Wikis Blogs and Web 2 0 Demystified Marieke

Wikis, Blogs and Web 2. 0 Demystified Marieke Guy Interoperability Focus UKOLN is supported by: www. ukoln. ac. uk This work is licensed under a Attribution. Non. Commercial-Share. Alike 2. 0 licence (but note caveat) A centre of expertise in digital information management www. bath. ac. uk

A Brief Introduction…. • I 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 • I work on the Interoperability Focus team • Currently work as the Chair of the Institutional Web Management Workshop and on the JISC Standards Catalogue • Previous roles include QA Focus, SPP Project Manager, e. Prints UK project manager, Public Library Focus work, NOF -digitise, Web Magazines www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Workshop Programme • Presentation: Wikis, Blogs and Web 2. 0 Demystified – 20 minutes • Discussion: Challenges of Web 2. 0 for the Library Community and Feedback – 25 minutes • Presentation: Safe experimentation and Where do you go from here? – 10 minutes • Any final feedback, questions, comments etc. http: //www. ukoln. ac. uk/interop-focus/events/ouls-2007/ http: //del. icio. us/tag/ouls-2007 www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

So…What is Web 2. 0? • Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology” 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 www. ukoln. ac. uk (folksonomies) Web 2 Meme. Map, Tim O’Reilly, A centre of expertise in digital information management • Trust and openness 2005

www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Blogs • A blog is a Web log, online diary • Professionals are increasingly using blogs to describe what they are doing • A social phenomenon of the 21 st Century • Key characteristics are openess, collaboration and syndication • There is a need for information professionals to: – Understand blogging and related technologies (e. g. RSS, Technorati) – Be able to find resources in the 'Bloggosphere' – Explore how to use blogs to support business functions (support users, staff & organisation) www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Web 2. 0 Reading Blogs http: //www. bloglines. com/myblogs • There are lots of dedicated blog readers • You can sign up for RSS feeds to be alerted to changes • Try not to be distracted by adverts etc Bloglines – a Web-based Blog. Bridge – a desktop Blog reader. You are www. ukoln. ac. uk informed of of changes since you last viewed thethe changes since you last viewed A informed centre of expertise in digital information management page.

Library Blogs www. ukoln. ac. uk • Lots of Individuals creating blogs • Phil Bradley’s, Peter Scotts, Technobiblio, Library Techtronics, Shifted Librarian, Free Range Librarian • Some subject specialist and medical blogs, moving more towards library teams • British Librarian Bloggers list A centre of expertise in digital management Spineless? http: //hwlibrary. wordpress. com/ It’s Allinformation Good - http: //scanblogspot. com/ Shush! http: //library. northampton. ac. uk/blog/ Panlibus - http: //blogs. talis. com/panlibus/

Using Blogs • Blogs are very interconnected with each other (bloggers discuss other blog postings). • This can help to provide feedback; measure impact; engage in discussions; etc. • Web Monkey extension can give blog comments on your pages • Technorati can help find Blog articles, etc. • A search for “Oxford University Library Services” returns 32 hits, mainly student blogs • The comments field can allow you to engage in discussions • Time for you to establish a blog? www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Blog Issues • Can you have a corporate voice, do you want one? • What software will you use? – Hosted vs self hosted? – Free vs cost? – Open source vs propriatary? – Features? – Popular software includes Moveable Type, Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger, Blogware • A huge number of blogs are not read and become deserted by their writers • Do you want all your thoughts to be accessible to all? What about an internal blog? • If you want to increase visibility the more postings the higher rating www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Wikis • Wikis are collaborative Web-based authoring tools –read state and write state • They can be used for: – team work and collaborative papers (avoiding emailed MS Word file around) – Note-taking and social discussions at events – As an easy way to set up a group Web site – A great e-learning tool • Uses a simple markup language (wikitext or wikisyntax) • Ability to compare previous versions of a page, revert back and track who edited the page • Many allow users to discuss issues prior to making changes • Increasing popularity in the public sector www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Wikipedia • Easy to create • Provides high-profile information (Google -friendly) • Allows the community to enhance and develop content • Is time your library had an entry? • Who will edit it? www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Wiki Issues • Vandalism, spam • Wiki etiquette • Searching (more tagging needed), archiving (ephemeral), organisation of pages – no heirarchy • Mark up – no standardisation…yet – training implications • Stopping your wiki from becoming an unmaintained storehouse of out-of-date information! • Organisational Culture - Freedom to move away from usual design, protocols, habits • Resources - Staff training, time, costs • How will librarians add wikis and blogs to their collections? www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Wiki Potential for Libraries • “At their best, they can become true community resources that can position the library as a an online hub of their local community” Meredith Farkas • Book reviews, FAQs • Comments section, suggestion box • Commonly asked questions (reference or general library) • Local history, personal stories • Course collaboration, e-portfolios • Library project work, input for research work www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Social Networks • Sharing and community are what Web 2. 0 is all about • Some of the most famous networks are My. Space, Facebook, del. icio. us, Frappr and Flickr • Library is a social network in itself so the implications for it are huge • Tagging – allows users to add keywords to items – Created by groups/communities who are the resource users – Natural language – common understanding – No hierarchy, feedback • RSS Feeds www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Web 2. 0 Sharing - Flickr http: //www. flickr. com/photos/tags/ iwmw 2006/ • 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. ‘ouls-2007 and encourage delegates to upload their photos with this tag www. ukoln. ac. uk http: //www. flickr. com/photos/westmontlibrary/176505152/ A centre of expertise in digital information management

