Transcript Web 2.0

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/stimulate-2006/lecture/
Web 2.0: Opportunities &
Challenges for the Higher Education
and Library Communities
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
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Recording/broadcasting of this talk,
taking photographs & discussing the
content using various tool. is
permitted providing distractions to
Email
[email protected] others is minimised.
Resources bookmarked using ‘vub-2006-10' tag
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Contents
What Is Web 2.0?
• Background & Characteristics
Web 2.0 Examples
• Mashups
 AJAX
• Blogs & Wikis
 Syndication
• Social networks
 Mobile devices
• Openness
 Always beta
• …
Challenges
• Is it hype? Is it all good? Is it all bad?
• Opportunity or threat?
• Deployment strategies
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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
Google as a Web 2.0 Exemplar
Google – developed
GMail, Google Maps, …
Uses 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 Ait.centre
(Northumbria
is an
exception
)
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GMail – Web 2.0 As An Application
GMail – Google's
popular Webbased email
service
Will new users be
aware of desktop
email clients
Use of AJAX is
providing the
power of desktop
client software for
Web interfaces
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Web 2.0
Blogs (1)
Google "auricle bath" for URL
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/
http://www.technorati.com/search/vub
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
~ 1,218
hits
for VUB
oninformation
08/10/2006)
use
of
anAtechnology
RSS
of chunks).
relevant
for
HE.
centre
of reader
expertise
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digital
management
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Blogs And IT Services (2)
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/johndale/
entry/student_mobile_ownership/
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!
(Note this is nothing new)
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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management
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Web 2.0
Wikis (1)
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)
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
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9need first make better use of wikis ourselves so we can ..
RSS
RSS
RSS:
• Killer lightweight format
• Initially used to allow news to be embedded
in others Web sites
• Now used for general syndication of content
• Use in Blogs helped in take-up
• Stands for Really Simple Syndication (or
RDF Site Summary or Rich Site Summary):
 Confusion over versions
 Most tools support multiple versions
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RSS
JISC Services RSS Aggregator
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/jiscnews/
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JISC Services
RSS Aggregator
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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
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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
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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
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RSS
Searching RSS Space
http://www.technorati.com/search/edina
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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Web 2.0
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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.
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Amazon) www.ukoln.ac.uk
http://www.flickr.com/
+
“folksonomies”
Issues
• Should you "claim your
tag" (e.g. “stimulate-2006")
and convention (e.g. “vubpublicity", “vub-graduation2006") for your photos,
Blogs, etc.?
• Should you proactively
make you photos, etc.
available?
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Mobile Devices
Potential of mobile
devices in learning,
research, etc.
Lectures on iPods; studentcreated Podcasts; ..
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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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Web 2.0
Skype / VoIP
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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Web 2.0: An Attitude
Web 2.0 embraces:
• A variety of applications areas
• A set of attitudes and approaches
These include:
• Openness
• 'Always Beta‘
• …
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UK participants include:
Creative Commons,
Science Commons,
Open
National Archives
Access, Open Source, … are
Natural History Museum
helping to drive Web
2.0.
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Web 2.0
Web 2.0: Always Beta
The term 'always beta' can be interpreted in
several ways:
• The software is continually developing:
 Agile programming; rapid prototyping
 Rapid response from large nos. of users
• The software is disposable; the data is the
important thing
• Web 2.0 applications and ideas are
transforming our business processes – it’s
the processes which may need to be
changed or even discarded
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Web 2.0
Web 2.0: Just Hype?
Some concerns over Web 2.0:
• It's just marketing hype?
• The name is daft
• Dot.com crash all over again
• But I've just spend a fortune on my
institutional CMS
• Professionals point out the flaws:
 Librarians don't like folksonomies
 Networking specialists don't like Skype
 HTML authors threatened by kids using Wikis
…
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Web 2.0
Web 2.0: Hype And Great Stuff
With any new thing we can expect
• Hype; unreasonable expectations; …
• Dodgy salesmen
• Rebranding the old stuff
• …
So we need to:
• Identify the food stuff
• Manage expectations
• Be able to recognise the strengths & weaknesses
• Use, purchase or develop based on our needs
and be able to manage any deficiencies
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Deployment Strategies
Web 2.0 and Library 2.0
We've heard how:
• Blogs allow our users to easily create content and
share their views
• Wikis allow communities to easily collaborate in
creation of content
• Social networking services (e.g. Flickr,
del.icio.us) allow communities to share resources
(e.g. photographs, bookmarks)
• Syndication technologies (e.g. RSS, Atom) allow
communities to be easily repurposed
• Messaging technologies (e.g. MSN, Jabber,
Skype) allow people to communicate
So we will all be deploying these services within our
institutions. Are we?
