Module 2 Web 2.0 tools – Wikis & Podcasts

Wikis

I am reflecting in utilising a customised wiki for my assignment two project.  Perhaps a (private/client) wiki could be used to create a knowledge database of information to be updated by each member.     The benefits of using a wiki:

      ·         Barrier entry low enough for non-technical users

·         The site remains secure – by the wiki manager approving user accounts on the site before they  become active.

·         A place to post their research and to build a knowledge database for future members

Considering the years of experience of all of the team, this idea is another application or purpose in maximising both the social networking and web 2.0 engagement of the group.

This group would need to look beyond the marketing aspect of some generic social media companies(Facebook and Twitter) and look at utilising web 2.0 tools to its full potential. 

The added potential is:

•  better service to the community
• critical thinking of existing information
• to encourage independent thinking
• team involvement
• the ability to track data through informally archiving experiences.   

Eric Stoller (2012) in his article on (higher education) engagement confirms the above, believing that to maintain a member to member or institution to member relationship we must look beyond the corporate social media marketing “best practices.”

Podcasts

This heading link made me wonder why I don’t utilise these fantastic podcasts more regularly!  At present I only use a podcast for a TV program I may have missed whereas now I will scan the NSW Library link for interesting discussions to view in the future.  This is an application where you need more hours in a day or lucky enough if you catch a bus to work!

For my project I will endeavour  to find some useful podcasts to link to my blog/wiki/bookmarking site.

These links were found off the ACT Health Library – Nursing and Midwifery portal where  I will endeavour to add similar resources to the web 2.0 tools of choice.

Blog

Impactednurse.com (Canberra Hospital)

Videos

·         Videos in Clinical Medicine [New Enland Journal of Medicine] - Umbilical Vascular Catheterization, Peripheral Intravenous Cannulation, Central Venous Catherization, Chest Tube Insertion, Bone Marrow Aspiration and Biopsy, as well as basic Splinting and Blood-Pressure Measurement.

Podcast

·         Introducing Evidence-Base Nursing - Rebecca Kolb

Patient Information sources

·         HealthInsite

·         MedlinePlus

·         Atlas of the Body

References:

ACT Health Library. (2012). Retrieved from http://tch.anu.edu.au/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Stoller, E. (2012). Social Media Increases Student Engagement. http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student-affairs-and-technology/social-media-increases-student-engagement

Module 2 - Blog reflection

For my report assessment I have the idea of engaging via a microblogging service with a community of midwives.  To start, researching into the blog of best fit is required. Kristen Burnham’s (2009) article provides a summary of microbloggs other than Twitter, providing  a snapshot of popular sites currently used.  This form of social networking would be ideal for my  chosen community in providing patient updates and sharing information in regards to any problems that have occurred.

Other than Twitter (which I currently only use to catch up on my favourite musical artists) the only other microblogging site that is familiar to me is Yammer.  This tool is currently used in my workplace within the faculty of Information services that incorporate IT and library services.  It serves as a discussion board for work projects such as the upgrading of software tasks, meetings of the different levels of personnel and also for social interactions such as the lunchtime touch football match.  Grenfall (2011) promotes the use of micro blogs such as this in that it “breaks down hierarchical structures and improves the sense of belonging felt by staff.”

By using a microblogging service such as Yammer it can provide a secure and engaging way for staff members to keep daily updates on their agenda  with co-workers that rely on each other for information, all within an instant messaging service like an SMS.  In addition by securing a corporate style interface it emphasises the importance of privacy of information shared between the members and the use of a repository of resources for members.  It also has the ability to archive messages and to create not only a private group but a public group in engaging clients needing to converse via a blog.

A point of concern is that if there are both passive and active users how will an organisation ensure that everyone on the team will adopt the service for continuity?  Grenfall (2011) highlights that to drive adoption of the service there will be a natural process in that some staff will “consume the messages as they are posted in real time, whilst others may only refer to them once a week, or via email updates.”  

