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Introduction To Facebook: Opportunities and Challenges For The Institution

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/bath-facebook-2007-08/. Introduction To Facebook: Opportunities and Challenges For The Institution. Aims of this talk This talk aims to provide an introduction to Facebook by looking at what it is and how it is being used.

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Introduction To Facebook: Opportunities and Challenges For The Institution

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  1. http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/bath-facebook-2007-08/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/bath-facebook-2007-08/ Introduction To Facebook:Opportunities and Challenges For The Institution Aims of this talk This talk aims to provide an introduction to Facebook by looking at what it is and how it is being used. The potential of Facebook to support various activities within the institution will be explored, together with potential problem areas. The talk will lead into general discussion. Brian Kelly UK Web Focus UKOLN University of Bath Bath Email B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk Resources bookmarked using ‘bath-facebook-2007-08' tag UKOLN is supported by: This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

  2. Contents • Introduction • What Is Facebook? • Examples of usage • Facebook: the opportunities • Facebook: the challenges • Questions • Discussion

  3. About Me • Brian Kelly: • UK Web Focus: a Web advisory post • Involved in Web since January 1993, when he helped establish Web service at the University of Leeds (possibly first institutional site in UK HE) • UKOLN: • A national centre of expertise in digital information management • Funded by JISC and MLA to support the higher and further education communities and the cultural heritage centre • Located at the University of Bath (Library L4, Wessex House L5 plus home workers)

  4. About You • How many of you: • Make use of Facebook for professional purposes? • Make use of Facebook for social purposes? • Have heard about Facebook and want to know more? • Are new to Facebook? What do you hope to gain from this session?

  5. What is Facebook? • Facebook: • A social networking Web site • Had the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites with over 30 million members worldwide • Ranked between top 10–20 Web sites • Seventh most visited site in the US From Wikipedia

  6. Getting Started • When you register you can provide information about yourself: • Personal details • Contact details • Interests • … Note that I provide public information, but not personal details

  7. Your Profile Page • Here’s an example of a profile page: • Your details • Access to default applications • Access to applications your added • Facebook could be used as a personalised portal to various applications

  8. Your Profile Page • Here’s an example of a profile page: • Your details • Access to default applications • Access to applications your added • Facebook could be used as a personalised portal to various applications And here’s how others may see your profile Boring isn’t it!

  9. It’s a Social Network (1) • The strength of Facebook is when it is used as a social network. Here people can see: • My updates to my Facebook account • Applications I’ve installed • Groups I’ve joined • Photos & videos I’ve uploaded • Blogs posts I’ve written • Messages I’ve sent & received • …

  10. It’s a Social Network (2) • Here’s the page of a former colleague (now at Eduserv). This is valuable to me: • Spot friends in common • Keep informed of Andy’s professional interests (of interest to me) • Keep informed of Andy’s discussions with others • …

  11. Student Use (1) • Example of groups subscribed by a student: • Student society Facebook seems to be very popular for use with Student union societies (nb is this a threat to similar services provided on Student Union Web site?)

  12. Student Use (1) • Example of groups subscribed by a student: • Student society Notice how the issue of local versus global Facebook groups is being discussed. Would a local-only group act as a barrier to student alumni?

  13. Student Use (2) • Example of groups subscribed by a student: • Student society • Social Facebook is popular for various social activities – especially for keeping in touch over summer

  14. Student Use (2) • Example of groups subscribed by a student: • Student society • Social Note that Facebook provides access to videos and photos – a way of providing seamless access or a bandwidth hog?

  15. The Opportunities • Facebook provides great opportunities for the Universities: • It’s popular • It’s easy-to-use • No need for in-house development or to purchase software • Useful for staff and post-graduate students too • We can easily integrate our resources into Facebook (e.g. RSS feeds, blogs, etc.) • It can provide alternative access to our services cf. MyNewport portal which took a day to port to Facebook

  16. What Others Are Doing • MyNewport: • VLE/portal used by staff & students (course material, news, blogs, forums, etc.) • Facebook app allows students to access to MyLearning resources • Allows students to create their own personal learning environment in a platform other than the University’s • Facebook targeted as it’s the fastest growing community • If the users like idea but want to work in another environment then that is fine See info on UK Web Focus blog & Michael Webb’s (IT Services director at Newport College) blog

  17. What’s The Downside? • Various concerns have been expressed about: • Privacy (is Facebook a private or public space?) • Is Facebook a space for students or for all? • Is Facebook a closed environment? • …

  18. The Challenges (1) • Facebook can provide challenges for the institution • IT Service departments, for example, are always liable to face criticism • These days as well as User Group meetings and online forums, users can create their own discussion groups

  19. The Challenges (2) • How should the departments respond? • Read the posts to gain feedback on areas in which improvements may be needed? • Join in the discussions • Ban such discussions / people who make inappropriate comments? • Ignore the groups

  20. The Challenges (3) • Note though: • Departments may find support being provided on the discussion groups • There will always be criticism Do our (fee-paying) students have a right to watch “crap on YouTube” What if this slows network down? How does the university engage in discussions on this topic with the students?

  21. Other Issues • There are also challenges for individuals What if this group I’ve joined isn’t about nos. of UK Facebook users, but a BNP support group? A friend has joined a group which advocates violence! Note that Facebook isn’t a local University service, so it can’t easily be banned. Is this were we need education (for staff as well as students)?

  22. You Can Manage Your Privacy • You have control over the information others can see about you

  23. You Can Manage Your Privacy • You have control over the information others can see about you • But how many users change the default settings? And what about what Facebook can do with your information? Note that Wikipedia provides useful information on Facebook’s terms and conditions

  24. Terms & Conditions • Have you read the terms and conditions?

  25. Terms & Conditions • Have you read the terms and conditions? • It’s good that they comply with the Safe Harbor Agreement

  26. Terms & Conditions • Have you read the terms and conditions? • It’s good that they comply with the Safe Harbor Agreement • But how might Facebook reuse your information?

  27. Terms & Conditions • Have you read the terms and conditions? • It’s good that they comply with the Safe Harbor Agreement • But how might Facebook reuse your information? • And how might they share it with others?

  28. Terms & Conditions • Have you read the terms and conditions? • It’s good that they comply with the Safe Harbor Agreement • But how might Facebook reuse your information? • And how might they share it with others? • And what’s their policy of changing their policy, security, etc?

  29. What Do My Friends Think? • A question I asked on Facebook: Facebook: (a) institutions need to engage with it as our students like it or (b) its their social space; let's leave it alone? Responses from my Facebook friends, 1 Aug 2007

  30. Some Thoughts • Facebook: • We can’t ignore it! • So should we: • Leave it for students to use as they see fit? • Allow departments to use as they see fit? • Make formal use of it? • In all scenarios how should we: • Address privacy concerns for the students (and staff)? • Address the issue of whether the university should respond to criticisms? • Address our needs to protect the integrity of the institution? • Provide advice, training, etc. on best practices?

  31. Questions • Any questions?

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