A centre of expertise in digital information management Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath,...

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of BathBath, UK

UKOLN is supported by:

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised.

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised.

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/blogging-practices-jiscmrd-2011/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/blogging-practices-jiscmrd-2011/

Twitter:http://twitter.com/briankelly/

Email:[email protected]:http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/

Twitter:#jiscmrd

Blogging Practices To Support Project Work

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution 2.0 licence (but note caveat)


www.ukoln.ac.uk

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You are free to:

copy, share, adapt or re-mix;

photograph, film or broadcast;

blog, live-blog or post video of

this presentation provided that:You attribute the work to its author and respect the rights and licences associated with its components.

Idea from Cameron Neylon

Slide Concept by Cameron Neylon, who has waived all copyright and related or neighbouring rights. This slide only CCZero.Social Media Icons adapted with permission from originals by Christopher Ross. Original images are available under GPL at:http://www.thisismyurl.com/free-downloads/15-free-speech-bubble-icons-for-popular-websites


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About the UK Web Focus Blog

3

Intr

od

uct

ion

• Launched in Nov 2006

• 1,000 posts, 4,684 comments & over 385K views

• Runner-up in IT Professional Blogger of the Year Award


www.ukoln.ac.uk

About You

How many are:• Regular bloggers• Occasional bloggers• Non-bloggers

Your interests:• What would you like to see addressed in

this session?

4

Intr

od

uct

ion

Your opportunity to shape the agenda


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About This Session

1. Why have a blog?

2. What’s the purpose of your blog?

3. Who contributes?

4. What can go wrong?

5. How can you measure the blog’s success ?

6. What technical issues should I care about?

7. Howe do I ensure the content is usable?

8. How to maximise impact of the blog

9. What additional functionality can we exploit?

10.Managing the blog when the project is over

5

Intr

od

uct

ion


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Why Have a Blog?

Group Exercise:• List ~10 reasons why your project should

have a blog

Report back:• Each group to share three reasons for

having a blog• Please do not repeat reasons already

provided!

6

Wh

y B

log

?


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Projects Must Blog!?Twitter/blog discussion in Feb 2009:• Projects may blog due

to peer pressure• If not done for right

reasons may be counter-productive

• Projects should be open (wider than blogging)

• Need to develop productive blogging culture

• No, project must blog!7


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Why Have a Blog?Possible Reasons

• We have to – it’s in the contact!• To disseminate• To speculate• To challenge• To encourage discussion• To use as a CMS for content• To ensure content can be viewed easily on

mobile devices• To produce RSS to facilitate reuse• To act as a CV• To provide a sandbox for experimentation• ….8

Wh

y B

log

?


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Why Have a Blog?

Tip No. 1:

Ensure you (and your project team) know the reasons why you are providing a blog.

Note

This should be done for members of the project team and the funders

9

Wh

y B

log

?


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What’s the Purpose of Your Blog?

The need to publish the blog’s purpose:• To help user’s understand what your blog

is about• To ensure blog authors (possibly

distributed) have a shared understanding• So your funders understand the purpose• So future evaluators /markers understand

the purpose • To help in the management of your blog• To measure the blog’s effectiveness in

achieving its intended purpose10

Wh

at i

s Y

ou

r B

log

Fo

r?


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Summary:• Brief summary of top left corner of

UK Web Focus blog (visible from every page)

Detailed description:• Detailed summary on page linked to

from navigation bar

Covers:• Purpose• Audience• Policies• …

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Wh

at i

s Y

ou

r B

log

Fo

r?


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Things to consider:• Is the About

page about the blog or the project?

• Does the summary change about the project is over?

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The About page for the JISC PoWR project was updated last week as the blog may have been regarded as the project.


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Tip No. 2:

Publish an About page for your blog which is:

Easily found Clarifies whether the information is about

the blog or the project Makes sense after the project is over

Note

This should be done for readers of your blog

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Wh

at i

s Y

ou

r B

log

Fo

r?


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Who Contributes to Your Blog?

Email is for everyone and we (should) understand the context and the risks.

But blogs are a different environment

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Wh

o C

on

trib

ute

s?


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Wh

o C

on

trib

ute

s?

Starting a blog can be an intimidating experience …


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Wh

o C

on

trib

ute

s?

… but so can writing a peer-reviewed paper


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Wh

o C

on

trib

ute

s?

Some people are better at writing code


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Wh

o C

on

trib

ute

s?

Whereas other can communicate complex ideas in visual ways

Visualisations produced by Tony Hirst


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Which channels do you prefer? (choose 1)[Research papers] – [synthesis reports] – [blogs] – [briefing papers] – [marketing materials] – [code] – [visualisations]

Which communication channels are you happy to use? (choose all that apply)

Which communication channels do you try to avoid? (choose all that apply)

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The Belbin Model

Blogging and the Belbin Model

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Group Exercise:• Provide one (or two) statements

describing who will publish posts on your project blog

• What are the strengthens & weaknesses of your blog contributor policy?

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Wh

o C

on

trib

ute

s?


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Tip No. 3:

Since not everyone should blog but every project must have a blog …

Identify the good, keen bloggers Provide opportunities for reluctant bloggers Consider inviting guest bloggers to add

variety Provide blog profiles to be able to

differentiate different ‘voices’

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Wh

o C

on

trib

ute

s?


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Group Exercise:• What can go wrong with your blog?• Feel free to include:

Technical issues Content issues People issues Resourcing issues …

When Things Go Wrong

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Wh

en T

hin

gs

Go

Wro

ng


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When Blogs Break

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Fatal error: Call to undefined method Arras_Widget_Tag_Cloud::WP_Widget_Tag_Cloud() in /opt/wordpress/wp-content/themes/arras-theme/library/widgets.php on line 328

blogs.ukoln.ac.uk/jisc-beg-dig-pres/

ProblemSpam comments spotted in blogBut blog not available?!

SolutionArras theme incompatible with upgraded PHP libraryBlog viewed on mobile device, with mobile theme enabledUpdated version of theme installed

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en T

hin

gs

Go

Wro

ng


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Spam

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Blog comments can attract spam:•Comment moderation is a barrier to people•You’ll need a spam filter•I try to delete spam daily

10 days of spam


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Managing Spam Comments

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~0.5M spam comments in ~ 4 years (~4K legitimate comments)

Some legitimate comments may be trapped (& possibly retrieved).


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When Things Go Wrong

Tip No. 4:

Things can go wrong, but planning can minimise problems

Spam filters Spam management policies Managing switch-off of your blog after

project ends

27

Wh

en T

hin

gs

Go

Wro

ng


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Group Exercise:• How should we measure the success of a

blog?• (Why do we need to measure the

success of a blog?)

Measuring Success

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Mea

suri

ng

Su

cces

s


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Measuring SuccessIs this blog unsuccessful?

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The purpose of the blog was informal note-keeping using a familiar, easy-to-use tool.

Should usage stats matter?


www.ukoln.ac.uk

There are needs to identify indications of success • Demonstrate value

to funders• Identify & learn

from effective & flawed strategies

• …

Measuring Success

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Mea

suri

ng

Su

cces

s

Top 3% of all blogsTop 13% of technology blogs

According to Technorati Tony Hirst’s Ouseful.info blog is in:

• Top 3% of all blogs it has indexed • Top 13% of Technology blogs

based on index of > 1M blogs


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Comparison With PeersSearch Technorati for ‘jisc’ helps to spot blogs with high ranking:

• What can we learn from these?

• Can we help ensure JISC (outreach) blogs are highly ranked

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Authority measures blog's standing & influence on scale of 0-1000 (high good).Ranking given for Technorati Authority of all sites (low good)


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WikioWikio also provides metrics for (registered) blogs

List of top technology blogs shown

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Together with display of trends for ranking, nos. of posts, links and backlinks,

OUseful had peak at #18 in Nov 2008

What happened from Jun-Sep 2010?


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Measuring Success

Tip No. 5:

Think about (easy) ways for measuring success of you blog

Note registering blog with Technorati & Wikio Is trivial to do May provide evidence of successful

strategies The value may be in the aggregation of JISC

blogs Funders understand that these don’t provide

league tables You’ll need to understand risks of not doing

this (which may be a legitimate decision)33


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Interoperability IssuesBK “What technical advice should I

give?”

TB “Don’t truncate RSS feeds!”

Context (for end users):

On the bus, catching up with RSS feeds on iPod Touch.

If text truncated I normally don’t see full post (and am likely to unsubscribe from such blogs)

34

Thanks to Amber Thomas for granting permission to share this example – she has updated her blog settings!


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Interoperability Issues

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UKOLN’s Web Team Blog aggregator:• Harvests

posts for Web team blogs

• Allows them to understand their community

• Allows us to observe

Note that searches, auto-categorisation, etc. is based on RSS feed content. Restricted feed content = limited value.


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Interoperability Issues

Tip No. 6:

Provide a full RSS feed for your blog It’s trivial to do If you don’t:

Humans may not see full post, especially if they use offline devices

Software will not be able to harvest full post

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Tec

hn

ical

Iss

ues


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Which Platform?

Which blogging platform should you use?• Wordpress.com: My choice. Limited

range of plugins.• Wordpress.org: Install locally; can install

wide range of plugins.• Blogger.com:

What else do people use?

37

Pla

tfo

rm I

ssu

es


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Platform Issues

Tip No. 7:

Several safe options available Wordpress.com or Blogger.com if no

in-house options available WordPress.org if

Wish to use wider range of plugins Technical expertise available Wish to consider use of WP as a technology

platform (see later)

May be advantages in using same platform as your peers

38

Pla

tfo

rm I

ssu

es


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Usability IssuesWho normally reads blog posts:

• On a mobile device• On desktop PC

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My morning’s reading: posts viewed in mobile RSS client

Less clutter than Web browser view

But some features don’t work (Java, Flash, ..)


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Interoperability can be achieved by writing style and links, with no technology needed

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In a mobile world:• Which posts stands

out?

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Note:• Growing importance

of personalised newspapers

• Need to stand out form the crowd


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Usability

Tip No. 9:

You can’t ignore mobile devices Even if you don’t read blogs on a mobile

device, your readers might Mobile usage will grow There are some simple techniques you can

use to enhance experiences on mobile device

42

Usa

bil

ity


www.ukoln.ac.uk

What About Twitter?Is Twitter:• Trivial & time-

wasting• Valuable for

rapid discussions with peers

• Useful for marketing

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www.ukoln.ac.uk

Twitter Evidence (1)

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URL Bit.ly/foo+ gives usage stats


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Twitter Evidence (2)What happened in June 2011 which caused spike for peer-reviewed paper on “Openness in Higher Education: Open Source, Open Standards, Open Access”

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Probably:• A tweet on 17 June • A marketing opportunity

(Promote #UniWekk campaign on Twitter day)

• Use of popular hashtags

"Openness in HE: Open Source, Open Standards, Open Access" paper on ways of exploiting openness: http://bit.ly/a9wglM #UniWeek #UniofBath


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What About Twitter?

Tip No. 10:

You can’t ignore Twitter Build up your community (100-500

followers to ensure critical mass) Engage in relevant discussions Tweet about things you care about Tweet links you feel are useful

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Tw

itte

r


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Commenting & LinkingMany blogs publish automated links to their posts

This illustrates benefits of citing posts

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Commenting & LinkingComments can be indicative of community building (but may be difficult on project blog)

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You may prefer to be notified of comments:

• By email• In your RSS reader

You may also wish to have comments to blogs of interest in this way


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Comment on Other’s BlogsComment in response to post on Google Scholar Citations (& question on proactive use of service)

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Email MattersWhat if your users:• Are not into blogs• Don’t use RSS readers

Encourage them to sign up to an RSS to email subscription service e.g.

• Feedburner(93 subscribers to all posts)

• WordPress (85 subscribers)

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Comments, Links and Email

Tip No. 11:

Comments, links and email matter You can encourage comments by your

writing style (e.g. open questions Providing links to relevant resources helps

users in following ideas Providing links to blog posts can generate

traffic back to you blog Posts can be delivered by email (but you’ll

have to make it obvious how to do this)

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You Are Not Alone!Work collaboratively:• You are not alone• You gain benefits by

sharing

Research360@Bath MRD blog plans covers:• Content for static

pages• Content for blog posts• …

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You Are Not Alone!Research360@Bath MRD blog plans covers:• Content for sidebar• Target audience• …

Provided under a Creative Commons (CC-BY) licence

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Searching Across the Community

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A Google Custom Search Engine (GCSE) searches across (current) JISC MRD blogs

GCSE can be embedded in Web pages

Note should have OPML feeds to add blogs to RSS aggregators


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Browsing Across the Community

JISC RDM blogs added to Google Reader

Google Reader allows:• Browsing (shown)• Export of OPML file for import to other RSS tools

Compare this with the silos of conventional Web sites!

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Produced by Jez Cope, Research360@Bath


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You Are Part of a Community

Tip No. 12:

Don’t reinvent the wheel! Learn from what others are doing Share what you’re doing

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Why not write a post about how you’ve implemented your blog? Other may find this useful, and they may be motivated to give you suggestions on enhancements


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Advanced Blogging

Blogs can provide:• Easy-to-use content management system• Tool for creating mobile-friendly content• Mechanism for getting feedback

But in addition:• Can manage semantic content• Content can be created by automated

processes• …

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Example from Southampton University

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AnnotumAnnotums’s objectives are to develop:• A simple, robust,

easy-to-use authoring system to create and edit scholarly articles

• An editorial review and publishing system that can be used to submit, review, and publish scholarly articles

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Joss Winn’s session on WordPress at IWMW 2010

If you’ve 6 mins to spare see the video:


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Blog Engine as a Platform

Tip No. 13:

A blog engine can be a powerful technology platform

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It’s All Over Now!

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The projects over – and was a great success But the blog:

• Is full of spam• Has out-of-date content• Has stopped working• Used as indicator of

poor dissemination for next call


www.ukoln.ac.uk

IWMW 2011 blog

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Calendar removed

Is this risky?


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A Blog Isn’t Just For Xmas!

Tip No. 14:

Your project blog will still be relevant after the project is complete:

It can undermine future work if closure isn’t managed

It can demonstrate the value of previous work

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See "Approaches To Archiving Professional Blogs Hosted In The Cloud“, iPres 2010, Kelly, B & Guy, M.<http://opus.bath.ac.uk/20327/>


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ConclusionsYou should

• Document blog’s purpose• Provide an About page• Develop plans for content providers• Have a spam management policy• Consider ways of gathering metrics• Provide a full RSS feed• Ensure posts are usable on mobile devices• Encourage comments – and comment • Work collaboratively• Understand additional opportunities for blog platform• Manage the closure of your blog

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Questions

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A centre of expertise in digital information management Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath,...

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