The NSW Department of Education and Communities is a good example provided by Grenfall (2011) of a large organisation with many hierarchies that with the use of microblogging can be broken down to similar teams in different regions who are undertaking the same work.  This example justifies the positive application of a microblogging service to my intended government team for my project assessment.

It was comforting to read about the typical behaviours of a microblogging community.  I am more relaxed to hear that it is okay to be a passive user.  Grenfall (2011) states that more people watch than actually participate (like this author) and this will be a good point to highlight when promoting and adopting a microblogging service, decreasing the pressure that staff may feel to engage frequently.  The main benefit to promote to staff who are uncertain about the service is that it offers a strong feeling of connection between a group whilst linked to an organisation.

Strengths and weaknesses that will be considered using a micro blog are:

• That there will be a connection to the organisation’s overall strategy
• An exposure of common weaknesses and threats in undertaking a microblogging application such as privacy of client information and security of the platform
• An outline of the realistic and positive changes the tool will support or improve to the current communication methods, such as mobile, email, face to face meetings.
• It has the potential to provide an insight into additional research for improvements in both the workings of the organisation and the intranet/blogging technology itself.
• Employing a community manager to moderate and nurture the team’s discussions
• Commitment by the community and to understand the benefits it can provide

Grenfell (2011) provided a comprehensive list of important points for organisations or communities considering to adopt additional web 2.0 practices to enhance their communication practices.

This article has provided a good base of information to begin the creation of a social networking strategy for my intended community.


References:

Burnham, K. (2009). 12 Microblogging Tools to Consider - Inhouse microblogging improves privacy. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com.au/article/328255/12_microblogging_tools_consider/

Grenfell, C. (2011). Deploying microblogging in organisations. Retrieved from http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_microblogging/index.html

Module 1.

Reflection on how social media creates a new life for information, generating flows and conversations between businesses and customers, governments and citizens, even teachers and students.

Gary Hayes (2008) reiterates the importance in creating a social media campaign in engaging with a community, by conversing and being  consistent with responses, confirming renown “influencer” Charlene Li’s (2010) podcast, where she provided a good angle from the workplace environment in how to engage and to create a culture of sharing and to “repeat, repeat, repeat.” I also appreciated Li’s opinion on how an organisation must be prepared to "have a dialogue and not just be a promotional page!" It was heartening that she too still reads a lot of traditional media, which I thought I was guilty of in this web 2.0 world and that it is okay to decide on the limits of how much social media you need to be involved with.gue and not just be a promotional page”.  I have come across many Facebook accounts such as this where content and conversation is lacking by the community.  Even if the persistent and imaginative manager of the social media medium is creating questions and trying to engage their community by asking questions to stimulate usage.  My workplace university Facebook page is an example of this and maybe it is early days but where is the community? Are students just still conversing with their friends and don’t want to seem a little exposed by engaging with the frontline university Facebook account. How light should the conversation be and how heavy?  Gary Hayes’s (2008) presentation touches on how effective social network marketing can come from understanding a particular community, knowing how they operate and the need to motivate them by not just throwing them the latest cool technology application, but to “learn the culture and language” before involvement.

In Li’s (2010) podcast it was heartening to hear that she still reads traditional media because that is what her customer base mainly reads.  I have guilt still reading papers such as The Australian and the Financial Review in this Web 2.0 world!  Li also admits that she sticks to a strict social media diet that it is okay to decide on the limits of how much social media you need to be involved withand that it is okay to decide on what social media you don’t need to be involved with, admitting she uses Twitter for certain followers and reads only a few blogs. Now I don’t feel so bad in even filtering my Facebook account! Please excuse me while I now do some spring cleaning in my Twitter, and Bloglovin accounts!

