A centre of expertise in digital information management UKOLN is supported by: Web 2.0 -...

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.uk

UKOLN is supported by:

Web 2.0 - Implications for IT Services

Marieke Guy

Interoperability Focus

[email protected]



About Me

• Work for UKOLN, National centre of expertise in digital information management

• Located at the University of Bath

• Funded by JISC and MLA to advise UK HE and FE communities and the cultural heritage sector

• Areas of work include: UK Web Focus, Ariadne, support for digital repositories, Grand Challenge project

• I work on the Interoperability Focus team, previous roles include….

• Following in the footsteps of Brian ‘the guru’ Kelly



About this Session

• Start with an introductory talk that uses Web 2.0 technologies and attitude:– PowerPoint slides contain links to relevant

resources, CC licence for slides– Resources bookmarked on del.icio.us

(with tag ucisa-tlig-2006 )– Always beta – not everything will necessarily work,

but that's not the end of the world• Followed by a chance to discuss the challenges and

implications• Finally a quick talk to sum up, conclude and take things

forward



Contents

– Introduction

– Where Are We Now?

– Web 2.0: Web 2.0 technologies Web 2.0 culture

– Deployment Challenges

– Conclusions



Where Are We Now?• Web now established as a communications medium • Many positive aspects of the UK Institutional Web and IT

community:– Willingness to share experiences– Many annual events – Communication - people talk & socialise

• Challenges we face:– Managing with limited resources– Managing service vs supporting user needs– Expectations of users– Role(s) of our Web services– Exploitation of new technologies



So What is Web 2.0?

• Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology” – now patented

• 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 and social tagging (folksonomies)– Trust and openness


www.ukoln.ac.uk www.bath.ac.ukWeb2MemeMap, Tim O’Reilly, 2005



Web 2.0 Exemplars

Let's look at some examples Let's look at some examples



Blogs• Weblog is a web-based publication made up of periodic

articles, like an online diary • Ideal for use in HE (MySpace, Bebo, LiveJournal)

– by students: sharing learning; reflections on learning; developing writing & social skills

– by researchers: sharing knowledge and ideas; maximising impact…

• Use Technorati to search new postings in Blogs (139 posts hits for UCISA on 6/06/2006)

• Talis (UK library vendor), CETIS are publishing Blogs• Want to engage with your users? Why not set up an IT

Services Blog? Issues with censorship etc.



http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/

Keep informed of e-learning developments from Scott Wilson's (CETIS) Blog. Note use of an RSS reader (reuse of chunks).

Keep informed of e-learning developments from Scott Wilson's (CETIS) Blog. Note use of an RSS reader (reuse of chunks).

http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/

http://www.technorati.com/http://www.technorati.com/

http://www.bath.ac.uk/e-learning/Auricle.htm http://www.bath.ac.uk/e-learning/Auricle.htm

High profile e-learning Blog from Bath Univ. Note reference to Podcast – another very relevant technology

High profile e-learning Blog from Bath Univ. Note reference to Podcast – another very relevant technology



Wikis• Wikis provide collaborative, easy-to-use Web-based

authoring. • Again ideal for students, researchers and support staff for

collaborative work allowing focus on content, not on authoring tools

• Some issues for Web/marketing people– Should you be proactive in ensuring content is accurate? – Should you seek to lead in order to define structure?– Same old censorship issues

• What about for systems documentation, note-taking, student group working, research work



Web

2.0

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop-focus/community/index/IWMW2006http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop-focus/community/index/IWMW2006



Podcasts• University of Michigan School of

Dentistry provide students with access to education-related content virtually anywhere

• Are your University Podcasts available through iTunes?Aren't you missing out on a major distribution channel? (Student radio)

• iPod/MP3 portable ownership at around 12% in 2005, heavilyskewed to 18-28 age group

http://www.dent.umich.edu/about/aboutschool/news/news2005/news091905.htmlhttp://www.dent.umich.edu/about/aboutschool/news/news2005/news091905.html



http://www.everyobject.net/static.php?page=interactivehttp://www.everyobject.net/static.php?page=interactive



Instant Messaging (IM)

•IM – popular, widely used, with benefits for collaboration, but banned in some places•Meebo:

– Web-based IM client– An AJAX application

•Issues:– How do you ban it?– Interoperability– Doesn't it break WAI

guidelines?

http://www.meebo.com/http://www.meebo.com/Web

2.0



Folksonomies• Keywords, tags, metadata • Created by groups/communities who are the resource

users• Feedback loop is key• Used for bookmarking, Images, video and sound, other

areas (events, goals, colours etc.)• Many flaws in the approach (ambiguity, searching etc.)• Many potential benefits (cheap and extendable, added

value metadata etc.)• Implications include shift in metadata creation, trigger for

communication, snap shot of current world, spam• Library use, IT services use – shared resources



http://del.icio.us/tag/iwmw2006http://del.icio.us/tag/iwmw2006



Mash Ups• Mashup – merging information from multiple sources (cf

music mashups)• Web services releasing APIs – Google Maps, (Is your

campus map rescalable without loss of resolution?), Google Earth,

• Can you merge data from 3rd party sources with your maps

• Examples include google maps and BBC traffic data, crime information <http://www.chicagocrime.org/types/theft/58> hurricane Katrina information <http://www.scipionus.com/katrina.html>

• See <http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/> for more examples



Feeds• E-mail has its role but:

– Why send messages which time-out when many users will read them too late?

