1. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Addressing The Challenges Of New Devices And New Web Technologies Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath Email B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk URL http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ Summary How should IT Services respond to use of new devices, commercial and user- driven technologies and emerging collaborative Internet technologies? Summary How should IT Services respond to use of new devices, commercial and user- driven technologies and emerging collaborative Internet technologies? UKOLN is supported by: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/switc-2004-11/

2. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 2 About Myself & UKOLN Brian Kelly: Has worked in User Support in Universities of Loughborough (1984-90), Liverpool (1990-91), Leeds (1991-95) and for Netskills (1995-96) Helped establish Web service at Leeds in 1993 Early advocate of Web across community Now UK Web Focus – JISC and MLA-funded Web advisory post based at UKOLN UKOLN: National centre of expertise in digital information management Based at University of Bath

3. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 3 What We'll Cover In this talk I will cover: The challenges we face in an environment where the users (e.g. the students) are king The collaborative tools which: They want to use (and are using) We know about (and are ahead of the users) The challenges in deploying the tools Some thoughts on approaches to deployment

4. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 4 Content Is King? Content is King What does this phrase mean? End users want content – they don't care about the technology But in reality Communication is King: End users want to communicate Killer application is email! Look at popularity of mobile phones Look at popularity of SMS messaging – despite the incredibly poor user interface Learning is a social activity – so communication is particularly important in education

5. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 5 Mobile Devices What are the implications of mobile devices? Challenges What do these devices have in common? Consumer devices, networks & digital memory (& can fit in pocket)

6. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 6 Uses For Your MP3 Player Students can: Download recordings of lectures Record lectures Great for: Maximising access Accessibility Complementing students' notes But: Copyright issues Lecturers & institution's views … Need for an AUP! http://www.eviews.net/15.6.2000/ Challenges http://www.rsc.org/lap/rsccom/dab/chemistrycassettes.htm And you can listen to music on a portable MP3 player!

7. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 7 New Devices What are the implications of, say, Web / email clients on digital TV? Cost about £120 (or £64.50 on offer from BT Shop) http:// www.netgem.com / Challenges Scenario Students will want to watch digital TV (music, etc.) This box provides a cheap easily maintained thin client Use at home reduces demand on PC clusters Can play MP3s (e.g. lecture notes, audio blogs, …) So encourage purchase! Read Ariadne review Scenario Students will want to watch digital TV (music, etc.) This box provides a cheap easily maintained thin client Use at home reduces demand on PC clusters Can play MP3s (e.g. lecture notes, audio blogs, …) So encourage purchase! Read Ariadne review Text, not images, so resize nicely

8. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 8 Challenges Commercial Providers (1) Bathstudent.com provides: Personalised portal Diary & calendar News alerts by email & SMS Advice … http://www.bathstudent.com/ Challenges: Shouldn't we be doing this? Who owns the company & data (and why do they want my personal details)? What if ownership changes? Does their advice on academic issues conflict with the University's? Challenges: Shouldn't we be doing this? Who owns the company & data (and why do they want my personal details)? What if ownership changes? Does their advice on academic issues conflict with the University's? We are now faced with increasing numbers of commercial providers of IT services

9. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 9 Commercial Providers (2): GMail Who needs a University email account when you can get 1 Gb from a GMail account? What I’m Doing Obtained a GMail ID Use it as secondary source for mailing lists Don't divulge ID (no spam) Wait and see what extras Google provide (RSS feed would be nice) Gain feel for privacy issues What I’m Doing Obtained a GMail ID Use it as secondary source for mailing lists Don't divulge ID (no spam) Wait and see what extras Google provide (RSS feed would be nice) Gain feel for privacy issues

10. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 10 WiFi WiFi technologies make mobile devices even more appealing. Imagine scenario: WiFi access in all lecture rooms, teaching spaces, … WiFi access in all halls of residences, flats, etc. WiFi access in all social spaces, such as bars, fields, etc WiFi access in town centre, pubs, Starbucks, … and with Zeroconf you can walk into a room & it's all available How will this change the dynamics of teaching & learning? How will this affect purchasing patterns? How will this affect social activities? How will this affect the role of IT Services? How will this change the dynamics of teaching & learning? How will this affect purchasing patterns? How will this affect social activities? How will this affect the role of IT Services? Thought Experiment Let's imagine you all have networked mobile devices and can communicate with everyone in the room. Challenges

11. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 11 Instant Messaging Instant Messaging: Nothing new – Unix talk anyone? New user communities driving its use: Young people  Overseas students Comments from recent UCISA poll: "IM... is 'here to stay' – an 'unstoppable tide'. Seen as part of youth culture, along with … SMS" Liverpool JMU "Students will arrive familiar with, and expecting to.. use such tools. Email seen by younger people to be 'boring', 'full of spam', IM and SMS immediacy preferred" Bath But: "Complaints raised regarding students hogging PCs.. Also case with email some time ago" Liverpool JMU "APIs are known and therefore targets for hackers" London Met "Some challenges in interoperability …" Bath Technologies

12. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 12 IM - Tools Popular IM tools include: MSN Messenger Yahoo Messenger AOL Instant Messenger ("it's not owned by Microsoft") Typically choosing a supported application involved looking at functionality, cost, support, security,.. Technologies

13. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 13 MSN Messenger Functionality MSN Messenger provides groupware & IM functionality: Sharing desktop applications File transfer Webcams Games Warning – this could be a virus Has potential in user support & collaborative working Technologies MSN Messenger is probably most widely used, but interoperability problems (even across Windows OSs) Note Web cam & audio don’t work across OSs

14. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 14 IM Guidelines Guidelines for QA Focus (UKOLN/AHDS project): Scheduled virtual meeting with home worker and with project partner Formal agenda used and meeting chaired Use of Webcam planned (nb privacy issues) Transcript archived (confidentiality issues flagged) IM also used for informal purposes e.g. short term tasks such as agreeing on pub to meet in Recognition of dangers of interruption, privacy, etc. Guidelines Briefing document – issues to be addressed in guidelines: Case study – what we did: Briefing document – issues to be addressed in guidelines: Case study – what we did:

15. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 15 Security Issues "I've asked our IT bods to open up the port, but have been met (so far) with a stony silence." Tensions: Users want the rich functionality IT Services also need to address security, privacy, support, etc. issues IM is an example of an edge service: Name given to P2P programs such as instant messaging, file sharing, etc. Programs are located at the edge of the network, travelling through desktop PCs rather than a central server IETF working on "Open Pluggable Edge Services" standard, which will address security issues Technologies

16. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 16 Interoperability Lack of interoperability: Mainstream IM world is currently closed Multi-protocol clients exist (e.g. Trillian, IM+) but don't support value-added features XMPP - open protocol of IM Jabber provides open source clients & servers which support XMPP Value-added services being developed e.g. BuddySpace at OU (note interesting movie) Technologies Newsflash: Yahoo blocks Trillian 24 Jun 2004

17. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 17 Policy Issues For IM: Functionality / support aren't main issues IM exists to facilitate communications the users' peers Should we: Provide multiple clients to support users (Liverpool approach)? Chose client and manage the ids, so we can use to communicate IM students? Provide clients but support separate IM facility (e.g. as part of portal, VLE, …)? Wait for standards & applications to arrive which solve the problems? Policies

18. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 18 Rather than dedicated IM clients we could provide Web services which users have to “go” to Integrating Environments (1) Services such as YahooGroups integrate: Mailing lists IM Voting Calendars … Useful to get committee together at same time – buts ads are disliked Very effective way of reaching a decision – avoids long discursive discussions Technologies Strangely, perhaps, YahooGroups is used by open standards developers (e.g. RSS & RDF)

19. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 19 Integrating Environments (2) JISCMail is extending its facilities to include a voting system and a chat room (currently being tested) Being part of our community it doesn’t have adverts and is responsive to needs of the community Technologies

20. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 20 Let's Kill E-Mail! E-mail has its role but: Why send messages which time-out when many users will read them too late? Why not use delivery channels which are spam-free? Why not use delivery channels which are more suited to receiving information (as opposed to discussions)? Why not allow users to select their preferred channels? Technologies RSS: Syndication of content A light-weight standard used in the JISC IE View on Web, using dedicated RSS viewer, Opera or Pluck IE plugin Shouldn't RSS viewers be standard on desktops? Shouldn't we be creating RSS feed for news alerts – and not just adding to email overload? Shouldn't RSS viewers be standard on desktops? Shouldn't we be creating RSS feed for news alerts – and not just adding to email overload? Google for "rss is opt-in authenticated email"

21. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 21 Let's Kill The Telephone! The telephone still has its place but: It can be expensive Conference calls are expensive Overseas calls are expensive Skype: Exploits high-speed network connectivity and powerful PCs Conference calls with up to 5 people Use instant messaging Ring land lines (paid-for option) Technologies Scenarios Skype used (a) on laptops for (i) ringing home/work (ii) when abroad and (b) desktop PCs for conference calls Scenarios Skype used (a) on laptops for (i) ringing home/work (ii) when abroad and (b) desktop PCs for conference calls

22. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 22 Let's Kill The Telephone! If we intend to kill off the phone, shouldn't we use video conferencing tools rather than simply replicating a phone system? Technologies VRVS provides sound, video, IM, virtual rooms, etc See Ariadne review Video comes for free with MSN Messenger

23. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 23 Blogging (1) Blogging: cult fashion or significant developing in publishing / communications? Technologies Student's learning diary. Created by student and hosted on remote Blogger Web site. No longer maintained? A more sustainable approach is likely when used as part of a course. This example also provides shared experiences

24. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 24 Blogging (2) But: I want new information to be pushed to me I want to create information using tools other than a Web browser I prefer an email interface (fewer images, …) I want to do everything in IE Technologies

25. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 25 Blogging (3) E-learning Unit at Bath provides a good example: Team contributions Quality content Willing to address controversial e- learning issues and good software with rich functionality Google "auricle bath" for URL Note getting the software installed is the easy part – bigger issues include sustainability, scope, style, handling comments, …

26. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 26 Wikis (1) Wiki: An open shared space for collaborative editing Emerging Technologies Wikipedia – a example of shared encyclopaedia. Yes, trust is an issue! Wikipedia – a example of shared encyclopaedia. Yes, trust is an issue! QUB provide an environment for IT & Society students to collectively edit Web pages.

27. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 27 Wikis (2) Your University may already be in the Wikipedia! Comments: You can't stop people doing this This can be good publicity This can be effort for free If you create the page to start with you can set the tone Note the Wikipedia is an example of a Web site created using Wiki software. The Wikipedia is sometimes confused with Wikis.

28. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 28 The Potential For SMS SMS: Over 100 million SMS txts sent over New Year 2004 – why don't we send exam results, library alerts, …? A small number of institutions are using SMS : "SHU used SMS during clearing - potential students texted in UCAS code of course of interest. The system sent back text saying whether places were still available - alleviating pressure on our call centre." "I believe Edinburgh student union uses SMS for their elections." "I believe there are plans afoot in our university at a high level to develop a method of 'bulk sending' SMS messages out to students." Birkbeck are "hoping to pilot an SMS alert system soon for one of our Schools that they can use (via a simple Web interface) to send lecture cancellation messages etc to their students" Technologies

29. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 29 From SMS -> 3G WAP: Failed to take off, but some experimentation talking place 3G: The SMS or the WAP of the future? Will developments be driven by: Research interests – e.g. Consumers? Will the killer app be: Publishing information? Communications? Something else: competition for WiFi competition e.g. Google for the pub quiz Nothing Technologies 12 July 04: NEC e303 Pay-as-You-Go 3G phone for £30 from Argos

30. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 30 Social Networks (SNs) Students (and staff) want to be part of communities - as shown by success of FriendsReunited and (since Jan 2004) Orkut SNs: Started during dot.com boom and recently resurfaced Focus on dating and/or business & professional relationships These Social Networks can provide: Mailing lists & Instant messaging Links to partners & potential partners Means of disclosing information selectively These Social Networks can provide: Mailing lists & Instant messaging Links to partners & potential partners Means of disclosing information selectively Dangers: Hosting of data and (possibly valuable) information by 3 rd parties Dangers: Hosting of data and (possibly valuable) information by 3 rd parties

31. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 31 FOAF FOAF (Friends-of-a-Friend): A Semantic Web application (SW – creation of a distributed global database without central control) Allows structured information about people to be brought together Great potential for building online communities Featured in Guardian Online column – 19 Feb 2004 Paper at IADIS Web Based Communities 2004 on "Using FOAF To Support Community-Building" by Kelly & Dodds Emerging Technologies

32. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 32 FOAF Example (1) FOAF Explorer - A view of my FOAF file, showing links to my friends Further information in my FOAF file Leigh's FOAF file, showing his additional information Emerging Technologies

33. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 33 FOAF Example (2) Emerging Technologies FOAFNaut – An application-independent & extensible approach to distributed database queries! Illustration of Potential Semantic markup of people, interests and attendance at past & future events support will queries such as: "Who will be going to IWMW 2004 who has a interest in Plone, has been to previous IWMWs, and lives with 50 miles (and supports Everton)" Illustration of Potential Semantic markup of people, interests and attendance at past & future events support will queries such as: "Who will be going to IWMW 2004 who has a interest in Plone, has been to previous IWMWs, and lives with 50 miles (and supports Everton)"

34. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 34 Where Does This Leave Us? Can we afford not to have: An Institutional IM Facilities IM software and managed directory facilities An Institutional Blog Service A managing and interoperable diary and annotation environment (cf Warwick) Institutional Wiki A managed, easy-to-use collaborative workspace Social Networking Facilities Software to support business (and social) networking Before the environments, we should have a policy in these areas. The policy could, for example, leave provision of such services to the market place.

35. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 35 Strategic Challenges Challenges we face: AUPs Open Source vs Commercial Solutions Departmental & Individual Autonomy Interoperability, Preservation, etc. People Issues Privacy, Data Protection, … Sustainable Communities How we go about deploying such facilities … Challenges Note that I don't have answers to all of these issues!

36. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 36 AUPs There is a need to update our AUPs: It’s becoming easier to publish We can publish in different media We can cause problems in new ways: Sounds Copyright abuse … http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/ University of Birmingham are developing an AUP for recording lectures

37. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 37 Open Source Software Many Web/Internet -based tools described (Wikis, Blogs, Jabber, …): Are available as open source software (OSS) Act as demonstrators of emerging new open standards Options for an institutional OSS strategy: Replace existing MS Office products by Open Office – and face resistance from existing users Deploy new services using open source applications Note the JISC-funded OSS Watch service can provide advice on OSS strategies. See Challenges

38. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 38 Browser As Application Environment Everyone uses IE – so we just stick with that But: Hasn’t been developed for several years New version only for new MS OS Therefore will need alternative for other platforms and legacy MS OSs Why such lack of development? Web browser has potential to provide an application environment MS want Windows to be the application environment – so better browsers are a threat to their core business

39. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 39 Alternative To IE (1) Mozilla Firefox is a powerful browser which also: Is extensible GMail support (notification, navigation,...) Access to apps such as music players

40. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 40 Alternative To IE (2) University of Bath have a very popular notice board But continually checked the Web page is time-consuming Firefox’s dynamic RSS bookmark allows the last 15 entries to be viewed from the bookmark manager

41. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 41 Alternative To IE (3) The Wikalong Firefox extension can be used to annotate Web pages There are plans to provide decentralised annotations services – so closed groups could annotate pages http://wikalong.phunnel.org/kwiki/index.cgi?HomePage

42. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 42 Browser Policy Issues Issues for IT Service departments: What browser should by provided & supported – on MS Windows and other platforms? How important are any new services? Do the benefits outweight the hassles? If we choose to change our browser policy what problems might we encounter? Do we go for a big bang or incremental change? Do we have any Web services which are IE-only?

43. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 43 Strategies For Deployment How should we go about deploying more open and innovative collaborative systems? "Eat your own dogfood“: use tools to discuss tools IM tools were used to discuss issues with staff evaluating IM at Edinburgh Address local, regional, … issues Sharing experiences Learn from the users – and your children! Challenges Use by SWITC? “… ideas for joint projects... HERDA … encourages … collaborative projects.” Use by SWITC? “… ideas for joint projects... HERDA … encourages … collaborative projects.”

44. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 44 Wikis For Shared Notekeeping The free, externally hosted Seedwiki (and Swiki) Wikis used to support workshop in Trieste They were used to note students areas of interests (Notepad normally used) This approach allowed students to contribute http://www.seedwiki.com/page.cfm?doc=ictp-2004&wikiid=4970 How about a managed Wiki to support SWITC activities?

45. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 45 Conclusions Internet and Web collaborative technologies: Provide a range of interesting new application areas of use in a teaching & research context Students will increasingly be familiar with such technologies and expect to continue to use them Many technologies are free/open source and will be deployed by individuals / in departments Issues of ongoing, security, interoperability, etc. will need to be addressed by central services Issues of sustainable communities, guidelines, etc. also need addressing – but by whom? Many challenges – but also great potential It's time to start evaluating Or we can do nothing and leave the users to do this (and we pick up the pieces when things go wrong)

46. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 46 Questions Any questions?