Web 2.0: Opportunity Or Threat For IT Support Staff?

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

Web 2.0: Opportunity Or Challenge For IT Support Staff? Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of BathBath, BA2 7AY

[email protected]

UKOLN is supported by:

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/ucisa-sdg-2007/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/ucisa-sdg-2007/

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording/broadcasting of this talk, taking photographs, discussing the content using email, instant messaging, blogs, SMS, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised.

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording/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 'ucisa-sdg-2007' tag Resources bookmarked using 'ucisa-sdg-2007' tag

Let’s use Gabbly pointing at www.ucisa.ac.uk for chat


www.ukoln.ac.uk

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 • Committee member of UCISA TLIG/SDG

and predecessor groups in 1980/90sUKOLN:

• National centre of expertise in digital information management

• Located at the University of Bath


www.ukoln.ac.uk

3

ContentsIntroductionWeb 2.0 – An Opportunity

• Web 2.0 - what you know• Technologies (blogs, wikis, RSS, comms)• Culture (openness, user-focus, always beta)

Web 2.0 – A Challenge• Institutional conservatism• Addressing the sceptics

Deployment Strategies• User focus; Information literacy; staff development• Safe experimentation; risk assessment / risk

managementWhere To From Here?

• Doing it Sharing experience

• Avoiding risks of doing nothing


www.ukoln.ac.uk

4

Context

Assumptions – you’re excited & terrified:• You’re all familiar with Web 2.0 technologies (blogs,

wikis, RSS) & services (Flickr, YouTube, ..) • You’re excited by Web 2.0’s potential• You’re horrified that:

• People are falling for the marketing hype• Easy-to-use apps will marginalise you• User-Generated Content will lead to deterioration in quality• …

Aim of this talk:• To explain why you should be excited• To explore how the concerns can be addressed• To outline how Web 2.0 can support and develop IT

Support staff


www.ukoln.ac.uk

5

IT Services Today

“IT Services: Help Or Hindrance?” talk:• At UCISA Management conference, Mar 2006• Web 2.0 is changing things – adapt or die!

Follow-up for EMUIT, Nov 2006 (& elsewhere):• “Web 2.0 is changing things – adapt or die!”• We know – so tell us how to adapt!

Reflections:• Willingness to change (at various levels)• Conservatism (at various levels)• Need opportunities to try Web 2.0 things• IT Services possibly lagging behind Librarians

(and museums?!)


www.ukoln.ac.uk

6

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

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 – You’ll Know This

What Is Web 2.0?

Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology”

Web

2.0


www.ukoln.ac.uk

7

Blogs (1)

Michael Webb’s blog at Newport College:

• IT Service’s director• College’s Web 2.0

strategy decided after my talk at UCISA 2006

• Lead from top• Sustainable: ~weekly post• Web 2.0 Strategy talk

available at IWMW 2006 Web side (& Slideshare)

• Video on Google Video

Usi

ng

Web

2.0

http://blog.newport.ac.uk/blogs/michael/http://blog.newport.ac.uk/blogs/michael/

Thoughts:1• Blogging is so mainstream that

even senior managers do it• Are smaller colleges quicker to

innovate?

Thoughts:1• Blogging is so mainstream that

even senior managers do it• Are smaller colleges quicker to

innovate?


www.ukoln.ac.uk

8

Blogs (2)

John Dale’s blog at Warwick University:

• E-lab’s head of development

• Pioneer in providing student blogging service

• Engages Warwick users in discussions

• Talks about non-IT interests

Usi

ng

Web

2.0

http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/johndale/http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/johndale/

Thoughts:• IT staff can have a personal interests and talk about them• Yes students will swear on blogs – and the world doesn’t fall apart• Rapid respond to problems, rather than banning

Thoughts:• IT staff can have a personal interests and talk about them• Yes students will swear on blogs – and the world doesn’t fall apart• Rapid respond to problems, rather than banning


www.ukoln.ac.uk

9

Blogs (3)

In-Cider Knowledge blog:• Mark Sammons,

Computing Officer at Edinburgh Univ

• Posts about Firefox administration – and reflections on Web 2.0 stuff

• An unofficial blog• Regular posting since

Dec 2004!

Usi

ng

Web

2.0

http://in-cider.spaces.live.com/

Thoughts:• IT staff will want to do good, even if the university doesn’t (yet)

approve• Universities may take time to catch up: Edinburgh’s Web 2.0 action

plan published on 31 May 2007 (ahead of yours?)

Thoughts:• IT staff will want to do good, even if the university doesn’t (yet)

approve• Universities may take time to catch up: Edinburgh’s Web 2.0 action

plan published on 31 May 2007 (ahead of yours?)


www.ukoln.ac.uk

10

Wikis

Wetpaint wiki used for several UKOLN events:

• Easy to set up & use• Free

But it’s externally-hosted?• Yes • Avoids dependencies on

busy IT staff• Usability proven by large

nos. of users• Avoids techie ideologies

Usi

ng

Web

2.0

http://sharing-made-simple-2007-06.wetpaint.com/http://sharing-made-simple-2007-06.wetpaint.com/

Thoughts:• Various access levels can be granted / various alerting tools• Easy-to-use collaboration working which minimises effort required –

surely a no-brainer?

Thoughts:• Various access levels can be granted / various alerting tools• Easy-to-use collaboration working which minimises effort required –

surely a no-brainer?


www.ukoln.ac.uk

11

Communications - Chat

Gabbly:• A chat facility for your

Web site in less than 30 seconds!

• RSS output

Much potential:• Just-in-time comms• Multiple discussions in

lecture theatres• …

Usi

ng

Web

2.0

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/archivists-2007-06/gabbly/

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/archivists-2007-06/gabbly/

Thoughts:• We could do this in our VLE; using MSN, IRC, … But:• Access issues; ID issues; usability issues, …

Thoughts:• We could do this in our VLE; using MSN, IRC, … But:• Access issues; ID issues; usability issues, …


www.ukoln.ac.uk

12

Communications - SkypeSkype:

• Easy-to-use• Users love it

Approaches to concerns:• Bath Univ banned on Resnet

in response to users concerns, but removed restriction recently

• Manchester Univ. bought technology to provide a quality Skype service for its users

• Oxford Univ provided user education on best practices for configuring software

Usi

ng

Web

2.0

Uses:• Explore non-technical issues• Just-in-time accessibility• Green agenda (do you have one?)

Uses:• Explore non-technical issues• Just-in-time accessibility• Green agenda (do you have one?)


www.ukoln.ac.uk

13

Softer Aspects of Web 2.0

Web 2.0: Always beta• Services that change & develop• Reflects life, reflects learning

Web 2.0: Openness• Open standards, open source, open access, open

culture• Underpins education and research

Web 2.0: User-focussed, trust• Users are what we’re about• Society expects us to deliver educated citizens,

who can exploit their learning for benefit of society

Web

2.0

Softer aspects of Web 2.0 characterise key aspects of higher education and the role of the University system

Softer aspects of Web 2.0 characterise key aspects of higher education and the role of the University system


www.ukoln.ac.uk

14

Web 2.0 and IT Support Staff

We have seen:• Benefits of Web 2.0 to users• Relationships between Web 2.0 and higher

education

We’ll now explore how:• Web 2.0 is changing user communities’

views of IT• Web 2.0 is changing nature of IT support• Web 2.0 can enhance career development

for IT support staff

Web

2.0

an

d U

sers


www.ukoln.ac.uk

15

Web 2.0 and UsersWhat if:

• Applications are easy to develop

• Applications are easy to deploy

Facebook seems to have “disposable apps”

• Try it, use it, dump it, replace it

And what if data is also disposable:

• The use was the purpose• I don’t care about

preservation • I need to forget my past

Web

2.0

an

d U

sers


www.ukoln.ac.uk

16

“Embracing Constraints”

We must ensure:• Application work on all

browsers• Comply with accessibility

guidelines• Data can be imported &

exportedBut Cities I’ve Visited:

• Works well for me (places I’ve spoken at)

• Quick data input (AJAX)• No data export (yet?)• Doesn’t work in Opera (yet?)

