leedsfeeds: a blogging service based on the open source elgg application
DESCRIPTION
Slides for a talk on "Leedsfeeds: a blogging service based on the open source Elgg application" by Melissa Highton at the UKOON workshop on "Exploiting The Potential Of Blogs and Social Networks", 26 Nov 2007. See http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/blogs-social-networks-2007/TRANSCRIPT
Leedsfeeds: a blogging service based on the open source Elgg application
Melissa Highton
Senior Staff Development Officer
University of Leeds
The provision and use of blogs and social networks– How they support institutional aims
– Challenges in providing such services
– Strategies and success
“A social network service focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software.”
(quote copied and reused from Brian’s slides)
Leeds University Values
Networking
• “networking with people there is far more productive than anything that comes out of meetings… “
• “Having people you can ring up about issues that you are both having to deal with is very helpful.”
• “Now I will have to put systems in place to do something about that. It is an important part of the job knowing who is where, who is doing what and what they are thinking. “
Leeds and Loughborough Universities for JISC (2006)
-An investigation of the staff development issues relating to
i-skills development of Higher Education non-academic staff
What are our interests?
• Why should institutions have an interest in blogs and social networks?
• Enhance learning– They can enrich learning: e-learning portfolios, collaborative
learning, informal learning, …• Enhance research
– They can enrich research: engagement with peers, feedback, social support, …
• Community benefits– Engagement & dissemination e.g. by support departments (IT
services, library, …)
– Role of institutions in developing digital citizens(list copied and reused from Brian’s slides)
Is this true?
• But what if:
– Users don’t trust our organisations?
– Staff & students feel more free to criticise on commercial services
– They prefer the disinterested approaches of commercial providers
What are your questions about LeedsCommunityBlogs?
– The purpose(s) of the service– The resource implications– The deployment strategies:
• Inhouse vs external (& associated concerns) – The evaluation and selection – The deployment– The training and support– The legal issues: privacy, copyright, IPR, defamation,
accessibility, …– The institutional concerns: reputation management,
sustainability, preservation, …
(list copied and reused from Brian’s slides)
Credits
Images in this presentation belong to the University of Leeds and members of
the ‘Fans of the Roger Stevens Building - the 8th wonder of the architectural
world’ Facebook Community.