Digital Life Beyond The Institution

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Digital Life Beyond The InstitutionBrian Kelly, UK Web Focus

Digital Life Beyond The InstitutionTalk at the MmIT 2015 conference on “With Power Comes Great Responsibility – How Librarians can Harness the Power of Social Media for the Benefit of its Users”Brian KellyIndependent researcher/consultant at UK Web Focus Ltd.Formerly at Cetis (Bolton University, 2013-2015), UKOLN (Bath University, 1996-2013) and universities of Newcastle (1995-96), Leeds (1991-95), Liverpool (1990-91) and Loughborough (1984-90)

Contact DetailsEmail: ukwebfocus@gmail.comTwitter: @briankellyBlog: http://ukwebfocus.com/

Slides and further information available athttp://ukwebfocus.com/events/mmit-2015-digital-life-beyond-the-institution/

UK Web Focus

30+ years working in university sector!

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Idea from Cameron Neylon

Slide Concept by Cameron Neylon, who has waived all copyright and related or neighbouring rights. This slide only CCZero.Social Media Icons adapted with permission from originals by Christopher Ross. Original images are available under GPL at:http://www.thisismyurl.com/free-downloads/15-free-speech-bubble-icons-for-popular-websites

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About This TalkSocial media is widely acknowledged as having a valuable role to play across a range of institutional activities, including marketing, learning and research.However use of social media challenges certain beliefs and practices such as ‘software must be open source’, ‘the institution must manage its IT infrastructure’ and ‘users’ privacy is paramount’.It appears that there are inconsistencies across the institution in how social media can or should be used, with, perhaps, IT service departments stating use of services such as Dropbox contravene institutional policies whilst academics & researchers may encourage their use.However the importance of Cloud services should become self-evident when we consider the continued use of online services when members of an institution leave their host institution and wish to continue using services they are familiar with and continue to engage with their peers. Ironically it appears that many in-house services will act as an ‘institutional silo’, with staff and students having little time to migrate content and communities when they leave their institution.The importance of making effective use of an IT environment after leaving one’s host institution should be regarded as an aspect of an institution’s digital literacy policy, since digital literacy covers the ability to be able to evaluate and use digital resources as part of life-long learning. Yet the institution’s VLE, VRE, etc. are likely to be inaccessible once the user has left their institution.This talk explores such tensions, describe a risks and opportunities framework for assessing and addressing the risks in using Cloud services and explore the role of librarians in supporting a digital life beyond the host institution.The session will be informed by the presenter’s personal experiences in leaving two institutions recently and facing the challenges in continuing to be able to exploit his areas of expertise, content and professional networks in order to continue to be a productive member of society!

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About This TalkSocial media is widely acknowledged as having a valuable role to play across a range of institutional activities, including marketing, learning and research.However social media challenges certain beliefs and practices such as ‘software must be open source’, ‘the institution must manage its IT infrastructure’ and ‘users’ privacy is paramount’.It appears that there are inconsistencies across the institution in how social media can or should be used, with, perhaps, IT service departments stating use of services such as Dropbox contravene institutional policies whilst academics & researchers may encourage their use.However the importance of Cloud services should become self-evident when we consider the continued use of online services when members of an institution leave their host institution and wish to continue using services they are familiar with and continue to engage with their peers. Ironically it appears that many in-house services will act as an ‘institutional silo’, with staff and students having little time to migrate content and communities when they leave their institution.The importance of making effective use of an IT environment after leaving one’s host institution should be regarded as an aspect of an institution’s digital literacy policy, since digital literacy covers the ability to be able to evaluate and use digital resources as part of life-long learning. Yet the institution’s VLE, VRE, etc. are likely to be inaccessible once the user has left their institution.This talk explores such tensions, describe a risks and opportunities framework for assessing and addressing the risks in using Cloud services and explore the role of librarians in supporting a digital life beyond the host institution.The session will be informed by the presenter’s personal experiences in leaving two institutions recently and facing the challenges in continuing to be able to exploit his areas of expertise, content and professional networks in order to continue to be a productive member of society!

About MeBrian KellyFormerly:

• Innovation Advocate at Cetis, Bolton University from Oct 2013 – May 2015

• UK Web Focus at UKOLN, University of Bath from 1996-2013

Now an independent consultant and researcher Interests in

• Encouraging use of innovative technologies and practices to support institutional activities

• Areas of work have included: Web standards ■ Web accessibility Social web ■ Digital preservation

A change of direction• Redundancy in July 2013 / May 2015 for most

UKOLN/Cetis staff• Desire to continue professional work

Introduction

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The Challenge – for Many of Us!What happens when:

• “The axeman cometh” and staff are made redundant or take early retirement?

