Web 2.0 Stuff, Interlend08, Peebles, June 30 th – July 2 nd

1. Web 2.0 Stuff, Interlend08, Peebles, June 30th – July 2nd Karen Blakeman RBA Information Services http://www.rba.co.uk/ blog: http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress karen.blakeman@rba.co.uk Facebook: Karen Blakeman Twitter: karenblakeman Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

2. What is Web 2.0 ? • A concept not a product • A way of thinking • A way of working • collaborative, social, sharing • reusing and mixing data, mashups • About you taking control of your information • All sorts of technologies but…. • ..should not be about technologies – more about content and information • Examples: • blogs, RSS, wikis, social bookmarking (e.g. Furl, Del.icio.us, Connotea) Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, web based forums, email discussion lists, YouTube, Second Life…… Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

3. The mandatory web 2.0 meme map! http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

4. Gartner hype curve http://www.gartner.com/pages/story.php.id.8795.s.8.jsp Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

5. Blogs, Wikis and RSS • Blogs and wikis • essentially content management systems • can be used as collaborative tools within and outside the organisation • Blogs • one or a select few post (publish) to many but can have comments from anyone • useful for announcements, ‘what’s new’, instead of a newsletter, for mini web sites • Wikis • ideal for collaborating on documents and projects e.g. policies and procedures, course content and documentation, organising a conference • RSS • a means of delivering information • a way to transfer information from one application to another, form one service to another Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

6. Blogs • What is a blog? • short for web log • content management system that publishes information chronologically, hence the idea of an online diary • content can range from self-indulgent drivel to extreme erudition • easy to use and publish from anywhere, therefore there is a high proportion of utter rubbish in the blogosphere • most blogs automatically generate RSS feeds “Vodcasts and blogs are to the noughties what graffiti was to the Seventies: mindless scrawls reading: 'I woz ere.' It says: 'I'm a moron, but worship me anyway.” The Observer, 3rd December 2006 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1962820,00.html Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

7. Anatomy of a blog (1) Title and brief description Most recent posting at the top Author/blog profile Comments from readers Categories assigned by author RSS feed for postings and comments Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

8. Anatomy of a blog (2) Tags Archives List of recent posts Blogroll of related blogs Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

9. UKeiG collaborative blog List of people who can post articles Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

10. Applications of blogs • Instead of or in addition to a printed, emailed or static web based newsletter • Current awareness for staff, users, researchers and clients - “What’s new” • publicising new services/products, encourage feedback via comments • Marketing tool inside and outside of the organisation • CPD – recording professional development and reflective practice • Recording project development, discussions • Comments or “suggestions” box • Monitor blogs for information and competitor intelligence • Alternative publishing medium • Small web sites • http://www.newsbriefsoman.info/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

11. http://www.newsbriefsoman.info/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

12. Why use blogs for publishing? • Quick and easy to post and edit • Links and management of archives and postings is done by the software • Can be done from any Internet connected machine, even via a mobile • Can be hosted on your own server or on the blogging service’s server • If hosted by the blogging service, do not have to wait for content to be uploaded by the relevant ‘department’ in your organisation • Can be individually authored or collaborative Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

13. Blogs as sources of information • Blogs by industry gurus and experts are a good way of keeping up to date with what is happening in a sector • Look for the Blogroll of List of Links on a relevant blog • Google Blogsearch http://www.google.com/blogsearch • use advanced search to search within an individual blog • Ask http://www.ask.com/ – Blogs and feeds • Live Feeds search - http://search.live.com/feeds • Blog search engines and directories • http://www.technorati.com/ • http://www.blogpulse.com/ • http://www.quacktrack.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

14. Advanced search in Google Blogsearch Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

15. Ask Blog Search Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

16. Live.com Feeds Search Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

17. Blogpulse Trends Shows how often your search terms occur in postings – can compare up to three searches Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

18. Product/company reputation • The “Kryptonite Blogstorm” • http://introtodigitalage.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/Picture%201.png • http://tinyurl.com/9p93l • Bicycle lock that could be opened with a bic pen • company ignored the blogs until a “demonstration” video appeared • then issued reassurances • only offered free product exchanges when NY Times and AP picked up the story • estimated cost $10 million Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

19. Quality checking blogs • The usual: • date last updated, who is behind the site, domain name check if applicable • Check out the blogger profile, ‘mission statement’, ‘about this blog’, blogroll • Read the content • check for obvious bias, errors • Use advanced search screens of blog search tools to find out who has linked to the blog or individual postings • Technorati, Blogpulse, Ask Blogs and Feeds • May be difficult or impossible to check out authors of comments Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

20. Corporate blogging • The Business value of blogging, March 2007 • http://www.lewispr.com/Business_value_of_blogging.pdf • Blogs and RSS: tools for competitive intelligence • http://www.digimind.com/en/download/White_Paper_Blogs-RSS_EN_2006.pdfAn excellent overview and introduction to blogs and RSS and how they can be used in competitive intelligence. Includes an extensive list of references and further reading. Downloaded 2 October 2006. • The email killers - Information Age • http://www.information-age.com/article/2006/august/email_killers Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

21. Blogging librarians • UK Library Blogs • http://uklibraryblogs.pbwiki.com/ • Blogorama in Internet Resources Newsletter: • http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/ • LIS-Bloggers email discussion list • http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/LIS-BLOGGERS.html • British Librarian Bloggers | Google Groups • http://groups.google.com/group/britlibblogs Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

22. Yet more blogging librarians • Brian Kelly’s Blog • http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/ • Info Junkie • http://swashford.wordpress.com/ • Swansea Libraries • http://swansealibraries.blogspot.com/ • Spineless? • http://hwlibrary.wordpress.com/ • Galway Library • http://galwaylibrary.blogspot.com/ • Libraries in the NHS • http://nelh.blogspot.com/ • Talking Knowledge Management • http://talkingkm.blogspot.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

23. Where are the blogging librarians? • Science @ UCD Library • http://ucdscience.blogspot.com/ • Reader Services@ucd Library • http://ucdreaderservices.blogspot.com/ • Shush! – the Information Services Library blog • http://library.northampton.ac.uk/blog/index.php • Univ of Bath Library Science News • http://bathsciencenews.wordpress.com/ • E-Resources News and Trials (University of Liverpool) • http://liveresources.blogspot.com/ • The Manchester Lit List • http://manchesterlitlist.blogspot.com/ • Tell Us What You Think of The Library Weblog • http://telluswhatyouthink.wordpress.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

24. Setting up your own blog • Host on the blogging service’s own server or install on your site • Blogger - free • http://www.blogger.com/ • owned by Google • host on Blogger or publish to your own site, but need to use blogger.com for both • Wordpress - free • Host on http://www.wordpress.com/ • Software for loading onto your own site at http://www.wordpress.org/ • Typepad – priced • Host on http://www.typepad.com/ • Also Movable Type, Live Journal at http://www.sixapart.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

25. Blog host or own server? Blog Host Own Server Should be able to customise the look and feel, and interface of the blog but depends on the software Can integrate the blog fully with your web site Can include the blog in your site search option Easy access to user stats Can easily keep the blog private or for selected users But the content may still have to go through the usual authorisation channels • May not be allowed on your organisation’s server • Keeping it private may not be straightforward • consider confidentiality • Not possible to fully customise the blog in line with the ‘corporate image’ • User stats not always easily available • Can post from any Internet connected computer without having to worry about firewalls • Could lose your information if the services closes or fails Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

26. What can go wrong? Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

27. Integrating your blog with your web site Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

28. Blog usability 1-5 Weblog Usability Top 10 from Jakob Neilsen’s Alertboxhttp://www.useit.com/alertbox/weblogs.html • Author biography • Author photo [optional] • Use descriptive posting titles • Use descriptive links • Have links to “classic hits” Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

29. Blog usability 6-10 • Categorise postings • Publish frequently or have a publishing schedule [but don’t publish for the sake of it!] • Have focussed content and find “your voice” – set up more than one blog if necessary • Do not forget that you might be writing for your future boss • Set up your own domain name [not essential – blogs with Typepad, Wordpress or Blogspot in the URL are commonplace and accepted] Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

30. Blog content • Postings can be as short or as long as you like • can be short announcements of new services • can be lengthy, detailed articles • http://www.theoildrum.com/ • http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/ • Beware of copyright and plagiarism • Quote sources and acknowledge other blogs • Add value: • summarise lengthy articles, sources • why might it be relevant or important to your readers • include your own opinion or evaluation Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

31. Comments • ‘Comments’ can be used to facilitate feedback and encourage discussion • Can be switched off • If switched on are you: • going to allow anyone to comment (dangerous – automatic spamming is ubiquitous) • force people to register • use a ‘captcha’ - completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart • use a spam detection module e.g. Akismet • moderate all comments • combination of two or more of the above Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

32. Bling for your blog • Phil Bradley, Library and Information Show, NEC Birmingham, April 18th 2007 – Adding Bling to Your Blog! • Gadgets, widgets, page elements etc. that you can add to your blog • RSS to email • RSS to PDF • Calendars • Tag clouds • Photos from Flickr, Picasa • Embed Youtube videos • Embed Slideshare, authorSTREAM presentations • RSS feeds from other blogs and sites • Twitter feeds Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

