An Introduction to Web 2.0 and the
Social Web
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So…What is Web 2.0?
• Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather
than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology”
Characteristics Of Web 2.0
• Network as platform
• Always beta
• Clean URIs
• Remix and mash-ups
• Syndication (RSS)
• Architecture of participation
• Blogs & Wikis
• Social networking
• Social tagging
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O‟Reilly,
Web2MemeMap, Tim digital information management and openness
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2005
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Blogs
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cecio/259559422/
Blogs
• A blog is a Web log, online diary
• Professionals are increasingly using blogs to describe what
they are doing
• A social phenomenon of the 21st Century
• Key characteristics are openness, collaboration and
syndication
• There is a need for information professionals to:
– Understand blogging and related technologies (e.g. RSS,
Technorati)
– Be able to find resources in the 'Bloggosphere'
– Explore how to use blogs to support business functions
(support users, staff & organisation)
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Why Blog?
• Community of museum, archive or library professionals
• Long tradition of sharing experiences and knowledge
• New issues – need to find new communities
• Blogs can be a timely way to
– Offer advice and commentary
– Make new connections
– Record discussion over time
– Also provide a different view to email discussion threads
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Web 2.0
Reading Blogs
• There are lots of
dedicated blog
readers
• Try Google Reader
• You can sign up for
RSS feeds to be
alerted to changes
• Try not to be
distracted by adverts
etc
http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs
Bloglines – a Web-based
www.ukoln.ac.uk Blog reader. You are informed of
changes since you last information management
A centre of expertise in digital viewed the page.
Library Blogs
• Lots of Individuals creating blogs:
Phil Bradley‟s, Peter Scott, Technobiblio, Library
Techtronics, Shifted Librarian, Free Range Librarian, DIY
Librarian
• Lots of themed blogs:
Going Green at your library, Librarians for Human Rights,
The „M‟ Word - Marketing Libraries
• Lots of branch specific blogs:
i Know Gateshead Libraries, Oxford University Library,
Manchester Lit List
• Some subject specialist and medical blogs, moving more
towards library teams
• British Librarian Bloggers list (lis-bloggers)
• Hot Stuff 2.0 – great list of library blogs (over 800) collated
by Dave Pattern
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Museum blogs
• Lots of Individuals creating blogs:
Dan Cull, mjwrites, electronic musuem, Museum blogging,
Fresh and Newer - Powerhouse
• Lots of themed blogs or group blogs:
Liverpool stories, Museum 2.0, Design blog, Kids in
museums
• Lots of specific blogs for a particular museum:
National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery
• Some specific area blogs (e.g for a collection): Natural
History museum conservation blog, V&A‟s beach art blog,
Henry VIIIth blog
• Museums Computer Group
• Museum blogs – great directory of museum and museum-
related blogs and aggregator. Sister site to museums
podcasts.
• Culture 24 collates museum details and blog details
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Manchester Lit List - http://manchesterlitlist.blogspot.com/
Joeyanne Libraryanne - http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/
British Toy Making - http://www.vam.ac.uk/things-to-do/blogs/british-toy-making-blog/
Fresh and Newer - http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog/
Using Blogs
• Blogs are very interconnected with each other (bloggers
discuss other blog postings, blogrolls etc.).
• This can help to provide feedback; measure impact; engage
in discussions; etc.
• Web Monkey extension can give blog comments on your
pages
• Technorati an other real time searches can help find Blog
articles, etc.
• Twitter can automatically post blog updates
• The comments field can allow you to engage in discussions
• Time for you to establish a blog?
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by Nina K Simon
Ideas for Blogs
• A News Blog
– Redevelopment blog, stock areas, user services, service
changes, opening hours, event information
• From the Librarian‟s Desk or from the Curator
– Blogging about your daily work, provides transparency
and openness
• Resources Blog
– Special collections, object of the week
• Special Projects Blog/ Task Groups Blog
• Reflective Blog
– Use as a „try it out‟ experience
• Professional Development Blog
– Chronicle your daily activities, identify progression,
achievements, use it for annual appraisal
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A Few Issues…
• Institutional Issues – e.g. Can you have a corporate voice,
do you want one?