• They wish to continue to exploit their professional interests as:

In a new organisation A consultant An itinerant researcher A means of developing their CV

• The researcher’s contract expires and they wish to further their research elsewhere?

Who has responsibilities for ensuring staff and researchers are able to respond appropriately to such ‘life events’?

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Changing Work Environment“By 2015, there will be more Britons over 65 than under 15. We cannot afford to discard their expertise.”

“Studies show that on average each of us will have seven careers, two of which are yet to exist.”

Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow In New Statesman, 20th Sept 2013

VIEW OF A RETIRED ACADEMIC

“Last night, I wrote reference for an ex-colleague, and noticed that the form expected me to belong to an institution.  I guess that identity formation is ongoing work.  Am I retired just because I have a pension? Retired is a deadly label I think.”Recently retired academic from a northern university

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About YouWhat is the role of librarians in supporting users who may find themselves in this predicament?Can you identify:

• Concrete institutional strategies

• Training and support services

which prepare staff and researchers for digital life after they leave the institution?

Information Literacy

• Defined as “the ability to find, use, evaluate and communicate information”

• Felt to be “an essential skill in this digital age and era of life-long learning”

LILAC Conference home page

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Should we say:• “the ability to find, use and reuse, evaluate

and communicate information”where reuse includes future use in a different work context

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AssumptionsThe University environment typically assumes:

• You can trust the institution• We will provide the appropriate IT infrastructure• We are here to help you

But:• When you leave we don’t care (unless you

donate money!)• Our auditors tell us we must delete accounts

when people leave• We run courses for new staff & students (our

assets) but not when they are about to leave (our liabilities)

Will the institution’s IT environment be regarded as a silo (a ‘walled garden’) afer you leave the institution?

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Policy at Bath University

See http://www.bath.ac.uk/bucs/news/news_0013.html×

University gives very brief details when:

Policy at Bath University

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Detailed policies• Detailed policies

• Staff leave• Staff have a new job in the

Uni

• Staff are dismissed

• Staff dieBut is leaving the institution really an unusual event?

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The Open AgendaWe are seeing how moves to openness can provide benefits for life-long learners:

• Open source software: avoids licence costs which enable software to be used outside the institution

• Open content: avoids licensing restrictions so content can be used and modified

• Open access: avoids licensing restrictions so research papers can continue to be accessed

• Open educational practices: working in an open and transparent way

Education and user support and – the missing component? An opportunity for librarians?!

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My Move to The Cloud: A Case StudyFollowing announcement of cessation of funding for UKOLN I identified that need to ensure:

• Minimal loss of digital content• Minimal loss of professional networks• Continued access to use and modify social

media services• Identify and implement strategies for

ongoing digital presence

Note that since I didn’t intent to die in my job, such plans should have been in place in any case!

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The Institutional Repository

Opus, the University of Bath institutional repository, provides a secure, reliable & maintained repository for my research papers, project reports, etc.

My Opus entry, which provides a record of my publications from 1997-2013. See http://opus.bath.ac.uk/view/person_id/588.html

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Persistency of RecordsOpus policy seeks to ensure long-term persistency of content.

When people leave will they still have their contributions listed?

Opus repository continues to provide content, ownership details (in part) and usage statistics

Or their usage statistics?

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Persistency of RecordsInformal feedback:

• "Records disappear when someone leaves because that's entirely appropriate."

• "Staff leaving the university have a different relationship to the organisation. By rights we should shut off ALL accounts the day the relationship with the organisation ends."

Institutional context:• “this is obviously down to institutional

management of people records”Where does your policy fit in the spectrum?

• We’re focussing on the REF and our CRIS (Current Research Information System)

• We are loyal to former employees

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The Institutional Silo

Opus, the University of Bath institutional repository, provides a secure, reliable & maintained repository for my research papers, project reports, etc.

An out-of-date view of research activities (and typically only PDFs available, not the original master copy).

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Manage Your Own RecordsEnsure that:

• A record of your work (e.g. your publications) is available beyond the institution (e.g. on LinkedIn)

• You maintain the information (publications; current position; etc.)

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Manage Your Own ContentEnsure that your (open access) publications are hosted in an environment you can maintain when you leave the institution.For example:

• ResearchGate

Papers hosted initially in local open access repository

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Manage Your Own ContentEnsure that your (open access) publications are hosted in an environment you can maintain when you leave the institution.For example:

• ResearchGate• Academia.edu• …

No permission to upload book chapter, so metadata-only records

Full-text of open access paper available

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Manage Your Own IdeasEnsure that if you have a blog it isn’t trapped in the institution (and potentially deleted when you leave). Some options:• Create a blog in

the Cloud initially

• Migrate your blog to the Cloud

Blog at ukwebfocus.wordpress.com continued with no need to migrate content (now at ukwebfocus.com)

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Use Cloud Sharing ServicesHave you got your OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox accounts?

Case studySince 2012 I’ve used OneDrive for collaborative peer-reviewed papers:

• Can use MS Word in the Cloud• File in one place (avoids multiple master

copies problem).• Can be viewed (and updated) on mobile

devices• Not part of an ‘institutional silo’

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Manage Your Research Identifier

Take control of your research identity!ORCID:

• Open Researcher and Contributor ID

• Non-proprietary alphanumeric code to uniquely identify scientific / academic authors

• Managed by ORCID Inc. an open & independent registry

My ORCID: 0000-0001-5875-8744

Not coupled to institutional ID

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Know How To Migrate Your Email

After 17 years of email use I had:

• Large number of messages

• Large number of contacts

• Personal & professional uses

Need to know how to:• Set up new email accounts (Gmail) & re-subscribe to lists of

interest• Migrate old email messages, sender details, etc.• Associate social media services with new email accounts• Rationalise use of email• Understand risks of loss of email account

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Email For AuthenticationChange your email address to ensure you aren’t locked out of Cloud services!

Claim your papers in Google Scholar while your institutional email is valid – otherwise you might not be able to claim them!

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Manage Your Own DomainA spectrum of ownership:

• Your CV and list of publications

• Your publications themselves

• Your blog content• Your digital identity• Your email (content,

connections, authentication)

• Your domain name• Your own server

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Risks & Opportunities Framework

Intended use: Rather than talking about social web services in an abstract context (“shall we have a Facebook page” for example) specific details of intended use should be provided.Perceived benefits: A summary of the perceived benefits which use of the social web service are expected to provide should be documented.Perceived risks: A summary of the perceived risks which use of the social web service may entail should be documented.Missed opportunities: A summary of the missed opportunities and benefits which a failure to make use of the social web service should be documented.Costs: A summary of the costs and other resource implications of use of the service should be documented.Risk minimisation: Once risks have been identified the approaches to risk minimisation should be documented.Evidence base: Evidence which back up the assertions made in use of the framework.

“Empowering users and their institutions : A risks and opportunities framework for exploiting the potential of the social web” Kelly, B & Oppenheim, C

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The Role of LibrariansWhat is the role of librarians in ensuring staff and researchers and other members of staff can exploit their potential when they leave their host institution?

Traditionally:• Many IT services provided by the

institution • Librarians (and IT staff) provided advice

& support on use of such services

• External services banned (access to Second Life) or deprecated (“the content isn’t secure”, “the service isn’t reliable”, “they’ll claim ownership of your content”, “it’s a ‘creepy treehouse’ - students won’t want us in their space”, … )

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A New Role for Librarians

In the past:• The IT infrastructure was

mainly hosted in the institution

• The IT support infrastructure focussed primarily on institutional services, with some appreciation of (and warnings about) Cloud services

My University

Slideshare

Google

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A New Role for Librarians

In the future:• The IT infrastructure no

longer revolves around the institution

• The IT infrastructure will focus on the services chosen by the individual (with warning about the transient nature of institutional services)

My PLE/PRE

My current place of work

My first university

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Stimulating The Economy

New approaches can help librarians to ensure that the departure of researchers can stimulate the economy:

• Support the migration of intellectual assets so that they can continue to be used

• Ensure that training to do so is embedded in institution

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Who has responsibility?

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SCONUL

Thoughts:• No digital literacies

for staff & researchers?

• Limited view on ‘digital literacy’?

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JISC Co-design group

JISC Co-design groupFocus on:• Authenticating access to library resources

• Institutional perspective

Relevance to former staff deemed out-of-scope

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The Research Concordat: “an agreement between funders and employers of research staff to improve the employment and support for researchers and research careers in UK higher education.”

Research Concordat

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Research Concordat

Shouldn’t life-long skills to manage digital content be addressed in the Research Concordat?

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Survey Across The CommunitySurvey of institutional approaches to information literacy & Cloud services carried out in March 2014:

• 89 responses received

• Only 15% of IL policies cover Cloud services

• Only 2 institutions addressed needs of staff leaving institution

• “It’s not our responsibility!”

