UKOLN Blogs and Social Networks workshop - all presentations

Exploiting the potential of blogs and social networks Austin Court, Birmingham 26 November 2007

Exploiting The Potential Of Blogs and Social Networks: Introduction Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, UK Email [email_address] UKOLN is supported by: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/blogs-social-networks-2007/talks/introduction/ Acceptable Use Policy Recording/broadcasting of this talk, taking photographs, discussing the content using email, instant messaging, blogs, social networks, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) Resources bookmarked using ' blogs-social-networks-workshop-2007 ' tag

About This Workshop

About The Workshop

The workshop will provide an opportunity to:

Hear about approaches institutions are taking in the provision of or use of blogs & social networks.

Discuss appropriate deployment strategies

The workshop aims to help you to:

Gain an understanding of blogs & social networks

Learn how they can support your institution’s aims

Discuss the challenges in providing such services

Develop strategies for addressing these challenges across a diversity of institutional requirements

About The Workshop Organiser

Workshop Chair: Brian Kelly

UK Web Focus: JISC and MLA funded Web adviser to UK HE/FE & cultural heritage sectors

Discovered the Web in Dec 1992 and promoted its use afterwards (to an initially sceptical community)

Currently developing best practices for Web 2.0

Writes on the UK Web Focus Wordpress blog: see <http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/>

UKOLN:

National centre of expertise in digital information management

Located at the University of Bath

About The Format

Plenary Talks:

Six plenary talks which set the context (institutional case studies in morning; broader context in afternoon)

Discussion Groups:

Discussion groups in afternoon

Feedback from discussion groups (in Wiki)

Technologies:

WiFi network provided to support event

Please use responsibly (see AUP)

Workshop Wiki

A Wiki is provided for reporting on discussion groups:

Keeps a digital record (better than flip charts; more open than PowerPoint)

Allows you to look at others notes

Note have one Wiki reporter per group. A reporter should have been selected in advance of the workshop.

WetPaint Wiki provided:

For note-keeping in discussion groups

As a record for use after the event

Streaming Of Talks

Being Brave!

We intend to provide a live video stream of the plenary talks (using Web-based Veodia service).

Being Foolhardy?! We intend to stream the live video into second Life. Second Life users will see (a) the speaker and (b) the slides Acknowledgements Thanks to Andy Powell, Eduserv Foundations and Veodia for providing the streaming service And to the remote users for their tolerance if it goes wrong 

About You

Which sector are you from:

IT Services • Library

E-Learning • Research

National role • Other public sector / other

What technologies do you use on:

Blogs (as author) • Read blogs

Facebook

Other social networks e.g. MySpace, Bebo, ...

Does your institution have a formal policy on:

Blogs

S ocial networks

Timetable Chris Sexton & Paul Hollins Report Back 15.40 Coffee 15.15 David Harrison, Cardiff Disruptive Technology and its Implications for University Information Services 13.20 Lunch 12.20 Stuart Lee, Oxford The Hidden Dangers of Social Networks: You can log-on but you cannot hide 13.50 Discussion Groups 14.20 Tom Milburn, Bath The Student Perspective 12.00 Finish 16.15 Alison Wildish, Edge Hill Put Yourself Out There 11.30 Melissa Highton, Leeds Leedsfeeds: a Blogging Service based on the Open Source Elgg Application 11.00 Stephen Clarke, Birmingham Blogging In A Managed Environment 10.30 Brian Kelly, UKOLN Introduction 10.15 Speaker Session Time

What as a Blog / Social Network?

“ A blog (a portmanteau of web log ) is a Web site where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. ”

“ A social network service focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software.” Wikipedia Wikipedia

Blog Example

Blogs aren’t just for student e-portfolios! Chris Sexton (IT Services, Sheffield U.) set up a blog recently

Facebook Example

Chris is also one of my Facebook friends

Notice what she is revealing about herself to her other Facebook friends

Image used with permission of Chris Sexton

Facebook Example

Chris is also one of my Facebook friends

Notice what she is revealing about herself to her other Facebook friends

What are the long term implications of such sharing Image used with permission of Chris Sexton

Not Just Individuals Warwick University’s MySpace page Aberdeen University’s Bebo page

Facebook recently announced that organisations (not just individuals) can have Facebook pages.

Flurry of interest (and concerns) from UK HE:

Must have one

One already exists (squatters)

Successful student sites exists (is this OK?)

Why are we doing this? Who is the target audience? What are the resource implications, copyright implications, …?

UCLan had one of the first UK HE pages on Facebook

What If They Won’t Come?

But what if:

Users don’t trust our organisations?

Staff & students feel freer to criticise on commercial services

They prefer the disinterested approaches of commercial providers

An OCLC report on “ Sharing, Privacy and Trust In Our Networked World ” argues along these lines:

The social Web is not being build by augmenting traditional Web sites with new tools

We should “ open the library doors, invite mass participation and relax the rules ”

It will be messy, but “ mass participation and a little chaos often create exciting venues for collaboration, creativity, community building and transformation ”

What’s Our Interests?

Why should institutions have an interest in blogs and social networks?

Enhance learning

They can enrich learning: e-learning portfolios, collaborative learning, informal learning, …

Enhance research

They can enrich research: engagement with peers, feedback, social support, …

Community benefits

Engagement & dissemination e.g. by support departments (IT services, library, …)

Role of institutions in developing digital citizens

What Are The Challenges?

Many challenges (real and imaginary):

The purpose(s) of the service

The resource implications

The deployment strategies (in-house vs external)

The evaluation and selection

The training and support

The legal issues: privacy, copyright, accessibility, …

The institutional concerns: reputation management, sustainability, preservation, …

…

“ I don't see the point in ISS running blogging servers unless we want to automatically create and populate groups based on modules. Why not just encourage people to sign up for an account with Wordpress? It's better than anything we could offer. ” Nigel Bruce, ISS, Leeds Uni.

Developing Best Practices

UK Web Focus blog has regular posts related to these issues

UKOLN publishes briefing documents on Web 2.0 areas

These:

Have CC licence

Aimed at policy makers & support services

Feedback welcome

Community Development

The workshop provides a forum:

To be informed by case studies illustrated diversity of approaches being taken

To hear about the broader challenges to be addressed

which aims to lead to

Agreement on the key issues which need to be addressed

Identification of the key players who can support a community-wide approach to resolution of the issues (JISC, UCISA, UKOLN, JISC CETIS, JISC infoNet…?)

As well as providing an informative and enjoyable event for the participants

Questions?

Any questions

University of Birmingham Blogging in a Managed Environment Stephen Clarke, Head of eLearning University of Birmingham 0

What is a blog?

Blog

A blog (a portmanteau of web log ) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) and are part of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging which consists of blogs with very short posts.

As of September 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 106 million blogs. [1]

http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Educational Blogging Weblogs in the Classroom Blogs provide a communication space that teachers can utilise with students whenever there is a curriculum need to develop writing, share ideas and reflect on work being undertaken in the classroom. Definition Blog/WebLog: a web page containing brief, chronologically arranged items of information. A blog can take the form of a diary, journal, what's new page, or links to other web sites. Peter Scott, Internet Librarian 2001 From an education perspective the availability and ease of use of blogging software makes creating Weblogs a viable classroom activity and a means for teachers to communicate with other teachers. http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/weblogs/

Educational Blogging

Is it all ‘win-win?’

