Exploiting The Social Aspects Of Web 2.0 In HE Institutions

Slide 1: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/seminars/nottingham-2008-04/ Exploiting The Social Aspects Of Web 2.0 In HE Institutions About This Talk How should the institution respond to the opportunities and challenges posed by Web 2.0? Web 2.0 has been described as a ‘disruptive technology’ which challenges previous assumptions. The notion of the ‘network as a platform’ and the excitement over social networks requires institutions to IWR Information think deeply about how to respond. Professional of the Year Brian Kelly, UKOLN, University of Bath, Bath, UK Resources bookmarked using the ‘nottingham-2008-04' tag UKOLN is supported by: by-nc-sa This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

Slide 2: Contents Introduction • About the speaker Amplified Events • Personal case study Web 2.0 To be covered • The network as platform • Openness and trust • Social aspects What’s To Be Done? • Reconceptualising the purposes • Understanding risks and benefits Additional • Risk assessment & management topics • Sharing and learning Conclusions 2

Slide 3: Introduction About The Speaker Brian Kelly: • UK Web Focus: a national Web advisory post • Works at UKOLN – a national centre of expertise in digital information management, located at the University of Bath, UK • Funded by JISC and MLA to support UK’s higher and further education & cultural heritage sectors • Involved in the Web since January 1993 • Active in promoting best practices for Web 2.0 3

Slide 4: Introduction Another View of Me My life in recent times Jan-Apr 2008 35 talks from Jan-Dec 2007 This remote app comes for free 4 http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/presentations

Slide 5: And My Blog OpenDOAR mentioned 5

Slide 6: RSS feed available: for Introduction syndication or adding on your device (PC, PDA, phone, ..) 6

Slide 7: Amplified Events Amplified Events WiFi networks + increasing ownership of laptops + consumer products (MP3 recorders, digital cameras, video cameras, iPhones & Nokia N95s, …) + easy-to- use applications = • productivity gains • richer & deeper leaning • new opportunities • … Or: • confusion • information overload • unsustainable fads • Wasted time and effort Which? 7

Slide 8: Amplified Events Photography Is An Issue We’re taking photos at events & sharing them on Flickr, Facebook, …: • Builds community • Shared experiences • Shared memories • It’s fun • … But what about: • Data protection • Privacy • Embarrassment • … http://efoundations.typepad.com/ How should we respond? efoundations/2007/11/jisc-cetis-conf.html 8

Slide 9: Amplified Events Possibly A Big Issue A recent item published on BBC News Web site (17 April 2008) 9 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7351252.stm

Slide 10: Amplified Events Possibly A Big Issue A recent item published on BBC News Web site (17 April 2008) Is photography not only an issue for our sector in our context, but have legal implications? Do we need: • Formal agreements • Model T&Cs •… 10

Slide 11: Amplified Events What I Do My approach (note IANAL): • Be open • Clarify what I mean by this:  CC licence on materials (title slides, handouts, on Slideshare, …)  CC licence on talk  Permission to video / record / video  Warning that licence may be rescinded if disasters happen! • Invitation to others to take a similar approach Approach described at Stargazing conf, Edinburgh Univ, Nov 2006. “Legal issues are important” said Charlotte Waelde “and Brian’s demonstrated lightweight ways of addressing such issues”  11

Slide 12: Amplified Events When I’m An Organiser Approaches taken at recent “amplified events”: • IWMW 3-day events since 2006 • Exploiting Potential of Wikis and Exploiting Potential of Blogs & SNs 1-day workshops We: • Notified speakers that event would be videoed & broadcast & sought permission • Provided guidelines for session chairs: informing audience of remote audience, repeating permissions from speakers • … Being open about issues has proved fine (so far) 12

Slide 13: Amplified Events When I’m In The Audience Participant at Oxford Beyond Digital Natives conf, April: • Asked speaker for permission to record:  OKish, but reconfirm after talk. Subsequent request not to publish – no problem • Asked fellow debates for permission – fine • Student panel. No opportunity to seek prior permission so videoed 10 mins & then told them:  Students were happy  Two students were 6th formers  Sought them (all) out & gave card and asked for agreement (they need to opt in)  Organiser & participant asked me not to publish / told me it was illegal; head’s permission needed; …  No email received, so video not published What should be done? Are there lightweight approaches? 13