In searching for more meaning for what social media creates between people I looked up both well known and respected human “Brands” on the subject Tim Berners-Lee and Don Tapscott.  The latter  expressed how social media is not about just going online but that it has become a “social production”.  He says that social networking has opened up collaboration and the capability for people and organisations to innovate and produce. However he stresses that first comes integrity and trust before we collaborate, stating that “openness is about collaboration.”   After reading his transcript I was heartened by the direction he thinks social media is going. Tapscott (2012) holds hope that “this smaller, networked, open world that our kids inherit might be a better one, and that this new age of networked intelligence could be an age of promise fulfilled.”

Tim Berners-Lee (2009) simply described social networking sites as taking data (our lives, knowledge and experiences) and using it, or “re-purposing it” or adding it to other data to make data more interesting. He explains that “that is what linked data is all about, it’s about people doing their bit to product a little bit, and it all connects.”

Evan Williams (2009) one of the founders of Twitter states that when you give people easier ways to share information, more good things happen. From these readings it seems possible that through social networking a new way of revealing data can give new life to information.

It was very hard to extract myself away from the TED website, I kept digging deeper and deeper.  Very addictive!

References:

Berners-Lee, T. (Presenter). (2009, February). TedGlobal. Retreived from http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html

Gary Hayes. 2008. The Future of Social Media Entertainment. Retrieved  from http://www.personalizemedia.com/the-future-of-social-media-entertainment-slides/

Schwartzman, E. (Producer). (2010, September 14). Selling Social Media Strategy to Leadership with Charlene Li [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://ontherecordpodcast.com/pr/otro/selling-social-media-boss.aspx

Tapscott, D. 2012. (Presenter). Four principles for the open world. TedGlobal. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/don_tapscott_four_principles_for_the_open_world_1.html

Williams, E. (Presenter). (2009, February). Evan Williams on listening to Twitter users. TedGlobal. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/evan_williams_on_listening_to_twitter_users.html

Module one... Web 2.0 terminology


O'Reilly.com founder Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty first coined the term web 2.0.  Five years on from this original label they confirm that it is web network platform made up of many different software applications mechanised by the amount of people using them and their contributions.  The other web 2.0 labeller Darcy DiNucci in the Wikipedia site described Web 2.0 as a fragmented future.

Tim O'Reilly says....
Technologies have a social dimension beyond their mere mechanical performance.  We adopt new technologies largely because of what they do for us, but also in part because of what they mean to us. Often we refuse to adopt technology for the same reason: because of how the avoidance reinforces, or crafts our identity. 

In the modernized west, our decisions about technology are not made by the group, but by individuals. We choose what we want to adopt, and what we don’t. So on top of the ethnic choice of technologies a community endorses, we must add the individual layer of preference. We announce our identity by what stuff we use or refuse. Do you twitter? Have a big car? Own a motorcycle? Use GPS? Take supplements? Listen to vinyl? By means of these tiny technological choices we signal our identity

In the modernized west, our decisions about technology are not made by the group, but by individuals. We choose what we want to adopt, and what we don’t. So on top of the ethnic choice of technologies a community endorses, we must add the individual layer of preference. We announce our identity by what stuff we use or refuse. Do you twitter?

Sourced from:

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/03/ethnic_technolo.php  10 March 2009





The term "Web 2.0" was first used in January 1999 by Darcy DiNucci, a consultant on electronic information design (information architecture). In her article, "Fragmented Future", DiNucci writes:<sup>[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0</sup>
As quoted in O'Reilly.com 2009 http://www.web2summit.com/web2009/public/schedule/detail/10194
Chief among our insights was that "the network as platform" means far more than just offering old applications via the network ("software as a service"); it means building applications that literally get better the more people use them, harnessing network effects not only to acquire users, but also to learn from them and build on their contributions.
From Google and Amazon to Wikipedia, eBay, and craigslist, we saw that the value was facilitated by the software, but was co-created by and for the community of connected users. Since then, powerful new platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have demonstrated that same insight in new ways. Web 2.0 is all about harnessing collective intelligence.

Module 1

Module 1.  Summary

Social media is a rich ecosystem with perpetual evolution. A very good thing for users who can benefits from a large array of online services and social platforms, but a jigsaw for brands and marketers which have to face audience fragmentation. “Audience fragmentation”.

