An Introduction to Web 2.0 and the Social Web: Challenges Marieke Guy, UKOLN Email: m.guy@ukoln.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/mariekeguy Blog: http://remoteworker.wordpress.com/ 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 ‘mla-social-web-workshop' tag UKOLN is supported by: This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

The Challenges Money Expertise Time Resources Reliability Understanding Sustainability Cultural issues Challenges Interoperability Colleagues Technical Issues Management Privacy, DPA, FOI, .. Accessibility Council Legal Issues IT Services

Web 2.0 Backlash Deployment Challenges 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 Deployment Challenges 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.

IP Stereotypes They think they know better than the user e.g. they don't like people using Google Scholar; they should use Web of Knowledge They think that users should be forced to learn boolean searching and other formal search techniques because this is good for them They don't want the users to search for themselves ( folksonomies) because they won't get it right. They want to classify the entire Web - despite the fact that users don't use their lists of Web links They 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 2.0 Paul Miller stated that he saw Web 2.0 as being about: freeing of data, remixing and the opening up of the long tail the building of virtual applications, participation, sharing, communication and facilitating community applications that work for the user, are modular and are smart Web 2.0 + Library = Library 2.0 With Web 2.0 libraries have an opportunity to work their wealth of data harder and serve their existing audiences better Warning: Users will bypass processes and institutions that they perceive to be slow, unresponsive, unappealing and irrelevant in favour of a more direct approach to services offered by others that just might be 'good enough' for what they need to do.

Let’s Be Realistic IAVE (International Association of Volunteer Effort) was “founded in 1970 by people who saw volunteering as a means to make connections across cultures” Only has 4 members And no discussions

Let’s Be Realistic Some Ning groups are open, but some require registration: Is it worth it if: The numbers are small? The content is limited The social network doesn’t reflect my areas of interest In addition: Do I want to share data on my relationships & music tastes with an unknown audience

Your Concerns Possible Concerns “It’s full of photos of kids getting drunk” Web 2.0 is inaccessible to people with disabilities It’s not sustainable What about copyright infringement, data protection, protection of minors, …? We’ll be sued. “You’ll not catch me using Web 2.0!” Addressing The Concerns Understanding such concerns Using technologies in appropriate ways New media literacy strategies Risks assessment & risk management It may not be for everyone

Privacy Concerns You may have privacy concerns: Read the help pages Learn how to manage privacy settings Choose what you want to share Judge the risks that: Company will lie or make mistakes Implications of lies / mistakes Also remember risks of not engaging with Social Web: Missed opportunities Failure to engage in brand management, …

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

Sustainability Concerns What happens if Social Web 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

The Council Firewall 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 xxx or email xxx 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 Feel free to respond to blog post at <http://blogs.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/2009/ 02/24/access-to-social-sites-is-blocked/>

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

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

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dimi3/3096166092/

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

Developing a Business Case Use a template (West Dumbartonshire) Be clear about what you hope to achieve Background is very important Contextualise Beef up the business need Find great examples Aim high – if you don’t ask, you don’t get! Use a social media strategy framework

Be Well Informed UKOLN provide briefing papers on web 2 of specific relevance to the Cultural Heritage sector Many are introductory – may be useful to pass on to your management team Some are on addressing barriers Cultural heritage covers areas of concern Stay well informed! UKOLN briefing papers available with Creative Commons licence (over 60 docs published)

Staff Development Deployment Challenges http://podcasts.alablog.org/blog/ _archives/2006/4/12/1881517.html There's a need for your staff to: Understand what Web 2.0 is about Learn how to make use of Web 2.0 This is all 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

Risk Managment Take a risk management approach to your evaluation of Web 2.0 technologies (as we do with IWMW) Establish Agreements Use well-established services: Google & Delicious 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 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.

Risks & Opportunities Framework Rather than talking about services in an abstract context ("shall we have a Facebook page") specific details of the intended use should be provided. Document perceived benefits Document perceived risks Document missed opportunities and benefits which a failure to make use of the Social Web service Summarise costs and other resource implications Once the risks have been identified and discussed consider approaches to risk minimisation Give evidence which backs up assertions made in use of the framework

Conclusions 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 A change of culture 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, ..

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