facebook and the institution

8/6/2019 Facebook and the Institution

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A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk

Introduction To Facebook:Opportunities and Challenges For The Institution

Brian Kelly

UK Web Focus

UKOLN

University ofBath

Bath

[email protected]

UKOLN is supported by:

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/bath-facebook-2007-08/

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence(but note caveat)

Resources bookmarked using bath-facebook-2007-08' tag

Aims of this talkThis talk aims to provide an introduction

to Facebook by looking at what it is and

how it is being used.

The potential of Facebook to support

various activities within the institution will

be explored, together with potential

problem areas.

The talk will lead into general discussion.


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A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk2

Contents

Introduction

What Is Facebook?

Examples of usage

Facebook: the opportunities Facebook: the challenges

Questions

Discussion


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About Me

Brian Kelly: UK Web Focus: a Web advisory post

Involved in Web since January 1993, when he

helped establish Web service at the University of

Leeds (possibly first institutional site in UK HE)UKOLN:

A national centre of expertise in digital information

management

Funded by JISC and MLA to support the higherand further education communities and the

cultural heritage centre

Located at the University ofBath (Library L4,

Wessex House L5 plus home workers)


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About You

How many of you:

Make use of Facebook for professional

purposes?

Make use of Facebook for socialpurposes?

Have heard about Facebook and want to

know more?

Are new to Facebook?

What do you hope to gain from this session?


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What is Facebook?

Facebook:A social networking

Web site

Had the largest

number of registeredusers among

college-focused sites

with over 30 million

members worldwide

Ranked between top1020 Web sites

Seventh most visited

site in the US

From Wikipedia


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Note that I provide

public information,

but not personal

details

Getting Started

When you registeryou can provide

information about

yourself:

Personaldetails

Contact details

Interests


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Your Profile Page

Heres an example of aprofile page:

Your details

Access to defaultapplications

Access to applicationsyour added

Facebook could be usedas a personalised portal

to various applications


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Its a SocialNetwork (2)

Heres the page of aformer colleague (nowat Eduserv). This isvaluable to me:

Spot friends in

common Keep informed ofAndys professionalinterests (of interestto me)

Keep informed ofAndys discussionswith others


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Student Use (1)

Example of groupssubscribed by a

student:

Student society

Facebook seems to be very popular for use with

Student union societies (nb is this a threat to similar

services provided on Student Union Web site?)


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Student Use (1)


student:

Student society

Notice how the issue of local versus global Facebook

groups is being discussed. Would a local-only group act

as a barrier to student alumni?


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Student Use (2)


student:

Student society

Social

Facebook is popular for various social activities

especially for keeping in touch over summer


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Student Use (2)


student:

Student society

Social

Note that Facebook provides access to videos and photos

a way of providing seamless access or a bandwidth hog?


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The Opportunities

Facebook provides great opportunities for theUniversities:

Its popular

Its easy-to-use

No need for in-house development or topurchase software

Useful for staff and post-graduate students too

We can easily integrate our resources into

Facebook (e.g. RSS feeds, blogs, etc.) It can provide alternative access to our services

cf. MyNewport portal which took a day to port to

Facebook


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What OthersAre Doing

MyNewport: VLE/portal used by staff &

students (course material,news, blogs, forums, etc.)

Facebook app allowsstudents to access to

MyLearning resourcesAllows students to create

their own personallearning environment in aplatform other than theUniversitys

Facebook targeted as itsthe fastest growingcommunity

If the users like idea butwant to work in anotherenvironment then that is fine

See info on UK Web Focus blog

& Michael Webbs (IT Services

director at Newport College) blog


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Whats The Downside?

Various concerns have been expressed about:

Privacy (is Facebook a private or public space?)

Is Facebook a space for students or for all?

Is Facebook a closed environment?


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The Challenges (1)

Facebook can providechallenges for the

institution

IT Service departments,

for example, are alwaysliable to face criticism

These days as well as

User Group meetings

and online forums,

users can create theirown discussion groups


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The Challenges (2)

How should thedepartments respond?

Read the posts togain feedback onareas in which

improvements maybe needed?

Join in thediscussions

Ban suchdiscussions / peoplewho makeinappropriatecomments?

Ignore the groups


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The Challenges (3)

Note though: Departments may

find support

being provided

on the discussion

groups

There will always

be criticism

Do our (fee-paying) students have a right to watch crap on YouTube

What if this slows network down? How does the university engage in

discussions on this topic with the students?


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Other Issues

There are also challenges for individualsWhat if this

group Ive joined

isnt about nos.

of UK Facebook

users, but a BNPsupport group?

A friend has

joined a group

which advocatesviolence!

Note that Facebook isnt a local University service, so it cant easily be

banned. Is this were we need education (for staff as well as students)?


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You Can Manage Your Privacy

You have controlover the

information others

can see about you


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You Can Manage Your Privacy

You have controlover the

information others

can see about you

But how manyusers change the

default settings?

And what about what Facebook can do with your

information? Note that Wikipedia provides useful

information on Facebooks terms and conditions


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Terms & Conditions

Have you read theterms and

conditions?


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Terms & Conditions

Have you read theterms and conditions?

Its good that they

comply with the Safe

Harbor Agreement

But how might

Facebook reuse your

information?


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Terms & Conditions


Its good that theycomply with the SafeHarbor Agreement

But how mightFacebook reuse yourinformation?

And how might theyshare it with others?


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Terms & Conditions


Its good that theycomply with the SafeHarbor Agreement

But how mightFacebook reuse yourinformation?

And how might theyshare it with others?

And whats their policyof changing theirpolicy, security, etc?


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What Do My Friends Think?

A question I asked on Facebook: Facebook: (a)institutions need to engage with it as our students like it

or (b) its their social space; let's leave it alone?

Responses from my Facebook

friends, 1 Aug 2007


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Some Thoughts

Facebook: We cant ignore it!

So should we:

Leave it for students to use as they see fit?

Allow departments to use as they see fit? Make formal use of it?

In all scenarios how should we:

Address privacy concerns for the students (andstaff)?

Address the issue of whether the university shouldrespond to criticisms?

Address our needs to protect the integrity of theinstitution?

Provide advice, training, etc. on best practices?


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Questions

Any questions?

facebook and the institution

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