What if this is good enough for the individual user?What if this is good enough for the individual user?


www.ukoln.ac.uk

17

“Technology: Stuff that Doesn’t Quite Work”IT has always been a technologyStuff that works:

• Radio; TV; phone; consumer goods; …What if IT does work: good news or bad?

• Reduced need for training• Learn from your mates• Peer-support• Diversity of choice for consumers, not imposition

of supported solutionSelection:

• Functionality• Interoperability• Colour / coolness

Web

2.0

an

d U

sers


www.ukoln.ac.uk

18

Role of IT Services

Will IT Services be needed in the future?• Yes – if we embrace the future and are seen to

enhance it• No – if we are seen to fight it and justify

yesterday’s norms• Yer, but no, but yer, but – of course it’s more

complex than that!And we’ve been through radical changes in the past:

• Demise of mainframe• PC revolution (standalone then networked)• Demise of Computer Board• Distributed staff• Web 1.0

IT has changed HEIs; so it will change IT Services

Web

2.0

an

d I

T S

up

po

rt


www.ukoln.ac.uk

19

IT Services Director 2.0Michael Nowlan, Director, TCD:“Any time I am talking about innovative or disruptive technologies, I refer to your talk [at UCISA 2006].My mantras are now:

• Yes before No• Allow before disallow• Open rather than

closed• Connect to the network

on a device-agnostic basis”Would an IT Director at a UK University say

this?Are we behind the Irish? And if so, why?

Would an IT Director at a UK University say this?Are we behind the Irish? And if so, why?

http://wmv.heanet.ie/heanet/conference2005/nowlan.wmv

http://wmv.heanet.ie/heanet/conference2005/nowlan.wmv


www.ukoln.ac.uk

20

Opportunities: IT Development

Web 2.0 technologies are providing an opportunity to:

• Simplify & democratise development work

• Develop valuable service for out users

• Enhance status of our institution

Why haven’t we all got a Google map of our campus?

http://northumbria.ac.uk/browse/radius5/http://northumbria.ac.uk/browse/radius5/

http://northumbria.ac.uk/browse/unimapper/?view=Standard

http://northumbria.ac.uk/browse/unimapper/?view=Standard


www.ukoln.ac.uk

21

Opportunities: Integration

There’s a need to:

Integrate information from disparate sources:

• Institutional blog aggregation

• Discipline-based aggregation

• Just-in-case harvesting• …

Librarians are starting to do the advocacy – but we can do the techie stuff!

http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/planet/http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/planet/

OSS Watch use Planet to aggregate feeds from related services. Bath Univ do likewise for institutional feeds.

OSS Watch use Planet to aggregate feeds from related services. Bath Univ do likewise for institutional feeds.


www.ukoln.ac.uk

22

Opportunities: Competitions

Funding for 2 year projects can be dangerous (try to do too much)

Innovation competition at IWMW 2007:

• Encourage lightweight development

• Could use tools such as Yahoo Pipes, Dapper, …

• Could create a mashup, a YouTube video, …

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2007/competition/

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2007/competition/

Note UK Museums & Web conf is hosting a mashup developers day today.Should UCISA catch up and organise something similar?

Note UK Museums & Web conf is hosting a mashup developers day today.Should UCISA catch up and organise something similar?


www.ukoln.ac.uk

23

Opportunities: Collaboration

Email is dying; social networks are growing

So let’s use SNs to support collaborative work:

• Facebook group to explore potential prior to IWMW 2007 event

• Note need active participants (Americans/Australians?)

http://www.facebook.com/…http://www.facebook.com/…

Email is dying! See UK Web Focus blog postLet’s help kill it off – or engage with the technologies are users want to use.

Email is dying! See UK Web Focus blog postLet’s help kill it off – or engage with the technologies are users want to use.


www.ukoln.ac.uk

24

On Facebook

Enhancing my development:

My peers have:

• Joined Library 2.0 group

• Installed Splashcast

• Sharing papers using Scribd

• Providing access to blogs

My university’s interests:

• 10,000+ students on Bath network!

• Market research

• Exploiting Facebook platform

• …

Is it perfect? No. Is it good enough?Maybe. Perhaps we should be ‘embracing constraints’ in our work

Is it perfect? No. Is it good enough?Maybe. Perhaps we should be ‘embracing constraints’ in our work


www.ukoln.ac.uk

25

Opportunities: UCISA

What can UCISA groups do?

Document Sharing Archive:• Creative Commons• Metadata• Distributed searching• Search interfaces• Scraping• …

http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/TLIG/docs/docshare.htm

http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/TLIG/docs/docshare.htmhttp://www.ucisa.ac.uk/TLIG/docs/handbook/

http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/TLIG/docs/handbook/

Info/Training Handbooks:• Wiki for updates• Syndicated content• Use of del.icio.us• …

Shouldn’t UCISA be leading in developing best practices for using WiFi at events?

Shouldn’t UCISA be leading in developing best practices for using WiFi at events?


www.ukoln.ac.uk

26

Opportunities: Staff Development

How do you learn how to use new tools & how they’re being used?

• Watch video clips on YouTube• Download Podcasts

Note:• US librarians seem ahead of

us• Why doesn’t UCISA SDG

respond!

Note: Use Google Video for videos longer than 10 mins. And why aren’t you recording / videoing talks at UCISA conferences?

Note: Use Google Video for videos longer than 10 mins. And why aren’t you recording / videoing talks at UCISA conferences?


www.ukoln.ac.uk

27

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.

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.

Dep

loym

ent

Ch

alle

ng

es


www.ukoln.ac.uk

28

Takeup Of New TechnologiesThe Gartner curve

Developers

Rising expectations

Trough of despair

Service plateau

Enterprise softwareLarge budgets…

ChasmFailure to go beyond developers & early adopters (cf Gopher)Need for:

• Advocacy• Listening to users• Addressing concerns• Deployment strategies• …

Early adopters


www.ukoln.ac.uk

29

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 S

ervi

ces

Bar

rier


www.ukoln.ac.uk

30

The Librarian FundamentalistsLibrarians:

• 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).

Lib

rary

Bar

rier


www.ukoln.ac.uk

31

Deployment StrategiesInterested 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 strategies• “Embracing constraints”• Avoiding missed opportunity costs• …

Dep

loym

ent

Ch

alle

ng

es

But what if you ignore all of this?But what if you ignore all of this?


www.ukoln.ac.uk

32

Memo From Next Year (1)

From: VC, University of PoppletonTopic: IT ConservatismDate: 21 June 2008The University SMT has been alerted that some depts. Are still using the so-called Web 1.0 / classic Web.Although devolved decision-making allows depts to do this, the University requires annual IT strategy returns to address the following risks this entails:

Dangers to student recruitment: as current students inform 6th formers using Facebook of our viewsRevolting students: The University wishes to avoid the mistakes made at other Universities in which Facebook has been banned, leading to a severe backlash (at a time when we are seeking to incrase student fees)


www.ukoln.ac.uk

33

Memo From Next Year (2)

Additional concerns:Failure to maximise impact of university work: as research & teaching outputs fail to be visible to Web 2.0

Staff retention: As IT staff move elsewhere to further their careers

Risks of going-it-alone: Following TCD’s successful move to Google’s email service, we are in isolated position in using our in-house solution

Costs: The costs in in-house development when free services are available have been criticised by Gordon Brown’s government

The head of IT Services will be expected to justify such decisions


www.ukoln.ac.uk

34

ConclusionsTo conclude:

• Web 2.0 can provide real benefits for our users – and for IT staff!

• However organisations tend to be conservative, so 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 networks based on openness,

trust, collaboration, .. Read my UKWebFocus.wordpress.com blog Web 2.0: opportunity or challenge – a great

opportunity!

Co

ncl

usi

on

s

Web 2.0: Opportunity Or Threat For IT Support Staff?

Education

beta web

openness web

opportunity web

characteristics of web

edinburghs web

web site

uk web focus

weekly post web