Current Style: Standard
Web 2.0 from strategy to implementation
Compiled by: Phil Bradley, Information specialist and internet consultant, December 2011
The most important aspect to consider when deciding to move towards a library or information centre that is based around Web 2.0 or social media concepts is that they are just that – concepts. In practice these terms are simply buzzwords that have very little intrinsic meaning, and can actually be counterproductive as they bring with them a large number of assumptions. It is better by far to consider activities rather than tools, since that is the real area on which you should be focussing. What do you want to be able to do better than you’re currently able to, and what would you like to do that you can’t do at the moment, for whatever reason? Once you can get this clear in your mind everything else will start to fall in place.
What are your activities?
Look at what you’re currently doing, and see if there are any bottlenecks that cause problems. For example, if you want to update your website with new information, if you’re unable to do this for yourself is it because the site is locked down, or perhaps you don’t know how to do it? If the beginning of term is always a nightmare because of the huge number of induction programmes that you have to run, perhaps this is an area that can be considered for improvement.
What is currently stopping you doing something?
There are usually 2 or 3 barriers to doing new things. Resources may well be filtered, technical support is not supportive, or senior management may well be unable to understand the point of doing new things. A key point to clarify here is: are you being blocked from doing this because your management structure is concerned about your use as a consumer or a creator? They may worry that access to YouTube means that staff will spend all day watching fun videos (consumer), or they may worry that access to Facebook means that you will spend the day writing uncomplimentary things about the organisation (creator). If you can identify the concern it’s then possible to have a discussion about the true nature of the issue – what are they actually concerned about? Work out the worst case scenario and put something in place to ensure that it can’t happen.
Research other organisations use of resources.
Spend some time looking at the well known social media resources such as Facebook, Delicious, YouTube, Flickr and so on to see how your competitors or sister organisations are using these things. It’s important to remember, and to point out to your management team that choosing NOT to use these resources is a very definite decision, it’s not a simple get out clause. Choosing not to use a blog simply means that other people, who are using blogs will obtain benefits that your organisation will miss out on, for example. Even if you choose not to use resources yourself as a creator of content, you need to point out that other people are increasingly using them, and in order to do your job properly you need to gain access to resources such as Twitter and YouTube, because those are increasingly the places that material is being uploaded. Make the point that while websites are of course still important, their value is reducing every day. Run some searches on your preferred search engine and see where your organisation is being referred to; it will be less on websites and more on social media.
Use it first, discuss it afterwards.
It’s very easy for someone to say no to something, and hard to make a good case for something new. Choose an activity that you think you will be able to do better using new resources (notice that I’m careful not to say ‘Web 2.0 resources’ or ‘social media’) and if possible, just start using it. Introduce the new way of doing an activity to colleagues along the lines of ‘we can now do this easier / simpler / better / cheaper’ and encourage feedback. Do an informal audit; how much time has it saved, how many more people have you contacted, how much cheaper is it, how much more effective have you been? Then, and only then, mention that it’s a new tool you’re using which allows you to do the activity better – again, focus on activity not tool.
Blend tools together.
A real advantage of social media tools is that few of them are entirely stand alone. A tweet can be posted to a website as a news update, and a link in the tweet can also be posted directly to a Delicious bookmark account – and that in turn can be added to a blog page. A blog post can be tweeted to increase views and so on. Always try and ensure that you do as much as you can for the least possible effort.
The tools themselves.
Having emphasised that tools are less important than activities you will still need to start somewhere, so this is a list of tools with activities that are particularly useful, and will help you hit the ground running.
Home or start pages. Netvibes. These will allow you to collate important links, search boxes, multiple activities such as URL shortening, checking the weather, currency exchange and so on in one place. These are also great tools for publishing links and guides to users directly, with instant updating directly onto the web (so called cloud computing) without going through a web editing team. You can create both public- and private-facing pages.
Blogs and wikis such as WordPress and PBWorks allow you to publish material and interact with colleagues. They are an easy way to publicise what you’re doing, provide information and share data with people around the world. Twitter as a microblogging tool keeps you up to date about what is happening in your areas of subject interest and in direct touch with colleagues.
Create search engines. Google custom search engines allow you to create tailored search engines which will ensure that users will find good quality authoritative data. If you have a list of websites on your site, consider adding a search engine that will also search them quickly and easily.
Use bookmarking services such as Diigo. These can be utilised to share resources quickly and easily with colleagues, find good quality resources and can be used to update individual webpages with new material on an ad hoc basis as they are discovered.
RSS readers such as Google Reader allow you to follow multiple blogs, news feeds, tailored searches to keep you up to date with important information. They are resources that ensure that information comes directly to you, rather than you having to go and find it.
Social networking resources such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+. These are tools that are increasingly useful for searching for information, contacts, current affairs and events, and publicising what the organisation is doing.
Summary.
Web 2.0 and social media is simply a transitionary phase in the development of the Internet. It’s not a fad or a bubble, but simply the way that people now use the increased availability of tools. There are hundreds of millions of blogs, 24 hours worth of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute and the Facebook community is the third largest ‘country’ in the world. Social media is now where most activity on the internet is happening, and as we move into a more consumer/creator roll, which is more mobile and instant, the old approach of webpages will be less important. As an information professional you are best placed in your organisation to understand and appreciate this, and it’s not only your role to implement it, but to explain the use to your management structure.
Pdf Version:
