May 2015 Seminar: Open Data – Products, Services and Standards.

/in , , , /by

Summary

25 years ago, Sir Tim Berners Lee set out his vision for the World Wide Web by proposing a set of technologies that would make the Internet more accessible and useful. Since then, the web has transformed our global community by allowing us to freely share information with each other. When open and accessible for all to use, data has driven change in government, business and culture. Businesses use open data to innovate and to build trust with their customers through greater transparency. Governments are opening up their data to improve their efficiency, and so that citizens can hold them to account.

However, the open data ecology is still evolving. Standards have yet to be widely accepted and implemented. Accuracy, quality and availability of open data; the specialist skills needed to support and maintain it, and concerns about privacy, are all issues that have so far limited faster growth in this market.

But the future looks bright. This seminar looked at the progress being made in delivering value-added products and services in both government/public and private sectors. We were privileged to have two expert speakers and open data advocates, Mark Braggins and Steven Flower, who both have many years experience in delivering data products and services. They discussed a number of case studies and innovative solutions that are delivering value through open data applications.

Speakers

Mark Braggins is a ‘digital innovator’ who founded ‘Hampshire Hub’ – Hampshire’s local information system and evolving open data ecosystem. Mark is the lead organiser for Open Data Camp – the unconference and networking event for the UK Open Data Movement, the first of which was held in Winchester in February 2015. He is a co-organiser of BlueLightCamp – the annual unconference and open data hack for the Emergency Services community, and is a member of British APCO’s Executive Committee. Mark has a background delivering, managing and exploiting technology across a variety of sectors, including financial services, retail, computer services and most recently, research and intelligence in local government.

Steven Flowerhas a long and varied history in “civic technology”.  Whether building open data platforms for community events or standardising information on international aid, Steven has always worked alongside organisations and institutions that strive for societal benefit.  As well as open data initiatives, Steven also organises the monthly Manchester CoderDojo – a youth group for coders and makers.  In April 2015, Steven co-founded the Open Data Services Co-Operative – an organisation dedicated to assisting those that wish to publish and/or use open data.

Time and Venue

2pm on 14th May 2015, The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Pre Event Information

Learning Objectives

To understand what is meant by the term ‘open data’, where to find open data and how it is being used to create value-added products and services
To recognise the benefits and potential risks in using open data products and services
To be able to apply relevant standards and protocols for the publication and support of open data

Slides

Currrently not available

Tweets

#netikx73

Blog

See our blog report: NetIKX meeting about Open Data

Study Suggestions

None

September 2014 Seminar: Communities of Practice for the Post Recession Environment

/in , , , /by

Summary

The speaker for this seminar was Dion Lindsay of Dion Lindsay Consulting. Dion tackled big questions in his presentation, such as: Are the principles established for successful Communities of Practice (CoP’s) in the 1990’s and earlier still sound today ? He also asked what new principles and good practices are emerging as social media and other channels of communication become part of the operational infrastructure that we all inhabit ?
Communities of Interests are all about people who share an identity. They have a shared voice and conduct a shared activity. So ‘identity’ is a critical characteristic Also, there is an ongoing discussion about interests, an ongoing organisation of events and an interest in problems and solutions. This can take place in the workplace or in the public arena. Dion concluded his talk by saying that ‘you really have to want to do it’ to run a successful CoP. There are benefits to be had if there is proper facilitation. There must be adherence to best management practice. A CoP is, in reality, a ‘Community of Commitment’. It fits in very well indeed with project management.

Speakers

Dion Lindsay is the Principal Consultant at Dion Lindsay Consulting Ltd which provides Knowledge Management and Organisation Learning Consultancy services and training in knowledge management, intranets and social media in the workplace. Attendees at training courses come from all sectors: public, commercial, academic, membership organisations.

Time and Venue

2pm on 16th September 2014, The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Slides

No slides available for this presentation

Tweets

#netikx63

Blog

See our blog report: Communities of Practice for the Post Recession Environment Tuesday 16th September 2014

Study Suggestions

See Dion’s website:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dion-lindsay-9208323

May 2014 Seminar: Information on the Move

/in , , , , , /by

Summary

The first speaker, David, spoke about ‘The second digital transition’ which means that there will be no librarians (as we know them) by 2022. ‘The first digital revolution’ took place in the office or in the library. The device – the PC – was desk bound, office bound. ‘The second digital revolution’ is taking place in the street. Mobile is now the main platform for accessing the web. They are not computational devices but access devices. Mobiles are social, personal, cool and popular. The horizontal has replaced the vertical, reading is ‘out’ fast ‘media’ is in. As a result, abstracts have never been so popular and we can now all online to avoid reading and there is an emphasis on shorter articles, which have a much bigger chance of being used.