Poster presented at LILAC 2014

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Using Google

Surrey: Leavers Procedures states:

• “it might be possible to get a small extension to the [email] account, if there are University-related work issues that will need finalising”

• “any files or documents saved under ‘my documents’ will be deleted when the email account is closed”

Email Policy states:• “Entitlement to access e-mail

systems will normally automatically cease on the date on which employment relationship [ceases]”

Edinburgh Policy on email addresses for ex-staff:

• “Many academics who have used their Edinburgh email address on papers … believe that they personally should be able to be communicated with through this address into the future, whether they work at this institution or not. … There is also a desire to be friendly to all staff by retaining their e-mail address for a while until they re-establish themselves.”

Not accessible

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What Happens To Your Cloud Account When You Die?

Apple:“You agree that your Account is non-transferable and that any rights to your Apple ID or Content within your Account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate your Account may be terminated and all Content within your Account deleted.”

Google:“today [Apr 2013], we’re launching a new feature that makes it easy to tell Google what you want done with your digital assets when you die or can no longer use your account.”

Facebook:“Facebook has an FAQ section dedicated to the three options people have with a deceased individual’s account: memorializing the account, requesting to delete the account, or downloading the contents of the account, and then having it deleted.”

Microsoft:“Microsoft Next of Kin process allows for the release of Outlook.com contents, including all emails and their attachments, address book, and Messenger contact list, to the next of kin of a deceased or incapacitated account holder and/or closure of the Microsoft account, following a short authentication process.”

Which is , or

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ReflectionsDigital life is now primarily in the Cloud, so why are we ignoring this?We seek to prepare our students with life-long learning skills for working in a digital environment after they graduate.But members of staff and researchers are only given training in institutionally-approved & support technologies. We fail to provide training and support for staff for their digital life beyond the institution.And yet everyone will leave the institution (unless they die in the job!)Professional practices and institutions are in conflict here: on the one hand, we have a duty to our employer to support the needs of the institution; on the other hand, our profession, and the higher education sector, believes in the value of life-long learning.How can this be resolved? The digital literacies summary espoused SCONUL and promoted by Jisc, seem insufficient, as it focusses on teaching of digital literacies. Do we need a new, more agile approach that can deal with contemporary need for digital life beyond the institution? And if so, can we find this within existing professional frameworks or do we need to do this for ourselves?

From “Jisc NUS Benchmarking Tool” …

http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6140/1/Jisc_NUS_student_experience_benchmarking_tool.pdf

44… … … … …

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… To “Beyond Institution Benchmarking Tool”

http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6140/1/Jisc_NUS_student_experience_benchmarking_tool.pdf

PDF

Prepare staff to use services hosted beyond the institution

Support and progress staff digital capabilities throughout their career

After they start work they are made aware of the importance of services beyond the institution.

From the start staff know they have to take responsibilities for migrating their content and access to communities and services.

Staff are confident in managing their own IT infrastructure, migrating content between services and ensuring best practices for digital preservation are carried out.

… … … … …

University commitment to supporting staff throughout their career recognised as an ‘exemplar’ and used as model by others.

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Will This Work?Proposed policy:

The University seeks to ensure that staff and students are able to be productive and effective in their work and study at the university and are able to continue to exploit their skills, knowledge and content when they leave provide this does not conflict with licence conditions, etc.

How?During induction staff and students are advised on how to maximise long-term access to content and services.Prior to leaving staff and students will be able to access support on how to migrate their content, communities and access from institutional services.

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Who’ll Run This Course?Title: Preparation for Digital Life When You LeaveAudience: Staff and researchers who are making plans to leave the university and wish to continue to exploit their digital resources, networks and services.Abstract:In this course you will:

• Learn about the limitations of in-house IT services• Hear about relevant Cloud service which you can use

when you leave• Have an opportunity to migrate your content to Cloud

services.This course is provided to support our “Preparing for life outside the institution” policy as part of our institutional commitment to life-long learningNote slides on “Managing Your Digital Profile” used for UKOLN staff prior to redundancy may provide starting point (available with CC-BY licence)

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/selco/5347009607/

Where Do You Stand?

Today we’re learning about the risks of

using Web 2.0 services

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/alatechsourceblog/101011114/

Where Do You Stand?

Today I’ve explained why you need to migrate to Web 2.0

services and avoid the institutional silo

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Conclusions

To conclude:• There will be an increase in the numbers of staff and

researchers who will need to manage digital content and services when they leave their host institution.

• Current institutional and national plans do not seem to address such needs.

• An opportunity to take a lead in developing an institutional (national) strategy?

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Questions?Any questions, comments, …?

Carry on the discussion – see the blog post at https://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/

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This presentation, “Digital Life Beyond The Institution” by Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 LicenceNote the licence covers most of the text in this presentation. Quotations may have other licence conditions. Images may have other licence conditions. Where possible links are provided to the source of images so that licence conditions can be found.

Slides and further information available athttps://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/digital-life-beyond-the-institution/

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