• Technical Issues – e.g. What software will you use?
• Barriers to making the decision to blog e.g. Do you want all
your thoughts to be accessible to all? What about an internal
blog?
• Barriers to getting started
• Gaining momentum e.g. A huge number of blogs are not
read and become deserted by their writers
• Keeping your momentum! e.g. Will you be able to come up
with content?
• Stopping?
• Right person for the job!
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Gaining Momentum
• Participate: embed yourself in the community, social
networks e.g. Ning, Facebook (need to be aware of privacy
issues, ownership of data, dangers of data lock-in)
• Identify and follow other blogs
• Get a great feed reader like Google Reader
• Link, a lot, especially to other blogs
• Comment, and use your URL when you do
• Be fairly shameless in self-promoting:
“I like what you‟re saying but over on our blog we‟ve taken a
different approach..”
• Spread the URL around
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Keeping Momentum
• Use Technorati, Google Blog search, etc
• Start to embed these in people‟s lives by reporting
• Make sure you post regularly, and with high quality:
– Don‟t post because you haven‟t done one in a while...
– Do post because you‟ve got something to say
• If you‟re losing momentum, maybe there‟s a reason?
• Do some evaluation of your blog: ask readers
• Look for co-authors. Guest posts. You may be surprised!
• if it‟s getting stale, try some alternative approaches:
– Interviews, podcasts, surveys or polls
– Video or other media embedding, live blogging
• ...be creative, and copy other people
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Wikis
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/1627257/
Wikis
• Wikis are collaborative Web-based authoring tools –read
state and write state
• They can be used for:
– team work and collaborative papers (avoiding emailed
MS Word file around)
– Note-taking and social discussions at events
– As an easy way to set up a group Web site
– A great e-learning tool
• Ability to compare previous versions of a page, revert back
and track who edited the page
• Many allow users to discuss issues prior to making changes
• Increasing popularity in the public sector
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Wikipedia
• Fairly easy to create
• Provides high-profile
information (Google-
friendly)
• Allows the
community to
enhance and
develop content
• Is time your library
had an entry?
• Who will edit it?
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Britain Loves Wikipedia
• To be launched on the 31st January 2010 and will run
throughout February
• Aim is to get UK museums to throw open their doors (and
ideally their stores) to Wikipedians
• Wants to allow them to take photographs of out-of-copyright
works in their Collections
• Why?
– Opportunity to enrich the photographic record of your
collections
– Be able to say that you are working with Wikipedia
– Images will be used to create articles on Wikipedia -
which will drive more traffic to your site
• Interested? Contact the Collections Trust
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Wiki Issues
• Vandalism, spam
• Wiki etiquette
• Searching (more tagging needed), archiving (ephemeral),
organisation of pages
• Stopping your wiki from becoming an unmaintained
storehouse of out-of-date information!
• Organisational Culture - Freedom to move away from usual
design, protocols, habits
• Resources - Staff training, time, costs
• How will librarians add wikis and blogs to their collections?