33. Tag clouds • Analyse your CV, job description, web pages, promotional literature • Wordle (http://wordle.net/), Tag Crowd, Tag Cloud Generator etc Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

34. Policies and legal issues • Internal or public blogs? • even if internal (within the organisation) there are still IP, regulatory, data protection and FoI implications • Blogging policy • outlines what you can say and do internally and publicly • for example IBM’s blogging policyhttp://tinyurl.com/28mpha (goes to the IBM web site) • written collaboratively using an internal wiki • Accessibility issues • How to Make Your Blog Accessible to Blind Readers - American Foundation for the Blind. http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=57&TopicID=167&DocumentID=2757 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

35. Return on investment • Difficult to tell • Encourage feedback from readers • Number of readers • if hosted on your own servers, can tell from your web stats • if hosted on Blogger install third party page tracking services • http://www.sitemeter.com/ • Google analytics – http://www.google.com/analytics • if hosted on Wordpress, basic stats are supplied as part of the package • many people may read the content via the RSS feed and not visit the blog Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

36. Wikis • wiki-wiki – Hawaiian meaning quick • First wiki was the WikiWikiWeb, Ward Cunningham 1995 • A collaborative web application that allows users to easily add and edit content • Can be used for • developing documentation • project management • History keeps a record of the changes and different versions of the documents • developing a conference programme • Many have blog like discussion areas and RSS feeds • Most famous example is Wikipedia Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

37. Wikis • Standardised format and layout “Makes our contributors concentrate on content rather than wasting time on pretty layouts” • Default in many wikis lets anyone create and edit a page • need to protect Admin functions and limit creation, edit and access rights • ‘lock’ individual pages or sections • can require registration to set up new pages or edit existing ones • many wiki packages and hosted services now automatically protect the ‘admin’ or guide you through the process of setting up permissions Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

38. Alex on Wikipedia • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/graphics/2008/06/04/calex04.gif Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

39. Wikipedia Option to edit the page Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

40. Wikipedia (2) No edit option Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

41. Wikipedia - history Date of edits Author/editor Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

42. http://www.alacrawiki.com No edit option even if you register and sign in Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

43. Wikis for collaborating on documents • Single centrally located copy instead of multiple copies circulating via email all with different edits • Version control • Collaborators do not have to be running the same software or same version • Can see the “time line” or history of edits • who has edited what and when • useful in compliance situations • Some wikis allow for comments and discussion on edits • But have to be online to work on the document Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

44. What are wikis used for in real life? • National Archives • http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ • Wiki used to write a thesis • http://usefulchem.wikispaces.com/Alicia+Holsey • Using a wiki for a Lab Open Notebook • http://1cellpk.wikispaces.com • Wiki CrimeLine • http://www.wikicrime.co.uk/ • Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki • http://www.libsuccess.org/ • InfoTeach • http://www.infoteach.org/wiki/ • ShareILL - Interlibrary Loan Wiki • http://www.shareill.org/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

45. What are wikis used for in real life? • Wikis for training materials and conference organising • Sarah Washfordhttp://swashford.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/wiki-wonders/ • Wikis for compiling subject guides • We have Wiki http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php/2008/01/09/we-have-wiki/ • A free surgical encyclopaedia for surgeons and their patients • http://wikisurgery.com/ • Using a Wiki for an Intranet • Janssen-Cilag, switched from a static HTML site to using a wiki. http://www.fastforwardblog.com/2007/09/18/enterprise-wiki-increases-collaboration-and-connections-at-janssen-cilag/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

46. Organizing a conference http://interlend.pbwiki.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

47. Conference proceedings • Inspiring the iGeneration • http://inspiringtheigeneration.wetpaint.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

48. Top 3 tips for using implementing a wiki • Identified at “Blogs and Wikis in Libraries – Our New Best Friends?” 8th November 2007. Organised by CILIP’s Information Services Group – London and South East branch • Don’t call it a wiki • Don’t call it a wiki • Don’t call it a wiki Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

49. Experimenting with wikis • May already have wiki options on your system • Blackboard, Moodle, SharePoint • feedback on Sharepoint wiki – robust but basic • Not always straightforward to install on your own system • use third party “wiki farms” to start with • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki_farms • some wiki farms make your wikis completely open, that is viewable and editable by anyone • Compare wikis at http://www.wikimatrix.org/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

50. Experimenting with wikis • Some wiki farms to try: • Peanut Butter Wiki http://pbwiki.com/ • Wikispaces http://www.wikispaces.com/ • Seedwiki http://www.seedwiki.com/ • Wet Paint http://www.wetpaint.com/ • Also try • Google Docs http://docs.google.com/ • Google Sites http://sites.google.com/ • Zoho http://www.zoho.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk