UKOLN is supported by: Does Web 2.0 herald the end of in-house development and provision of IT services? Paul Walk Technical Manager [email_address] A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk

In the spirit of the Shock of the Social , what follows is an attempt to provoke a wider discussion.... you can ‘comment’ on the presentation as it progresses using the chat facility at: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/shock-of-old-2007/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/shock-of-old-2007/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/shock-of-old-2007/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/shock-of-old-2007/ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/shock-of-old-2007/

Are remote, 3rd party, Web 2.0 services the future? our users are using them anyway - at least, we think they are! more data needed! they’re more cost-effective (& greener?) always difficult to measure energy cost of hosting servers locally is increasingly a concern they can benefit from network effects unavailable to local services because they can become global in scale can an institution build a local system with a social network large enough to be useful? they develop more rapidly - perpetual beta & massive feedback can our locally developed services compete with this? there is so much already available - e.g. Office 2.0 Database at http://itredux.com/office-20/database/ demonstrates viability of working with only a web browser and a network connection itself is built on a Web 2.0 database, Dabble DB (http://www.dabbledb.com/)

our users are using them anyway - at least, we think they are!

more data needed!

they’re more cost-effective (& greener?)

always difficult to measure

energy cost of hosting servers locally is increasingly a concern

they can benefit from network effects unavailable to local services because they can become global in scale

can an institution build a local system with a social network large enough to be useful?

they develop more rapidly - perpetual beta & massive feedback

can our locally developed services compete with this?

there is so much already available - e.g. Office 2.0 Database at http://itredux.com/office-20/database/

demonstrates viability of working with only a web browser and a network connection

itself is built on a Web 2.0 database, Dabble DB (http://www.dabbledb.com/)

Objection #1 (faculty): “But what if the service is suddenly removed ?” ?” this is a real risk, in the sense that it can happen. Locally installed software can have its own peculiar problems, but sudden, unexpected removal is unusual.... mitigation: make sure you can export all your data in a format which gives you a fighting chance of re-deploying it elsewhere e.g. tools exist for extracting del.icio.us bookmarks into a file identify alternatives which can import your data and provide a comparable service do the business research - you do do this anyway for locally installed software, don’t you....? radical thought: perhaps this is simply a reality - the downside of a new, generally better way of deploying services? Maybe our users will come to expect this and be able to deal with it?

this is a real risk, in the sense that it can happen. Locally installed software can have its own peculiar problems, but sudden, unexpected removal is unusual....

mitigation: make sure you can export all your data in a format which gives you a fighting chance of re-deploying it elsewhere

e.g. tools exist for extracting del.icio.us bookmarks into a file

identify alternatives which can import your data and provide a comparable service

do the business research - you do do this anyway for locally installed software, don’t you....?

radical thought: perhaps this is simply a reality - the downside of a new, generally better way of deploying services? Maybe our users will come to expect this and be able to deal with it?

Objection #2 (faculty): “But what if the service suddenly changes ? This beta thing makes me nervous....” thing makes me nervous....” a good, commercial service will not threaten it’s customer base by making sudden, significant changes, or removing important features however, unlike locally installed software (where you can at least choose not to upgrade), hosted services will tend to be upgraded steadily (this might be seen as a good thing ) the notion of perpetual beta is being explored and argued about the customer needs to maintain an awareness of the service’s roadmap for future development a good IT support department will already be doing this for their locally installed software - they need to apply the same strategy to hosted services

a good, commercial service will not threaten it’s customer base by making sudden, significant changes, or removing important features

however, unlike locally installed software (where you can at least choose not to upgrade), hosted services will tend to be upgraded steadily (this might be seen as a good thing )

the notion of perpetual beta is being explored and argued about

the customer needs to maintain an awareness of the service’s roadmap for future development

a good IT support department will already be doing this for their locally installed software - they need to apply the same strategy to hosted services

Objection #3 (management): “What about support, security, FOI, SLAs....?” “ What about support, security, FOI, SLAs....?” we can’t be responsible for supporting you if you decide to use gmail instead of our institutionally supplied email account is this why we still issue an email address to our students? security & FOI issues may be issues of where the data is held , rather than who supplies the service staff/students - different aspects we collect contact information from students we issue contact information to staff service maintenance SLAs - very difficult to arrange in a distributed world diagnostics are difficult if your service relies on others outside your organisational control: “ You know you have a distributed system, when a company you didn't know you had a relationship [with] changes their business plan and your application stops working” http://www.1060.org/blogxter/entry?publicid=303B91C59A56BB10798BB9739CE80131 do you actually have an SLA with your local service? How often does one of your institutional services go offline unexpectedly?

we can’t be responsible for supporting you if you decide to use gmail instead of our institutionally supplied email account

is this why we still issue an email address to our students?

security & FOI issues

may be issues of where the data is held , rather than who supplies the service

staff/students - different aspects

we collect contact information from students

we issue contact information to staff

service maintenance

SLAs - very difficult to arrange in a distributed world

diagnostics are difficult if your service relies on others outside your organisational control: “ You know you have a distributed system, when a company you didn't know you had a relationship [with] changes their business plan and your application stops working” http://www.1060.org/blogxter/entry?publicid=303B91C59A56BB10798BB9739CE80131

do you actually have an SLA with your local service? How often does one of your institutional services go offline unexpectedly?

Objection #4 (marketing): “What about our brand, domain name....?” “ What about our brand, domain name....?” if we encourage our students to use flickr, for example, for uploading their work, can we advertise ourselves as providing this facility? service providers are aware of this issue - for example Google have launched Google Apps for Domains if a remote service can be utilised in a machine-machine way, then it can possibly be ‘wrapped’ in a local look-and-feel or ‘skin’

if we encourage our students to use flickr, for example, for uploading their work, can we advertise ourselves as providing this facility?

service providers are aware of this issue - for example Google have launched Google Apps for Domains

if a remote service can be utilised in a machine-machine way, then it can possibly be ‘wrapped’ in a local look-and-feel or ‘skin’

Development: In-house developers so what do our poor developers do once there are no local systems....? there will likely always be some locally developed systems - concentrate on developing solutions to problems where local/domain knowledge is crucial integration - mashups! leverage the good work which has gone into external services and add value locally added-value work, rather than core services experimental, research the last mile - the presentation layer for the institution (portals, personalisation) customisation via APIs consultation for colleagues - helping them to use available services, even outside the institution “ IT services should be an enabling service, not a barrier, but this requires a transformation in the way IT personnel see themselves in the organisation” Scott Wilson commenting at http://blog.paulwalk.net/2007/03/06/presenting-and-the-the-shock-of-the-social/#comments

so what do our poor developers do once there are no local systems....?

there will likely always be some locally developed systems - concentrate on developing solutions to problems where local/domain knowledge is crucial

integration - mashups!

leverage the good work which has gone into external services and add value locally

added-value work, rather than core services

experimental, research

the last mile - the presentation layer for the institution (portals, personalisation)

customisation via APIs

consultation for colleagues - helping them to use available services, even outside the institution

“ IT services should be an enabling service, not a barrier, but this requires a transformation in the way IT personnel see themselves in the organisation” Scott Wilson commenting at http://blog.paulwalk.net/2007/03/06/presenting-and-the-the-shock-of-the-social/#comments

Development: new opportunities for non-developers does Web 2.0 offer the possibility of ‘development’ to more institutional players - not just the ‘developers’? Yahoo’s Pipes - drag and drop RSS mashups for everyone free hosted portals - NetVibes , Pageflakes elgg spaces - DIY social networking in an educational context there is a (non-web) precedent: spreadsheets are the most widely deployed and used development tool of all - almost anyone can develop useful functions with this technology

does Web 2.0 offer the possibility of ‘development’ to more institutional players - not just the ‘developers’?

Yahoo’s Pipes - drag and drop RSS mashups for everyone

free hosted portals - NetVibes , Pageflakes

elgg spaces - DIY social networking in an educational context

there is a (non-web) precedent: spreadsheets are the most widely deployed and used development tool of all - almost anyone can develop useful functions with this technology

Yahoo Pipes - development tool for the rest of us

Hosting, deploying, developing: a spectrum

Recommendations keep some development capability in-house, but make sure you can adopt modern development practices and engage with external services when considering a new service development, look carefully at what the web has to offer consider management & deployment costs devise an exit strategy when using external services manage , rather than avoid, the risk of using external services

keep some development capability in-house, but make sure you can adopt modern development practices and engage with external services

when considering a new service development, look carefully at what the web has to offer

consider management & deployment costs

devise an exit strategy when using external services

manage , rather than avoid, the risk of using external services

Preparing for this presentation question: how do I make a presentation into something more social ? answer: blog about it beforehand , inviting comments http://blog.paulwalk.net/2007/03/06/presenting-and-the-the-shock-of-the-social/ collect comments incorporate comments into presentation do presentation, providing real-time chat facility http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/shock-of-old-2007/ make the presentation slides widely available http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/shock-of-old-2007/ blog about the presentation afterwards , inviting comments using tag ‘’shock2007’ so discoverable on Technorati etc.

question:

how do I make a presentation into something more social ?

answer:

blog about it beforehand , inviting comments

http://blog.paulwalk.net/2007/03/06/presenting-and-the-the-shock-of-the-social/

collect comments

incorporate comments into presentation

do presentation, providing real-time chat facility

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/shock-of-old-2007/

make the presentation slides widely available

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/shock-of-old-2007/

blog about the presentation afterwards , inviting comments

using tag ‘’shock2007’ so discoverable on Technorati etc.

questions?