What Uses for New Digital Technologies?

What Uses for New Digital Technologies? Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, UK UKOLN is supported by: This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) Acceptable Use Policy Recording of this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using email, Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. Resources bookmarked using ‘ cilip-dig-info-2009 ' tag http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/events/cilip-digital-information-2009/ Email: [email_address] Twitter: http://twitter.com/briankelly/ Blog: http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/

About Me
Brian Kelly:
National Web adviser to UK Universities and cultural heritage organisations
Based at UKOLN, a national centre of expertise in digital information management and located at the University of Bath
Involved in Web since January 1993
Over 300 presentations given since 1997
Current area of interest include Web 2.0, Web standards and Web accessibility
Introduction

Contents
Introduction
Broader context
Web 2.0 and Social Web:
Network as a platform  Syndication
Culture of openness  Trust users
Software that gets better with more users
Always connected  Mobile
Let’s be realistic:
Postdigital perspective
Conclusions
A managed approach to ‘The Cloud’

Using Tools I Talk About
Use of Web 2.0 technologies & approaches:
RSS feeds for structured information
Geo-location data
Exploitation of 3 rd party services
Openness of resources
Risk assessment / management approaches
Talks given in 2008 covered Web 2.0, accessibility & standards. Introduction Note also use of blogs, video blogs, YouTube, Twitter, …

Web 2.0
What Is Web 2.0?
Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology”
Web2MemeMap, Tim O’Reilly, 2005
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, tagging & sharing
Benefits of scale (Social Web)
Trust and openness
Web 2.0

Beyond IT and the Techies (1)
Need to consider implications of the “ The Edgeless University ” report:
“ The forces now confronting higher education have been called 'a perfect storm’. They are serious challenges. [HEIs] can no longer depend on ever-increasing allocation of funds”
“ This seminar feels a bit like sitting with a group of record industry executives in 1999 ”
Conclusions:
Universities need to respond by reaching out – they are becoming ’edgeless’
A renewed commitment to openness
Experimentation and investment
New tools to support teaching

Beyond IT and the Techies (2)
A need to consider:
Implications of the “ Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World ” report
What ‘network as a platform’ / Cloud computing means to the institution
How Universities should respond to changing user expectations

Benefits of Web 2.0
Delivery Mechanisms (“network as platform”):
Global outreach : maximise impact of and engagement with ideas
Outsourced services : allowing organisations to focus on their strengths and small institutions to engage on more equal terms
Exploits infrastructure : the standards (e,g. RSS) & services (Google, Amazon, ..) now in place
User Benefits:
User can create content and comment on content
Users no longer passive consumers of content
Content can be accessed and used in user’s preferred environment

Blogs at Imperial College
“ As a whole our blogs have been very successful – they are all getting used. They enable us to raise our profile as liaison librarians within the departments we work with, and provide our users with a resource that is specific to their areas of expertise.”
Background to use of blogs at Imperial College since 2006, Jenny Evans, UK Web Focus blog, Oct 2009 http://physmaths.wordpress.com/

Web 2.0 at Wolverhampton Uni
University of Wolverhampton provide 5 blogs to support academic departments
An Electronic Resources Newsletter is driven by blog software. The information is available via:
RSS
Email

Academic Library Example
A Facebook page provides:
Brief factual information
Links to resources on main Web site
Dynamic content embedded via RSS
Calendars embedded via Google calendar
Ability for users to become ‘fans’

National Library Example (1)
National Library of Wales “ Shaping the future: The Library’s strategy 2008-2009 to 2010-2011 ”:
“ We propose taking advantage of new online technology, including … Web 2.0 services …
It is expected that the Library itself will provide only some specific services on its website. Instead, the intention is to promote and facilitate the use of the collections by external users, in accordance with specific guidelines.”
Example of use of Web 2.0 services embedded within a Welsh Assembly Government funded project

Use of Web 2.0 at the National Library of Wales including:
Use of YouTube
Examples from guest blog post by Paul Bevan on UK Web Focus blog / Bridging Worlds 2008 paper, National Library of Singapore http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykCAxSqziFY

Use of Web 2.0 at the National Library of Wales including:
Use of YouTube
Use of Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/cymru-wales/

Use of Web 2.0 at the National Library of Wales. Wales, including:
Use of YouTube
Use of Flickr
Use of a community Wiki
http://www.ourwales.org.uk/index.php?...

Beyond The Institution
It’s not just about the innovative institutions:
Individuals taking control
Avoiding institutional inertia
Assessing risks for themselves
Using familiar services
But:
Sustainability
Privacy
Firewalls & institutional policies
Work/life balance
Expertise, support, …

Mobile World
Mobile access to content, communications and community is changing things
Japan to lead mobile twitter

My Library is my Community
Using Twitter I can get personalised suggestions from friends who know my tastes

What Can the Library Offer?
What can the Library sector offer?

Challenges
The challenges we need to address:
The risks of using services in the cloud
Sustainability
Terms and conditions
Interoperability
Reliability
Trust
The risks of in-house provision
The same?

Challenges: In-house
If we build it will they come?

Demise of the AHDS
Organisations funded in the public sector cannot be guaranteed to be sustainable
This has been an important year of change for ADS. Over ten years of partnership with AHDS came to an end on 31st March 2008, when that body was formally wound up, and its achievements celebrated at an event to mark the occasion in King´s College, London. Future funding in public sector looks uncertain.  See “Is It Really A Good Time To Be Asking For More IT Money?”

