Web 2.0 for Libraries

1. Web 2.0 for Libraries Karen Blakeman RBA Information Services http://www.rba.co.uk/ blog: http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress UKeiG web 2.0 blog: http://ukeig.wordpress.com/ 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. Access to documentation • UKeiG fact sheets • http://www.ukeig.org.uk/factsheets/ • UKeiG members only • temporary user name and password for non-members • username: ukeig33 • password: thedoctor • Links to documentation and support materials on http://ukeig.wordpress.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

3. What is Web 2.0 ? • A concept not a product • A way of thinking • A way of working – collaborative, social • About sharing information with others • About information coming to you • About you deciding how you receive and view the information • All sorts of technologies but…. • ..don’t use it just because it is labelled Web 2.0 • If it does not help you work more effectively and efficiently, then ditch it! • 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

4. 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

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

6. Blogs • What is a blog? • short for web log • content management system that publishes information chronologically • 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’ • 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 e.g. • http://www.newsbriefsoman.info/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. Where are the 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 • Phil Bradley’s Pageflakes • http://www.pageflakes.com/PhilipBradley Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

15. Setting up your own blog • Host on the blogging service’s own server or install on your site • Blogger • 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/ • Lots of other blogging ‘solutions’ – may already have it as part of your content management system Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

16. 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

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

18. Blog usability 1-5 Weblog Usability: Top 10 Design Mistakes in Blogs (Jakob Neilsen’s Alertbox)http://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

19. 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 and hosting on other servers e.g. Typepad, Blogspot is now acceptable] Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

20. 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

21. Blog Bling • 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

22. 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 • Encourages collaboration • Many have blog like discussion areas and RSS feeds Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

23. Wikis • Standardised format and layout “Makes our contributors concentrate on content rather than wasting time on pretty layouts” • Default in most wikis lets anyone create and edit a page • need to protect Admin functions and limit creation, edit and access rights • can ‘lock’ individual pages or sections • can require registration to set up new pages or edit existing ones Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

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

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

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

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

28. 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 • Wiki CrimeLine • http://www.wikicrime.co.uk/ • Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki • http://www.libsuccess.org/ • ShareILL - Interlibrary Loan Wiki • http://www.shareill.org/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

29. What are wikis used for in real life? • Wikis for training materials and conference organising • Sarah Washford http://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/ • Using a Wiki for an Intranet • Janssen-Cilag, an Australian pharmaceutical subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, 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

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

31. Top 3 tips for 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

32. Google Docs & Spreadsheets • http://docs.google.com/ • need a Google account • Google will try and force you to use an existing account • text documents (Word, Open Office, Star Office) • spreadsheets • presentations • Can upload existing documents and will keep most of the formatting (wikis usually removes formatting) • Invite others to share your documents by e-mail address • Edit documents online with whomever you choose • Has a similar version/history record as wikis • Publish documents to your blog Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

33. http://www.zoho.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

34. Experimenting with wikis • 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/ • Some wiki farms to try: • Peanut Butter Wiki http://pbwiki.com/ • Wet Paint http://www.wetpaint.com/ • Wikispaces http://www.wikispaces.com/ • Seedwiki http://www.seedwiki.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

35. RSS in Plain English http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english or on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

36. What is RSS? • Stands for Really Simple Syndication, or Rich Site Summary or RDF site summary • depends on version • Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.9x) • RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0) • Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.x) • also ATOM (Google) • written in XML • extensible markup language • look for the orange logos • A means of delivering headlines, alerts, tables of contents Regarded as the de facto standard Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

37. Why isn’t RSS more popular? Do’h! – you need a feed ‘reader’ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

38. But a feed may be displayed like this… Q. So why do I need a reader? A. To bring your feeds together in one place Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

39. http://www.google.com/reader ….like Google Reader Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

40. Feeds in Omea (a desktop program) Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

41. Feeds in Outlook 2007 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

42. RSS instead of email • Reduces the overload in your email inbox • By-passes spam filters • Quicker and easier to scan and spot individual headlines within an alert or newsletter and decide what is relevant • Can set up filters to pick up stories that mention specific products, companies etc. (desktop programs only) • You control when you receive and read the feeds • Easier to “unsubscribe” Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

43. Adding a feed to your reader • Spotted an interesting RSS feed? • Click on the RSS, XML, Atom or feed logo • Sometimes it is a standard html link to the feed • Copy the URL of the feed page • Paste into the Add or Subscribe box of your reader • That's it! Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

44. Want to add a feed to your reader? 2. Copy the URL of the displayed feed 1. Locate the feed and click on the link 3. Open your reader and paste the URL into the Add or Subscribe box Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

45. Want to change feed readers? • No problem • Export your list of feeds to an OPML file (Outline Processor Markup Language) • Import the OPML file into your new feed reader Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

46. Want to unsubscribe from a feed? • Simply delete the feed from your feed reader! Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

47. What else can you do with RSS? • Add them to your iGoogle page • Incorporate them into your Pageflakes or Netvibes start page • Display them on your web site, blog or wiki • Monitor Twitter tweets • Send your favourite feeds to your Twitter stream via Twitterfeed • Send the first 140 characters of your blog postings to your Twitter stream • Monitor your Facebook notifications • Almost anything Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

48. Add feeds to your web page or blog RSS feed of eLucidate table of contents RSS feed from the Blog Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

49. iGoogle Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

50. Pageflakes, Netvibes • http://www.pageflakes.com/ • http://www.netvibes.com/ • Known as ‘start pages’ • Collate data, photos, videos, weather news, calendars, notepads for queries, RSS feeds etc. by adding ‘flakes’ to your page • Can have multiple tabs to generate separate collections • Can keep them private, share with a group of people, or make them public (pagecast) Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk