The social web (was "Web2.0"...) calls to human experience and emotion in a way which transcends the hype often associated with it. While the phrase "Web2.0" does a good job of associating certain services and approaches together, it also has a down-side, suggesting that any day now, a "Web3.0" will be along to replace this transient, fickle technology with something new. This talk argues that the "social web" has a momentum which should be taken seriously -- more seriously than "just mere hype", particularly by content-rich organisations such as those involved with cultural content. It also examines some of the issues -- particularly around the perceived challenges to authority and "value" of cultural institutions and assets -- and asks how these can be overcome.
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why the social web is here to stay
[ and what to do about it ]
I am Mike Ellis
I have spent 10+ years working with heritage on the web
I am a strategist, UX zealot, social(web)-ist
I work for a not for profit IT company called Eduserv
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...and of course, I’d also like to thank Jaap Kamps, University of Amsterdam and Vincent de Keijzer, Gemeentemuseum for inviting me to speak. It’s a real pleasure to be here. And if anyone else wants to ask me over to speak, I’d love to. I’m kind of falling in love with The Netherlands....
slideshare.net/dmje
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Two reasons not to panic: 1. This is about content, not tech, and 2. Don’t worry about making notes - all these slides will be available online
everything was fine, once
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Things were easy in the land of “1.0”
back in 1.0, cultural heritage sites were authorities
we said stuff: people listened.
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We put stuff online, we made it look nice. People looked at it, heard what we had to say, and went away enlightened
web experiences tended to be linear
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The expectation was that people would stay on one site and step through online experiences and exhibitions in a linear fashion, from A to B. We used to say things like “don’t link to that other site, we might LOSE that person”
and then it all got complicated
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Things got complicated when Web 2.0 came along
now, everyone has a say
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In the world of 2.0, everyone is given the means to comment, discuss, share and engage in dialogue
everyone is a curator...
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Essentially, the role of curator becomes diluted. In a world where everyone can comment, the balance of authority and expertise changes, radically.
paths are chaotic
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Things become a whole lot more complicated. Linear experiences cease to be so clear-cut. Paths through content bifurcate, heading in directions we wouldn’t necessarily expect. At the same time, Google is allowing people to experience content out of context (for example, Google Images). This also makes a big difference to the role of curator and institution.
let’s do a quick 2.0 re-cap
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Let’s have a quick look at what Web2.0 actually is (at least for the purposes of this talk..)
web
2.0 is..
creative commons
user generated content
radicalde-centralisationcollaboration
viral marketing and permission based activity
rich “non web-like” environment
mashups
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Many people claim that “the web is just the web” and that Web 2.0 is just a marketing term. However, the moniker is useful in encapsulating a whole series of approaches and experiences. The problem is that “2” implies a “1” and therefore a “3” as well. The underlying suggestion is that “web2” will be replaced any time now with something bigger and better.
the social web
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....which is why I prefer the term “social web”...
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The important bit is the SOCIAL.
http://www.slideshare.net/ninaksimon
social technology :
“ tools that enable people to create, share and connect with each other”
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Nina Simon, who writes about museums and web 2.0 on her blog “Museum 2.0” said this.
us them
broadcast: “we tell you”
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So to recap - the “1.0” experience was in one direction. We *told* our visitors what we knew. They listened.
interactive: “tell us what you think”
us them
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...Next, we asked them for their views via feedback forms and so on
social: “tell each other what you think”
and himand them
and her
his mate
us themher
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...now, the dialogue involves us but only as a piece of the content focus. The discussion is starting to happen “out there”. It has a currency, passion and authority all of its own
reactive consumption
proactive consumption
private production public
production
the “basic museum tour”
pre-visit research
photos, text, talking sharing our
experiences online
web 2.0
the changing heritage experience online
modified from “Hobby Princess” http://tinyurl.com/pmf38
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This has of course radically changed the cultural heritage (actually, ANY) experience online:
let’s think about the non-virtual world for a moment
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But wait. Let’s take a step back for a moment and think about the real world.
zine blog
radio show podcast
group project wiki
word of mouth digg
address book social network
http://www.slideshare.net/ninaksimon
we're quite good at social technology...
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Out here, we’re familiar with - and good at - “social technology”. Here’s Nina again, drawing some parallels.
http://www.slideshare.net/ninaksimon
publish
distribute
track access
i.e. the web isn’t necessary,but it makes some things easier
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The web isn’t actually needed. (we can all go home!).... - but what it does is makes some stuff easier. As well as all the stuff in the slide, it also obviously diminishes space-time. Barriers in location, time and to a certain extent, circumstance, are eroded.
Maslow and his hierarchy of needs identified five areas of need, increasing to a peak of “self actualisation”
selfactualisation
esteem
love / belonging
safety
physiological
web2.0 says...
confidence
respect
community
friendshipintimacy
creativity
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The social web - web 2.0 - is tightly interwoven with many of our responses to - and requirements for - these needs
sharing and community is what we do
...and that’s what “web2.0” does, too
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In other words, social is a HUMAN trait, not a technological one.
so what does it actually do for us...?
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So what about Cultural Heritage. Where are we in all this?
..for years, cultural heritage institutions have been trying to prove they’ve got more than old stuff in dusty cases, that their voice is important
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As it happens, right in the middle of it. We’ve got wonderful content in huge volumes. We’re straining against problems with funding, dwindling audiences and so on. But we’re also incredibly keen to prove that we’re relevant, engaging and useful. We want to be able to talk to - and with - our audiences in more effective ways So what are the main aspects of this?
a more human tone of voice
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Human-ness is an important factor - you’ll notice for example with many web2 apps (and increasingly, big companies) that the tone is chatty. When things go wrong, they are open: “we’re sorry, we screwed up”; or Flickr’s terms of service: “Don’t be creepy. You know the guy. Don’t be that guy”.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum
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More human is about interface as well - open, clean, navigable
And here’s a great example of a cultural heritage example. Real words, informally written by real people
“network effects”
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Next up are the Network Effects. Classic example: the more people who own telephones, the more useful they become. There is a *positive externality* - a user doesnt intend for their phone to create value for others, but it does.
The best examples of this in cultural heritage often fall around the phrase “we is greater than me”. However good curators are, the chances are there are many out there who know more / or know different.
The Library of Congress has
updated 176 records in the Prints & Photographs catalog, "based on information provided by the Flickr Commons project, 2008", with more to come
...and some museums and libraries are taking this back into their hallowed internal systems... the steve.museum project reports that 86% of tags are not found in museum documentation: http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants/stevemuseum_research_report_available
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/launchball
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In this example, users can create games and save them for other people. Education is “by stealth”...
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection
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...and here, two more important bits of web2ness network effects are shown - first, loose “folksonomies” rather than (just) formal taxonomies. Second, the use of external API’s (OpenCalais in this example) - an important “under the hood” effect of recent web2 technologies
authentic, personal intelligence
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Third - you actually get to hear what *real* people are doing and saying
http://getsatisfaction.com/bbc
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...whether good or bad
http://kindlingapp.com
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...and can use it to harness and channel ideas
http://objectwiki.sciencemuseum.org.uk
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...or gather experiences from real people about real stories. Stories and memories are proving extremely compelling in making cultural heritage artifacts relevant and interesting to people. If you had one, talked about it with your gran, once played with it - it means much much more to you, and to others
collaboration
http://ideastorm.com
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..another example - here, Dell
cultural heritage organisations become platforms for engagement
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All this means that cultural heritage organisations become very different places on the web. Instead of being about the push of information, they become facilitators in the conversation, platforms for discussion
then, our authority becomes more open and authentic
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...and this feels more real to most people. It’s not about “dumbing down” - it’s more about making our authority more transparent and authentic
and what about the dangers?
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There are of course perceived issues with all of this...Let’s have a look at a few
challenge to authority?
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We’ve talked about this a lot, but this is seemingly a big challenge to our expertise if handled badly. It is difficult to let go, after all
challenge to brand?
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..in becoming more open, we also run the risk of people openly criticising us. “I didn’t like the exhibition - I thought it was too expensive”....
moderation?
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...and of course moderation, which cultural heritage organisations are always fearful about
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These are big ideas, and as such can be very challenging.
ask – what are the dangers of not engaging?
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But...these conversations are already happening online. We can ostrich them away, pretend they’re not happening and “safeguard” our brand, OR we can engage in the debate and in doing so become more open, transparent and personable to our audiences. Accepting in an open forum that an exhibition wasn’t lit correctly or was too busy is much more palatable to our users than pretending everything is perfect... And actually moderation isn’t too hard, or nearly as intensive as we often assume
http://www.slideshare.net/ninaksimon
how to do it?
1. Think relationships, not technology
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So lets just look really quickly at five quick thought pieces to sum this up. Think about relationships first and technology last. 1. Don’t “do web2” because you think it’ll be cool. Sometimes it’s better to not do it. Ask yourself - what’s worse: no discussion forum or an empty discussion forum...?
2. start small with something that excites you
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Beginning small is easy with web2 - the tools are usually free, and very easy to implement. Create a blog at Wordpress.com; open a Twitter account... but make sure at all times that you have something to say in a different way. Blogs are better when informal, rapid, and - therefore - often imperfect. A beautifully crafted blog post which has been run by a board of editors and honed into perfection isn’t nearly as effective or interesting as a personal, opinionated one. When you lose speed and informality, you might as well just have a web page rather than a blog.
3. Use internal projects to build competency
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Building stuff for internal use is a pretty useful risk-free way of playing with some of the tools. At Eduserv we recently launched an internal blog called “Inform” because our intranet is heavyweight and badly designed. Inform is massively used - lots of people write for it and comment. But also, it’s raised the profile of blogging and rapid approaches for use with our customers. So now I get people coming to me and saying “hey, we could build an Inform type thing for customer X”
4. respect your users
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Absolutely key. And probably doesn’t need saying. But users are people, too. Be nice to them if you’re asking them to be nice to each other :-)
5. fix things for individuals first
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This is the final one. One of the key things that has come out of successful implementations of web2 (actually, the web) - is that looking to solve individual needs first is the key to building communities. If you start off saying “hey, let’s build a community”, you’ll more likely fail. If you say “hey. lets build some experiences that people might like AND we’ll also add some stuff which - almost incidentally - gives them access to other people”, you’ll probably get it right. After all, do you as a user often set out to “take part in a community experience”? No.
which is why “there is no 3.0”
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So, to sum up...all of this says that “the end of 2” is not something we’ll see. 2.0 was a useful phrase for a while but the web is just the web after all. The things that 2.0 brought to the table are human things - the need to connect, to engage, to be a part of an experience, to relate. These won’t go anywhere.
the takeaway thought?
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In one thought...?
connecting with other peopleis a human condition,not a technological one
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Oops. that’s two thoughts, kinda. But connecting is human, not technological.
thanks for listening
twitter.com/dmje
www.eduserv.org.uk
mike.ellis@...
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Thank you very much for listening. I’d love to hear any thoughts you have, either now or by getting in touch. Eduserv is very keen to work with more CH institutions, and I love talking about this stuff so it’d be a pleasure
dmje tag cloud from wordlebig finger minegeek tattoo http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geek_Tattoo_html.jpgdrop tables http://xkcd.com/327/don't panic http://flickr.com/photos/brighton/2153602543suburbia http://www.flickr.com/photos/radiofree/134451006tower minelistening http://www.flickr.com/photos/anniekate/3005811472linear http://flickr.com/photos/generated/2109669188suburbia neg http://www.flickr.com/photos/radiofree/134451006comment http://www.flickr.com/photos/dharmasphere/20993325curator minebifurcation http://flickr.com/photos/ethanhein/2292232215fireworks minelogos 2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryyo/249804450crowd http://www.flickr.com/photos/victoriapeckham/164175205broadcast http://www.flickr.com/photos/beger/2336486182two way http://www.flickr.com/photos/z6p6tist6/500048151social screen-grab from http://antisocial.demozoo.org/demo.htmlrobots http://flickr.com/photos/yeowatzup/2463225297real world http://flickr.com/photos/mniemand/2531756364network http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr/2048034334post-its http://www.flickr.com/photos/pulguita/2868952310superhuman http://www.flickr.com/photos/esparta/482348262
and thanks to flickr people
many questions http://www.flickr.com/photos/orinrobertjohn/3040007953skype http://www.flickr.com/photos/malthe/125252690powerhouse http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museumflickr http://www.slideshare.net/george08/uk-museums-and the-weblaunchball http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/launchballpowerhouse http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collectionintelligence http://www.flickr.com/photos/ext504/732683765engaged http://flickr.com/photos/timoni/452573099authentic http://flickr.com/photos/jeremybrooks/2334664234..anger http://www.flickr.com/photos/sindesign/221297512no parking http://www.flickr.com/photos/webel/2422760305mcd http://www.flickr.com/photos/alvarez/408380960moderation http://flickr.com/photos/mdesjardin/709085827great ideas thanks to Hugh @ http://www.gapingvoid.combored dogs http://flickr.com/photos/bobilina/361415711question http://www.flickr.com/photos/drachmann/327122302simple http://www.flickr.com/photos/louganmanzke/2722701187fog http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/73257387e=mc^hair http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocularsmith/239674652duck minetechnology changes thanks to Hugh @ http://www.gapingvoid.comthank you http://www.flickr.com/photos/vernhart/1574355240hand my boy :-)
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Thanks to all these people for making their images available as Creative Commons on Flickr
