The IT Fundamentalists
We need to avoid simplistic solutions to the complexities:
• Open Standards Fundamentalist: we just need XML
• Open Source Fundamentalist: we just need Linux
• Vendor Fundamentalist: we must need next version of
our enterprise system (and you must fit in with this)
• Accessibility Fundamentalist: we must do WAI WCAG
• User Fundamentalist: we must do whatever users want
• Legal Fundamentalist: it breaches copyright, …
• Ownership Fundamentalist: must own everything we
use
• Perfectionist: It doesn't do everything, so we'll do nothing
• Simplistic Developer: I've developed a perfect solution –
I don't care if it doesn't run in the real world
IT Director, March 2006 "I could give names of the
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individuals
in my department!"
Library Barrier
51
The Librarian Fundamentalists
Librarians:
• Think they know better than the user e.g. they don't
like people using Google Scholar; they should use Web
of Knowledge (who cares that users find it easier to use
Google Scholar & finds references they need that way?)
• Think that users should be forced to learn Boolean
searching & other formal search techniques because
this is good for them.
• Don't want the users to search for themselves (cf
folksonomies) because they won't get it right.
• They still want to classify the entire Web - despite the
fact that users don't use their lists of Web links.
• Want services to be perfect before they will release
them to their users. They are very uncomfortable with
the concept of 'forever beta' (because they don't believe
that their users have the capability to figure these things
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out
for themselves
and
work around the bugs).
Academics Barrier
The Problem With Academics
The enthusiasts academics will be:
• Here, encouraged by Web 2.0 descriptions
• Cheering the critiques of the service departments
However:
• Many academic are conservative & won't care
• Many will feel threatened
• Many won't like WiFi in lecture theatres, students
chatting on IRC, Googling answers, …
• Many will soon ask for WiFi to be removed,
blocked from lecture theatres (including areas
where it's not yet available!)
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Barriers
Problems With Senior
Management / Users
Senior management:
• Don't understand technologies
• Can be conservative
• More comfortable with conventional business relations
with vendors
• May be over-cautious about being sued
• …
Users:
• Can be conservative
• Many don't understand technologies
• Those that do may use the technologies in dangerous
ways
• …
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Addressing The Barriers
Addressing the Barriers
How do we address such barriers:
• A change in culture
• Being more open (surely what HE is about?)
• Revisiting AUPs
• Developing more sophisticated models for
standards, accessibility, open source, …
• Integrating IT policies & institutional policies
• Risk management
• User-focussed approach to development
• Developing key principles
• Ongoing debate and discussion
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Need for Culture Change
Need To Change Catch Phrases
Computer Says No!
Time to ditch this catch phrase
Wikis? IT Services says no
Folksonomies? Library says no
Skype? UKERNA says no
Yer, but, no, but, yer
Time to embrace the
ambiguities acknowledged
by Vicky Pollard
Yer, like Wikis are well cool,
but, OK so I copied my homework,
I always
copy my
homework
Abut,
centre like
of expertise
in digital information
management
55
X
Images from
BBC
Web site
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Addressing The Barriers
User Focus
Web 2.0 highlights importance of user involvement:
Blogs, Wikis, social networks, etc.
Therefore:
• Need to place emphasis on user needs
• May be a need to move focus away from
institutional needs (e.g. corporate Web presence,
large CMS, enterprise software, …)
• This will be contentious!
IWMW 2006 Web site uses Web 2.0 technologies to:
• Allow our use to see and use the technologies
• To provide services to support our users (e.g. maps,
collaborative authoring, …)
To enable
scarce
effort to be used more effectively
A•centre
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information management
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56
Addressing The Barriers
57
Risk Management
IWMW 2006 Web site uses:
• Google Maps & Google Search
• Wikis
• RSS viewers & aggregators & OPML viewers
• Microformats & microformating tools
• Del.icio.us social bookmarking tool
• Content hosted by others (e.g. Wikipedia
and Upcoming )
Risk management approach:
• User engagement, sharing of risks, experiences, …
• Small-scale trials
• Backup plans
• Local management to facilitate change control
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• of..expertise in digital information management
Addressing The Barriers
Do It!