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Deployment Strategies
Takeup Of New Technologies
The Gartner curve
Rising expectations
Service plateau
Enterprise
software
Large
budgets
…
Chasm
Failure to go beyond developers
& early adopters (cf Gopher)
Trough
Need for:
of despair
• Advocacy
• Listening to users
Developers
• Addressing concerns
• Deployment strategies This talks looks at approaches
Early
• …
for avoiding thewww.ukoln.ac.uk
chasm
adopters
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Web 2.0 Barriers
The Barriers
There are barriers to the deployment of Web 2.0:
• It's scary: “We've just spend a lot of money on a
CMS – we don’t want something new
• Can’t trust it: We can’t trust out-sourced services
• It's immature: I've heard it all before (XML,
Semantic Web, …) . This is just new hype
• There are legal risks: Copyright infringement; data
protection; protection of minors; …
• Infringement of guidelines: Web 2.0 infringes our
AUP; accessibility legislation; e-Gov legislation; ..
• Institutional inertia: We'd like to do it but we have
large existing systems; reluctant colleagues; …
How do we go about addressing these barriers?
what ifmanagement
the concerns are legitimate!)
A(And
centre ofshould
expertise inwe
digital–information
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IT Services Barrier
28
Nobody Likes Us - The Users' View
IT Services – providing the answers or blocking the users?
• 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!
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Do these
comments
ring
any bells?
If not, how can you
be sure?
IT Services Barrier
29
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
• 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
Web
2.0 Fundamentalist:
It’s cool, trendy, www.ukoln.ac.uk
…
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Library Barrier
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 (despite Sheffield's study).
• 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 release them
to users. They are uneasy with the concept of 'forever
beta' (they don't believe that users have the ability to
figure things out themselves and work around the bugs).
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Cultural Change
Addressing the Barriers
How do we address such barriers:
• A change in culture
• Being more open (surely what HE & public
sector is about?)
• Revisiting AUPs
• Developing more sophisticated models for
standards, accessibility, open sources, …
• Developing key principles
• Ongoing debate and discussion
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Cultural Change
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:
100+ documents available with CC licence
• …
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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Revisiting AUPs
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." (now toned down)
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?
33
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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information
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usage which
ITexpertise
staff inmay
upon.
Cultural Change

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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Taking Risks
Risk Management
IWMW 2006 has taken a risk management approach to
its evaluation of Web 2.0 technologies:
• Agreements: e.g. in the case of the Chatbot.
• Use of well-established services: Google &
del.icio.us are well-established and have financial
security.
• Notification: warnings that services could be lost.
• Engagement: with the user community: users actively
engage in the evaluation of the services.
• Provision of alternative services: multiple OMPL tools.
• Use in non-mission critical areas: not for bookings!
• Long term experiences of services: usage stats
• Availability of alternative sources of data: e.g.
standard Web server log files.
• Data export and aggregation: RSS feeds, aggregated
Noteinthat
you also
takeviewers,
risks in not
Suprglu,
OPML
etc.providing a service!
Will
your
users
go elsewhere?
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centre
of expertise
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information management
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Piloting Web 2.0
Safe Experimentation
How can we gain experiences of Web 2.0:
• Safe environment
• Which minimise risks
• Which allow learning
Possibilities:
• Using technologies at events such as ILI!
• Supporting the services which your users
use (e.g. Google!)
• Using services which require minimal effort
Let's review how Web 2.0 was used at the IWMW 2006
event, June 2006. Slides taken from "Web 2.0: Behind The
Hype"
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Opportunities
Opportunity For Libraries
http://bathsciencenews.blogspot.com/
Opportunities for librarians to
build on their strengths:
• User focus
• Information literacy: Don’t
trust everything you find;
ethics; plagiarism; …
• Bringing librarian
expertise to Web 2.0:
folksonomy strengths &
weaknesses
University of Bath used an externally
•…
hosted Blog for news for science
departments. They’ve also used a
Wiki for planning their Podcast
serviceA–centre
with
+ve feedback
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Conclusions
Conclusions
To conclude:
• Web 2.0 / Library 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.
 Be part of a social network based on openness, trust,
collaboration, ..
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Questions?
Any questions
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