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 Mount, Belfast on 29-30th June 2009.

Please note that a WetPaint wiki, blog and a Netvibes aggregation service are available to support these workshops.

This two-hour module was 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.

This workshop session on Using the Social Web to Maximise Access to your Resources took place from 13:45-15:45 on 29th June 2009.

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 timetable is given below. Note the session was held on 29th June 2009.

Note the timing will alert slightly - the session is likely to start at 13.45.

Timing Details Notes
13:45-14:00 Talk: Introduction Introduction to speaker and participants, followed by group suggestions on the role of the Social Web in maximising access to resources.
Slides: [PowerPoint] - [HTML] (11 slides)
(Creative Commons License)
14:00-14:30 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.
Slides: [PowerPoint] - [HTML] (38 slides)
(Creative Commons License)
14:30-14:50 Group Exercise 1: How can you use the Social Web? Group exercise in which participants discuss ways in which the Social Web can be used to support their specific interests.
Slides: [PowerPoint] - [HTML] (3 slides)
(Creative Commons License)
14:50-15:10 Talk: Monitoring the Impact of Your Strategies How to measure the impact of your work and monitor and observe what they are saying about you and your services.
Slides: [PowerPoint] - [HTML] (23 slides)
(Creative Commons License)
15:10-15:25 Group Exercise 2: Demonstrating the Impact of the Social Web Group exercise which will provide an opportunity to discuss ways in which you can justify your use of the Social Web to managers, funders and, possibly, the general public.
Slides: [PowerPoint] - [HTML] (3 slides)
(Creative Commons License)
15:25-15:40 Talk: Challenges in Making Use of the Social Web Addressing concerns, such as branding, quality control, sustainability, privacy, etc.
Slides: [PowerPoint] - [HTML] (18 slides)
(Creative Commons License)
15:40-15:45 Individual Exercise: What Next? Personal action plans on what you might do next
Slides: [PowerPoint] - [ HTML] (3 slides)
(Creative Commons License)
15:45-15:50 Questions and Conclusions  

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.

Slides

The following slides are available on Slideshare:

"Pimp Up Your Stuff!": How To Exploit The Social Web

Note this slideshow is available on both Slideshare and Slideboom.

Monitoring the Impact of Your Strategies