ARE YOUR CLIENTS ON FACEBOOK, MYSPACE LINKEDIN ? - Pieter van Brakel Cape Peninsula University of Technology Cape Town South Africa ...

ARE YOUR CLIENTS ON
FACEBOOK, MYSPACE
LINKEDIN…?

Pieter van Brakel

Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Cape Town
South Africa
vanbrakelp@cput.ac.za

BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION

• Problematic: interpreting my title…
• Difference between the 3 ‘onlines’
  (past, present, future?)
• Today’s ‘online’ (2010) =
  • Traditional meaning: limited to info profess
  • Today: everybody search, find, evaluate,
    consume info (knowledge?) = is that
    ‘online’?!
• Quantum leap from ±1995 (after the
  Web stabilised) to ± 2000 (maturing of
  search engines; full-text!)

BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION
• ± 2001 to 2010 =
  • Full info consumer-orientated info systems
    (eg Emerald, ScienceDirect)
  • Google; full power-links; GoogleScholar
• Previous efforts to assist the ‘end-user’
  unsuccessful:
  • My 2001 presentations = dark picture for
    info profession!

BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION
     (March 2001 talk) - essentials
[End-user based SDI (or push systems): ‘alerts’
  in today’s (2010) terminology
• Mind-It
• javElink
• TracerLock

Customised news (select your category of
  interest)
• Moreove
• Newsindex
• Zephus]

BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION
         (March 2001 talk) - essentials

• Sites with (the first) SDI facilities:
  •   Online stockbroker Tradek
  •   Financial newspaper Business Day
  •   Financial site Moneymax
  •   Interactive Investor International
• Intelligent agents (learn / adapt end-
  user’s search patterns, thus addressing
  information needs)
  • Bullseye
  • Copernic
  • Mata Hari (!)]

BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION
       (March 2001 talk) - essentials

[Personal database for end-user’s digital
  information sources:
• iHarvest
• Netonizer 1.1
• SurfSaver 2.0
• Webforia
• WebSpace 1.1a]

BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION
           (Sept 2001 talk) - [The ultimate!]
• [Embrace the End-user Model (that is: use
  systems devised for end-user to reach end-
  users)
• Add value; assist end-users to customize
• Be ‘with it’: develop your own
  •   Hub or Web-based directory
  •   Select only the best digital sources
  •   Expose/interpret them in your hub
  •   Push updates to end-users
  •   Use your own Web-based SDI and intelligent
      agent to stay abreast]

BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION
       (Sept 2001 talk) - [The ultimate!]
• [Content (niche) portals:
   • Create requirements/standards for
     corporate intranet
   • Know your partners (audience)
   • Personalise accordingly
• Personal Web site:
  • Set up (outsource) your individual site
  • Make it sticky (fast changing; daily
    updates; value-added info)
  • Create ‘push’ functionalities]

So, where are we TODAY?
• Large ‘EUFs’ (= Exceptionally User-
  friendly Full-text)
• Research material to dream about:
  • published’;
  • relevant; PDFed;
  • latest; pushed (alerts)
• ‘Single’ (meta) dynamic search engine
  (guess?) = ………
• Laptop-happy (libraries? What’s that?)
• PLUS cheap networks/systems to
  ‘chat’, show off video clips, photos…

SO, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
       ‘Consumers of information
  have gone solo, AND think they know
             how to search
          effectively ONLINE!’
     APPROACH TO A SOLUTION?
• Accept ‘their’ info use patterns have
  changed
• ‘Visit’ their Emeralding, Googling,
  Facebooking, bogglings…

STILL DON’T THINK IT’S SERIOUS?
Study some recent student info behaviour
  studies:
• OCLC (long ago as 2006) –
   • 93% satisfied/very satisfied with
     overall experience a search engine
     (compared with 84% for a librarian-
     assisted search)

  • 98% of USA students use search
    engines to begin info search (only 2%
    start from a library web site).

STILL DON’T THINK IT IS SERIOUS?
OCLC:

• Search engines fit students’ life styles
  better than physical libraries
• Still use the library, but they are using
  it less whilst using Internet research
  tools more

RESULTS FROM THE CIBER
SURVEYS…2008
• Horizontal information seeking:
  skimming - view only few pages then
  bounce out

• Time spend retrieving electronic
  information very short - ‘power browse’
  horizontally through titles, content
  pages, abstracts

• Academics: ‘squirrel’ away content in
  downloads or printouts (colin-ing)

RESULTS FROM THE CIBER
SURVEYS…2008
• Little time spent in evaluation checking
  for relevance, accuracy, precision and
  authority

• Poor understanding of own information
  needs; can’t develop effective search
  strategies

• Natural language rather Boolean logic

RESULTS FROM THE CIBER
SURVEYS…2008
• Difficult to assess relevancy of sources
  retrieved, often printing pages ‘for in
  case’

• Unsophisticated mental maps of what
  Internet/WWW are (different providers)

• Google or Yahoo now primary brands

• Library sources not intuitive; Google or
  Yahoo familiar / simplistic solutions

WATCH THIS! (CIBER’S)

MORE FROM CIBER…
         GOOGLE GENERATON
• More competent with technology
• High expectations of ICTs
• Declining to be passive consumers of
  information (eg TV and newspapers)
• Shifted decisively to digital forms of
  communication: texting rather than
  talking
• Multitask in all areas of their lives (eg
  good parallel processing skills)

MORE FROM CIBER…
• Used to be entertained - expect this of
  their formal learning
• Prefer visual information over text (eg
  YouTube)
• Zero tolerance for delay - information
  needs must be fulfilled ‘immediately’
• Find peers more credible as information
  sources
• Need to feel constantly connected to
  the web

MORE FROM CIBER…
• Cut-and-paste generation (plagiarism?)
• Prefer quick/small chunks of
  information
• And in full-text (power browsing and
  viewing)
• ‘Expert searchers’ (knows Google the
  best)
• Think: everything free ‘on’ the web
  (‘information should be free’)

MORE and MORE FROM CIBER…
• No respect for intellectual property
  (copyright is unfair and unjust)
• No appreciation for search techniques
  (spelling, keywords, phrases)
• Lack of search quality (eg relevancy,
  accuracy, authority)

SO, YOU’RE NOT SHAKEN?
• You don’t keep up with ‘their’ demands
• Add barriers instead, eg additional log-
  ons, subscriptions, hard copy.
• Your business case weak (how about
  availing your content to Google?)
• One-size-fits-all service delivery policy
  no longer effective

NOT SHAKEN YET?
        WEB 2.0 HAS ARRIVED!
Tools consisting blogs, wikis… To
• Locate
• Evaluate
• Assemble
• Modify
• Integrate
• Transmit = digital content around the
  globe at high speed

EXAMPLES OF WEB 2.0
• Collaborative produced encyclopaedias
  such as Wikipedia
• Social network sites (Facebook;
  MySpace)
• Tagging and social bookmarking
  (Delicious)
• Media-sharing sites (YouTube for
  videos; Flickr for photos)
• Blogging and podcasting (Blogger;
  Typepad and the Blog-tracking site
  Technorati)

WEB 2.0’S RANKING RACE
Five most popular sites in the world from
  Web 2.0:
• [Google]
• YouTube
• Facebook
• MySpace
• Wikipedia
• Blogger

NEW OPPORTUNITIES FROM WEB 2.0
• Support user production of content
• Harness the power of the crowd
• Enable personal production &
  management of info, data and
  knowledge on an epic scale
• Employ architectures that support user
  participation
• Increase in usefulness as network grow
• Encourage culture of openness and
  transparency

WEB 2.0 IN THE WORKPLACE:
 ENTERPRISE 2.0 HAS COMETH!

Enterprise 2.0 is the use of emergent
social software platforms by
organisations in pursuit of their goals.
This definition... focuses not on the
Internet and social trends, but rather on
organisations such as companies and
public sector agencies. (McCafee,
2009:73)

STILL UNSHAKEN?
  ENTERPRISE 2.0 WILL WAKE YOU!
Strive for disruptive ideas:
• Disruptive technologies ‘rock’ the boat
  by creating new expectations and new
  boundaries
• Allow customers (consumers) to see
  beyond limits of the ‘old’ framework
• Allow a customer to move beyond the
  role of user and…

STILL UNSHAKEN?
ENTERPRISE 2.0 WILL WAKE YOU!

  Change consumer to a designer or
  moderator (Tim O’Reilly’s terms), eg
radical trust, user as contributor, rich
 user experiences, user behaviour not
             predetermined)

STILL UNSHAKEN?
LIBRARY 2.0 WILL WAKE and SHAKE
              YOU!

WHAT IS LIBRARY 2.0???

 Library 2.0 is a change in interaction
    between consumers (users) and
libraries/information services in a new
  culture of participation catalysed by
       social web technologies

THE SEVEN BUILDING BLOCKS OF
         LIBRARY 2.0

USE YOUR IMAGINATION:
    EMPLOY ‘SOCIAL TOOLS’ TO…

• Promote and market services
• Contact and interact with customers
• Gain market information for analysis
  and decision-making
• Disseminate content

USE YOUR IMAGINATION:
    EMPLOY ‘SOCIAL TOOLS’ TO…
• Deliver experiences, not just content
• Leverage virtual worlds
• Innovate business models
• Invest in interactive, measureable
  services and platforms
• Redefine partnerships
• Shift investment from traditional
  business to new models
• Create a flexible business design

CONCLUSION: ‘IF YOU CAN’T WIN
           THEM…’
• Move CLOSER to your consumers -
  otherwise ‘out of sight, out of mind’

• Remember: One size does NOT fit all!

• Study their info needs and info-seeking
  behaviour via SOCIAL networking

• With Library 2.0 YOUR terrain has
  increased enormously – think virtually!