Blogs have educational value

But there are risks

On the nature of risk…

Most human activities involve risk

Innovations are particularly risky

Risk aversion slows innovation

BUT

Poor risk management reverses innovation

Risk management is about recognising risks and guarding against them

Good Blog Bad Blog

A few examples of blogs

These blogs contain both positive and negative features

Opinions may vary

Blog One

Focused on learning

Core part of the course

May be assessed

Archived, supported etc

Maintained throughout course

Safe and Secure

Blog Two

Good quality

Builds cohesion

Enhances student life

Can be transient

Independent of learning activities

Blog Three

Disrespectful

Rude

Spreads a poor image

University can not intervene

Created by students

Blog Four

Displaying all 8 posts by 3 people.

Post #1

1 reply xxxxx wrote on ……..

I gather there was some confusion about xxxxx in the 2nd year lecture last week.

...............................................................................................

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Send Message

A student wrote on ………..

hmmmm...i reckon we can solve 99 per cent of ……. problems with beer...including …………!!!

Send Message

Post #4

Blog Four

Could cause offence

Contains material that could be regarded as ‘core’ content

Learners could lose access

Created by staff

Further Risks

Universal loss of service

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6914843.stm

Individual loss of service

Facebook is now banning names such as

Lord (20)

Gay (11)

Beta (0)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7067150.stm

Moving Forward and Managing Risks

All activities have some risk

Agree an acceptable level of risk

Manage the risks

Good Blogs

Secure, safe and reliable

Inappropriate use can be stopped

The institution

Controls access

Sets the ‘acceptable use’ policy

Support institutional goals

Bad Blogs

Are a fact of life

Institutions need to maintain distance

Should not be imposed on learners

Conclusions

Blogging in a Managed Environment:

Supports Good Blogs

Protects Users

Protects Content

Carries Responsibility

Leedsfeeds: a blogging service based on the open source Elgg application Melissa Highton Senior Staff Development Officer University of Leeds

The provision and use of blogs and social networks

How they support institutional aims

Challenges in providing such services

Strategies and success

“ A social network service focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software.”

(quote copied and reused from Brian’s slides)

Leeds University Values

Networking

“ networking with people there is far more productive than anything that comes out of meetings… “

“ Having people you can ring up about issues that you are both having to deal with is very helpful.”

“ Now I will have to put systems in place to do something about that. It is an important part of the job knowing who is where, who is doing what and what they are thinking. “

Leeds and Loughborough Universities for JISC (2006)

-An investigation of the staff development issues relating to

i-skills development of Higher Education non-academic staff

What are our interests?

Why should institutions have an interest in blogs and social networks?

Enhance learning

They can enrich learning: e-learning portfolios, collaborative learning, informal learning, …

Enhance research

They can enrich research: engagement with peers, feedback, social support, …

Community benefits

Engagement & dissemination e.g. by support departments (IT services, library, …)

Role of institutions in developing digital citizens

(list copied and reused from Brian’s slides)

Is this true?

But what if:

Users don’t trust our organisations?

Staff & students feel more free to criticise on commercial services

They prefer the disinterested approaches of commercial providers

What are your questions about LeedsCommunityBlogs?

The purpose(s) of the service

The resource implications

The deployment strategies:

Inhouse vs external (& associated concerns)

The evaluation and selection

The deployment

The training and support

The legal issues: privacy, copyright, IPR, defamation, accessibility, …

The institutional concerns: reputation management, sustainability, preservation, …

(list copied and reused from Brian’s slides)

Credits

Images in this presentation belong to the University of Leeds and members of

the ‘Fans of the Roger Stevens Building - the 8th wonder of the architectural

world’ Facebook Community.

Put yourself out there Alison Wildish, Edge Hill University – November 2007 Image courtesy of markhillary on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/markhillary/370269095/

Edge Hill University : in context

Awareness raising

Garden Fence Test

Word of Mouth

Image courtesy of ~k~ on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/clovermountain/114775265/

The word on the street… People talking about you is the best form of advertising/pr No publicity is bad publicity?! Image courtesy of vaticanus on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaticanus/333445080/

Some facts

People are going to talk about you…

… down the pub, in the local post office or on a social networking site or blog… they’ll still talk… they still say the same things…

The boundaries are blurred; it’s common to mix business/study with pleasure

Students don’t come into Uni and leave their personal lives at home…

… but neither do staff!!!