Facebook can be seen as the mall of social media: a convenient place where one can find every services offered elsewhere but in a single location.

It is interesting however that he says not to rely on Facebook as it would be a reductivist approach and suggests to research into other more subtle online social mechanisms that can help understand how social media works.

This was quoted in Fred Cavazza.net 14 December 2010 http://www.fredcavazza.net/2010/12/14/social-media-landscape-2011/

Starting to work through modules and understanding Assignment 3!

Check out stumbleupon for a new site sharing platform http://www.stumbleupon.com/

This quote was interesting.....http://www.personalizemedia.com/the-future-of-social-media-entertainment-slides/ Gary Hayes 26 October 2008

I was keen on trying to get under the skin of what new forms are being developed by the audience themselves ......

First posting for Assignment 3

To successfully meet the requirements of Assignment 3, students must create an online learning journal (OLJ) using a social networking site (e.g., a blog, wiki, ning, etc.), and complete the first entry for their OLJ. In this first entry, briefly:

(a) define what social networking is (in your own words);
(b) list what social networking technologies and sites you already use (for personal, work and study purposes); and
(c) describe what you expect to learn from completing INF506.

Social networking is a web platform that creates communities where participants stimulate and share discussion via text, photos or video.  CSU students in their introduction have said they use facebook to connect with family and friends. This is the community they participate within.  In an enterprise level it is used for marketing by stimulating discussion or for employees or colleagues to have their voice heard.


The technologies I currently use on a personal level are Facebook to keep in contact with good friends I don't see much due to distance and Twitter to read comments by my favourite music personalities or writers.  However I am guilty of being reluctant to give any of my ideas or post information frequently.  My contacts are people I know well.    I admire the "Like" button on Facebook, responding without fanfare! Within my library workplace it is not a platform that we communicate with or even view frequently, using email still to communicate between colleagues.  However the liaison librarians for each faculty do promote their facebook pages which are becoming more popular in keeping staff and students in the loop on new texts and electronic publications. Student Services use facebook to stimulate discussion and post events and photos.   I did start using Delicious and Bloglovin to bookmark favourite sites for study but interest faded or was forgotten over time.  I feel that there is so much information stored in these sites that I prefer to mostly go directly to a handful of favourite blogs or websites.


In regards to this subject I hope to grow more comfortable in using the social networking platform to properly promote an organisation in a professional application by scratching more than just the surface with technologies such twitter, facebook, youtube and flickr by interchangeably integrating them within each tool.

‘All that Glisters is Not Gold’ – Web 2.0 And the Librarian by Paul Anderson

Introduction

Anderson’s article aims to create a framework within the list of new technologies originally outlined and formulated in Tim O’Reilly’s (2005) paper, and questions how the development of Web 2.0 applications and ideas will work, “in the context of librarianship” (Anderson, 2007, p.195). He also touches on the need for an agreed direction and definition of the concept of ‘Library 2.0’.

Amsterdam Central Library    Photo. Saskia Ruijs

The purpose

In our review, Anderson confirms a number of important themes within the heading of Library 2.0 that will be highlighted and further developed. Firstly the impact Web 2.0 technologies have on librarians and the library community, and secondly how the library must utilise its perception as a ‘trusted’ institution in terms of ethics, privacy and copyright.

Web 2.0 and Library Information Services

Anderson’s comment that “librarians need to start to mobilise their skills and to deploy them in new directions and take risks” (Anderson, 2007, p.196), is actually being actioned in today’s libraries. Web 2.0 is a technical evolution of the web, yet there has been a new creation of services and behaviour patterns (Barbry, 2007, p. 91). Today, the use of Web 2.0 interface applications are both user and receiver friendly with librarians creating information specific blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, podcasts and tweets (Twitter) as a further add-on tool for information participation.  Due to the ease of user interfaces, libraries are using Web 2.0 tools as their own such as the:

• Instant Messaging service Meebo -   Library members can converse in a virtual environment in regards to their information needs with Librarians.
• Facebook – the State Library of South Australia has a presence,  providing links to educational resources.
• Blogs – Like a live web page, blogs alert users to new developments within a library and provide feedback. Cornell University Library Blog

• Twitter – a ‘micro-blogging’service, used for peer support, engagement with librarians and library users. National Library Australia on Twitter @nlagovau

(Kelly, 2010)

The phasing in of Web 2.0 tools and ideas into libraries are a “step along the historical path that illustrates the continual expansion of information that libraries have been able to offer to their users, and sheds light on the opportunities and challenges we will face in the future” (Breeding, 2004, p.42). Breeding (2004) also states that the main task for librarians now are “dealing with information overload and providing users with tools to effectively search a vast array of information resources” (p.44).

Web 2.0 and Web Standards

Anderson in his outline delivered on his promise to provide information and ideas for “the visible surface” of web 2.0, and the “six big ideas” framework even though the headings and summaries were somewhat disjointed and confusing.  However he failed to elaborate at all on the third aspect of the framework, being “web standards”. We have provided in this case some relative recommendations.

The security of our digital identity via Web 2.0 applications and the importance of ethical usage needed to be understood and developed in this article if information institutions such as libraries are to bare some of  the responsibility of information exchange. (Pearlson & Saunders 2005, as cited in Houghton & Berryman 2007) found that “the four aspects raising most ethical issues are privacy, accuracy, property (or ownership and accessibility” (p.17). Anderson’s article also fails to mention the legal concerns relating to the production of web service content, being the ownership of information and the impact of new media on both the production and dissemination of information (Houghton & Berryman, 200, p.14).

The library acts as a ‘filter’ and a trusted institution for the academic, education or public library user.  This was confirmed by the founder of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee who recently at a keynote address said that Web 2.0 information should come as a stream of trusted things such as links and URL’s from a trusted source such as the BBC or a library (Berners-Lee, 2009).

There are a number of organisations and services providing assistance for users and institutions in accessing the correct form of information via the Web; Creative Commons providing open access to content, the Government’s Cyber Security Strategy (icode), developed by the Internet Industry Association (IIA) to improve the cyber security culture and trusted third party SSL encryption and digital certificates such as Verisign.

Conclusion

If we can borrow the phrase from Anderson in saying that Web 2.0 and the Library is “the new front door”, coupled with the “library’s public sector ethos”, we can say that it is gradually being opened.  As more working examples of Web 2.0 services are being authored and analysed we hope that it will only justify the importance of information services staff and libraries, which now require further investment in network application skills in teaching, updating, responding and securing Web 2.0 tools for their user base.

References

Barbry, E. (2007), Web 2.0: Nothing Changes…but Everything is Different. Communications & Strategies, No. 65, 1^st Quarter, 91-103. Retrieved from http://ssrn.com/abstract=1009136

Berners-Lee, T. (2009, July 10).  Web at 20. Digital Revolution [Video file]. Retrieved from  http://wn.com/Tim_Berners-Lee's_keynote_speech_at_'Web_at_20'_event__Digital_Revolution__BBC_Two

Breeding, M. (2004). Platform evolution: from dumb Terminals to PCs to the Web and

Beyond. Computers in Libraries. 24(6), 42-44. Academic OneFile. Web. 3 Apr. 2011

Koltay, T. (2010). The Web 2.0 contradiction: commercial and library use. Library Philosophy and Practice, Retrieved 2 April 2010 from http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/koltay.pdfGale

Kelly, B. (2010). Web 2.0 and Libraries: Impacts, technologies and trends. Oxford, UK:

     Chandos.



Houghton, J., & Berryman, J. (2007). Ethics and law for information practice. In S.Ferguson (Ed.), Libraries
      in the twenty-first century: charting new directions in information services (pp. 267-288). Wagga Wagga, NSW.:Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University. Retrieved from http://www.csu.edu.au/division/library/ereserve/pdf/houghton-j.pdf