Online journalism – the JISC CETIS approach

Sarah Holyfield and Christina Smart

Interesting times!

World of online journalism How JISC CETIS is approaching it Where next? What it means for JISC?

JISC CETIS – Centre for Educational Technology and Interoperability Standards

JISC Innovation Support Centre for UK Higher and Post-16 Education sectors.

provides strategic advice to JISC supports its development programmes represents the sector on standards bodies works with the community to facilitate the use of educational

technologies. community activities and events, working groups

provides educational technology news, features, information and resources through its website..http://jisc.cetis.ac.uk/

The world of online journalism

Patterns and changes - Crafting pieces vs more immediate broadcasts

Twitter, Youtube etc

Who’s the journalist? people doing their own

Baghdad blogger Mumbai bombings Commons select committee last week

How is the profession responding?

Some consequences… sometimes unintended…

Feedback/response patterns Changing dynamics Traditional method – letters to editor, phone calls Now.. emails, twitters – Interpreting this? Mob rule?

Control Immediacy – no controls on what goes out

Privacy and boundaries Eg employers looking at applicants’ and employees’ Facebook pages

Audience attention Much larger audiences online throughout the day - often at work!

The experience - Empowerment ? Feel connected and absorbed Overload ? Confidence? fear of exposure? A distraction!

Where’s the more considered reflection?

What does it all mean???

Communications - for a distributed audience - from a distributed workplace

Informal Dynamic, but hard to control Lively, useful, responsive, risky More likely to be opinion – no time for reflection Personal

Formal/corporate – Boundaries and control? What’s public and what’s internal? Confidentiality Accountability? Information vs opinion? Rigidity?

Educational context – same issues?

Teaching? spontanaiety vs rigidity – assessment?

Institution? IS deptartments? – eg web 2.0 vs vle?

Courses? Content? Processes?

Students? Facebook?

Implications?

Role of JISC?

JISC CETIS and journalism Initially 1 fte dedicated journalist/editor

Our aims - Surface debate Provide comment and analysis Report on meetings Reach a range of audiences Innovate ….

Approach Get everyone writing Co-ordinate activities Use range of channels Provide a dynamic response and more considered analysis Explore providing a backchannel - value added – eg people who are tuning in from

elsewhere Liaise with other JISC communications activities

Lots of tensions as already described….

Rss via editorial process

Project directory

JISC Programme Manager’sblogs JISC Cetis

staff blogs

Comms inputs to JISC CETIS front page

A tool for administering and managing feeds

…sources and tags….

What’s happened -

From immediate to more reflective -

Making it possible –

Editorial role – selection, commissioning, steering, facilitating Channels, feeds (e.g. email lists, newsletter) Editorial tools Dedicated Time Support

Understanding the Audience Who they are? What are they comfortable with? What are they after?

A strategic approach

What we’re doing now

Updating – no time to relax! Analysing feedback New tools?

widgets to personalise your feeds? Twitter – egs for work - #jiscbids, #cetis08 backchannels – representing these on website? Etc! – how to keep up?

New topics and better tagging and search facilities Navigation Tagging – structure vs folksonomy?

Resources and archiving Access to useful materials

Issues

Control? Corporate vs individual? Collective responsibility vs freedom ? Liability and accountability? Bureaucratic control vs creativity? Tone?

Volume vs quality? Publish when you have something to say?

Skills Confidence Audience?

Discuss!

Developing a strategy for communications and dissemination?

What do you want to achieve?

Audience Message Tools and activities Resources Timescales Monitoring/evaluation

http://www.odi.org.uk/Rapid/Tools/Toolkits/Communication/Communications_strategy.html