Don't just talk about Web 2.0 – use it, build it, engage
with it, …
Start now: let's have some examples of how Web 2.0
technologies can be useful to you and your institution.
Map A Campus Day
An idea. Campus maps are important. Google Maps look useful,
but coverage is partial and building details aren't available.
So let's map our campuses: students, staff, etc. with GPS devices
recording details, storing locally and uploading to Google Maps
(and other mapping services).
But before doing this, let's talk, find out what data we already have;
software we can use; experiences we can share; …
Who's game?
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Addressing The Barriers
Implement An Open Approach
Implementing an open approach should not be difficult:
• We have tradition of sharing & using OSS
• The HE sector is now more open to discussing open
access issues (e-prints, financial issues, …)
• Creative Commons (CC) provides a legal framework
What can we do:
• Make support services resources available with CC
licence: see paper on "Let's Free IT Support Materials!"
• Exploit UKOLN's QA Focus briefing documents:
90+ documents available with CC licence
• Contribute to UKOLN's Wiki on Best Practices For CMSs
(being planned)
• …
Using other's resources and service may be unpopular
(job security, ideology, …). For example, should IT
services
hostin email,
… when
this can be outsourced?
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Addressing The Barriers
60
Acceptable Use Policies (AUP)
Is Skype Permitted over JANET?
"The Computing Service is frequently asked for a ruling
on whether Skype may legitimately be used ... the
Computing Service considers that use of Skype
contravenes the JANET Acceptable Use Policy, although
UKERNA does not concur with this view."
Missing The Point?
There may be (religious) debates over the interpretation of
UKERNA's words. But
• Did the policy come from God? Is it infallible?
• Why do we hide behind AUPs?
Proposal: An AUP is meant to work on behalf of an organisation,
helping to ensure the effective use of IT by its users.
An AUP should not be used as a control mechanism to prevent
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usage which
ITexpertise
staff inmay
upon.
Addressing The Barriers

The Need For An AUPP
AUPs:
• Shouldn't be cast in stone: technologies change;
usage changes; culture changes (e.g. AUPs
banning social use; email; Web; messaging; …)
• Therefore need for mechanisms for changing
AUPs and engagement with users
Proposal:
• We need an Acceptable Use Policy Process
(AUPP)
• We need mechanisms to ensure users can input
into the discussion process
• We need more flexibility in our AUPs (e.g. to
reflect blended learning, pervasiveness of IT; …)
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Addressing The Barriers
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Example of AUPP For Skype
Background:
• P2P applications banned: typically used for
downloading copyrighted materials
• Legitimate uses of P2P grow e.g. Internet telephony
Discussions:
• Skype is proprietary; lack of management control; can
degrade performance; SIP provides open alternative; …
• Skype works; minimal support needed; provides rich
functionality not available with SIP (e.g. video; shared
browsing; etc.); my remote colleagues use Skype; …
Pragmatic Solution (Yer, but no, but yer):
• Evaluation period
• Network problems in halls  banned there in response
to user concerns; discouraged on campus, until
technical solutions (e.g. network shaper) tested, with
plans
tointhen
liberalise
policy (or SIP is usable)
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Richer Models
Framework For Diversity: Standards
Open Standards – the Challenges
Open standards? Yer, great. Like, Bill Gates is SO evil.
But, well RDF, hmm. OSI? Coloured Books? How old do
you take me for? No, but, I always use MS Windows for
playing games.