Web 2. 0 Sharing – del. icio. us http: //del. icio. us/mariekeguy/ouls-2007 • • 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 Who else has bookmarked this resources? What are their interests? www. ukoln. ac. uk (I may have similarininterests) How many have bookmarked my resource? A centre of expertise digital information management

Web 2. 0 Creative Commons Openess is a key aspect of Web 2. 0: open source; open standards and open content can all help to bring benefits through maximising usage of services www. ukoln. ac. uk • Creative Commons offers copyright holders licences to assign to their work • The licences aim to clarify the conditions of use and avoid many of the problems current copyright laws pose when attempting to share information. • CC maximises impact of work A centre of expertise in digital information management

Web 2. 0 Google Maps/Mashups http: //www. ukoln. ac. uk/web-focus/events/ workshops/webmaster-2007/maps/ http: //www. talis. com/tdn/competition www. ukoln. ac. uk • 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 A centre of expertise in digital information management

Web 2. 0 Communication http: //www. gabbly. com/ • Realtime discussion is a key part of the Web 2. 0 and the. net generation (IM, SMS…) • Can be used by patrons, chat reference services with transcript • How much effort does it take to provide an instant messaging service for your library? • Try Gabbly. com • What about Skype? www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

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, avoid the chasm in the Gartner curve 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 www. ukoln. ac. uk describes a pattern of related usage. Theremanagement will be poor (and good) Web 2. 0 A centre of expertise in digital information services – just like anything else. Any usage will arrive at a follow-up term.

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 www. ukoln. ac. uk direct approach to services offered by others that just might be 'good centre of they expertise in digital enough' Afor what need to do. information management

Discussion (20 Minutes) So what are the challenges of Web 2. 0 for the library community? In small groups list: 1. 2. The top 5 challenges for the library community? Possible ways that you can meet these challenges www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Where do Librarians fit in? • Is it true that they: – 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 and other formal search techniques because this is good for them – don't want the users to search for themselves ( folksonomies) because they won't get it right. – 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 www. ukoln. ac. uk figure things out themselves and work around the bugs). A centre of expertise in digital information management

Safe Experimentation • Are you interested in using Web 2. 0 in your organisation? • Worried about corporate inertia, power struggles, etc? • What you need is 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 and development – Address areas you feel comfortable with – Risk management strategy – … www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Deployment Challenges Staff Development 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. www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Some Low Hanging Fruit… http: //www. librarything. com/ • 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 – Implications for reader recommendations – … www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Other Ideas • • RSS feeds, create them and use them Wikipedia Secondlife, Cybrary city Slideshare Bookmarks - del. icio. us, citeulike, connotea Librarylookup – Library mashups Folksonomies – different ways of organising information You. Tube – video, streaming of video http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=vrt. Yd. FV_Eak • OPACs - Think of your library system as “an interlocking set of functional components rather than a monolithic black box” – Plinkit (Public Library Interface Kit) www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Risk Managment • Take a risk management approach to your evaluation of Web 2. 0 technologies (as we did with IWMW 2006) – Establish Agreements: e. g. in the case of the Chatbot. – Use 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 OPML 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. www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

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, . . www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management

Questions? www. ukoln. ac. uk A centre of expertise in digital information management