Max, followed on from David, by talking about his company that specialises in creating apps which are interactive and provide information or assist in education. The ideas illustrated the power of the new mobile technologies.

We could not have come further from the initial concept of libraries : no walls, no queuing, no intermediaries! Ask any young person about a library and they will point to their mobile. It is ironic that mobiles were once banned from libraries – now it is the library. The mobile, borderless information environment really challenges libraries and publishers. It constitutes another massive round of disintermediation and migration. The changed platform and environment transforms information consumption. For a final reflection, David asked us: Is the web and the mobile device making us stupid ? Where are we going with information, learning and mobile devices ? This led to a lively conversation for our table discussion groups!

Speakers

David Nicholas runs CIBER a pan-European research outfit.
David Nicholas is one of the original CIBER founders. His interests include use and seeking behaviour in virtual spaces, the digital consumer, the virtual scholar, mobile information (information on-the-go), e-books, e-journal usage; the evaluation of digital platforms and scholarly communication and reputation.
Professor Nicholas was Director of the Department of Information Studies at University College London (2004–2011) and prior to that Head of the Department of Information Science at City University 1997–2003. David has been principal investigator on 60 research projects worth more than £6M and published around 500 peer evaluated papers, report and books

Max Whitby comes from Touch Press, an app development organisation.
Touchpress is an acclaimed app developer and publisher based in Central London. The company specialises in creating in-depth premium apps on educational subjects including the Periodic Table, Beethoven, the Solar System, T.S. Eliot, Shakespeare, and others. Their app “Barefoot World Atlas” was named one of the top 10 apps of all time by Apple. Of Touchpress’ “Disney Animated,” which was named the best iPad app of 2013 worldwide by Apple, iTunes’ App Editor noted, “We’re absolutely spellbound.”

Time and Venue

2pm on 16 May 2014, The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Slides

No slides available for this presentation

Tweets

#netikx65

Blog

Val Skelton, Editor of ‘Information Today, Europe’ has written a very good blog post on this seminar.

See our blog report: Second digital revolution

Study Suggestions

You can visit the CIBER website for more information: CIBER website

November 2012 Seminar: Maximizing knowledge – sharing information conversationally through podcasts and social media

/in , , , /by

Summary

In this NetIKX workshop we heard how Helen led her team at A.T.Kearney in developing an innovative series of podcasts, providing a new, more conversational way of knowledge transfer for staff and potential customers. She has been able to quantify the number of podcast downloads using Google Analytics. The podcasts are easily exceeding their current KPI of 1000 hits per month, averaging around 3000-4000 hits/month. To promote the podcasts, Helen tweets links to them and the Marketing team then re-tweets these, to promote her Twitter handle.

No direct revenue has been produced yet, as the podcasts are free, but the team has started thinking about selling the podcast content as an e-book for a nominal price, to help reach a wider audience and potentially bring in some revenue. Helen concluded that “To innovate, you have to accept failure”. She didn’t know the series would be a success, and initially was embarrassed at the thought that they might fail, but went ahead and did it anyway.  This was a very inspiring event.

Speakers

Helen Clegg, is the Knowledge Team Director Global, at AT Kearney, where she focuses on Knowledge-sharing solutions. She has developed and implemented a knowledge-sharing framework and supporting toolkit to enable consultants to better share lessons learned.  Helen has marketed product and service development. She has developed, implemented, marketed and project managed outsourced research offering for consultants.  Helen has also marketed communications. She researched, moderated, produced and marketed ‘Wave of The Future’ podcast series.

Time and Venue

November 2012, 2pm The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Slides

No slides available for this presentation

Tweets

#netikx56

Blog

See our blog report: Maximizing knowledge – sharing information conversationally through podcasts and social media, Helen Clegg, 7 November 2012

Study Suggestions

None.

January 2012 Seminar: Social Media – what next and what can we do with it?

/in , , , /by

Summary

This was out third meeting on the theme of social media in so many years.   The speakers identified that the key to effective use of social media is to be clear about who we are trying to target and what tool or tools they would use.  They discussed the difficulty of changing mindsets within organisations where there are ingrained fears about the use of social media… and how using related case studies, collecting examples of what people have been saying about the organisation, or event taking unilateral action and showing the results can be the way to do this.