Contextual Approach
A contextual approach to standards
has been developed:
External factors: legal, cultural, …
• Recognises context (not one-sizeContext: Policies
fits-all)
Sector Funding Research …
…
• Scalable for use by others
• See "A Standards Framework For
Annotated Standards Catalogue
Digital Library Programmes",
Purpose Governance Maturity Risks …
ichim05 conf & "A Contextual
Framework For Standards"
Context: Compliance
at E-Government: Barriers &
External Self assessment Learning …
Opportunities workshop,
May 2006
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63
Richer Models
Framework For Diversity: Accessibility
Accessibility – the Challenges
• WAI WCAG – important area and high visibility
• But the model is flawed, fails to take into account
developments e.g. can you use Podcasts?
WAI
Holistic / Approach Blended
Holistic approach to e-learning
accessibility developed
• Accessibility of learning outcomes (not
necessarily digital resources) is paramount
• WAI WCAG are guidelines
• See "Implementing A Holistic Approach To
E-Learning Accessibility" prize-winning ALTC 2005 paper
• Follow up paper at W4A 2006, May 2006
will further develop model
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IT Policies & Institutional Culture
65
Liberalising Our Policies
Nothing New
Derek Law pointed our arguments for a more liberal approach
at IWMW 2002 (see video clip from 09:50-11:00).
Issues:
• Should we ban dubious (but legal) use if students have
paid?
• How strongly do we enforce bans of P2P apps (Napster)?
These issues related to clear 'social' use of IT – and didn't
consider use of P2P, etc. in a work-related context.
Wider Context
We need to think about policies in a wider context:
• Blended Policies which reflect wider University culture
(e.g. blended learning; blended accessibility; …)
• Policies which describe principles, but allow flexibility in
implementation (e.g. to allow academics flexibility in
exploring
issues
)
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Addressing The Barriers
Need For Shared Understanding
UKOLN/UCISA/CETIS workshop on “Disruptive Technologies”
agreed on potential benefits for principles on mutual
understanding between user community and IT Services
Draft Principles for Service Providers
User Focus: We will ensure that priority is given to a user focussed
approach to our services.
Avoiding Dogma: We will develop policies (e.g. standards, open
source, accessibility, …) but these will evolve and won't be used in
a dogmatic way.
Responsive to Change: We will seek to be responsive to changes
in technology, user needs, cultural and political developments.
Good Communications: We will establish (and monitor) effective
communications channels
Learning: We recognise that HEIs will seek to make use of IT in
innovative
ways and we will support such innovation
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Addressing The Barriers
Proposed Principles (2)
Draft Principles for Developers
Scalability: Developers will recognise that there will be
scalability issues to be addressed if innovations are to be
deployed into service.
Sustainability: Developers will recognise that innovations
need to be sustainable if they are to be deployed into
service.
Reliability: Developers will recognise that a high level of
reliability is needed if innovations are to be deployed ...
Integration: Developers will recognise that innovative
services may need to be integrated with existing systems.
Consistency: Developers will recognise that innovations
need to be harmonised with existing systems (e.g. avoid
replicating functionality, …)
(Also need something on security)
Draft principles available
Notesinon
Wiki
available
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Addressing The Barriers
Keep Talking
In a period of rapid change it is important to have wide
open debate and discussion
Web 2.0 deployment issues were addressed at the
UKOLN/UCISA/CETIS workshop on "Initiatives & Innovation:
Managing Disruptive Technologies" at University of Warwick on 24
Feb 2006.
A Wiki kept a record of the discussion group summaries.
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/seminars/kcl-2006-01/>
The 11th Institutional Web Management Workshop will be held at
University of York, 16-18 June 2007.
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/
webmaster-2007/>
What will you be doing in your institution; in your region; within your
community?
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Conclusions
Conclusions
To conclude:
• Web 2.0 can provide real benefits for our users
• However organisations tend to be conservative
• We therefore need:
 Advocacy
 To listen to users' concerns
 To address users' concerns e.g. through a risk
management approach
• We can all benefit by adopting Web 2.0 principles
of openness and sharing. So let us:
 Share our advocacy resources, risk management
techniques, etc.
 Have your social network based on openness, trust,
collaboration, ..
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