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A centre of expertise in digital information management
Time To Stop Doing and Start Thinking:
A Framework For Exploiting Web 2.0 Services
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath, UK
UKOLN is supported by:
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NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
(but note caveat)
Acceptable Use Policy
Recording of this talk, taking photos,
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is permitted providing distractions to
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Acceptable Use Policy
Recording of this talk, taking photos,
discussing the content using email,
instant messaging, blogs, SMS, etc.
is permitted providing distractions to
others is minimised.
Resources bookmarked using 'mw2009-kelly-paper' tagResources bookmarked using 'mw2009-kelly-paper' tag
Email:
b.kelly@ukoln.ac.uk
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/briankelly/
Blog:
http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/events/mw-2009/paper/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/events/mw-2009/paper/

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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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What We’re Familiar With
We’ve seen various examples of use of
Web 2.0 in museums, libraries and
archives contexts from the National
Library of Wales. Wales, including:
• Use of Facebook
• Use of YouTube
• Use of Google Maps
• Use of a community Wiki
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykCAxSqziFYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykCAxSqziFYhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Aber ...http://www.flickr.com/groups/cymru-wales/http://www.ourwales.org.uk/index.php?...
Examples taken from guest blog post by Paul Bevan on UK Web Focus blog

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Renaissance West Midlands
workshop, Feb 2009
Renaissance West Midlands
workshop, Feb 2009
MLA East of England
workshop, Nov 2008
MLA East of England
workshop, Nov 2008
Concerns identified in
discussion group sessions at
various UKOLN 1-day
workshops for the cultural
heritage sector
Concerns identified in
discussion group sessions at
various UKOLN 1-day
workshops for the cultural
heritage sector

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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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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

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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Take-up Of New Technologies
The Gartner curve
Developers
Rising expectations
Trough
of despair
Service plateau
Enterprise
software
Large
budgets
…
Early
adopters
Chasm
Failure to go beyond developers
& early adopters (cf Gopher)
Need for:
• Advocacy
• Listening to users
• Addressing concerns
• Deployment strategies
• …
This talk looks at approaches
for avoiding the chasm &
This talk looks at approaches
for avoiding the chasm &
reshaping the curve

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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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The Backlash Is Predictable
When significant new things appear:
• Enthusiasts / early adopters predict a
transformation of society
• Sceptics outline the limitations & deficiencies
There’s a need to:
• Promote the benefits to the wider community
(esp. those willing to try if convinced of benefits)
• Be realistic and recognise limitations
• Address inappropriate criticisms
Web 2.0: It’s a silly name. It’s just a marketing term. There are lots of poor
Web 2.0 services. There wasn’t a Web 1.0. What follows it?
It does have a marketing aspect – and that’s OK. It isn’t formally defined – it
describes a pattern of related usage. There will be poor (and good) Web 2.0 services
– just like anything else. Any usage will arrive at a follow-up term.
Web 2.0: It’s a silly name. It’s just a marketing term. There are lots of poor
Web 2.0 services. There wasn’t a Web 1.0. What follows it?
It does have a marketing aspect – and that’s OK. It isn’t formally defined – it
describes a pattern of related usage. There will be poor (and good) Web 2.0 services
– just like anything else. Any usage will arrive at a follow-up term.
Twitter? Another silly name. Trivial junk. Only for people with nothing better
evolves to
We must have a Twitter feed – impact; marketing; audiences; …
and then (from the early adopters)
It was meant to be fun. It’s been institutionalised, We want it back!
Twitter? Another silly name. Trivial junk. Only for people with nothing better
evolves to
We must have a Twitter feed – impact; marketing; audiences; …
and then (from the early adopters)
It was meant to be fun. It’s been institutionalised, We want it back!

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What Do We Mean By ‘Risk’?
“Risk is a concept that denotes the precise probability
of specific eventualities”
When should we take risks?
• Never
• If the probability is low
• If the dangers are insignificant
• If the context if appropriate
But what if human life is at risk:
• In the army
• Driving a car
• Travelling on the train
• …
We can’t ignore the context, the benefits (real and
perceived)

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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Hitchhiker’s Guide
Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s guide described
“an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet
whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly
primitive that they still think digital watches are a
pretty neat idea”
and went on to add:
“Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d
all made a big mistake in coming down from the
trees in the first place. And some said that even the
trees had been a bad move, and that no one should
ever have left the oceans.“

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Curator Raptor:
Terrifying beast, rapidly destroying many of its
competitors. However destruction of IT Servitus
proved its own undoing. Species in grave danger of
becoming extinct following an inability to respond to
the rapidly changing climate.
From ‘Curator Coelacanth’ to
‘Curator Sapiens’
Curator Coelancanth:
Rarely spotted in the wild (sometimes found in
the depths of the museum). “almost worthless”
- species that failed to take risks & evolve.
Curator Sapiens:
Not as intimidating as its predecessor but has
the agility & mental capacity to respond
quickly to changing environment 
What species are you?

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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
• 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, …
• Ownership Fundamentalist: must own everything we
use
• 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!
ITServicesCoelacanth
Organisational culture

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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).
LibraryCoelacanth
Organisational culture

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Let’s Be Realistic
Ning allows you to
set up and manage
your own social
network. Sounds
great, doesn’t it?
But:
• Will it have the
momentum to
support thriving
discussion?
• Might it not just
be an automated
aggregator of
content
Over-hyping expectations

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Let’s Be Realistic
Want to provide a safe
social networking
environment?
You can with Ning.
But what of the
pitfalls?
“Am I bovvered?”
Over-hyping expectations

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Let’s Be Realistic
A UK National
Archives Network
Ning site is available
It is being used to
support discussions
such as a follow-up
to a topic raised at
meeting
But do the concerns
about numbers of
participants & amount
of discussions really
matter?
Can you identify success or failure without
knowing purpose, investment, …?
Can you identify success or failure without
knowing purpose, investment, …?
Over-hyping expectations

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Accessibility Concerns
Aren’t Social Web
services:
• Inaccessible to
people with
disabilities?
• Break accessibility
guidelines (WCAG)
• Leave us liable to
be taken to court?
People with disabilities are using Social
Web services
People with disabilities are using Social
Web services
People with disabilities are using Social
Web services – as are disability activists
People with disabilities are using Social
Web services – as are disability activists
DDA: Institutions must take
‘reasonable measures’ to
ensure PWDs aren’t
discriminated against. Is it
discriminatory to fail to provide
services?
Accessibility

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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 can accept certain levels
of risks
• More sophisticated
responses are needed
• 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
…
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
…
Feel free to respond to blog post at
<http://blogs.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/2009/
02/24/access-to-social-sites-is-blocked/>
Organisational barriers

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Sustainability Concerns
What happens if Archive 2.0 services:
• Are unreliable?
• Change their terms and conditions (e.g start
charging)?
• Become bankrupt
Things to remember:
• Services may be unreliable e.g. Twitter
• Market pressure is leading to changes to T&C – &
paid-for services may become free (e.g. Friends
Reunited)
• Banks may go bankrupt too – but we still use them
• Need for risk assessment and risk management
Sustainability

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Interoperability Issues
What happens if Social Web services host your data
and:
• You can’t get the data back out?
• You only get the unstructured or poor quality data
back out?
• You can’t get the comments, annotations, tags
out?
There’s a need to:
• Ensure data export capabilities or
• Upload data from an alternative managed sources
• Understand limitations of data export / import and
make plans around limitations
Interoperability

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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 clipsCommon Craft video clips
You can:
• View them at work
• Listen to the podcast on
the Tube
• Use them in training
Training & staff development
Note UKOLN’s workshops for cultural heritage sector
and briefing documents with CC licences
Note UKOLN’s workshops for cultural heritage sector
and briefing documents with CC licences

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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Measuring & Maximising Impact
What if your Library 2.0
services fails to have the
expected impact?
There’s a need to:
• Monitor impact
• Maximise impact
• Justify impact
• Ensure ethical
approaches are
taken
• Ensure incorrect
assumptions aren’t
made
Impact Assessment
How does one achieve growth?What are the usage patterns for typical posts
Note RSS traffic
Why the long tail for this post?
Further work in this area under development: e.g. using Twitter
to ‘pimp’ up posts; ethical dimension; maximising impact vs
maximising statistics; what should funders expect; …
Further work in this area under development: e.g. using Twitter
to ‘pimp’ up posts; ethical dimension; maximising impact vs
maximising statistics; what should funders expect; …

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Deployment Strategies
I want to do use the Social
Web but:
• The IT Services
department bans it
• The council bans it
• My boss doesn’t
approve
Area of interest to UKOLN:
• “Just do it”
• Subversive approach –
‘Friends of Foo’ if Foo
can’t use it
• Encourage enthusiasts
• Don’t get in the way
UKOLN briefing papers available
with Creative Commons licence.
(over 30 docs published)
UKOLN briefing papers available
with Creative Commons licence.
(over 30 docs published)

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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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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
• 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
• …

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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

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IWMW 2006 & Risk Management
IWMW 2006 has taken a risk management approach to
its evaluation of Web 2.0 technologies:
• Agreements: e.g. in the case of the Chatbot.
• Use of well-established services: Google &
del.icio.us are well-established and have financial
security.
• Notification: warnings that services could be lost.
• Engagement: with the user community: users actively
engage in the evaluation of the services.
• Provision of alternative services: multiple OMPL tools.
• Use in non-mission critical areas: not for bookings!
• Long term experiences of services: usage stats
• Availability of alternative sources of data: e.g.
standard Web server log files.
• Data export and aggregation: RSS feeds, aggregated
in Suprglu, OPML viewers, etc.

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Headline in the Guardian,
7 July 2007
The Risks Within The Sector
The Guardian subsequently
apologised for errors – the
situation wasn’t as bad as
reported 
This was before the credit
crunch and HEFCE’s
John Selby warning of
“troubled financial times
ahead for the educational
sector” 

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Are We Repeating Our Mistakes
In 2000 the threats were the external challenges
provided US universities. Today the threats are the
external challenges provided by Google, etc.

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Headlines For 2010?
“Tories Win General Election”
“Drastic Cuts in Public Sector Funding”
“Market place to have increased role in
public sector”
“Review of public sector Web services”
“Digital Lame Ducks condemned”

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Critical Friends
JISC U&I
programme is
encouraging
establishment of
“Critical Friends”
See <http://critical-friends.org/>See <http://critical-friends.org/>
Paul Walk
(UKOLN) was
described as a
‘critical friend’ of
JISCSee <http://dev8d.jiscinvolve.org/2009/
02/10/five-minute-interview-paul-walk/>
See <http://dev8d.jiscinvolve.org/2009/
02/10/five-minute-interview-paul-walk/>
But is such open
debate encouraged
in other sectors?
See <https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?
A2=ind0903&L=MCG&T=0&F=&S=&P=19929>
See <https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?
A2=ind0903&L=MCG&T=0&F=&S=&P=19929>

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Let The Public Know
“The paper sets out to
answer this question by
way of original
research and
experimentation on real
data sets of museum
objects, obtained from
a number of UK
museums by way of a
Freedom of Information
request.”
“The paper sets out to
answer this question by
way of original
research and
experimentation on real
data sets of museum
objects, obtained from
a number of UK
museums by way of a
Freedom of Information
request.”
Frankie Roberto as a
Critical Friend
Social services, communities,
etc. are now being used to seek
evidence of value-for-money.
We need to be able to
demonstrate appropriate
processes are in place.
Social services, communities,
etc. are now being used to seek
evidence of value-for-money.
We need to be able to
demonstrate appropriate
processes are in place.

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Biases
Subjective factors
Towards a Framework
“Time To Stop Doing and Start
Thinking: A Framework For
Exploiting Web 2.0 Services”,
Museums & the Web 2009
conference
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
• Application to
existing
services
• Application to
in-house
development
• …

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Using The Framework
Use of approach in two scenarios: use of Twitter & Facebook
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:
• Paul Walk / Brian
Kelly blog posts)
• MCG discussions
Learning
• UKOLN cultural
heritage guest
blog post
• Conferences
• Papers
• …
Note personal biases!Note personal biases!

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Use The Framework Yourself
Feel free to you apply
framework to:
• Services you’re
planning
• Existing services
• Large scale
initiatives (e.g.
Creative Spaces)
Intended
Purpose
Benefits
(various
stakeholders
Risks
(various
stakeholders
Missed Opps.
(various
stakeholders
Costs
(various
stakeholders
What is the purpose?
Who are the users?
What are the benefits?
To whom?
What are the risks?
To whom?
What are the risks of
doing nothing?
What are the costs –
to developers, to
users,…
Remember the biases! Is the
service really intended to
sustain the service provider?
Remember the need for the
critical friend and the need
for sharing?

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A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Conclusions
The Web
Tech Guy
and Angry
Staff Person
post
provides a
useful
summary for
this talk!
Acknowledgments to Michael Edson for this
wonderful comic strip