Home, Work, Work, Home!? How Information Professionals Can Exploit Blurred Boundaries

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

UKOLN is supported by:

www.bath.ac.uk

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Home, Work, Work, Home!? How Information Professionals Can Exploit Blurred Boundaries

Online Information Conference 2010

Thursday 2nd December 2010

Marieke Guy

Research Officer


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Introduction to UKOLN• UKOLN is a national centre of expertise in digital

information management• Library and cataloguing background• Located here at the University of Bath• Funded by JISC to advise UK HE and FE communities

and the cultural heritage sector• Many areas of work including:

– Digital preservation: DCC– Metadata, registry work– Repositories: eBank, Intute, SWORD, DRIVER– Dissemination: Ariadne, International Journal of

Digital Curation– eScience: eCrystals….etc.


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Introduction to Me• Been at UKOLN 10 years• Now a remote worker• Member of the Community & Outreach Team• Currently working on:

– Chair of the Institutional Web Management Workshop

– Digital Preservation work– JISC Observatory

• Previous roles/projects include:– Good APIs project, JISC-PoWR, JISC Standards

Catalogue, QA Focus, SPP Project Manager, ePrints UK project manager, Public Library Focus work, NOF-digitise, Web Magazines


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Workshop Resources• All resources (and more) linked with Delicious tag:

http://delicious.com/mariekeguy/remoteworking• All ppts etc will be available from:

– my blog http://remoteworker.wordpress.com/ – slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/MariekeGuy

• Feel free to email me ([email protected]) or follow me on Twitter (mariekeguy)


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Straw Poll: Where do you work?• In the office• From home (occasionally or full-time) – a ‘remote

worker’• Beyond the office

– At different offices – At a client site – As a true nomad or ‘road warrior’

• In a virtual team

Work is becoming something you do, not a place you go to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/latteart/2547757031/


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Changes to the Way we Work• Technological

– Broadband– Virtual Private Networks (VPN)– Mobile technology

• Cultural– Right to request flexible working extended (April

2009) - 4.5m parents eligible– Effects of recession (cutting overheads),

pandemics, environment, weather, etc…– Work-life balance, flexibility– Output driven not physicality driven, productivity

key, loyalty & reduced absenteeism


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Challenges• Cultural

– Blurred boundaries - where does works stop and home begin?

– Reduced interaction time with colleagues and managers

– Connection with the team– Morale, perceptions, ownership

• Technological– Bandwidth issues, managing VPN– Being supported from a distance, tracking, remote

assistance– Security, cloud computing

The ideal solution for most employees who work remotely is for the set-up at home to replicate the set-up in the office

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakesdad/2838195408/


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Getting Set Up• Hardware

– PC, monitor, printer, keyboard, laptop, DVD rewriters, scanners, audio & video equipment, headset, speakers, phone, etc.

• Software– All the programmes they have in the office, and more! – User accounts – Remote access to email, calendar etc.

• Broadband and Wireless– Offer options, reviews, support alternatives, VPN (SSL)

• Introduction to the organisation– Overview of systems, servers, Web site and Intranet

Technology is about connections - connecting people to each other, to ideas, and to possibilities

TECHNOLOGY


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Tools• Communication

– Email, telephony, VOIP (Skype), Online Chat– Social Networking – Facebook, Linkedin, Xing, – Microblogging – Twitter, Yammer, Jaiku– RSS – Google reader– Recommendation services – Friend Feed– Blogs

• Collaboration– Wikis, shared applications (Google docs)– Project management tools– Bookmarking tool (Delicious, Connotea)– File transfer (dropbox)– Calendars


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Virtual Meetings/Conferences• Virtual Meetings

– Access Grid– Virtual Room Videoconferencing System (VRVS)– Video conferencing suite at Bath– Skype, Tokbox– Webinars – GoToWebinar, Elluminate, Ponopto– SecondLife?

• Virtual Conferences– Attending – OU Online Conference– Amplifying - video streaming, assigning a tag,

Creative Commons– Sharing available resources: ppts, photos, video,

podcasts


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Mobile Devices• Mobile is “everyware”

• Smartphones, PDAs, Blackberries, laptops• Making your data (Intranet etc.) available on mobile

devices – the mobile organisation?• Mobile unified communications – bringing data back• Mobile broadband – dongles, 3G• Security issues – both data (encryption?) and actual

devices (locks)• Geolocation, augmented reality – the future is

mobile!• Issues with who owns what

http://www.flickr.com/photos/a440/512348882/

POLICY

When a boardroom policy is being created it should always keep practical implementation at the front of its mind


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Policies• Set them up in advance • Make them clear and transparent• But also make them flexible• Cover:

– Eligibility, availability, contact procedures, workspace requirements, equipment and usage, expenses, training, ownership, etc.

• Have questions for consideration…• Observe the development of effective patterns of

usage rather than dictate


www.ukoln.ac.uk

UKOLN: A Case Study• RW community, RW champion• Away days, all staff days• Support framework - iterative process• Technology – sharing ideas• Teleconferencing, video streaming

and Skype• Twitter, Vimeo, Slideshare, Flickr• Policies and procedures • Commitment

• JISC project Location Independent Working

• 40 staff• Training and handbook

COMMITMENT

UKOLN remote workers


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Case Study BT• 70,000 + home & nomadic workers empowered• 6,000 part time workers• Over £220m in property costs saved in 10 years• Absenteeism reduced 3.1% (UK ave. 8.5%)• e-learning saves 40% training costs• Home-workers 7% happier, enhanced skills, less

stress• 1,800 tonnes less CO2. 1.2m litres less fuel used.• Transport cost savings £9.7m pa

• From http://www.slideshare.net/jackies/presentation-remote-workforce-v2


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Conclusions• Flexible working practices are on the up• Cloud computing is on the up• Virtual teams are on the up• Technology is important - there is a need to support

a portfolios of Tools• Communication and community are more important!

– Inclusion and support– Shared goals– Constructive feedback– Policies and procedures

• Blurred boundaries doesn’t have to mean lack of clarity


www.ukoln.ac.uk

Questions?

Home, Work, Work, Home!? How Information Professionals Can Exploit Blurred Boundaries

Education

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