Slide 14: Amplified Events What If Things Go Wrong? Speaker doesn’t want to be recorded? Things go wrong in live presentation? Speaker changes mind afterwards? Father Jack is in the audience? Gun-toting member of audience goes beserk? 14

Slide 15: Amplified Events What If Things Go Wrong? Speaker doesn’t want to be recorded? • That’s fine (and avoid pressuring speaker) Things go wrong in live presentation? • Accept it: that’s life & audience normally supportive Speaker changes mind afterwards? • That’s fine – use of lightweight approaches help Father Jack is in the audience? • Don’t worry, it probably won’t happen. And accept it if it does. Gun-toting member of audience goes beserk? • Don’t worry, it probably won’t happen. 15

Slide 16: Amplified Events What More Can Be Done More can be done to enhance Amplified Events: • Photos will be uploaded to closed area of Flickr for a week, before photos made public • Learning from experiences on live chat, back channels, etc. at events • Managing the physical space – noisy typists and geeks to left of lecture theatres (where power sockets are located) • Understanding our own personal preferences to avoid information overload: • Taking responsibilities: mastering applications; knowing how to disable sound on laptops; how to configure WiFi; … 16

Slide 17: Jumping The Shark Some questions: • Which Web applications are depicted? • What are the implications of blue’s decline • Will red be tomorrow’s winner? • What should we make of purple? ‘Jumping the shark’ – the moment a • How should we popular TV series is passed its respond to such peak consideration? 17

Slide 18: Jumping The Shark? Some responses: • Web server software (data from Netcraft) • Have you predicted Apache’s demise? • Does the future lie We need to be able to spot and with Microsoft? prepare responses to trends. • What should we But let’s not use trends to reinforce make of Google’s prejudices? emergence? 18

Slide 19: Web 2.0 The Web 2.0 Picture Gartner hyper curve Rising expectations VLE CMS Service plateau Chasm Enterprise Failure to go beyond developers software & early adopters (cf Gopher) Large PLE Need for: Web 2 budgets • Advocacy Trough … • Listening to users of despair • Learning from experiences • Addressing concerns Early • Deployment strategies We need to look at ways of adopters • … jumping the chasm, minimising inflated expectations & 19 avoiding despair

Slide 20: Web 2.0 Challenges of Web 2.0 What Is Web 2.0? Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology” 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 202005

Slide 21: Network as Platform Sustainability Problems Web 2.0 • It’s another bubble • The companies aren’t sustainable Initial Response What’s the odd one out: • UMIST • Lotus • WebCT • Yahoo! 21

Slide 22: Network as Platform Sustainability Problems Web 2.0 • It’s another bubble • The companies aren’t sustainable Initial Response What’s the odd one out: • UMIST • Lotus • WebCT • Yahoo! Answer: • UMIST was taken over by Manchester University • Lotus was taken over by IBM • WebCT as taken over by Blackboard • Yahoo! hasn’t been taken over (yet) Lesson: IT companies and public sector institutions may 22 also not be sustainable. This is not a new issues

Slide 23: Network as Platform Slideshare Example I use Slideshare to (a) maximise exposure to my ideas (b) solicit feedback (c) allow content to be easily embedded elsewhere and (d) measure impact Note evidence which shows impact of presentation. This wouldn’t have happened otherwise 23

Slide 24: Slideshare Example (2) What happens if Slideshare goes down – and it has happened! Does this demonstrate that you can’t trust externally-hosted services? 24

Slide 25: Slideshare Example (2) What happens if Slideshare goes down – and it has happened! Does this demonstrate that you can’t trust externally-hosted services? But local services also go down – as this example from the Open University shows 25

Slide 26: Slideshare Example (2) What happens if Slideshare goes down – and it has happened! Does this demonstrate that you can’t trust externally-hosted services? But local services also go down – as this example from the Open University shows And note prompt response from Slideshare 26