Image courtesy of kuyttendaele on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuyttendaele/1195473901/

Regardless of any institutional policy our students and staff will use social networking sites Image courtesy of Wanderer and Wonderer on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/global-wandering/1171829609/

Our approach…

Great!

We’ll make it even easier for you!

We have a range of communication channels but we’ll plug them into Facebook (and the like) and plug your social networking tools into our portal(s) too

“ Everyone’s on it ” “ Really useful ” Image courtesy of redking on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/redking/1934240/

Our policy / strategy… Image courtesy of Aaron Michael Brown on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/dietpoison/133957015/ … not to have one! Not even for T&L Compliment to marketing An added extra to communication

If they want it they’ve got it

- If they don’t then no problem

- If putting things in social networking (or using Facebook) IS your strategy then you start to have a problem…

Image courtesy of terwilliger911 on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/terwilliger911/446710944/

Concerns… Image courtesy of Fiona Macginty on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/fionamacginty/296872194/

The problem

Named individual inc. photographs

False allegations

The solution

Proper channels – report group

AUP

Libel and defamation laws

“ Edge Hill students being molestered by security! ” Image courtesy of beckaramie on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckeramie/393255114/

“ Keele University has ordered its students to watch their mouths on Facebook, and asked them not to express dissatisfaction with the institution on social networking sites. ”

Image courtesy of MsAnthea "Anthéaïs" on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthea/84090626/

“ I’ve turned down friending requests from students, but they can see what I’m up to anyway on the Edge Hill network ” Rob Spence, Edge Hill University “ I don’t make friends with students, but if they choose to add me to their friends list, then that’s fine ” Emma Image courtesy of domake.saythink on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/domakesaythink/2003483686/

It’s just a compliment to other services What can you ACTUALLY guarantee anyway?! Image courtesy of philcampbell on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/clanlife/1517564618/

Open | Accept Allow | Encourage Image courtesy of emdot on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/13519557/

Thanks for listening Any questions? Alison Wildish Head of Web Services Edge Hill University blogs.edgehill.ac.uk/webservices Image courtesy of halighalie on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/halighalie/112410629/

Blogs & Social Networks – “The Students Perspective” Tom Milburn – VP Education

General use of social networks

Ways to use social networks

Problems that can arise

Blogs

Summary

Content

Social Networks

Social Networks such as MySpace and particularly Facebook have been adopted by students at a phenomenal rate.

It appears to be a national feature that sets us apart from our European counterparts.

25 million people are a member of a social network site, make an average of 23.3 visits per month and spend 11 minutes a day on such sites ( The Times ).

Potential

These networks offer huge potential because of the frequency of visits and high retention rates of users.

They are also a limitless resource that are used by all ages, classes, genders etc.

This gives any user the chance to reach a huge audience that is not constrained to any particular demographic.

Students’ Use and Perspective

Peer to Peer Support

Benefits

Social networks can provide students with the support of their cohort in a structured environment.

It can also provide constant support that is not bound by office hours.

This can ease pressure on staff with older students helping to ‘teach’ younger students.

Discussion boards are used by students to set the topic of a discussion and are valued by students to focus any discussions.

Student Feedback

Benefits

Social networks can provide an excellent centre for any Staff/Student Liaison Committees.

They provide an open forum that is easily accessible to students.

Students have commented how easy it is to voice opinion, view what is going on and to have open communication channels with staff.

Staff can also easily run things past students and gauge opinion.

Multimedia

Learning and teaching can often be enhanced by being offered in various formats.

Social networks allow flexible use of images and videos that can help deliver material to students.

Questionnaires can be linked to Facebook, which can aid research for students’ projects.

Problems for Staff and Students

Network Problems

They can be perceived as closed communication channels.

The consequences of actions can become distant as social networks can be turned off.

The need for a username and password can give a false sense of security.

There can be a lack of clarity from Universities on what the consequences of actions on social networks can be.

Advice Statements

Universities and Students’ Unions are now producing advice statements.

These often detail what students should be wary of when using social network sites.

At Bath these were delivered as ‘Flyers’ on Facebook.

Flyers…

Student Views on Blogs

Blogs

Blogs can be an excellent way to keep students up to date with developments at University.

However they usually suffer from:

Being hard to find

Not being updated regularly

Not being used by students themselves

Summary

There is great potential for social networks to be used to engage students and enhance their experience of university life.

It will depend on how much effort staff put in and the culture of students on various courses.

They can be of great value to any institution.

Any Questions?

The Hidden Dangers: You can Log-on But You Cannot Hide Dr Stuart D Lee Oxford University Computing Services

Overview

The importance of Web 2.0

The impact on a central IT service

Changing expectations

Some Concerns

Issues of identity

“ Web 2.0, refers to a perceived second generation of Web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users” + usually free

Web 2.0 Apps McGee, P. and Diaz, V. ‘Wikis and Podcasts and Blogs! Oh, My!’ Educause Review (Sep/Oct 2007) Learning objectives Social bookmarks VCOPs VLWs Exchange information/ideas Interactive Mashups VCOps VLWs Create something new Generative Blogs E-portfolios Collect evidence, present ideas over time Documentative Editing/writing tools VCOPs Wikis Work with others Collaborative Blogs (audio/video) IM Podcasts Webcams Share ideas/data Communicative Tools Function Type

‘ 5-Factors Driving Change in IT’ Gartner

Web 2.0 - disrupts existing models: ‘Web 2.0 communities, such as MySpace and wikis, connect people in ways that many companies hadn't anticipated when they began to develop their online strategies.’

Experiment with free-form environments. " Social environments" are the wave of the future. Companies should provide interactive tools, such as content tagging systems, RSS feeds, blogs, wikis, etc.

http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/52239

Not just IT services

Stephens, M. Web 2.0 and Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software (Library 2.0)

McKiernan, G. ‘Social Networking Sites for Engaged Library Services’ - http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/LITANationalForum2007.ppt

Impact on Central IT

Increased burden on services

Increased demand for new services - changing user expectations

Out-sourcing, and increased demands for justifying central services

Hidden perils

Impact on Central IT

Increased burden on services

Increased demand for new services - changing user expectations

Out-sourcing, and increased demands for justifying central services

Hidden perils

‘ Stephanie Hardwick does not consider herself to be a technology addict, but she carries two MP3 players - an Apple iPod and a Creative Zen - around with her and says she cannot imagine doing her university degree without the internet. A lot of the journals I need are online and I use the internet for everything, like booking tickets, to getting trains, yellow pages. ﾓ T he 21-year-old student studying English at Oxford University says she spends at least an hour a day on Facebook, the social networking site, and downloads some of the plays and books she has to read for her course on to her Zen player, so she can listen to them while working out at the gym…’ FT 29/10/07 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71cb770e-85b1-11dc-8170-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Surveys (1)

JISC’s ‘Great Expectations’ - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2007/09/expectations

‘ 65% ‘r egularly’ use social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace or Flickr (females more than males - 71% and 59% respectively) and only 5% ‘ n ever’ use them’

Surveys (2)

THEMA - Exploring the experiences of Master's students in technology-rich environments ( http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/thema/ )

YouTube

Facebook

Second Life

But …

Educause Centre for Applied Research (ECAR) 2006 showed 70.6% use Facebook several times a week, same number download music/videos

But students prefer moderate technology use, and new students prefer even less.