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Wiki‟s Potential
“At their best, they can become true community resources that
can position the library as a an online hub of their local
community”
Meredith Farkas
• Reviews of collections, objects or books, FAQs
• Comments section, suggestion box
• Commonly asked questions (reference or general)
• Local history, personal stories
• Course collaboration, e-portfolios
• Project work, input for research work
• Workshops
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Social Web
Social Networks
• Sharing and community are what Web 2.0 is all about
• Some of the most famous networks are MySpace, Facebook,
del.icio.us, Frappr and Flickr
• „Library, „museum‟ and „archive‟ are social network in
themselves so the implications are huge
• Tagging – allows users to add keywords to items
– Created by groups/communities who are the resource users
– Natural language – common understanding
– No hierarchy, feedback
• RSS Feeds
• Library 2.0 Ning group, Library 2 Wiki
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Web 2.0
Sharing - Flickr
• Web 2.0 includes
community-building
• You can help support
your community-
building by making it
easy to share photos at
events (e.g. this
seminar)
• Simply suggest a tag
and encourage
delegates to upload
their photos with this
tag
• Flickr Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/westmontlibrary/176505152/
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Flickr and Museums • Example of a museum
making using Flickr:
– Content
embedded on
organisation Web
site
– Use of rich 3rd
party user
interface
– Content also
surfaced content
in places people
visit and comment
– …
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Web 2.0
Sharing – Delicious
http://del.icio.us/mariekeguy/rsc-eastern-200802/
• Another aspect of
sharing is sharing
bookmarks
• This can be used to:
– Manage your
bookmarks
– Allow others to
contribute resources
– Allow lists of
bookmarks to be
repurposed
– Carry out impact
analysis
Who else has bookmarked this resources? What are their interests?
www.ukoln.ac.uk
(I centre have similardigital information management bookmarked my resourc
A may of expertise in interests) How many have
Sharing - Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/MariekeGuy
• Many other resources
can be shared e.g.:
• Slides
• Photos
• Maps
• Video
• Travel info
• Events info
• Music
• Etc.
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Openness
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gauri_lama/3039881498/
Web 2.0
Mashups
• Web 2.0 provides
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/ valuable opportunity
workshops/webmaster-2007/maps/ to provide mapping &
location services:
– Embedding
Google maps on
your Web sites
– Developing rich
services using this
– Providing location
http://www.talis.com/tdn/competition metadata /
microformats
which can be
processed by
simple browser
tools
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Web 2.0
Creative Commons
• Creative Commons
offers copyright
holders licences to
assign to their work
• The licences aim to
clarify the conditions
of use and avoid
many of the problems
current copyright laws
pose when attempting
to share information.
Openess is a key aspect of Web 2.0: open
• CC maximises impact
source; open standards and open content can
all help to bring benefits through maximising of work
usage of services
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Facebook
• Facebook:
– A social networking
Web site
– Had the largest number
of registered users
among college-focused
sites with over 30
million members
worldwide
• The Facebook platform – Ranked between top
provides access to (a) Skype 10–20 Web sites
(b) Twitter micro-blogging
service (c) mini-questions
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Facebook and Museums• Example of a
museum making
using Facebook:
– Surfacing
content in
places people
visit
– Allowing
visitors to be
„fans‟
– Easy to access
on mobile
devices
–…
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Web 2.0
Podcasts
• Podcasts are syndicated
MP3 files
• New items in a podcast
http://www.podanza.com/podcast/... can appear automatically
in your Podcast client
(e.g. iPod) or RSS reader
• Resources can be
accessed via iTunes
The University of Bath won a European award for its podcasts from guest
lecturers, etc. We can regard this as maximising impacts of the ideas and
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promotingcentreUniversity, in digital information management
Twitter
Flickr:http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthamm/3383916444/
What is Twitter?
• What is it?
– Best known of the micro-blogging applications
– Created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey
– Web application, now with desktop & mobile clients
– SMS of the Internet
– Currently one of the 50 most popular sites on Internet
• How do you use it?
– Users sign up for accounts and can then begin posting
tweets
– Interaction is through the act of following others and
being followed
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Tweets
• Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters
• They can include a url link and/or a link to an image
(Tweetpic)
• All the followers of a user will receive their tweets
• Tweets can then be retweeted
• Users can also reply to other users (with other users being
able to follow the conversation) and contact each other
directly
• The main content of tweets has been found to fall into 6
categories: news, spam, self-promotion, pointless babble,
conversation and pass-along value (retweets)
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Why use Twitter?
