Introduction To Facebook: Opportunities and Challenges For The Institution

Slideshow Transcript

1. Slide 1: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/bath-facebook-2007-08/ Introduction To Facebook: Opportunities and Challenges For The Institution Brian Kelly Aims of this talk UK Web Focus This talk aims to provide an introduction UKOLN to Facebook by looking at what it is and how it is being used. University of Bath The potential of Facebook to support Bath various activities within the institution will Email be explored, together with potential B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk problem areas. The talk will lead into general discussion. Resources bookmarked using ‘bath-facebook-2007-08' tag UKOLN is supported by: This work is licensed under a Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) A centre of expertise in digital information management
2. Slide 2: Contents • What Is Facebook? • Examples of usage • Facebook: the opportunities • Facebook: the challenges • Questions • Discussion A centre of expertise in digital information management 2
3. Slide 3: What is Facebook? Facebook is: • a social networking Web site • had the largest number of registered users among college- focused sites with over 30 million members worldwide • ranked between top 10–20 web sites • seventh most visited site in the US From Wikipedia A centre of expertise in digital information management 3
4. Slide 4: Getting Started When you register you can provide information about yourself: • Personal details • Contact details • Interests •… Note that I provide public information, but not personal details expertise in digital information management A centre of 4
5. Slide 5: Your Profile Page Here’s an example of a profile page: • Your details • Access to default applications • Access to applications your added Facebook could be used as a personalised portal to various applications A centre of expertise in digital information management 5
6. Slide 6: Your Profile Page Here’s an example of a profile page: • Your details • Access to default applications • Access to applications your added Facebook could be used as a personalised portal to various applications And here’s how others may see your profile Boring isn’t it! A centre of expertise in digital information management 6
7. Slide 7: It’s a Social Network (1) The strength of Facebook is when it is used as a social network. Here people can see: • My updates to my Facebook account • Applications I’ve installed • Groups I’ve joined • Photos & videos I’ve uploaded • Blogs posts I’ve written • Messages I’ve sent & received •… A centre of expertise in digital information management 7
8. Slide 8: It’s a Social Network (2) Here’s the page of a former colleague (now at Eduserv). This is valuable to me: • Spot friends in common • Keep informed of Andy’s professional interests (of interest to me) • Keep informed of Andy’s discussions with others •… A centre of expertise in digital information management 8
9. Slide 9: Student Use (1) Example of groups subscribed by a student: • Student society Facebook seems to be very popular for use with Student union societies (nb is this a threat to similar A centre of expertise in digital information management Union Web site?) services provided on Student 9
10. Slide 10: Student Use (1) Example of groups subscribed by a student: • Student society Notice how the issue of local versus global Facebook groups is being discussed. Would a local-only group act A centre of expertise in digital to student alumni? as a barrier information management 10
11. Slide 11: Student Use (2) Example of groups subscribed by a student: • Student society • Social Facebook is popular for various social activities – A centre of expertise in digital information management over summer especially for keeping in touch 11
12. Slide 12: Student Use (2) Example of groups subscribed by a student: • Student society • Social Note that Facebook provides access to videos and photos A centre of expertise in digital information management access or a bandwidth hog? – a way of providing seamless 12
13. Slide 13: The Opportunities Facebook provides great opportunities for the Universities: • It’s popular • It’s easy-to-use • No need for in-house development or to purchase 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 A centre of expertise in digital information management 13
14. Slide 14: What Others Are Doing MyNewport: • VLE/portal used by staff & students (course material, news, blogs, forums, etc.) • Facebook app allows students to access to MyLearning resources • Allows students to create their own personal learning environment in a platform other than the University’s Facebook targeted as it’s the fastest growing community If the users like idea but want See info on UK Web Focus blog to work in another environment then that is fine & Michael Webb’s (IT Services director Aat Newport College) blog centre of expertise in digital information management 14
15. Slide 15: What’s 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? •… A centre of expertise in digital information management 15
16. Slide 16: The Challenges (1) Facebook can provide challenges for the institution IT Service departments, for example, are always liable to receive criticisms These days as well as User Group meetings and online forums, users can create their own discussion groups A centre of expertise in digital information management 16
17. Slide 17: The Challenges (2) How should the departments respond? • Read the posts to gain feedback on areas in which improvements may be needed? • Join in the discussions • Ban such discussions / people who make inappropriate comments? • Ignore the groups A centre of expertise in digital information management 17
18. Slide 18: 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 topicdigital information management A centre of expertise in with the students? 18
19. Slide 19: Other Issues There are also challenges for individuals What if this group I’ve joined A friend has isn’t about nos. joined a group of UK Facebook which advocates users, but a BNP violence! support group? Note that Facebook isn’t a local University service, so it can’t be banned. Is this were centre of expertise in digital information management students)? A we need education (for staff as well as 19
20. Slide 20: You Can Manage Your Privacy You have control over the information others can see about you A centre of expertise in digital information management 20
21. Slide 21: You Can Manage Your Privacy You have control over the information others can see about you But how many users change the default settings? And what about what Facebook can do with your information? Note that Wikipedia provides useful A centre of expertiseon Facebook’s terms and conditions information in digital information management 21
22. Slide 22: Terms & Conditions Have you read the terms and conditions? A centre of expertise in digital information management 22
23. Slide 23: Terms & Conditions Have you read the terms and conditions? It’s good that they comply with the Safe Harbor Agreement A centre of expertise in digital information management 23
24. Slide 24: Terms & Conditions Have you read the terms and conditions? It’s good that they comply with the Safe Harbor Agreement But how might Facebook reuse your information? A centre of expertise in digital information management 24
25. Slide 25: Terms & Conditions Have you read the terms and conditions? It’s good that they comply with the Safe Harbor Agreement But how might Facebook reuse your information? And how might they share it with others? A centre of expertise in digital information management 25
26. Slide 26: Terms & Conditions Have you read the terms and conditions? It’s good that they comply with the Safe Harbor Agreement But how might Facebook reuse your information? And how might they share it with others? And what’s their policy of changing their policy, security, etc? A centre of expertise in digital information management 26
27. Slide 27: 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 A centre of expertise in digital information management 27
28. Slide 28: Some Thoughts Facebook: • We can’t 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 (and staff)? • Address the issue of whether the university should respond to criticisms? • Address our needs to protect the integrity of the institution? • Provide advice, training, etc. on best practices? A centre of expertise in digital information management 28
29. Slide 29: Questions Any questions? A centre of expertise in digital information management 29