Slide 27: Performance Problems It’s not just Slideshare & the OU: downtime, DOS attacks, … can happen to all services We need to understand reasons why: • Skype unavailable (Microsoft OS upgrades) • BUCS air conditioning failure And explore ways of (a) identifying problems and (b) minimising risks Can we really think that problems will only happen ‘out there’ and that our servers will be available 24x7x365? 27

Slide 28: Spotting Possible Problems Are there ways of spotting potentially flaky services? • Netcraft server uptime statistics 28

Slide 29: Network as Platform Spotting Possible Problems Are there ways of spotting potentially flaky services? • Netcraft server uptime statistics • whois++ service (partly available via Google – see Phil Bradley’s post) 29

Slide 30: Spotting Possible Problems Are there ways of spotting potentially flaky services? • Netcraft server uptime statistics • whois++ service (partly available via Google – see Phil Bradley’s post) • Company profiles, statistics, etc. from Techcrunch, Wikipedia, etc 30

Slide 31: Spotting Possible Problems Are there ways of spotting potentially flaky services? • Netcraft server uptime statistics • whois++ service (partly available via Google – see Phil Bradley’s post) • Company profiles, statistics, etc. from Techcrunch, Wikipedia, etc 31

Slide 32: Network as Platform It’s The Way We Use Services What do the following have in common? • Paper • PDF • An iPhone (partly) • Facebook (partly) but not Twitter 32

Slide 33: Network as Platform It’s The Way We Use Services What do the following have in common? • Paper • PDF • An iPhone (partly) • Facebook (partly) but not Twitter Answers They are all popular We can regard them all as destinations rather than a part of a workflow The data can: • Be created there & not be usable elsewhere • Be created elsewhere and views there 33

Slide 34: Network as Platform Accessibility and Web 2.0 Common response “It’s AJAX; it’s inaccessible” But: • Is this using accessibility as a way of stifling change? • Is assertion backed up by evidence? • Is it using WCAG 1.0 as ‘evidence’ of inaccessibility? Note: • Acceptance of failures of WCAG 1.0 to response to innovation by WAI staff • WGAG 2.0 and ARIA W4A 2008 paper on “One Word, One Web .. But Great Diversity” • Facebook as tool which users may choose (PLE) • Not providing podcasts may be the inaccessible option 34

Slide 35: Network as Platform Avoiding Walled Gardens The dichotomy: • Don’t use Facebook, it’s a walled-garden • Don’t use Slideshare, you might lose your data • Do use Facebook and Slideshare, it’s where the users are & they seem to like it A resolution: • Have master copy in managed and reusable environment • Use remote service as an interface (possibly part of a user’s PLE or PRE) • Provide user education 35

Slide 36: Network as Platform Slideshare Example I use Slideshare to (a) maximise exposure to my ideas (b) solicit feedback (c) allow content to be easily embedded elsewhere and (d) measure impact Note URI for master provided on slide & in the metadata And note accessibility benefits 36

Slide 37: Openness and Trust Inappropriate User Content Spam Potential problems: Akismet has protected your site • Spam: comment from 195,127 spam comments. spam, link spam, twitter follower spam, tag spam, … • Flame wars • Illegal comments • Rude words • Uploading of pornography, etc My blog: initially lots of spam comment - but most stopped by Akismet spam filter. And now only handful posted overnight 37

Slide 38: Openness and Trust Uploading Dodgy Content Twitterers noticed: • Porn videos posted to Educause blog on Sun 20 April  • Deleted a few hours later  Thoughts: • Would email be allowed if released today? (most email is spam). • Need for rapid response to problems http://connect.educause.edu/blog 38

Slide 39: Openness and Trust Why Social Networks? In the old days (eLib): • Focus on standards & technical architectures • We new users would use our services (TINA) • Trust focussed on JISC, libraries & institutions We missed: • Multiple providers of services, new business models, … • People as social beings • Trusting our users 39

