What Can We Learn From Amplified Events?

A centre of expertise in digital information management

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What Can We Learn From Amplified Events?Brian Kelly, UKOLNUniversity of BathBath, UK, BA2 7AY

UKOLN is supported by:

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/seminars/girona-2010/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/seminars/girona-2010/

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised.

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised.

Twitter:http://twitter.com/briankelly/http://twitter.com/ukwebfocus/

Email:[email protected]:http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/ [Automated]

Twitter:#udgamp10

Delicious tag: udgamp10


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Relevance of Dali

Visit to Salvador Dali Museum and Jewelry Museum:• “Without an audience the Dali jewelry will have

failed to fulfil the purpose for which they were created” *

Relevenace to the research community:• Without an audience scientific research will have

failed in its purpose.Hence importance of:

• Open access to research papers & data for fellow researchers

• Communication of work to general public• Openness of conferences and seminars

* May not be exact wording. No camera or pen so had to try to remember wording.


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The Persistence of Memory by Salvadore Dali. Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Persistence_of_Memory.jpg

How can we improve our understanding & recollection of events?


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About Me

Brian Kelly:• National Web adviser to UK Universities and

cultural heritage organisations• Based at UKOLN, a national centre of expertise

in digital information management and located at the University of Bath

• Involved in Web since January 1993• 770+ blog posts since Nov 2006• Over 350 presentations given since 1997• Current area of interest include Web 2.0, Web

standards, Web accessibility & amplified events

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About This Talk

UK Web Focus blog post


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Sharing Ideas Work activities use Web 2.0 technologies & approaches:

• RSS feeds for structured information

• Geo-location data• Exploitation of 3rd

party services (blogs, wikis, Twitter, …)

• Openness of resources

40 talks given in 2009 – map gives indication of dissemination & engagement activities (e.g. across UK)


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Incomplete map of trips since 2007

NB 2 talks in UK have amplified to Australia & South Korea

Revisiting The TripsDopplr provides a social sharing service for trips

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Dopplr also estimates carbon cost of trips

Questions:• Can/should nos.

of trips be reduced

• Can travel to my talks be reduced?

How can technologies help address environmental challenges?


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Constraints of Space & Time

Amplified events can be regarded as a way of avoiding the constraints of space and time!

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Getting InvolvedLet’s try out event amplification:

• Tag for seminar: #udgamp10• If something inspires you can use #eureka• If you don´t understand, require clarification

or disagree use #qq

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Notes:1. Aims to encourage reflection and engagement2. Approach may work better for student use3. If no Twitter access available use pen & paper!


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How I Came To Be Here

… Un article clau, que no deixa indiferent, és el de Brian Kelly al seu blog UK Web Focus: “I Want To Use Twitter For My Conference” on exposa bones pràctiques en l’ús de twitter per organitzar un congrès o conferència. Les entrades de Kelly són molt rellevants i es tracta d’un blog que trobo de seguiment obligat, igual que Mashable, Community Roundtable o Social Media Today. Kelly té una entrada rellevant que hauria de seguir: 14 UK Information Professionals to Follow on Twitter?

Per entendre la relació apassionant entre twitter i blogging, Brian Kelly ha resumit idees clares en la seva entrada A Twitter Feed For This Blog i sobretot a Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter? Jo encara estic en fase experiental en la meva arquitectura digital social. M’ha ajudat molt. (Per cert, en aquesta darrera entrada hi surt el meu retweet de l’article de Brian Kelly. Gràcies!)

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About This Talk

Mind map

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The Amplified Conference

Term coined by Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC (and former UKOLN director) in a blog post on 25 July 2007

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Wikipedia Article

A Wikipedia article

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Created by Brian Kelly in August 2008


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Real-time peer review: 2003'Hot' or Not? Welcome to real-time peer review

The keynote speaker was clear. He informed his audience during [the WWW 2003 conference] that none other than Tim Berners-Lee … had first referred to embedded menus as hot links.

A few minutes later, while the speaker was still in full flow, delegates … learnt that this was not the case, at least as Berners-Lee himself remembers it.

He had joined the electronic discussion that was accompanying the lecture and in a brief message … stated: "I didn't call them 'hot'. I just called them links."

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'Hot' or Not? Welcome to real-time peer review, Paul Shabajee, Times Higher Education Supplement (London), 1 August 2003

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THE Article - Concerns Potential Negative Aspects:

“about 10 per cent of the audience had laptops - one person was heard to say that the noise of tapping keyboards drowned the speaker out at the back of the room. … it can be very distracting having someone typing quickly and reading beside you, rather than watching the speaker”

“There can also be a feeling of being excluded … by not being part of a particular online group”

“It is probable that the speakers will find it hardest to adjust. It may be disconcerting to know that members of your audience are, as you speak, using the web to look at your CV, past work and checking any data that seems a bit dubious”

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THE Article - Conclusions Conclusions:

“… these technologies are likely to be beneficial. The added possibilities for collective learning and analysis, comprehensive notes with insights and links, often far more extensive than the speaker might have, are advantages previously unimaginable.

Perhaps the richest potential lies in the interaction between members of the audience, particularly if you believe that learning and the generation of knowledge are active, engaging and social processes

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Using Networked Technologies To Support Conferences

Using networked technologies to support conferences. Kelly, B., Tonkin, E., Shabajee, P. EUNIS 2005 conference

• Described examples• Outlined benefits• Provide deployment

framework

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Framework covered policy issues, user needs, technical issues, human & organisational issues


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IWMW Experiences (1)IWMW 2005

• WiFi available for use at UKOLN’s Institutional Web Management Workshop (IWMW 2005)

• Time for experimentation:• Wiki for note-taking & reports in parallel sessions• Instant messaging (Jabber, …)• IRC

• Provided user support pages• Provided an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)• Provided an evaluation form to see if we should be

doing more of this

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IWMW Experiences (2)London Bombings• Day 2 took

place on 7/7 – day of London bombings

• About 20 people found out via IRC channel

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This experience led to realisation of need to have contingency plans in case of disasters (bombs, floods, volcanic ash, …) or inconveniences (speakers being delayed)


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IWMW 2005: EvaluationEvaluation on use of technologies received from 35 participants

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As a result of positive feedback amplification of IWMW events has continued and grown.

Since 2008 Twitter used as event ‘back channel’


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Amplified Events Today

By 2010:• Event amplification the norm for many

Web, e-learning & e-research events

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ALT-C 20094,708 #altc-2009 tweets from 747 users for 3 day e-learning conf. (700 delegates?)

IWMW 20091,661 #iwmw2009 from 180 users tweets for 3 day Web conf. (197 delegates)

JISC 20102,050 #jisc10 tweets from 432 users for 1 day development / policy conf. (~500 delegates?)

Developments: Increased ownership of smart phones & availability of WiFi; unlimited tariffs for data; wider appreciation of benefits; ‘buzz’ around Twitter; …


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IWMW 2010

Policy:• “We will treat the remote audience as first

class citizens”

Motivation:• Maximise learning through the sector• Add value for little additional costs• Explore ways of ‘greening’ event• Prepare for implications of economic

downturn (lack of funding to attend events)• Enhance accessibility of learning

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IWMW 2010 TechnologiesVideo streaming

• Live video stream & subsequent ability to download and reuse

Twitter technologies• Official event hashtag #iwmw10 together with

session hashtags #P0-#P9, #A1-A9 & #B1-#B10• Official live blogger and Twitterer• Occasional Twitter Wall display

Blog• Event blog

Slideshare• Speakers slides easily accessible & embeddable

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IWMW 2010 Interface

The interface for remote users provided by the University of Sheffield

24 http://www.shef.ac.uk/iwmw/


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The Twitterwall

Twitterwall provided:• Access to video

stream• Display of event

tweets• Ability to post tweets

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The Video Recordings

Videos made available for downloading after the event

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Twitter Developments

Twapper Keeper developments (UI, APIs & infrastructure)

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Summarizr DevelopmentsSummarizr:

• 3rd party development

• Developed by Andy Powell, Eduserv, Bath

• Makes use of Twapper Keeper APIs

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Longer session but also controversial


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Summarizr DevelopmentsSummarizr:

• Processes geo-location Twitter data provided in Twapper Keeper RSS feed

• May provide trend analysis

• May provide evidence of remote participation

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Note use of geo-location in Twitter low due to (a) privacy concerns; (b) UI complexity; (c) patchy support; …


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#IWMW10 Official Live Blogger

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Hootsuite used to schedule announcements

IWMW 2010 official Twitterer (@iwmwlive):

• Invited reflections on talks

• Explained what was happening to remote audience

• Informed remote audience of problems

• Summarized plenary talks

• Responded to questions


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IWMW 2010 BlogIWMW 2010 blog provided:

• Summaries of plenary talks published (ideally) shortly after talk

Benefits for:• Participants who

may need to write reports

• Remote audience watching videos of talks

31Blog post amplifies report on talk


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• Summaries of workshop sessions by facilitators


may need to write reports

• Facilitators in raising their profile

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Blog post amplifies facilitators’ plans for their session


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• Video interviews with workshop facilitators


need to write reports

• Facilitators in raising their profile

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Video interview amplifies amplifies facilitators’ reflections on their session


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• Video interviews with participants

Benefits for:• Participants to

reflect on the event & what they’ve learnt

• Organisers in obtaining feedback on impact of event

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Video interview amplifies amplifies participants thoughts on the event


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Twitter – More Than Chat

Pakrati.us automatically adds tweeted URLs to a delicious.com account (used with the @iwmwlive)35


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Twitter CaptioningTwitter captioning service:

• Developed by Martin Hawksey, RSC Scotland

• Synchronises video and Twitter stream (via TK)

• Search of Twitter stream

Benefits:• Speakers (“why did they

tweet that during my talk?”)• Accessibility• Non-native English

speakers?

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Auto-translated CaptionsiTitle prototype can send tweets to Google translation service.

Issues:• Will constraints in size

of tweets result in simple language which is amenable to automated translated?

• Will available of digitised content be valuable for processing in the future?

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Twitter ConversationsEncouraging Learning Through Discussions

• “Learning begins with a conversation”

• Lecture theatres inhibit conversation

• Amplification brings back the conversation

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Engaging With The Twitter Wall

Using a Twitter Wall rather than PowerPoint provides a means of encouraging discussions e.g. “Good cop, bad cop” routine used in IWMW 10 conclusions to encourage debate about talks


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Remote BarcampsBarcamp: “a user generated conference whose content is provided by participants”

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Remote participants had their own barcamp Review of online barcamp published on blog


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Slideshare

Slides provided on Slideshare where possible:• Remote audience

can view slides• Slides can be

embedded

After event Slideshare widget of all slides provided

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Benefits to speakers:• Metrics on nos. of view• Avoids resources being

locked in HTML page

Benefits to speakers:• Metrics on nos. of view• Avoids resources being

locked in HTML page


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Amplified Memories

The event tag enables photos to be easily shared on Flickr

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Photos can be reused by services such as Animoto to provide shared recollections of the event

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Amplifying In (1)

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Note planned live remote participation didn’t work.

Plenary talk at IWMW 2009:

• Provided by slidecast (Slideshare + audio) as speaker on holiday

• Opportunity to evaluate “amped-in talks” – well-received

• Gaps provided to allow facilitated local interaction

• Slides and live Twitter wall displayed


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Amplifying In (2)Online talks given at 3 conferences in 1999:

• South Korea: 11 min slidecast at workshop session

• Australia: 35 min slidecast of rehearsal of talk prepared for another conference

Me: “A few hours ago I gave a keynote talk at the OzeWAI conf in Australia. I was asleep at the time!”Response: “so were the audience! :-)”

• Scotland: slides + video used in double act

Issues: • Quality: dry, boring? How to enliven?• Recycling talks: good or cheating audience?

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Amplified Events: Why Not?

IWMW 2010 has demonstrated:• Various benefits of amplified events• Examples of services which can be used• Examples of best practices• Benefits provided to various stake-holders

But:• What about the concerns?• Does it scale? If it a fad?• Will use in other contexts work?• I’m convinced! What advice can you give?

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Possible Concerns

Some concerns:• Privacy• “It’s rude”• Spam• It’s not for me• Speaker says no!• Who pays?• The services may not be sustainable• Legal concerns• …

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Privacy, Data Protection, …

Digital cameras, mobile photos, camcorders, … are increasing volume of photos / videos being taken and being published online.

But what about issues such as:

• Privacy• Data protection• Confidentiality• …


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Addressing Privacy ConcernsInfrastructure

‘Quiet Zone’ provided at IWMW 2009 & Eduserv Symposium 2010):

• No photos or technologies

cf. ‘quiet carriage’ on trains

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Culture of Openness

Organisers seen to:• Encourage openness • Explain benefits• Seek to provide opt-out


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Inappropriate ContentLive Twitter wall displayed during opening & closing talks at Museums & Web 2009 conference

• Much appreciated• #mw2009 tag ‘trended’• Automated spam appeared

from @pantygirl!

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IWMW10 Response: Accept risk: people know about spam; anti-spam measures getting better.Other Approaches: Provide moderated Twitter wall; Twitter displayed on user’s device


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“It’s Rude”Open University’s internal conference held in May 2008

“Three people complained about me liveblogging the Conference. They had found my typing very distracting from the presentations”

24 comments on post

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My post on need for a framework produced ~13 responses“I was amazed when I read about Doug’s experiences. I’ve blogged events over the last few years, & never had anyone complain”


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OU Online Conference 2010Open University ran an online-only conference in June 2010

Results show there is now a widespread appreciation of value of online events

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“It’s Not For Me”

Vive la Différence• Different individuals will

have different preferences for how they engage with talks at conferences

• Need to seek to accommodate such differences

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It’s My Social Space!

“My tweets are mine – I don’t want you archiving & analysing them!”

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Twapper Keeper • Recent developments have been funded

by JISC• Enhancements to features included ability

to opt-out


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It’s Illegal! Accessibility Concerns

What about, for example, legislation which requires Web resources to be universally accessible?

Won’t, for example, costs of captioning be a barrier?

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Developing Countries; Developing Experiences: Approaches to Accessibility for the Real WorldPaper on need to:

• Avoid check-list approach• Policies which are divorces from

realities of costs, benefits, …Argues need for:

• Achievable solutions• Accessibility of outcomes &

purposes rather than digital resources

Provides examples of application of approaches to amplified events and institutional repositories


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It’s Illegal! Copyright Concerns

What about, possible copyright misuse?

Won’t possible publication of copyrighted resources (tweets?!) leave institutions financially liable?

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Empowering Users and Institutions: A Risks & Opportunities Framework for Exploiting the Social Web Paper describes Oppenheim formula for assessing copyright risks:

R=AxBxCxDwhere:

A = probability copyright infringement occurredB = probability copyright owner finds outC = probability they careD = how much they’ll sue you forNote this is intended to encourage use of a risk assessment approach


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Who Pays?

What’s the business model?• Costs are hidden (part of infrastructure;

swings & roundabouts; internal charging; …)• User pays? Speaker pays?? (cf author pays)

Taxpayer pays?• Sponsorship

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Since IWMW 2008 host institution provided streaming video (infrastructure in place; marketing of institution; trialling new technologies, …)At IWMW 2009-10 we funded live blogger (with some sponsorship): raises profile of event; gathers evidence of impact & value of event as well as supporting remote audiences

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Speakers’ Concerns

Speaker’s may have concerns :• Sharing slides (in advance): will people listen?• Live broadcasting: who is listening; should I be

cautious?• Recordings of audio / video: what if I look

terrible; sound terrible; make mistakes?• The back channel: what if people ask difficult

questions; irrelevant questions; …?• The message: Will speakers avoid being honest

about problems & mistakes? • Problems: What if things go wrong?

Experiences: Speakers since 2008 informed of live streaming in advance. No problems experienced.

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“I Want To Do It!”

Some suggestions for best practices:• Do it yourself – open up your talks at

other’s events• Evaluate• Learn from experiences of live bloggers• Adopt a risk assessment approach• Gather evidence• Participate as a remote participant• Read other’s experiences• Share your experiences

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Live Blogging ExperiencesKirsty Pitkin (nee McGill)

• Live blogger atIWMW 2009 & 2010

• A new role – what is possible?

What she did in 2009:• Live Twitter stream on

@iwmwlive• Summaries of talks

published on blog afterwards

• Video interviews

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In 2010 team of sponsored places supported Kirsty. Scheduled tweets published using Hootsuite. Key phrases already written.


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Sharing Experiences

Kirsty gave talk on amplification experiences at Transliteracy conference and wrote blog post (with embedded video clip of talk)

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A photo of an image of me holding a cartoon of myself displayed during Kirsty’s talk and reused on various blogs. What are the rights & ethical issues of reuse of image?


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Discussions on RightsJosie Fraser’s policy on photos:

• I’ll inform people that I’ll be taking pictures & that I’m happy to take pictures down on request.

• I try to take pictures people will like and I delete pictures I doubt people will dislike

• I rarely include subject’s full name in the data although I’m happy to do so on request

Stephen Downes’ policy:• When photographing public events, I adopt the

stance of journalist. And from a journalistic stance, it is actually important to NOT ask permission.

• If they are presenting and speaking in a public forum, they are fair game (openness & transparency)

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Risks & Opps. Framework

Community supportRapid feedback

Misuse

Community-building

Low?

Twitter

Initially described in “Library 2.0: Balancing the Risks and Benefits to Maximise the Dividends”

Initially described in “Library 2.0: Balancing the Risks and Benefits to Maximise the Dividends”

Innovation will require risk-taking. The risks & opportunities framework aims to ensure:

• Purposes are understood• Benefits are identified• Risks are also identified• Risks of doing nothing are

understood• Financial implications are

understood

Purpose

Benefits

Risks

Missed Opportunities

Costs

Risk Minimisation

Evidence

AUP, education

This talk

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Gathering Evidence (1)

Carol Gole’s slides

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Slides uploaded on behalf of Professor Carole Goble


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Gathering Evidence (2) Tweet from Steve Wheeler, 25 August 2010

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What is a seminar? A mechanism for creating & delivering content which is consumed by others?


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Supporting Remote AudienceSupporting a remote audience has parallels with supporting people with disabilities

• Can’t read slides easily• Can’t always hear

Need for speaker (& event amplifier) to be aware of such issues

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Slideshare useful for remote audienceNote each slide has URL – can be used to get remote audience in sync

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The Event AmplifierThe role of an event amplifier described on Event Amplifier WordPress blog at <http://eventamplifier.wordpress.com/ >.

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Initial posts on Event Amplifier blog cover: (a) Amplifying event with Twitter; (a) Providing an accessible back channel; (c) The case for a live blogger; (d) Twitter buzzword bingo & (e) What is an event amplifier?

See also @eventamplifier Twitter account


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Professional Approaches

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Timetable provided by event amplifier for IWMW 2010

Questions on the day:• What has been the best bit this year so far?• What will you take away?• Will you do anything differently as a result of

IWMW?• What do you think would be the impact on you or

your organisation if there was no IWMW?


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Event Amplification ReportReport on Event Amplification:

• Being written• Based on UKOLN

experiences• Will have Creative

Commons licence• Draft available for

comments on JISCPress

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‘Commentable document’ hosted on JISCPress serviceSee http://event-amplification-report-draft.jiscpress.org/


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Learning From Others

Example of event amplification for ECER Conference• Timetable

published• Blog post

summarising amplification

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Note provision of Internet Radio Show using open source Icecast software. Should there be more audio?


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From Seminars to Webinars?

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In the future

• Will we need face-to-face meetings?

• Will webinars replace seminars?

• How should they be funded?


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Further Advice• Martin Weller, Open University, Ed Techie

blog, How to organise an online conference• Marieke Guy, UKOLN, Rambling of a Remote

Worker blog • Kirsty Pitkin, Event Amplifier blog• UKOLN briefing documents (QA Focus)• UKOLN briefing documents

(Cultural Heritage)

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Note see delicious bookmarks for resources mentioned in talk: <http://del.icio.us/lisbk/udgamp10 >


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Revisiting the Future

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University 2.0 & Amplified Events• Universities’ core mission is

learning & research• Amplified events can enrich

both areas• The norm in the future?


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Conclusions

To conclude:• Amplified events are becoming well-

established in certain disciplines • Benefits are being better understood• But in some disciplines amplified events

may be regarded with suspicion• There are possible pitfalls which could

hinder developments of amplified events • There are increasing sources of advice on

best practices• Can you afford not to engage in event

amplification?


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Questions

Any questions

What Can We Learn From Amplified Events?

Education

automated twitter

web standards

seu blog uk web focus

talk uk web focus blog

student use

national web adviser

uk universities

brian kelly