Strong Words Softly Spoken: Engaging the Crowds in the Clouds

Strong Words Softly SpokenEngaging the Crowds in the Clouds
Gareth J Johnson
Document Supply & Repository Manager
David Wilson Library
University of Leicester
22 February 2011

Disclaimer
The following are all personal professional reflections and experiences.
There may be some mild bias!

Social Presence
1995 BBSes (Arafel, PlanetSkaro)
2004 Live Journal, My Space
2005 Wikipedia contributor
2006 YouTube, Last.fm
2007 Facebook, Delicious, Linked in
2008 Twitter, WordPress, SlideShare, Kongragate
2009 WetPaint Wiki, Blip.fm
2010 Qik video, FriendFeed, HootSuite, PodBean
Note: User & creator of content; not just end-user

Overview
What I’ve used
Personal, corporate & team experiences
The lessons learned
The next (practical) steps

DWL Facts
Multi-award winning
1500 User spaces
38km shelving
1M+ volumes on shelves
350 PCs + wireless network
13 Group study rooms
Graduate Media Zoo
2 IT training suites
Also houses Careers, Accessibility & Student Learning Depts
www.le.ac.uk/li/about/building/factsandfigures.htm

Responses to Social Networking

What we’ve Learned
“I think we do reporting/reflecting on events quite well & sometimes provoke a response.” Selina Lock
“…one strength is the building of networks within the institutions, and how it can bring people to work together that may not have done otherwise - in particular when they find out they have common interests.” Sarah Whittaker
“I think our strength is definitely individuals promoting the library through social networking as 'personalities', rather than necessarily as one unified institutional identity…The major barrier is the way social networking is viewed by sceptics in the institution.” Katie Fraser

UoL Library Blog
Initial efforts faltered some years previously
2008 complete restart
New team of enthusiasts
House rules for contributions
Style & purpose
Reflective, informal but professional tone
Target audience of library and institution
Started quietly to gain voice & proof of concept
Went “public” after a month
All staff invited to contribute

UoL Library Blog
External cloud based platform (WordPress)
High customisability & low technical requirements
Avoids UoL branding issues by external hosting
Knowledge based information resource
Referenced in official memos
Included in staff induction pack references
Team keeps a watching brief on items of interest
Prompts each other for articles
Encourages involvement of new staff members
Project blogs
My Leicester DA, ScienceLeicester

Blogging Lessons
Start small and walk before you run
Keep some rainy day posts in your back pocket
Draft some mutually agreed house rules
Always reply to comments but purge spam
Reflect, share, celebrate and advocate your service
Share progress, success and failures equally

Twittering
Joined e.2008 (just after start at UoL)
An alternative & effective communication channel
Links with local academics & students easier to forge
Engaging with a self-selected group of enthusiasts
Resultant involvement in projects, teaching and information sharing
Linking with the wider community
Enquiry resolution, crowdsourcing, feedback & cross-pollination

Service Impressions

Twitter in Practice
Following the daily zeitgeist
Library twitter accounts
Library news & Repository content
Amplifying events
Multilayered conversations that can be harvested
Live session feedback
A voice for the voiceless
Virtual conference attendance
Monitoring the conversation
Alerts for common #tags

Twitter Lessons
The professional with or without the personal?
Think about locking your posts until you feel comfortable
Use a web based client (like HootSuite) to get around installation issues
Find the signal to noise level with followers you can cope with
Remember it’s a conversation, always engage with @Replies

DWL Facebook
An attempt to reach into users’ social spaces
Comment engagement quite low
Library page to promote services
Maintained by Information Librarians
Over 1,600 fans currently
Rolls out and links to official news
Houses some HQ images of the library
Replies to the occasional comment

Graduate School Reading Room
Another promotional tool resource
Advertises courses and links of interest to graduates
Enthusiastically supported by Research Forum Facilitator
Smaller fan base (>140)
Higher levels of bi-directional interaction
Has engendered RL engagement
Low commentary levels on both Facebook presences
Regularly policed for inappropriate comments

Facebook Lessons
Easier to be static and less engaged
Needs promotion and interaction to succeed
A bit old hat these days?
A qualified success or just Web 2.0 box ticking?
Do the users want us in “their” social space?

Wikis
PM.Wiki
Enquiry team manual, locally installed
WetPaint
Cloud computing service with live linkage
Two team manuals on it now
Locked as private resource
Team empowerment & ownership
Allows easy editing by all, although in reality…
Allows rapid record of S.O.P.
Allows easy access globally 24/7

Lessons from Wikis
Easy to use and easy to learn
Some techno-terror is possible
Make sure you back up if using a hosted site
Needs top down support as well as peer buy in

What’s in it for Our Service?
Justifying it to senior management can be tricky
“It isn’t suitable for US!”, “Isn’t email good enough?”
Concerns over loss of control, clarity of message
Helps break down corporate façade
Humanises and personifies the service
Recognition for awards and achievements
Celebrate and highlight best practice
Marketing and monitoring

What’s been in it for Me?
Personal & professional recognition
Engagement with a broader community
Emotional and professional support
Crowdsourcing an answer rather than repeating errors
Although stalkers and hidden followers can be an issue…

Final Thoughts
Social networking is about cultural change, and playing a proactive part
You have to experiment to find the perfect fit – one size does not fit all
It is a powerful community marketing, advocacy and engagement tool
Go where the community is - don’t expect them to come to where you are?
A lot depends on prevailing ethos and personalities

Not all failure is FAILURE! (A.J.Cann)
Do or do not do. There is no try (Yoda)
Someone, somewhere, sometime’s going to shout at you for something. So you may as well do it anyway (Me)

Gareth J Johnson, DS&R Manager
Email: gjj6@le.ac.uk
Tel: 0116-252-2039
Web 2: llordllama
Web 1: http://tinyurl.com/cfuhdz
Contact & Questions

Further Reading
5 Excuses for using Twitter at Work, http://twittown.com/social-networks/twitter/twitter-blog/five-excuses-using-twitter-work
Bleeting definition, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bleeting
Boudreaux, C. (2010) Online Database of Social Media Policies, socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php
Bradley, P. (2009) What is twitter? Twitter for librarians, www.philb.com/twitter.htm
Briggs, D. (2010) Learning Pool’s Free Twitter Guide, http://bit.ly/lptwitter
Contrasting Blogs, Twitter & Library News Pages (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1nJQKsLgM0
Explaining twitter Simply (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4__htJ-IdU&hd=1
Johnson, Gareth (2009) The unspoken rules of blogging, CILIP Gazette, 14th August
Kelly, B. (2011). Institutional Use of Twitter by Russell Group Universities, ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/institutional-use-of-twitter-by-russell-group-universities/
Leicester UoL Web 2.0 Community, http://tinyurl.com/yjznum2
Pettey & Tudor (2010) Gartner reveals five social software predictions for 2010 and beyond: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1293114
UoL Library Blog, http://uollibraryblog.wordpress.com/

Strong Words Softly Spoken: Engaging the Crowds in the Clouds

by Gaz Johnson on Feb 22, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

Strong Words Softly Spoken: Engaging the Crowds in the Clouds Presentation Transcript