Web 2.0 and Social Networking For Museums, Librari

What Is Web 2.0? Why Is It Important? What Are The Benefits? :What Is Web 2.0? Why Is It Important? What Are The Benefits? Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, BA2 7AY Email B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk UKOLN is supported by: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/mla-yorkshire-2008-05/ Acceptable Use Policy Recording/broadcasting of this talk, taking photographs, discussing the content using email, instant messaging, blogs, SMS, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) Resources bookmarked using 'mla-yorkshire-20080512' tag


About Me :2 About Me Brian Kelly: UK Web Focus: a Web advisory post based at UKOLN Funded by JISC and MLA to advise HE/FE and cultural heritage sectors Web enthusiast since Jan 1993 UKOLN: National centre of expertise in digital information management Located at the University of Bath


About You :3 About You A WetPaint wiki has been set up for the workshop


Contents :4 Contents Web 2.0 – What Is It? RSS  Mashups Blogs  Wikis Social bookmarking  Social networks Comms tools  … Deployment Strategies User focus Information literacy; staff development Safe experimentation Risk assessment / risk management


Web 2.0 :5 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 Social tagging (folksonomies) Trust and openness Web 2.0 What Is Web 2.0? Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology” Web 2.0


Blogs :6 Blogs Blogs – social phenomenon of the C21st? Need for information professionals to: Understand Blogging & related technologies (e.g. RSS, Technorati) Be able to find resources in the 'Bloggosphere' Explore how to Blogs to support business functions (support users, staff & organisation) Web 2.0 http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/antarctica/ This blog … tells what it's like spending the winter in Antarctica conserving artefacts from the explorer's hut left behind by Ernest Shackleton in 1908. Openness Syndication Collaboration Key Characteristics


Blogs - Reading :7 Blogs - Reading How do you keep informed of developments? Do you use a dedicated Blog reader? Are you alerted of changes to key Blogs? Do you focus on the content, and avoid the distractions of ads, etc. Web 2.0 Bloglines – a Web-based Blog reader. You are informed of changes since you last viewed the page. http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs Openness Syndication Collaboration


What Are They Saying About Us? :8 Web 2.0 What Are They Saying About Us? Blogs are very interconnected with each other (bloggers discuss other blog postings). This can help to provide feedback; measure impact; engage in discussions; etc. http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/antarctica/


Finding Resources :9 Finding Resources Technorati can help find Blog articles, etc. Technorati search for "Museum of Antiquities" finds: Blog posting about current exhibition posted 11 minutes ago! Google search finds: Museum home page Web 2.0 http://www.technorati.com/ … What do users want: the home page and what people are saying today. Google & Technorati are valuable tools, so organisations should ensure that their Web site can be found in both. RSS Syndication


Wikis :10 Wikis Wikis – collaborative Web-based authoring tools I use wikis for: Collaborative papers (avoiding emailed MS Word file around) Web 2.0 Google Docs – Web-based word processor or Wiki? Does it matter, it does the job http://docs.google.com/ Openness Syndication Collaboration


Wikipedia :11 Wikipedia Wikipedia – not only a community-developed encyclopedia, but also a well-linked Web site, which boosts Google rankings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum


Sharing - Flickr :12 Sharing - Flickr Web 2.0 includes community-building You can help support your community-building by making it easy to share photos at events (e.g. this seminar) Simply suggest a tag e.g. ‘mla-yorkshire-20080512’ and encourage delegates to upload their photos with this tag Web 2.0 http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=iwmw2006&m=text Openness Network effect Syndication Collaboration


Sharing – del.icio.us :13 Sharing – del.icio.us Another aspect of sharing is sharing bookmarks This can be used to: Manage your bookmarks Allow others to contribute resources Allow lists of bookmarks to be repurposed Carry out impact analysis Web 2.0 Openness Network effect Syndication Collaboration National Archives Web site bookmarked by 374 others: Who are they? What else are they interested in? http://del.icio.us/lisbk/sharing-made-simple-20080310


Mapping Services & The Web :14 Web 2.0 Mapping Services & The Web Web 2.0 provides valuable opportunity to provide mapping & location services: Embedding Google maps on your Web sites Developing rich services using this Providing location metadata / microformats which can be processed by simple browser tools


Google Maps Mashups :15 Web 2.0 Google Maps Mashups Google Map ‘mashup’ used for IWMW 2006 event: ~ 20 lines of JavaScript. Code taken from Google Maps Web site and coordinates added http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2006/maps/ Openness Mashup APIs


Location Metadata :16 Web 2.0 Location Metadata Location metadata can be used by various applications Openness Sharing Open standards Wouldn’t it be great if when we go to a Web site: We can easily find nearby hotels, pubs and other useful information And: Organisations made their location data available for others to reuse http://geourl.org/near?p=http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/archivists-2008-03/


Communications :17 Communications Realtime discussion is a key part of the Web 2.0 and the .net generation (IM, SMS messaging, …) How much effort does it take to provide an instant messaging service for your organisation? Try Gabbly.com Note: Most effective with ‘clean URIs’ Data an be exported using RSS User support? What user support? Web 2.0 Communications Clean URIs http://www.gabbly.com/


Web 2.0 Backlash :18 Web 2.0 Backlash 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. Deployment Challenges


Takeup Of New Technologies :19 Takeup Of New Technologies The Gartner curve Developers Rising expectations Trough of despair Service plateau Enterprise software Large budgets … Early adopters


Beware The IT Fundamentalists :20 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! IT Services Barrier


The Librarian Fundamentalists :21 The Librarian Fundamentalists Librarians: 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). Library Barrier


Deployment Strategies :22 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 Risk management strategy … Deployment Challenges


Staff Development :23 Staff Development There's a need for your staff to: Understand what Web 2.0 is about Learn how to make use of Web 2.0 subject to constraints of lack of time; resources; etc. The Library 2.0 Podcasts Web sites provides a useful resources for learning about new tools, techniques, etc. Deployment Challenges http://podcasts.alablog.org/blog/_archives/2006/4/12/1881517.html


Information Literacy :24 Information Literacy Librarything provides a good example of a Web 2.0 service: Catalogue your books AJAX interface Exploit data provided by the community Export capabilities Other books you may like … http://www.librarything.com/tag/Embarrassing


Wikipedia :25 Wikipedia Wikipedia entry for the Society of Archivists: Easy to create Provides high-profile information (Google-friendly) Allows community to enhance & develop content Created in 2004 (and improved since) Opportunities You’ve an entry in Wikipedia  But do you have a video clip in YouTubes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Archivists


Learning From One’s Peers (1) :26 Learning From One’s Peers (1) devonmuseums.net provide an interactive map showing the location of museums in the area. http://www.devonmuseums.net/...


Learning From One’s Peers (2) :27 Learning From One’s Peers (2) The Celtic Coin Index illustrates use of a Web 2.0 approach: AJAX to remember typed input http://www.finds.org.uk/CCI/


IWMW 2006 & Risk Management :28 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. Deployment Strategy


Conclusions :29 Conclusions To conclude: Web 2.0 can provide real benefits for our users However organisations tend to be conservative We therefore need: Advocacy To listen to users' concerns To address users' concerns e.g. risk management We can all benefit by adopting Web 2.0 principles of openness and sharing. So let us: Share our advocacy resources, risk management techniques, etc. Develop your own social network based on openness, trust, collaboration, .. Read my UKWebFocus.wordpress.com Blog Conclusions