The Search Principle blog

From the press release: “…the CARL Library Education Working Group that reviewed the applications awarded three research grants of $2000 to Dean Giustini (University of British Columbia) for his project titled “Canadian academic librarians and their use of social media; a two-phase survey“, to Laura Briggs (University of British Columbia, Okanagan) for her project titled “More than a Rubber Stamp? The Role of Collection Librarians in Curriculum consultations,” and to Kristin Hoffmann (University of Western Ontario) and Selinda Berg’s (University of Windsor) project titled “Co-op placements in academic libraries: Their role in the formation of librarians’ professional identity.”

Congratulations to my fellow winners. Cheers, Dean

Here are the top free (and no-so-free) starting points in complementary & alternative medicine for the November 19th BCLA Workshop on answering health and medical questions.

1. Starting points: CAM at UBC Library, NCCAM and Wikipedia.
2. More background: MEDLINEplus and Drugs – Supplements.
3. Clinical trials: CAM on Pubmed and NCCAM Trials Information.
4. Systematic Reviews: Bandolier and Wiley’s Cochrane Library.
5. Searching for free & Open vs. Locked CAM Resources.

In MEDLINE, use the MeSH complementary therapies (see specific therapies). CAM is defined as “…therapeutic practices which are not currently considered an integral part of conventional allopathic medical practice. They may lack biomedical explanations but as they become better researched some therapies (ACUPUNCTURE, HYDROTHERAPY) become widely accepted whereas others (humors, radium therapy) fade away, yet are important historical footnotes”.

In PubMedCentral, see the many open access EBM-CAM research articles.

“Enterprise 2.0 is the term for the technologies and business practices that liberate the workforce from the constraints of legacy communication and productivity tools like email. It provides business managers with access to the right information at the right time through a web of inter-connected applications, services and devices. Enterprise 2.0 makes accessible the collective intelligence of many, translating to a huge competitive advantage in the form of increased innovation, productivity and agility.”

Enterprise 2.0 is defined as a system of web-based technologies that provide for collaboration, information sharing and integration capabilities in an enterprise. The phrase also refers to the use of “emergent social software platforms within companies and their partners or customers”.

McAfee (2006) (see his blog) has used “social software” to describe how “people meet, connect and collaborate through computer mediated communication and form online communities”. As such, platforms are defined as “[emergent] digital environments in which contributions and interactions are widely visible and persistent over time.” Emergent means the software is free to use, egalitarian and will incorporate different forms of data.

However, it is important to note that Enterprise 2.0 rules out:

1. open web-based platforms, such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Flickr and MySpace, because they widely available to individuals;
2. corporate internets because they are not emergent; and
3. traditional e-mail and SMS because they aren’t persistent.

Strategies to implement 2.0

Some evidence points to Enterprise 2.0 as the most likely future of organizations – which is not to say that communication and collaboration will be entirely virtual. Much interpersonal communication will still be face-to-face as Pew researchers have shown (Madden and Jones, 2008). However, innovators have pointed to “tipping points” (or networking effects) as a cause of increased participation. We believe that the effects of social computing will be a direct result of information on blogs, discussion forums, wikis and the like and not knowledge management and employee opinion techniques.

More organizations and HR teams should be willing to experiment with web 2.0 and enterprise 2.0. These are not “either-or” solutions. In an unknowable digital world, organizations should be experimenting with media according to the contingencies of their operations. This should should be embraced because experimentation provides a basis for dynamism and the ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competencies to address rapidly-changing environments.

There is a need for organizations to develop web 2.0 policies. Whether they are simple — as in the case of Microsoft (“don’t write anything on blogs that would get you into trouble”) — or more formal is an important issue. Let’s examine advice from organizations that are more advanced in their use of social media.

UK Government Guidelines

1. Develop a strategic, evidence-based approach, integrating existing activities and communications strategies.
2. Educate managers by raising awareness of what Web 2.0 technologies are available, the opportunities they offer and the risks they raise.
3. Develop a code of conduct and toolkit for the use of Web 2.0, proving a clear steer to employees and managers on the use of social media for work and personal use.
4. Learn to listen by adopting focused and sustained efforts to understand, map and track the use of relevant Web 2.0
5. Set out a business case for using Web 2.0 technologies, including a phased implementation of access to social media tools.
6. Avoid replication by engaging with existing technologies before developing in-house ones.
7. Regularly evaluate the use and effectiveness of Web 2.0 technologies in the organization.
8. http://coi.gov.uk/documents/Engaging_through_social_media.pdf

IBM Social Media guidelines

1. Know and follow IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines
2. IBMers are personally responsible for content published on blogs, wikis or other media. Be mindful that what you publish will be public for a long time – protect your privacy
3. Identify yourself – name and, when relevant, role at IBM; write in the first person; make it clear you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of IBM
4. If you publish content outside of IBM and it is about work you do or IBM, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.”
5. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure
6. Don’t provide confidential or proprietary information. Ask permission to publish or report conversations meant to be private or internal
7. Don’t cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval. When you do make a reference, link back to the source
8. Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity or any conduct that would not be acceptable in IBM’s workplace. Show consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be objectionable or inflammatory – such as politics and religion
9. Find out who else is blogging or publishing on the topic, and cite them
10. Be aware of your association with IBM in online social networks. If you identify yourself as an IBMer, ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and clients
11. Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating you have done so
12. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. IBM’s brand is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on IBM’s brand (http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html).

Reflecting on the advice from both of these sources will assist organizations to innovate using the latest social media tools.

In the UK, British Telecom is one of the country’s strongest proponents of enterprise 2.0. It has introduced a range of social media including a Wikipedia-style database called BTpedia, blogging and podcasting tools, project collaboration software and enterprise social networking. Called “business tools”, according to BT’s head of knowledge management strategy Richard Dennison, because employees work more flexibly and efficiently.

Enterprise 2.0 has a reputation among business leaders as a time-wasting trend. However, not Dennison who says “We think that personal information is still business information. We think mixing the two provides context for you as an individual, it allows people to connect and it allows people to develop deeper personal relationships. Without it we’re all one-dimensional suit”. “We’re trying to get away from that attitude that you have to be a different person at work.”

References

• Bughin J. The rise of enterprise 2.0. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice (2008) 9, 251–259.
• Frappaolo C, Keldsen D. What is Web 2.0? Association for Information and Image Management. 2008 http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Web-2.0.aspx
• Madden M, Jones S. Networked Workers. Washingston D.C.: Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2008.
• McAfee AP. Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration. Sloan Manage Rev 2006;47(3):21-28.
• Regli T. Enterprise Search: Seek and Ye Might Find. Computers in Libraries; Jul/Aug2008;28;(7):22-23.
• Woodward D. Social workers: Enterprise 2.0. Director magazine, August 2008
• Tapscott D. Winning with Enterprise 2.0. New Paradigm Learning Corporation, 2006

The UBC School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS) is one of the few schools (the only?) on the UBC Vancouver campus offering an entire course on social media. An intrepid group of student archivists and librarians and I are working through a series of six modules that examine social media’s role in the information age. Given some of the dire talk about “the library as place…is dead” I think it’s useful to think about how academics, librarians and students will meet in the future to discuss books, artefacts and ideas ….in the absence of physical libraries.

• First, is it even possible to create a new kind of digital learning ‘commons’ with social media?

My simple answer is: yes. The idea of a ‘library commons’ is very popular in academic libraries — but this is both in the physical sense where we meet students and faculty members (as well as in the digital spaces) and online where librarians can create opportunities to collaborate with our various user groups. Think of the possibilities for academic librarians when we find tools that our user groups are familiar with, use and inhabit daily — you can sit down and talk to them in the digital space (and plan to meet for coffee later).

• OK. So, what kinds of digital services & spaces can be created for interaction and collaboration?

I think when the UBC community really examines the range of digital media for interaction the conclusion will be that there are endless possibilities. However, what seems critical to me is that we provide for learning in open and closed spaces; and that we match the tools with our users’ needs and our organizational goals. At the moment, Twitter is very popular — and may be a good starting point for some libraries who want to send short blasts of information to busy faculty and students-on-the-go.

• In building new spaces for communication and information-exchange, what is the role of Open source?

I think the same sense of participation and collaboration that drives social media is also behind the movement towards open source. Some folks in archives and libraries want to control their communication practices but do not want to be ‘out there on the web’ or to have a digital presence — thus, a locally mounted Moodle might be a better alternative; some tech-savvy librarians might not be able to afford an integrated proprietary library system ….so perhaps Ubuntu might be the answer. But — we need to consider the potential of these online spaces.

• Through the adoption of information technologies, can we create a new kind of hi-tech academic-information professional hybrid?

I think in my field of academic health librarianship this is absolutely critical. Health librarians need to have all the traditional skills of our profession but also be increasingly aware of how different media fit with the changes that are happening in the sciences — especially the changes in the way that our faculty and user groups are communicating and collaborating on projects… This heightened awareness of web 2.0 will make it possible to offer creative new services and to find solutions to difficult information problems.

• Can we use social media to organize digital libraries and participate in the semantic web?

This is my goal. We can already see that some tools like LibraryThing can decentralize tagging — which has a lot of semantic data that can be used for describing and finding documents. “Open tagging” of library resources should be on the radar screens of every information professional. Many organizations are already using tags – think of the Smithsonian and the University of Pennsylvania, to name but two.

I created this Jeopardy quiz on social media at Jeopardylabs. Simple and fun at the same time. The website helps you to build a Jeopardy game board without using Power Point. To start, enter a password so that others can’t edit your game. Then give your quiz a title, type in categories and enter questions and answers. You can also search Jeopardy games created by others. You can’t edit them – but you might find a game that fits your needs perfectly.

To start the quiz, click the Jeopardy link to LIBR559M and select 1 team to begin. Do you know all the basics in LIBR559M?

This short video produced by the Toronto Public Library Foundation is a bulls-eye and a model for health librarians who want to do some effective public relations in their hospitals and health care agencies. Here, after donors view this 31 sec. video, the connection between making a donation and seeing the library as an agent for social change will be self-apparent. This is precisely what the Medical Library Association (MLA) and the Canadian Health Libraries Association should partner on: a public relations campaign to promote health information professionals as agents of social change. Absolutely vital!

We are nearing the final 1/3 of LIBR559M – Social media for information professionals. It’s been quite a journey and my students are a constant source of enthusiasm and joy (even when participation lags a bit). Here are the instructions for the final project. Do they make sense to you? Is anything unclear? Share your ideas with me, if you can – and if have a moment.