Universities and social networking: making sense out of

nonsense David I Harrison

Eduserv Foundation Symposium 8th May 2008

Making sense … ?

• Cardiff’s Modern IT Working Environment (MWE) in partnership with IBM

• Modelling the MWE and what this means for the delivery of Information Services in a Social Computing (and Web 2.0) world

• Closing thoughts – enablement, partnership, cultural change and governance

Some Background to the MWE …

• The vision – “all about people” (but initially it’s been about technology: organisation-centric, BPM, SOA and … building collaboration toolset).

• The journey – exposed to IBM’s use of social networking in the enterprise; challenged to consider “disruptive technology” as part of the service delivery mix.

• The realisation – user-centric, cultural change, governance and … EA.

The MWE approach to Enterprise Integration Secure Interaction Layer

(Portal, Desktop, Mobile device)

MWE Business Process Management

• BPM tools give real-time visibility and control to the business

MWE Collaboration Tools

• The MWE Collaboration tools include E-mail, Calendar, Contacts, Instant Message, Video, Collaborative Workspace and Social Computing

• The MWE Integration Layer (Data and Systems) provides tools which transform activities and data into reusable, loosely-coupled services

MWE Integration Layer

• Search and Content Stores give tools for storage and retrieval of information (ie Enterprise Content Management, Records Management, Web Content Management and Enterprise Search)

MWE Search and Content Stores

MWE Enabling Infrastructure

• The MWE Enabling Infrastructure provides a resilient, eco-friendly, secure infrastructure to support the services offered by the MWE.

Core Operational

Systems

Core Infrastructure

• The core operational systems include Student Records, HR, Finance, VLE, Library systems, etc

• The Core Operational Systems are run on a resilient, eco-friendly, secure infrastructure (networks, firewalls, servers, etc).

But that’s just the start … now to“make sense out of nonsense”!

• A philosophical rationale for Information Services moving forward– Raises questions about the main thrust of activities– Poses new questions that are difficult to answer

• A model to help understanding and communication of the bigger picture and the place of emergent technologies within the enterprise

• Credit: Dr Joe Nicholls, Principal Consultant in the Futures GroupThanks: Paul Hobson & Stephen Griffiths

The Modern Working Environment

The Modern Working EnvironmentCore

Universityprocesses

Core Universityprocesses

Automatedsignatories

Identifyingtraining needs

Total projected activity (TPA)construction & core

post approval

Electronic year planner& targeted internal marketing

Interdepartmentaltransfer note (TRF) and

other internal finance tasks

Procurement

HR relatedprocesses

Staff inductionFinance Email

service

University services:• Content (data/information)• Tools & Resources • Online services• People

University services:• Content (data/information)• Tools & Resources • Online services• People

CoreUniversityprocesses

The Modern Working Environment

MRE MLE

CORE

Timetabling

Enquirer-to-studentprocess

Online studentapplication

process

Placementapplication

process

New courseprocess

Improving communicationwith students

Improving the student’sDay 1 experience

Supporting studentson placements

Research grantApplications process

Researchproject

Managing post-graduateresearchers

E-Printsrepository

ResearcherProfiles

Commercial &Spinout

Ethicalapproval

Resourcemanagement

Stockcontrol

CoreUniversityprocesses

The Modern Working Environment

VREMRE MLE VLE

CoreUniversityprocesses

Discussionlists

Question& Test

Contentrepositories

Learningobjects

Wiki’s

blogs

Bookmarking

Collaborativespaces

Collaborativeworkspaces

Electronicjournals

Blogs

Wikis

IRCSametime

Desktopvideoconferencing

Bookmarking

Contentrepositories

Discussionlists

CoreUniversityprocesses

Everything else!

The Modern Working Environment Opportunity Capability

Emerging technology enabling access to:

↑ vast volumes of content (data/information) ↑ an order of magnitude more tools & resources ↑ multitude of online services ↑ worldwide communities of people

Emerging technology enabling access to:

↑ vast volumes of content (data/information) ↑ an order of magnitude more tools & resources ↑ multitude of online services ↑ worldwide communities of people

IndividualOrganisation

The Modern Working Environment

Everything else!

PersonalResearch

Environment

The Modern Working Environment

Everything else!

PersonalLearning

Environment

The Modern Working Environment

Everything else!

PersonalTeaching

Environment

chore

core

The Modern Working Environment

Everything else!

PersonalResearch

Environment

The Modern Working Environment

Everything else!

PrincipleInvestigator

ResearchFellow

PhDStudent

Roombooking

Staffrecruitment

Procurement

Financemanagement

Payroll

Policies &Procedures

Staffdevelopment

Staff sickness& absence

Changes toPersonaldetails

TRF

Annual leavemanagement

Electronicsignatures

SSO &Shibboleth

Workflowmanagement

BOreports

Grantapplications

Publishinge-Prints

ResearchAssessment

Exercise

Directory ofExpertise

InformationAbout PhDstudents

ProjectManagement

Research skillsresources

InternalPeer review

Librarycatalogue

e-journals

Grant proposalarchive

Fixed-termrenewal

Photolibrary

Roombooking

ContactsDirectory

UniversityBoard messages

Search

Collaborativeauthoring

Research datamanagement

Socialnetworking

Collaborativeworkspace

SharedBookmarks

CreateRSS feeds

Access toIP restrictedresources

ARCCA

Alerts

News &Events

Cardiff Mail(email &

calendaring

Presence Awareness& Instant Messaging

Discussionlist

My Files

ReceiveRSS feeds

PersonalResearch

Environment

Bibliographymanagement

SocialEmail

SocialCalendar

Officeapplications

PersonalBookmarks

ReceiveRSS feeds

Socialnetworking

Blog

Facebook

Google

CreateRSS feeds

Del.icio.us

Development

Education and Training

• No development• No control• No awareness• Benefits realisation?

Closing thoughts - enablement

• The central IT service needs to focus totally upon business requirements

• Focus shifts to the Front Office (and away from Technology and the Back Office)

• The Service Desk becomes a focal point for service delivery, and a major corporate system

• Requirements gathering and recording becomes very important

• Solutions generation through innovation – enablement not development

Closing thoughts - partnership

• Consultancy form of working with Schools and Divisions – away from the central service catalogue

• Partnership ethos - producing solutions together

• Emphasis on education rather than simply training, with the context being important

• Embedding new ways of working through Information Literacy++

Closing thoughts – cultural change

• Raise awareness of cultural barriers and resistance to technological changes amongst organisational leaders

• Foster attitudes and adopt practices that enable good ideas to progress from inception to implementation

• Encourage “can do” and “yes” ways of thinking• Encourage social networks and personal profiles from

Day One to create new communities of knowledge and understanding – especially within the organisation

• Remove barriers to uptake of new tools, but provide clear guidance on what is appropriate use

• Consider the impact upon work-life balance policies

Closing thoughts - governance• How much control is actually necessary?• Do you produce policies … or guidelines?• Take care with the publishing of personal/team views. Encourage

multiple blogging domains, with personal ones being off-site.• What is the “value” of the “unofficial” or “black economy” of

information, networking and communication? How should the institution respond? Should it shape, direct or control the new pathways to produce what it might consider … “results”?

• The innovatory organisation will make a deliberate decision NOT to control, and should seriously consider nurturing such activity … but finally

• One calculation of efficiency probably demands that an organization fights to maintain the “official channels”; but is that really efficient when one is dealing with innovation and education in the crowd of academia on a global level?