‘ Don’t bother with IM or Facebook - that’s our network. Leave us alone’

‘ Don’t enter our world to [contact us] … we’ll come to you’

Berg, J., Berquam, L., and Christoph, K. ‘Social Networking Technologies: a “poke” for Campus Services’ Educause Review (March/April 2007)

Web 2.0 ‘speed-bumps’

Security

Identity

Privacy

Business Model

‘ A World of Widgets, Wikis, and Mashups’

www.pcw.co.uk , October 2007

Concerns (1)

‘… we are currently looking into using external Web 2.0 services as part of and after our online courses. Obviously as part of this we need to consider the legal/institutional aspects of this provision’

Concerns (2)

‘ What shocked me about the Facebook audience was how willing they were - and are - to provide information about themselves for benefits that you and I might consider questionable.’

Appvertising

‘ Facebookers abandon online privacy for virtual doo-doo’ October 2007, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/09/facebookers_throw_virtual_feces/

Concerns (3)

‘ Web 2.0 and client-side attacks on social networking technologies, aimed at "stealing private data, hijacking Web transactions, executing phishing scams, and perpetrating corporate espionage’

‘ Web 2.0 tops emerging cyber-threats’ http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/51890

Concerns (4)

‘ We may share your information with third parties, including responsible companies with which we have a relationship’

No way to delete your personal data

University IT Regulations 6.2 - ‘Any password, authorisation code, etc. given to a user will be for his or her use only, and must be kept secure and not disclosed to or used by any other person’

SecondLife

Kirriemuir’s snapshot (Sep, 2007): http://www.eduserv.org.uk/upload/foundation/sl/uksnapshot092007/final.pdf

SecondLife

It’s a waste of money

It damages the University’s reputation (it’s a game, it’s full of porn …)

What is an IT provider to do?

Explore provision (e.g. PP and iTunesU) but also welcome SaaS

Tread carefully - ‘fad from future’

Educate re privacy

Educate re libel

Educate re copyright

Use tools themselves: - Director’s Blog - Wikinomics - ‘Crowd-sourcing’

Stuart Lee [email_address]

Disruptive Technology and its Implications for University Information Services David Harrison, Cardiff University “ Exploiting the Potential of Blogs & Social Networks” UKOLN Workshop: November 2007

Disclaimer

Everything I’m saying is informed by my employment at Cardiff and the networks I’m part of and have involved myself in whether real (UCISA) or virtual (Facebook).

Everything I’m saying is a personal view or reflection upon what I’ve learnt or experienced, unless directly attributed to another person or organisation.

I’m wholly responsible for the contents of this session; it does not represent the views or policies of either Cardiff University or UCISA.

Why the need for a disclaimer?

Talking about things outside the “service offering”.

Talking about “user-centric” rather than “organisation-centric” issues.

Talking about issues that transcend organisational boundaries.

Talking about issues that break the traditional security and privacy models.

Talking about different ways of visualising the way Information Services operate.

… none of which have any substance in standards, services, or policies … yet!

Starting point …

Briefing Paper with the same name as this presentation – conceived in November 2006 as a response to a presentation from Brian Kelly and John Heaps at an earlier UKOLN Workshop.

A first draft authored by Dr Joe Nicholls appeared in January 2007, first released in April 2007 for comment within UCISA Executive. Part 1 of the Briefing Paper available at http:// insrvblogs.cf.ac.uk /roller/disruptive .

No intention to go through this but it provides the background for the thought processes being followed by many in Cardiff University.

This presentation considers some of the issues discussed in Part 2 of the paper.

Preparation and engagement

Get the buy-in of “corporate compliance” … make the IT Regulations - institutional ones - NOT just ones that refer to the use of central facilities.

Establish the principle (through practice and “case law” if necessary) that there’s nothing the user can do with “disruptive technology” that is different from their use of traditional technology … the location might be different but the primacy of the AUP remains and the referral to existing disciplinary processes should not change.

Be prepared therefore to relinquish sole responsibility for IT Regulations – your first lesson in partnership.

Practicing Safe IT

Users need protecting against themselves – if email was comparable to sending a postcard, then social networking is comparable to a night out in the pub!

Guidance and advice on appropriateness of content, privacy and security is required … but not control.

Focus should be upon EDUCATION.

http:// www.cardiff.ac.uk/insrv/it/help/safe / .

Differing realms, identities and blogs

We work in different realms

Sometimes on our own and in a personal capacity

Sometimes in a way that shields our true identity

Sometimes in a work-related capacity

Sometimes as a member of an internal work group

Sometimes as a member of an external collaboration group

Sometimes as a member of an organisation

Sometimes as a contributor to someone else’s work

We work differently and use different language depending upon the context we find ourselves in

Corporate response to blogging

IBM have taken a lead in encouraging employees to blog http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2007/08/ibms-virtual-wo.html

They have provided guidelines for blogging http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/jasnell?entry= blogging_ibm

And engagement in virtual worlds http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_projects.nsf/pages/virtualworlds.IBMVirtualWorldGuidelines.html

Worth also looking at http:// www.iet.tv/search/index.html?spres =5723

Different types of “blog”

Personal (but not corporate) – no need for this type of page to be hosted on corporate systems any more – eg for me http:// diharrison.wordpress.com and for IBM http:// rooreynolds.com or http:// epredator.blogspot.com /

Personal or Group (work-related) – corporate intranet for internal collaboration hosted on the corporate system – eg within Cardiff https:// quickplace.cardiff.ac.uk

Group Internet Presence – for external collaboration with others of a “like mind” possibly hosted on an independent system – eg for UCISA http:// www.facebook.com/group.php?gid =2395812380 , or for Cardiff http://insrvblogs.cf.ac.uk/roller/Educause2007/ and for IBM http:// eightbar.co.uk /

Corporate Internet – in support of the business hosted on the corporate system

It’s just common sense

Need to adopt suitable language, style and identity depending on where you are

Need to have guidelines on usage and on what type of collaborative tool is best for what purpose – this goes across the whole gamut from IM, through chat rooms, email, shared workspaces to blogs and wikis

Need to be supportive, rather than prevent

Concluding thoughts

There’s nothing different in Web 2.0 to what’s already being done – it’s just the medium that’s different

Users need protecting against their own foolishness – thus EDUCATION is the most important thing

Institutions should begin to trust their staff and students more but be also prepared to use existing disciplinary codes where the trust is betrayed

Must embrace and engage – to do otherwise would be counter-productive and make us look foolish – consider the concept of enablement

Should consider a partnership rather than service provider role and be customer-centric

Must consider where we’re going with work-life balance; for some they want separation – for others they want the flexibility at work that they give to work at home.

Use of Collaborative Workspace

The following guidelines apply:

each virtual workspace must be owned by a named member of staff (the Quickplace owner). This person is ultimately responsible for ensuring all content in the collaborative space meets the University regulations and JANET guidelines (see below).

the content of the workspace must not contravene the University regulations as outlined below and found in full on the Corporate Compliance Unit web pages at http://www.cf.ac.uk/insrv/ aboutus/regulations/index.html

the owner of the workspace space must designate a ‘Workspace Administrator’ (this can be the same person). They are the main point of contact for the workspace, and as such are responsible for managing all activity including membership and permissions.

The Workspace Administrator must be a current member of staff or a research postgraduate student. At this time, it is recommended that taught postgraduate and undergraduate students are not to be directly responsible for the administration of a virtual workspace.

Where the theme or template of a workspace has been modified or customised, the Workspace Administrator is responsible for ensuring compliance with University regulations and legal requirements such as accessibility legislation.

Spaces will reside at http://quickplace.cardiff.ac.uk/

Spaces hosted on this service are intended for uses associated with University business (i.e., academic) only. The use of Workspace for non-work related, personal or private purposes is not expected.

Collaborative space owners will be required to confirm that the space is still required every 12 months. Failure to confirm will result in the workspace being disabled.