– Why not use delivery channels which are spam-free and are more suited to receiving information (as opposed to discussions)?

– Why not allow users to select their preferred channels?

• Feeds allow syndication of content – use RSS 2.0 or Atom

• Great for education – an attenuation device

See RSS briefing paper

See RSS briefing paper



Feeds

• Allows you to mix, organise, rate and annotate resources

• Perfect for news, many other uses too – courses, social activities

• Use a dedicated RSS viewer - Opera or Pluck plugin• Maybe RSS viewers should be standard on desktops?

• Can also be used for people (FOAF) and events (iCalendar)



Personalised Web Environment• Netvibes is an example of a personalised Web environment – just add your favourite RSS feeds

• Can be:

– Conventional news feeds

– RSS from email (e.g GMail)

– Dynamic RSS from searches

• Also have a look at Suprglu

Note that Netvibes has an AJAX interface, so that the windows can be dragged around browser area, closed, etc.

http://www.netvibes.com/http://www.netvibes.com/



Mobile Devices

• Potential of mobile devices in learning, research, etc.

• GPS combined with web services for weather, traffic ETC.

• mobile-based email



Web

2.0

Skype / VoIP

VoIP is coming, so now’s the time to gain experiences. What are the implications of ‘free’ always-on telephony (i.e. it's not just about software) - you could be broadcasting this talk now!

VoIP is coming, so now’s the time to gain experiences. What are the implications of ‘free’ always-on telephony (i.e. it's not just about software) - you could be broadcasting this talk now!

• Skype is a good example of Internet telephony:

Integrated voice, IM, Web (and now video)

Can be high quality Free / cheap calls Conference calls Accessibility benefits Proprietary Network issues



Open Culture

• Culture of openness, trust, beta and open source

• Creative commons licences for work

• EUNIS 2005 paper on "Let's Free IT Support Materials!" as an example of what UK HE could be doing

http://creativecommons.org/http://creativecommons.org/



Break Out Session

• How can IT services deploy Web 2.0?

• More importantly, should we (isn't it just hype?)

• What are the technical and cultural barriers to implementing Web 2.0?



Technical & Cultural Barriers

•Technical Barriers:– Will it work? Is it interoperable?– Is it secure? Is performance

acceptable?– Do we have the expertise, resources, …– …

•Cultural and Organisational Barriers:•What/who? – Some stereotypes!

– IT Services!!! Librarians– Academics Senior management– Users …



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 need next version of our

enterprise system (and you must fit in with this)• Accessibility Fundamentalist: we must do WAI WCAG• User Fundamentalist: we 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



IT Services • Don't understand learning and teaching and think that

students only ever use the Web for messing around• Have no interest in what the users actually want and

generally prefer to give the users what they themselves think they want.

• Tend to work in silos (example: student information systems team which won't talk to the VLE team). They have no concept of team working across services or with academic staff.

• Consultation usually consists of them telling you what they are going to do. If you tell them what you want they don't listen!

• Computer says “no”! image



The Librarian Fundamentalists

• Think they know better than the user e.g. they don't like people using Google Scholar; they should use Web of Knowledge

• Think that users should be forced to learn Boolean searching & other formal search techniques because this is good for them

• 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 will release them to their users. They are very uncomfortable with the concept of 'forever beta'



Academics

• Many academic are conservative and won't care

• Many will feel threatened

• Many won't like WiFi in lecture theatres, students chatting on IRC, Googling answers, …

• Many will soon ask for WiFi to be removed, blocked from lecture theatres (including areas where it's not yet available!)



Senior Managers & Users• Senior management:

– Don't understand technologies– Can be conservative– More comfortable with conventional business relations

with vendors– May be over-cautious about being sued

• Users:– Can be conservative and many don't understand

technologies– Those that do may use the technologies in dangerous

ways– Others may have high expectations (computer games



Principles• IT Services should consider:

– User Focus– Avoiding Dogma– Responsive to Change– Good Communications

• Developers should consider:– Scalability– Sustainability– Reliability– Integration– Consistency

Draft principles availableDraft principles available



Conclusions

• We need a change in culture• To be more open (surely what HE is about?)• Revisiting AUPs – should not be a control mechanism• Developing more sophisticated models for standards,

accessibility, open source, …• Integrating IT Policies With Institutional Policies • Ongoing debate and discussion• Holistic or blended approach - flexibility in implementation • Exploit UKOLN's QA Focus briefing documents:

90+ documents available with CC licence• Contribute to UKOLN's Wiki on Best Practices for CMSs



Questions?

• Acknowledgements:Thanks to Brian Kelly and IWMW2006 for slides, inspiration and insight

• http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop-focus/events/ucisa-tlig-2006/futures/

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