Slide 40: Social networks What Can SNs Provide? Potential benefits of social software: • Maximising impact • Engaging outside the institution/country • Maximising dialogue & feedback • Monitoring impact • No new software to learn: I use Flickr for family photos; why shouldn’t I use it for work/study? • Facebook is where I ‘hang out’. Can’t I get my reading lists there too? • When my colleagues bookmark a resource; tag a new resource; … I’ll be able to see it too • … 40

Slide 41: Social Networks Yes, Even Twitter! What can micro-blogging applications like Twitter provide? (surely waste of time?): • The shared water-cooler moment • Team working • Instant help • Break from mundane work • Moan about trains • Share excitement about stuff that works • … But note it doesn’t have to be for everyone! 41

Slide 42: Openness and Trust Information Overload What if we’re too open, sharing everything? What if we’re too trusting, thinking every tweet is valuable? Need for: • Better understanding of role of tools, managing them, etc. • Confidence to ‘throw things away’ Surely this is nothing new? 42

Slide 43: Network as Platform Key Questions (1) Big question for future isn’t whether we provide blogs, wikis, etc but how they are provided. Do we: 1. Build alternatives to Slideshare, YouTube, etc, in- house. We can be more responsive, we care about our users and we’re more reliable! 2. Just use the remote services – they’re better, more functional; and Web 2.0 sceptics are typically just looking after their own jobs! What do you think? Which view are you more closely aligned with? 43

Slide 44: Key Questions (2) On social software: • Does it have to be for everyone? • Who makes the decisions? • Who is responsible if things go wrong? • What’s the role of the institution in this: • Provider of stable, reliable services to its members? • Temporary home for most, who will arrive with services (email address, photos, etc.) and will want to continue to use them at Uni and afterwards? 44

Slide 45: Questions Any questions Note further slides available addressing some of these issues 45

Slide 46: Network as Platform A Blended Approach We need: • Mixed approach of in-house & external services • Information literacy (new media literacy, transliteracy) • Clearer understanding of our purposes • Sharing of experiences – successes & failures • Risk assessment and risk management strategies • Application of risk approaches to in-house services • … 46

Slide 47: Deployment Challenges The Challenges Areas of concern: Institutional inertia, vested interests, power struggles, …  Applicable for any significant change Sustainability, reliability, interoperability  The technical challenges Privacy, copyright, …  The ethical challenges Finding time, finding resources, expertise, …  The deployment challenges See “Web 2.0: Addressing the Barriers to Implementation in a Library Context” for example of barriers in a Library context 47

Slide 48: Deployment Challenges Addressing The Concerns Some approaches to addressing these concerns: • Risk assessment • Data migration • Being user-focussed • Institutional transformation • Working collaboratively • Guidelines for use of social networking services (e.g. Facebook) 48

Slide 49: Risk Assessment (1) Risk Assessment Management Loss of service (e.g. Implications of sudden or Use for non-critical company bankrupt, gradual loss of service services; have closed down, ...) alternatives available ... Data loss Likelihood of data loss. Non-critical use; testing lack of export capabilities of export, .... Performance Automated monitoring … problems or unreliable service Lack of User education User education interoperability See “Risk Assessment For Use Of Third Party Web 2.0 Services” QA Focus briefing document 49

Slide 50: Risk Assessment (2) 50

Slide 51: 51 University of Oxford

Slide 52: Risks Revisited Are these risks scary? Remember to include: • Risks of doing nothing • Risks associated with using existing services Case Study Open Source Software can also fail to be sustainable. The ROADS software was developed in UK to support academic subject gateways – but is now no longer supported. 52

Slide 53: Deployment Challenges Transforming IT Services IT Services: • They won’t let us innovate • They get in the way • They don’t understand learning Does this ring bells? Tradition role of IT Services: • Focus on managing in-house services • Prioritising scarce resources • Minimising variability in order to maximise benefits of support (“support software”) 53

Slide 54: Deployment Challenges IT Services 2.0 IT Services 2.0: • Term coined by Mark Sammons, Edinburgh Univ • Idea revisited in plenary talk at UCISA 2008 Management Conference (myself & Andy Powell) • Feedback from blogging IT Service managers IT Services 2.0 – ongoing definitions • Happy with use of in-house & 3rd party services • Encourages peer-support • Provides new media literacy • Has a risk management approach • Provides support in a era of richness of service Overwhelming vote at UCISA 2008 not to ban social networking services. IT Services are transforming themselves – but what about academics? 54

