UKOLN
Raising Awareness

"A centre of excellence in digital information management, providing advice and services to the library, information and cultural heritage communities."

UKOLN is based at the University of Bath.

Using the Social Web to Maximise Access to your Resources

About

Brian Kelly facilitated a 2 hour workshop session on Using the Social Web to Maximise Access to your Resources at a 2-day Search Engine Optimisation Workshop on 'Improving Your Online Presence' which was held at the Hilton, Cardiff on 30-31st July 2009.

This workshop session on Using the Social Web to Maximise Access to Your Resources took place from 11:45-15:10 on 31st July 2009.

The two-hour module will be delivered as part of a 2-day Search Engine Optimisation Workshop on 'Improving Your Online Presence' which has been commissioned by the SCA (Strategic Content Alliance). The workshop is organised by Netskills with Brian Kelly, UKOLN contributing a session on use of the Social Web.

Abstract

The are well-documented techniques, known as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which can be used in order to ensure that Web resources can be easily found in search engines such as Google. But how can the Social Web be used in order to help users to find your services or resources?

This session will explore a number of ways in which the Social Web can be used by organisations seeking to maximise access to their services. The session will discuss the potential of various technologies such as blogs, micro-blogs (such as Twitter) and wikis, as well as popular social sharing services (e.g. YouTube, Slideshare and Flickr) and social networking services such as Facebook.

The session will describe a number of ways in which the effectiveness of such services can be monitored. The ethical aspects of use of social services to support organisational aims will also be explored.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the session participants will:

  • Have learnt how various Social Web tools can help to maximise access to institutional resources.
  • Have discussed ways in which such tools can be used to support the participant's particular areas of interest.
  • Be aware of the ethical issues related to use of the Social Web.
  • Be in a position to develop plans for making use of the Social Web to support their own institutional aims.

Timetable

The draft timetable is given below. Note the session was held on 31st July 2009.

Timing Details Notes
11:45-12:45 Talk: Pimp Up Your Stuff! Using The Social Web How Social Web services such as blogs, micro-blogs, Wikipedia, etc., can be used to maximise knowledge of and access to your services
12:45-13:45 Lunch  
13:45-14:15 Talk: The US Experience A talk by Mike Rickwalski on how a small US college is using Social Web services.
14:15-14:45 Group Exercise: Challenges in Making Use of the Social Web Group discussions on addressing concerns, such as branding, quality control, sustainability, privacy, etc.
14:5-15:10 Talk: Challenges in Making Use of the Social Web Addressing concerns, such as branding, quality control, sustainability, privacy, etc.

Materials

Slides

Introduction
[MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format] - [HTML format]
Using the Social Web to Maximise Access to your Resources
[MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format] - [HTML format] - [Slideshare] - [Slideboom]
Monitoring the Impact of Your Strategies
[MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format] - [HTML format]
Challenges in Making Use of the Social Web
[MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format] - [HTML format]
Exercise 1: How can you use the Social Web?
[MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format] - [HTML format]
Exercise 2: Demonstrating the Impact of the Social Web
[MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format] - [HTML format]
Exercise 3: What Next?
[MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format] - [HTML format]

Biographical Details

Brian Kelly Brian Kelly has been involved in Web development since January 1993, when he helped to established a Web site at the University of Leeds (one of the first institutional Web sites in the UK). Since 1996 Brian has been employed at UKOLN, a national centre of expertise in digital information management based at the University of Bath in the UK. His responsibility is to advise the UK's higher and further community and the cultural heritage sector on ways of maximising the potential of the Web.

Brian makes active use of a variety of Social Web tools. If you would like to read more about his professional activities you can subscribe to the UK Web Focus blog which is available at http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/ or follow his Twitter account - briankelly.