• Community-building
• Marketing (retweets)
• Support from your peers
• Friend/subject groups
• Answers to questions
• Surveying feedback
• Brainstorming for ideas
• Quick surveys
• The service's (API) allows other web services to integrate
with Twitter easily
• …
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Motivation
Twitter Is An Option
Twitter can provide
tangible benefits:
– Engaging in
discussions at
events
– Remote
participation at
events
– Finding our what
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43
Twitter – Delivering a Service
• The Historic Royal Palaces use
Twitter for Henry VIII‟s 500th
anniversary – picked up by the
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Telegraph
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Hashtags
• Words or phrases prefixed with a #
• Community-driven convention for adding additional context
to your tweets
• Topics or events can easily have their own Twitter stream
• Users can see all tweets collated through use of a hashtag
by
– Using the hashtags site e.g.
http://hashtags.org/tag/iwmw2009/
– Running a Twitter search for a term and then following
that RSS feed.
– Using a relevant application such as Twemes or
Twitterfall
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Twitter at Events
• Organisers
– Publicity and general information (like RSS feed)
– Alert followers to important occurrences.
– Organisers can create a generic Twitter account
• Delegates
– Can sign up for the event Twitter account
– Tweet during the event using the hashtag (Twitter 'back
channel„)
• Remote attendees
– Can still participate by asking questions and getting a
good feeling for the event atmosphere
• Speakers
– Gain a better understanding of audience's knowledge
– Use as a way to ask the crowd and for feedback
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Twitter & User Engagement
• Museums & heritage bodies are
now following tweets and
responding.
• Being user-focussed & innovative
or spooky?
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See
Safe Experimentation
• Are you interested in using Web 2.0 in your organisation?
• Worried about corporate inertia, power struggles, etc?
• What you need is a deployment strategy:
– Addressing business needs
– Low-hanging fruits
– Encouraging the enthusiasts
– Gain experience of the browser tools – and see what
you‟re missing!
– Staff training and development
– Address areas you feel comfortable with
– Risk management strategy
– …
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Some Low Hanging Fruit…
http://www.librarything.com/ • Librarything provides a good
example of a Web 2.0
service:
– Catalogue your books
– AJAX interface
– Exploit data provided by
the community
– Export capabilities
– Other books you may like
– Implications for reader
recommendations
– …
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Netvibes (or similar)
• Suggestion:
– Signup (for free)
– Import RSS feeds
for your areas of
interest
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from a few mailing lists!
Think about Mobile Devices
• Understand mobile technologies using
devices you own:
– If you‟ve got a smart phone or WiFi
device use it to gain an understanding
of the potential
– If you‟ve got a Vodafone contract, you
can have Twitter posts delivered to
your phone for free
– If you‟ve got a portable MP3 player,
you can listen to podcasts while you
are on the Tube
• If you haven‟t got an iPod Touch, ask
for one for your birthday
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Create RSS Feeds
• You may have a
home page like this:
– About the
organisation
– Key links
– News items
• Your news items
are important –
• content that
changes
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•But is your news available as RSS? If it isn‟t it is trapped inside your Web
A centre expertise
can be used to management
site NB blogofsoftware in digital informationcreate RSS
Check Your Wikipedia Entry
• Check your Wikipedia
entry:
– Is it accurate?
• Check you have an – Is it appealing?
entry in Wikipedia –
if not, you are • Check the history of
the
probably missing out entry:
on Web traffic – When was it
created?
– How has it
changed?
• What did the original entry say?
– How long might this have been the first thing
Google users saw?
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– Might this have been counter-productive?
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Get a Facebook Page
• It is simple to create
a Facebook group
page for your
museum
– Popular area
– Syndicate
content
– Engage with
users
• But remember other
issues:
– Users
– Sustainability
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Starter for 10!
• RSS feeds, create them and use them
• Wikipedia
• Slideshare
• Bookmarks - del.icio.us, citeulike, connotea
• Librarylookup – Library mashups
• Folksonomies – different ways of organising information
• YouTube – video, streaming of video
OPACs - Think of your library system as “an interlocking set
of functional components rather than a monolithic black box”
– Plinkit (Public Library Interface Kit)
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Any Questions?
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