Web 2.0 Round-up

Compiled and edited by Karen Blakeman karen.blakeman@rba.co.uk

Web 2.0 Round-up is a compilation of recent postings and comments to the UKeiG Web 2.0 blog at http://ukeig.wordpress.com/. The primary purpose of this blog is to link to support materials for UKeiG's Web 2.0 workshops and seminars, and to provide news and updates on Web 2.0 applications. The RSS feed for the blog is http://ukeig.wordpress.com/feed and the comments feed is at http://ukeig.wordpress.com/comments/feed.

You can also view the feeds on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ukeig . This is mainly a Twitterfeed of the Yahoo! Pipes combined UKeiG RSS feeds, supplemented by comments and updates on UKeiG activities. Comments and chit chat are welcome.

We also now have a Twitterfeed for the 2009 Conference at http://twitter.com/ukeig2009 .

Web 2.0 in general

Web 2.0 version of the Twelve Days of Christmas

Christmas may be over, but we can still enjoy this wonderful Web 2.0 version of the Twelve Days of Christmas from Blogger in Middle-earth (http://newmiddle-earth.blogspot.com/2008/12/twelve-days-of-christmas.html). The gifts for all twelve days are:

Twelve bloggers blogging,
Eleven widgets wandering,
Ten Google searchings,
Nine Diggers Digging,
Eight Delicious bookmarks,
Seven Seesmics screaming,
Six Skypers Skyping,
Five Open-Nings!
Four wicked wikis,
Three permalinks,
Two Wordle blimps
And a tagged comment in a Twitter meme!

Mashup Dashboard – ProgrammableWeb

If you are interested in mashups take a look at Mashup Dashboard – ProgrammableWeb (http://www.programmableweb.com/mashups). As well a directory of mashups, there is also a “how to” guide with links to resources that can help you create your own mashup. Many thanks to Friedhelm Rump for this information.

RSS

ticTOCs Journal Tables of Contents Service

ticTOCs is a new scholarly journal tables of contents (TOCs) service, and Heriot-Watt University is one of the fourteen partners who have developed it. You can use ticTOCs to search for the most recent table of contents of over 11,000 scholarly journals, from over 400 publishers and also view them on the ticTOCs site.

You can view the latest TOC (table of contents) of the journal, link through to the full text (where subscriptions allow), and save selected journals to MyTOCs, enabling you to return to the site and view future TOCs. Alternatively, you can save your selection as an OPML file and import the list into your favourite RSS reader.

Facebook

Bosses “should embrace Facebook”

Bosses 'should embrace Facebook' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7695716.stm) says a report on BBC News. Demos (http://www.demos.co.uk/), “The Think Tank for Everyday Democracy”, has released the findings of a study that says:

Companies should not dismiss staff who use social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo at work as merely time-wasters

The report, “Network Citizens: power and responsibility at work”, can be downloaded free of charge at http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/networkcitizens .

Legal papers served via Facebook

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7785004.stm

An Australian couple have been served with legal documents via Facebook. The couple apparently missed payments on a loan of over A$100,000, and a lawyer in Canberra persuaded a court to allow him to use Facebook to serve repossession papers. Attempts had been made to contact them at their home address and via email, and the couple failed to attend a court appearance.

The lawyer found the woman's Facebook page and used details such as her date of birth to argue in court that she was the person in question. Her partner was listed as one of her “friends”. The judge stipulated that the papers be sent via a private email, so that other people visiting the page could not read their contents. Australian courts had already granted permission for people to be served with legally binding papers via email or text message.

Austenbook – Pride and Prejudice on Facebook

Another bit of pre-Christmas fun that can be enjoyed at any time: how Pride and Prejudice might have been acted out on Facebook (http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook/). As author DeeDee Baldwin says “Yes, the news feed should go in reverse, but this makes for easier reading.” To give you an idea of the “feed” here are the first few lines:

Thanks to Phil Bradley for the Tweet alert.

What to put on a Library Facebook Page

“What can you do with a Facebook Page?” (http://www.davidleeking.com/2008/10/09/what-can-you-do-with-a-facebook-page/) by David Lee King is a neat summary of what you can do with a library Facebook page. It is broken down into three sections: basic information, Facebook functionality, and social stuff. The comments are also worth reading for suggestions and tips on what works and what doesn't.

Twitter

State of the Twittersphere – Q4 2008 Report

This report (http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4439/State-of-the-Twittersphere-Q4-2008-Report.aspx) has been published by HubSpot, whose blog covers inbound marketing, for example SEO, blogging, social media, landing pages, lead generation and analytics. It reports on data pulled from hundreds of thousands of Twitter profiles. The full PDF report is available for download.

The findings include:

• Twitter is dominated by newer users – 70% of Twitter users joined in 2008
• An estimated 5,000-10,000 new accounts are opened per day
• 35% of Twitter users have ten or fewer followers
• 9% of Twitter users follow no one at all
• There is a strong correlation between the number of followers you have and the number of people you follow.

The last one in the list does not surprise me, as many people automatically respond to a notification of a follower by reciprocating. I am curious about the statistic that 9% of Twitter users follow no-one at all. Did they just give up once they had created the account because they could not work out how to find people to follow? Do they tweet at all? Or are they just using it as a marketing or current awareness/alert channel?

Twitter relaunches people search

At last, Twitter has brought back Twitter People Search, so that you can search for people by name. Click on Find People in the upper right hand area of the screen and simply enter a person's name. Twitter claims that this new version is faster than the original version (which it is) and that it now has a phonetic similarity algorithm that helps you find names for possibly misspelled words. It does look for alternatives if it cannot find an exact match for the name you have entered, but the suggestions it gave for my test misspellings did not look or sound very phonetic to me. Nevertheless, it is good to see the people search back.

50 ideas on using Twitter for business

Proving the value of Twitter, especially to potential business users, is hard work. Chris Brogan's blog posting on 50 Ideas on using Twitter for business (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/) is a great starting point for ideas on how you can use Twitter seriously. He also lists ‘The Negatives People Will Throw at You' and ‘Some Positives to Throw Back'. My personal favourite in the list is number 11: Instead of answering the question “What are you doing?” answer the question “What has your attention?”

A User's Guide to Twittering – WSJ.com

This article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122826572677574415.html?
mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular), or “Birds of a Feather Twitter Together”, from the Wall Street Journal is an excellent summary of what Twitter is. It explains the jargon, features and some Twitter etiquette. If the Wall Street Journal is looking at Twitter, twitterers/tweeters are in danger of becoming regarded as establishment. Time to move on?

Scottish Libraries on Twitter

The Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) and CILIP in Scotland (CILIPS) have introduced Twitter to their suite of Web 2.0 services. SLIC and CILIPS aim to use this service as an additional communication tool, allowing members and other interested professionals using Twitter to receive instant updates on the activities of both organisations. Updates are at: http://twitter.com/scotlibraries. Tweets will cover topics such as CPD opportunities, new reports and publications, working party activity and all the latest news from SLIC and CILIPS. All information posted on Twitter will be distributed in alternative methods for those members who do not use or cannot access this service.

The UKGovWeb Twitterverse

I recently discovered that Warwick District Council is on Twitter (Twitter name warwickdc) and through them found an article on The UKGovWeb Twitterverse (http://davepress.net/2008/10/28/the-ukgovweb-twitterverse/) by Dave Press. It lists some of the central governments, local authorities, civil servants and other public sector bodies and officers that are on Twitter. Regrettably, my own local authority Reading Borough Council is not .

List and status of UK Local Council Twitters as of 18th December 2008

This list of UK local council twitterers (http://www.lgeoresearch.com/twitterlocalgov/) was compiled by Liz Azyan Research and is on the Local Government Engagement Online Research Blog (http://www.lgeoresearch.com/). As well as giving Twitter details of 21 local councils, there is a Hall of Fame, including the first council to start using Twitter (St Helens), newest council (Pembrokeshire) and the council with most followers (St Helens and Barnet). Also noted are councils using Twitter for particular service updates: Birmingham City Council Transport (http://twitter.com/bcctransport), Lichfield District Council Planning Applications (http://twitter.com/ldcplanning) and Leeds City Council Press Office (http://twitter.com/lccpressoffice).

Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter

This directory on Twitter (http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/socialmedia/edutwitter.html) lists (in alphabetical order by Twitter username) learning professionals from education and corporate training, as well as other related professionals, e-learning products and services on Twitter. It is compiled by Jane Hart, and currently has 701 entries. If you are a learning professional who wants to connect with others via Twitter, and would like to appear in the Directory, email jane.hart@c4lpt.co.uk the entry details you would like to have.

TweetWheel – which of your Twitter friends know each other?

TweetWheel (http://www.tweetwheel.com/) finds out which of your Twitter friends know each other. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Enter your Twitter username, and a wheel of your users will appear. Hover on a user's name to see how many friends they have in common and click on their name to view their Twitter profile.

Thanks to Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day (http://janeknight.typepad.com/pick/2008/10/tweetwheel.html) for the alert.

Twitter4Teachers

Twitter4Teachers (http://twitter4teachers.pbwiki.com/) is a PBwiki listing of teachers who work in different subjects, grades, countries and use Twitter. Very useful if you want to identify fellow teacher-twitterers and follow or exchange experiences with them. Thanks to Phil Bradley (http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/
2008/10/twitter-for-teachers.html) for the alert.

Virtual worlds

Virtual World Watch – tracking activity in UK universities and colleges

Virtual World Watch (http://virtualworldwatch.net/) is funded by the Eduserv Foundation. It is continuing the series of snapshots (http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/studies/slsnapshots) that have been undertaken by Silversprite Helsinki on the take-up of Second Life within the UK Higher and Further Education sector. While Second Life is still the most used virtual world by UK academics for teaching and learning purposes, an increasing number are experimenting with alternatives. VWW is extending its research to include these alternatives.

Recent posts on the VWW blog include Buddhist monastery: University of Aberdeen
(http://virtualworldwatch.net/2009/01/08/buddhist-monastery-university-of-aberdeen/), Leeds Metropolitan University: from Second Life to OpenSim (http://virtualworldwatch.net/2009/01/03/leeds-metropolitan-university-from-second-life-to-opensim/) and Second Life at the University of York (http://virtualworldwatch.net/2009/01/02/second-life-at-the-university-of-york/). There is also a useful blogroll of UK Virtual World bloggers.

Wikis

Wikis That Work In The Real World

http://www.informationweek.com/news/business_intelligence/content_
management/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=VDD1T1LLLBHTGQSNDLPCK
H0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=212400489

This article in Information Week looks at how four companies are using wikis within their organisations: Angel.com, Publicis Group, Seagate and Red Mountain Retail Group.