Slide 55: Embracing 3rd Party Services What will happen when student leave (as they do)? Casey Leaver has documented experiences in migrating her blog from Warwick: • The blog has been delete • Not all data could be migrated (pictures & comments are also lost) Thoughts: institutional blogs aimed at staff; support provided for students using 3rd party blogs 55

Slide 56: Deployment Challenges When Things Go Wrong What would happen if a 3rd party service was taken over by a porn company? It has happened to me! This embedded code (which converted RSS feed to HTML) changed to a porn Web cam! 56

Slide 57: Deployment Challenges The Incident (1) The Incident • Email message received saying news page for workshop contained embedded Web cam What We Did • Removed embedded code • Contacted company What We Found • Company had failed to renew domain name (credit card had expired & administrator was on holiday) • Domain name grabbed by porn company – but retrieved within 24 hours 57

Slide 58: Deployment Challenges The Incident (2) What We Had Already Done • A Risk Assessment page had already been created, documenting use of 3rd party services What We Learnt • This was a records management issue • It’s not new – Microsoft failed to renew HotMail domain some time ago (also Australian Univ) • It could happen with our hosted domains (e.g. EU- funded projects) What We Concluded • We need to share such experiences • We need to be able to switch off services quickly if problems occur • We need to manage our domain name subscriptions 58

Slide 59: Risk Assessment Risk assessment summaries provided for events which embed 3rd party services Audit kept of incidents (1 to date) 59

Slide 60: Data Migration When useful information is stored on a 3rd party wiki the data is copied to a managed environment 60

Slide 61: Deployment Challenges Transforming Ourselves It’s not just about institutional inertia & IT Services What about: • The academics who don’t care for change • The academics who jump on every new bandwagon • Those in between these extremes There’s a need: • To ensure enthusiasts reflect on mistakes & lessons learnt • To recognise that e-learning (2.0) may not be for everyone 61

Slide 62: Deployment Challenges Personal Audit Personal audit: • There’s a need for responsible Web 2.0 enthusiasts to carry out their own risk audit Departmental audit: • There’s a need for own risk audits for services used by others (cf. my events) Institutional audit: • Should institutions (& funders) require self- assessment audits to protect their investment? 62

Slide 63: Deployment Challenges Vision For The Future Where are we now? • People are using externally-hosted Web 2.0 services • But some are unhappy with this Should we: • Welcome the potential of Web 2.0 • Grudgingly accept that they will be used – but expect this to last for a short term • Attempt to ban or dissuade such usage 63

Slide 64: Revisiting The IE (nee DNER) We had early visions for the JISC DNER I subsequently developed my view for how the DNER might develop: • Applications on the Web e.g. bookmarking (del.icio.us!) and word processing tools (Writely!) 64

Slide 65: Deployment Challenges Web 2.0 As A DNER Development The DNER got a lot right: • Networked services • Lightweight standards • Importance of RSS • Trust (in the funded institutions) What we missed, which Web 2.0 is providing: • Commercial providers of services • New business models (we were Old Labour) • Lightweight development • User-generated content (we thought it would be the professionals) • Trust – in the individuals • The power of the network – services which get better as more people use them 65

Slide 66: Deployment Challenges Why HE? Why Now? World is changing: • Web 2.0, ubiquitous networks, mobile devices, declining prices, increasing functionality How should society respond to maximise potential? • At school: starting point, but this will be protected a environment • At work: too late & employers will expect new media literate graduates • At university: ideal place for students to develop skills & ethical values for the digital citizen Staff & students will use 3rd party services in their social lives. They need their own risk assessment / management skills. Providing a 100% safe institutional environment will hinder this 66

Slide 67: Conclusions To conclude: • E-Learning 2.0 and Web 2.0 are here and won’t go away • Institutions need to engage with Web 2.0 • There are many issues which need to be addressed • Solutions are available • Probably the most important is collaborative working with one’s peers 67