Speakers

Steve Dale is the founder and Director of Collabor8now Ltd, an organisation focussed on developing collaborative environments (e.g. Communities of Practice) and the integration of knowledge management tools and processes to support business improvement. He is a KMI certified knowledge manager and the author of several published research papers on collaborative behaviours. Over a 30-year career he has led major change programmes and developed knowledge and learning strategies for clients across public, private and not-for-profit organisations. He is one of three community facilitators for Warwick Business School’s “Knowledge & Innovation Network (KIN)”, a not for profit member organisation committed to developing and sharing best practice.  He is known as “a passionate community and collaboration ecologist, creating off-line and on-line environments that foster conversations and engagement”

Geoffrey McCaleb is a social media / mobile consultant who has delivered a wide variety of critical product capabilities for this rapidly growing video distribution startup. He specifically delivered the mobile (iOS and Android) and responsive web app experience that supported the live sports subscriptions/payments service (streaming and video on demand) for Australian Rules Football, Bundesliga, and La Liga. The service saw strong adoption growing 75% Month on Month and was a crucial component that supported their successful Initial Public Offering.

Time and Venue

January 2012. 2pm The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Slides

No slides available

Tweets

#netikx61

Blog

See our blog report: Social media – what next and what can we do with it?

Study Suggestions

Participants mentioned:
The BBC’s ‘YourPaintings’ joint initiative with The Public Catalogue Foundation and museums and public institutions throughout the UK encourages people to ‘tag’ their favourite oil paintings.  It currently has 104,000 pictures in the collection.

Phil Bradley’s presentation and notes: “25 barriers to using web 2.0 technologies and how to overcome them” might also provide good insights.

January 2011 Seminar: Using social media to achieve organisational goals implications for organisational and IM/KM policies and strategies

/in , , , /by

Summary

This was a follow-on seminar to one hosted the previous year, where we had introduced our members to a range of social media tools, and questioned if and how NetIKX might use them and also guide people in their use.  Although our January 2010 seminar was very popular, there was still some scepticism about the value of social media tools, and how organisations might use them.  This time, the tone was perhaps more one of how organisations might be persuaded to adopt the wider use of social media.
Hazel and Nicky described how Library and Information professionals can play a role in guiding and supporting the evolutionary adoption of social media tools by:

* Demonstrating how the tools can be used
* Experimenting and developing our own capabilities, as well as giving users the opportunity to experiment
* Providing training e.g. in digital literacy

The use of social media tools in the organisation should be part of Library and Information Management strategy but they tend to be owned by Security.  We need to help organisations to switch from an emphasis on the risk of using social media, to the risk of not using these tools.

Speakers

Dr Hazel Hall is Director of the Centre for Social Informatics in the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University. She is also leads the implementation of the UK Library and Information Science Research Coalition. Hazel was named IWR Information Professional of the Year in December 2009.

Nicky Whitsed is Director of Library Services at the Open University.  She is an experienced strategic and change manager having led successful projects in the commercial, medical and academic fields. Nicky is trained in project management and facilitation and also has experience as a trainer. She has served on a number of CILIP and JISC committees and on a number of editorial boards.

Time and Venue

January 2011, 2pm The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Slides

No slides available

Tweets

#netikx55

Blog

See our blog report: Using social media to achieve organisational goals – the next steps

Study Suggestions

None

January 2010 Seminar: Social networking tools – should they be taken seriously?

/in , , , /by

Summary

This was one of a series of seminars that helped Knowledge Managers understand the relevance of Social Media for their discipline.

Speakers

Suzanne Burge  Information Consultant

Elisabeth Goodman.  Associate, Pelican Coaching and Development

Time and Venue

January 2010, 2pm The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Slides

No slides available

Tweets

#netikx

Blog

No blog available

Study Suggestions

None

November 2008 Seminar: Information literacy, Web 2.0 and the new librarians

/in , , , /by

Summary

None available

Speaker

Peter Godwin: Academic Liaison Librarian, University of Bedfordshire

Time and Venue

November 2008, 2pm The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Slides

No slides available

Tweets

#netikx

Blog

Blog no longer available

Study Suggestions

None

July 2008 Seminar: Anarchy in the enterprise? Using social media tools effectively in a corporate context

/in , , , /by

Summary

This meeting was one of several that NetIKX held to introduce information professionals to the value, and concerns, about using social media.

Speaker

Richard Dennison, BT

Time and Venue

July 2008, 2pm The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Slides

No slides available

Blog

Blog no longer available

Study Suggestions

None

January 2008 Seminar: Social networking: focussing on social bookmarking

/in , , , /by

Summary

There is no summary available.

Speaker

Adrian Melrose, Cogenz

Time and Venue

January 2008, 2pm The British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS

Slides

No slides available

Blog

Blog no longer available

Study Suggestion

None