Note that due to the facilitator having other committments this session was not delivered.
In the old days life was simple. Everyone one made use of services provided in-house, typically managed by the local IT Services department. Everyone grumbled - they wanted extra functionality, they wanted alternative services ("I don't want to use MW Word, I prefer Wordperfect") and, of course, we'd hear cries of "every other university is using X, why aren't we?". People complained, but the services worked; students got their degress and researchers carried out their research using institutional services.
But now externally-hosted Web services have librated the users from the constraints imposed on them by their institutions. Martin weller, a professor at the Open University recently commented that "I have finally shed all institutional services (http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2008/03/google-up-your.html) - it's marvellously liberating. And this is just the basic stuff - I have also evolved a PLE/PWE (for want of a better term). IT services simply can't compete - just look at the email - my mailbox was full at the OU. With GMail I am using 1%. That's an order of magnitude difference. And the same applies with every tool you care to mention in lots of different ways - design, usability, robustness (the idea that IT services hosted tools are less robust doesn't stand up)."
Is this vision of the future feasible? Is it scalable? Or is it a dangerous vision, full of risks for both the individual student or researcher and the institution?
This workshop session will address the risks associated with use of externally-hosted Web 2.0 services and develop strategies for assessing and managing such risks
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Brian Kelly UK Web Focus UKOLN University of Bath BATH BA2 3LY Email: b.kelly@ukoln.ac.uk |
Last modified: 16th April 2008
