A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Maximising the Effectiveness of Your Online Resources: Challenges In Making Use of the Social Web Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, UK UKOLN is supported by: This work is licensed under a Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) Resources bookmarked using ‘ scaseo ' tag Blog: Acceptable Use Policy Recording of this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using Twitter, blogs, SMS, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. Acceptable Use Policy Recording of this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using Twitter, blogs, SMS, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. Twitter:

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 2 Your Views What do you think are the main challenges in exploiting the Social Web to enhance access to your resources and services? D

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 3 The Challenges Challenges Unconvinced Colleagues You Lack of resources Limited Understanding No support from management It’s a Social (not work) Web Sustainability No time Technical Issues Interoperability It’s “my” space Firewalls Branding, editorial control Concerns Doing it ethically ROI (demonstrate/ maximise?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 4 Deployment Strategies Interested in using Social Web in your organisation? Worried about corporate inertia, power struggles, etc? There’s a need for a deployment strategy: Addressing business needs Low-hanging fruits Observe emerging best practices Encouraging the enthusiasts (don’t get in the way) Staff training & development Address areas you feel comfortable with Impact analysis and assessment Risk and opportunity management strategy Accept that you won’t do it …

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 5 You Don’t Need To Blog! Perhaps blogging & twittering (and speaking at conferences) is best left to those with a passion for user engagement? Suggestions: Encourage the enthusiast Lightweight bureaucracy: “Don’t be stupid”, emerging patterns of Twitter usage, … Suggestions: Encourage the enthusiast Lightweight bureaucracy: “Don’t be stupid”, emerging patterns of Twitter usage, …

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 6 What You (Maybe) Shouldn’t Do Aim: Maximise traffic Approach: Use “Topless Swedish Model” in title Comment: But you may wish to use humour, puns, … So be honest in your reporting. Aim: Maximise comments Approach: Misspell people’s names in order to get then to respond (and then say thanks) Comment: But you may make spelling mistakes. Again be honest in your reporting. Aim: Maximise traffic Approach: Run an automated tool over site. Comment: But you may wish to use such tools. Again be honest in your reporting.

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 7 You Might Need a ‘Policy’ Dangers: A policy is bureaucratic, Fails to understand new technologies … Dangers of no policy: Over-the-top reaction A lightweight policy: Mosman Council page describes “who is tweeting on behalf of the Council (the web team based at the Library); why they are doing it; their reply policy and how to stop them following you”

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 8 Return On Investment Justifying ROI What’s the purpose of the Social Web service:  Dissemination  Engaging with users  Reflective thinking  Providing opportunity for comment  … Maximising ROI Timeliness Appropriateness Challenging publishing assumptions Remember ‘rule’ Friday post Saturday post Monday post Tuesday post

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 9 “It‘s My Space” “Can you send this message on your list?” “Can you mention it in your blog?” NB Happy to mention Oxford’s “Wall of 100 Faces” Get your students to say how great the Uni is and make interface attractive and appealing NB Happy to mention Oxford’s “Wall of 100 Faces” Get your students to say how great the Uni is and make interface attractive and appealing

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 10 My Political Views A poll carried out by the Daily Mail on 19 June 2009 Surprised by results? A triumph for the liberal intelligentsia on Twitter? Echoes of public protests in dictatorships. But what if I had been promoting the BNP? (Note the wording in my tweet) A triumph for the liberal intelligentsia on Twitter? Echoes of public protests in dictatorships. But what if I had been promoting the BNP? (Note the wording in my tweet)

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Influencing & Observing The Daily Mail hid the results Blog post published on activism & ethics Encouraging votes Multiple votes Citing tweets Capturing images of tweets and Twitterers 11 Opportunity to analyse influence in social networks – but is this ethical?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Dodgy Use of Twitter Habitat: Monitor ‘trending’ Twitter hashtags Publish advertising tweets with these hashtags Including: Hashtag about Iranian elections! How do we ensure we use SNs in ethical way? Do we simply avoid their use?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk What About Metrics? Martin Wellers blog post on “Connections versus Outputs” on impact in Social Web Lists in 'distance learning‘ of: Top influencers Sites/people have a high level of 'hubness‘ ("characteristic of disproportionately linking to those who are authoritative on a given topic“) But how reliable is this? 13

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 14 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

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 15 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 … Note also JISC’s Scenario Planning work

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 16 Using The Framework 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 / Friendly Critics UKOLN blogs list discussions Learning Many blogs Engaging with a Twitter community Conferences Papers … Note personal biases! Use of approach in two scenarios: CILIP use of Twitter & Facebook

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 17 Conclusions Acknowledgments to Michael Edson for the Web Tech Guy and Angry Staff Person post / comic strip