Recognising The Barriers CyMAL (Newport) workshop Sep 2009 Concerns identified in discussion group sessions at various UKOLN 1-day workshops for the cultural heritage sector CyMAL (Bangor) workshop Sep 2009

The Challenges Challenges Resources Expertise Time Money Understanding Legal Issues IT Services Colleagues Management Accessibility Sustainability Reliability Cultural issues Technical Issues Interoperability Privacy, DPA, FOI, .. Council OK, there are barriers. Does this mean we don’t do anything?

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
Ownership Fundamentalist: must own everything we use
Vendor Fundamentalist: we must use next version of our enterprise system (and you must fit in with this)
Accessibility Fundamentalist: we must do WAI WCAG
User Fundamentalist: must do whatever users want
Legal Fundamentalist: it breaches copyright, …
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 : It’s new; its cool!
Organisational culture

The Librarian Fundamentalists
Librarians who have failed to evolve:
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).
Organisational culture

The Council Firewall
The reality:
Useful Web services do get blocked
There is dodgy/illegal/ dangerous material on the Web
It may be simple to have a blanket ban
Suggested approaches:
We accept certain risks
More sophisticated responses are needed (cf Childnet and Digizen )
We should share the approaches we’ve taken
New Internet access policy for children From December 2008, children will be able to enjoy improved Internet access in all Portsmouth Libraries. The current “Walled Garden” arrangement will be discontinued. The Internet access offered will be similar to that provided in Portsmouth schools but we will also be allowing access to games, Web chat and social networking sites. For further information, please contact Patricia Garrett on … Should librarians (a) welcome bans to dodgy places or (b) seek to open access and educate users? Organisational barriers

Support Issues
I don’t have the time to:
Understand it all
Use the technologies
Embed technologies in daily working practices
Train my colleagues
Common Craft video clips
You can:
View them at work
Listen to the podcast on the Tube
Use them in training
Training & staff development

Deployment Strategies
Interested in using Web 2.0 in your organisation?
Worried about corporate inertia, power struggles, etc?
There’s a need for a deployment strategy:
Addressing business needs
Low-hanging fruits
Encouraging the enthusiasts (don’t get in the way)
Gain experience of the browser tools – and see what you’re missing!
Staff training & development
Address areas you feel comfortable with
Impact analysis and assessment
Risk and opportunity management strategy
…

Risk Management
JISC infoNet Risk Management infoKit:
“ In education, as in any other environment, you can’t decide not to take risks: that simply isn’t an option in today’s world. All of us take risks and it’s a question of which risks we take ”
Examples of people who are likely to be adverse stakeholders:
People who fear loss of their jobs
People who will require re-training
People who may be moved to a different department / team
People .. required to commit resources to the project
People who fear loss of control over a function or resources
People who will have to do their job in a different way
People who will have to carry out new or additional functions
People who will have to use a new technology

Critical Friends
JISC U&I programme is encouraging establishment of “Critical Friends”
See <http://critical-friends.org/> Phil Bradley’s post provided a critical role – and CILIP responded accordingly 

Being “Postdigital”
David White’s “provocative post-digital thoughts” at F-ALT 2009:
“ Learning technologists are obsessed with technology more than learning, which is why elearning will never make the mainstream.”
“ We are purveyors of the worst kind of spin: ‘This new thing will solve all your problems’.”
The speed of the change has left us with the mistaken belief that social change was somehow ‘created’ by the digital rather than simply played out on the canvas of the digital.
There’s a need to avoid the temptations of technological determinism

Towards a Framework
“ Time To Stop Doing and Start Thinking: A Framework For Exploiting Web 2.0 Services ”, Museums & the Web 2009 conference
Biases Subjective factors Intended Purpose Benefits (various stakeholders Risks (various stakeholders Missed Opps. (various stakeholders Costs (various stakeholders
Sharing experiences
Learning from successes & failures
Tackling biases
…
Critical friends
Postdigital critique
Application to existing services
Application to in-house development
…

Using The Framework
Use of approach in two scenarios: CILIP use of Twitter & Facebook
Note personal biases! Intended Purpose Benefits (various stakeholders Risks (various stakeholders Missed Opps. (various stakeholders Costs (various stakeholders Community support Rapid feedback Justify ROI Org. brand Community- building Low? Twitter for individuals Organisational Fb Page Marketing events,… Large audiences Ownership, privacy, lock-in Marketing opportunity Low?
Critical Friends
Phil Bradley / Brian Kelly blogs
Email list discussions
Learning
Many blogs (e.g. Jo Alcock)
Engaging with a Twitter community
Conferences
Papers
…

Preventing Anarchy?
Is this:
Bringing order to the digital environment
Foolish, over-the-top reaction

Mosman Twitter policy
Or Bringing Order? Simple lightweight policies can ‘bring order” to the externally-hosted environment

Order or Anarchy?
Do we want order if:
Nobody’s there
It’s quiet – too quiet
Don’t we want:
Active user engagement
To be were the users are
To be respond to changing times
A managed approach can be applied to ‘stuff out there

What About Jo The Librarian?
Let’s not forget the librarian of the future.
What can we learn from what is already happening?
Has a blog, shares ideas, engages in discussions Shares bookmarks Communicates, shares, supports, … on Twitter

Conclusions The future is exciting - but librarian professionals will need to engage in help manage the Web 2.0 environment Acknowledgments to Michael Edson for the Web Tech Guy and Angry Staff Person post / comic strip

What Uses for New Digital Technologies?

by Brian Kelly

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