THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE David Clay University of Liverpool Social software: what do our users want? USTLG, Liverpool, June 2006

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE A quick survey …… How many of you have/use/play …. 1.Blog 2.Wiki 3.Social bookmarking (e.g. Del.ici.ous) 4.Instant Messaging 5.Photo sharing (e.g. Flickr) 6.Social Networking (e.g. MySpace, Friendster) 7.Personal Start pages (e.g.Netvibes) 8.Web based word processing/spreadsheets 9.Multiplayer online games

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE The vision “The internet is providing us with ways to work together that were unimaginable even just a decade ago. The idea that the internet may one day contain the sum of human knowledge is to underestimate its potential. The internet is not just a repository, it is a mechanism for new discoveries, for expanding our knowledge and for making links between people that would previously have been impossible.” (1) Suw Charman, Chair, Open Rights Group

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE The power of technology “We are still understanding the power of what all this can do because the real innovation happens not from the technology but from how all of us go about applying it. (2) ” Danny Meadows-Klute Chief Executive, Digital Strategy Consulting

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Teens & technology (3) »They are digital natives in a land of digital immigrants »They are immersed in world of media and gadgets »Their technology is mobile »The internet plays a special role in their world »They are multi-taskers »They are often unaware of and indifferent to the consequences of their use of technology »Their (our) technology world will change radically in the next decade »The way they approach learning and research tasks is shaped by their new techno-world

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE What do teens do with technology? (4) »Send or read 89% »Go to websites about movies, TV shows, music groups, or sports stars 84% »Play online games 81% »Go online to get news or information about current events 76% »Send or receive instant messages 75% »Go online to get information about a college, university, or other school 57% »Look for news or information about politics 55% »Buy things online, such as books, clothing, or music 43% »Send or receive text messages using a cell phone 38% »Look for health, dieting, or physical fitness information online 31% »Look for information about a job online 30% »Look for religious or spiritual information online 26%

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE College Students Internet use (5) »Internet access MedianMeanRange »Years of use »Hours/week »Frequency of use –Several times a day83.3% –Once a day12.4% –Less than daily4.3% Hargittai, E (2006) College Students internet use. Beyond Broadcast 2006, May 12-13, Harvard Law School. Available from

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Content Creation (7) Hargittai, E (2006) College Students internet use. Beyond Broadcast 2006, May 12-13, Harvard Law School. Available from

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Use of New services (8) Hargittai, E (2006) College Students internet use. Beyond Broadcast 2006, May 12-13, Harvard Law School. Available from

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Online activities (9) Hargittai, E (2006) College Students internet use. Beyond Broadcast 2006, May 12-13, Harvard Law School. Available from

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE What academic staff want “…… what faculty members and university researchers want is to do their research, read and write about it, share it with others, and keep up in their fields. (10) ”

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Understanding faculty (11) »Academic staff want to be able to: –Work with co-authors –Work from different computers and locations, both Mac and PC –Make their own work available to others –Have easy access to other people's work –Keep up in their fields –Organize their materials according to their own scheme –Be sure not to violate copyright issues –Keep everything related to computers easy and flawless –Reduce chaos or at least not add to it

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Scholarly networks? (12) »Scientific research is bound up with social interaction »Academics’ don’t have a problem finding relevant documents, they do have a problem deciding which documents are most relevant »Academics prefer to cooperate with people who speak the same specialized language »Academics’ social networks are often the place where information is sought, interpreted, used, and created »Information sharing is facilitated by the Web and other technologies to support collaboration »Collaborative information seeking is as common as individual seeking »Collaboration technologies use and usefulness depends on their ability to function as extensions of academics already existing social networks and work practices

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Peer Review

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Scholarly Communities

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Organising their materials

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE E-Science “ e-Science is about global collaboration in key areas of science, and the next generation of infrastructure that will enable it.” John Taylor Director General of Research Councils Office of Science and Technology

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE eBank UK Project (14) »Two key themes: –Open access to datasets –Linking research data to publications and to learning

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE IM Reference services »90% of respondents currently use IM, and 90% have never used the UNLV Chat Reference service »“An instant messegain service would be great because I usually do my research from home on the computer, so if I have a question, it would really be helpful to be able to speak to someone instantly.” »"I'd imagine it's difficult to convey what you need help with in a library without talking face to face." Survey carried out by Sherri Vokey at UNLV Libraries (15)

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE IM Reference Services

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE More examples?

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE Thank you! Questions?

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL INVESTING IN KNOWLEDGE References 1.Charman, S & Holloway, M (2006) Copyright in a collaborative age. M/C Journal, 9 (2) Available from: Standage, Tom (Chair); Charman, Suw; Meadows-Klute, Danny; Naughton, John; Thomson, Karen (23rd Feb 2006) Economist debate – the internet’s golden age is over [transcript]. London: RSA. Available from [accessed 7th April 2006] 3.Rainie, Lee. (2005) Life Online: Teens and technology and the world to come. Speech to annual conference of Public Library Association. 23/3/06. Washington, Pew Internet & American Life. Available from: Lenhart, A et al. (2005) Teens & technology. Washington, Pew Internet & American Life. Available from Hargittai, E. (2006) College Students Internet Use, Beyond Broadcast 2006, May 12-13, Harvard Law Schoo. Available from: 6.Ibid 7.Ibid 8.Ibid 9.Ibid 10.Foster, Nancy Fried & Gibbons, Susan (2005) Understanding Faculty to Improve Content Recruitment for Institutional Repositories. D-Lib Magazine, 11 (1). Available from: Ibid 12.Talja, S. (2002) Information sharing in academic communities: Types and levels of collaboration in information seeking and use. New Review of Information Behavior Research 3, Available from: Lyon, Liz (2006) Digital Libraries and e-Research: new horizons, new challenges? 8th International Bielefeld Conference. Available from: Lyon, Liz (2006) Digital Libraries and e-Research: new horizons, new challenges? 8th International Bielefeld Conference. Available from: 15.Vogel, Sherri (2005) IM'ers not digital reference chatters? [Part 3] [blog] :: schwagbag ::,May 05. Available from: