Showing posts with label branding. Show all posts

Things to Consider Before Implementing Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is Dynamic


Static (Web 1.0) pages are written to remain current for several months or even years. Web 2.0 is much more fast moving. Customers expect frequent updates and you should plan on weekly updates as a minimum. Updates can be full-blown posts/articles or simple one sentence tips, reminders, and tidbits.

Questions to ask:
Can I commit the resources to add material once or twice a week (or more)?
Do I have ideas for material?



Web 2.0 is Participatory


The major characteristic of Web 2.0 is that is it social. Sites involve mechanisms for people to join your network, share information, and ask questions. You need to determine your level of comfort with participation and how you will handle different situations. Organizations sometimes fear the lack of control in Web 2.0; however, remember that customers normally understand the difference between the authority of a post/article and a comment or message board.

Questions to ask:
Will I moderate comments on my site?
How will I handle questions asked on my site?
How will I handle misinformation on my site? Can I formulate a disclaimer for information on my site?



Web 2.0 is Integrated


One of the best things about Web 2.0 is the ability to reutilize information across several platforms/sites. This allows your to create information in one place and integrate that into all of your online presence. For example, if you want to remind customers of an upcomming event you can post a blog entry about it. From this one effort (and some nifty Web 2.0 magic) your event can be announced on Twitter, Facebook, on your website. This not only allows a time savings (one post - multiple platforms) but it also creates a consistent message across your web presence.

Questions to ask:
How can I utilize several social networks?
Do I want to integrate my social network into my website?

A local pediatric practice asked for my help in creating a web 2.0 presence. We integrated Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and the practice's website to create a cohesive online brand and provide important information to patients and parents in their preferred web environment.
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Next Generation Information Discovery

Information "discovery" for engineers and scientists at NASA is generally:
  • serendipitous
  • random
  • self led
  • limited to known sources (insular)
  • last minute
  • satisficing

Our goal is to provide specific, customized information solutions that provide content they didn't know they needed and can't live without.

Custom Research Modules:

  • using existing RSS technology to its fullest extent
    • Embeded
    • Real-time and automated
  • free
  • low maintenance


Custom Database Search Module

(e.g. Engineering Village2) + Springwidgets.
  • Pros:
    • robust, professionally constructed searches
    • embeded
    • real-time automated delivery
    • branding
  • Cons: limited to databases that provide custom rss feeds.

Custom Federated Search

with Delicious + deliSearch + Widgetbox
  • Pros:
    • "cheap" federated searching
    • embeded
    • customized to topic
  • Cons: still requires search strategy to be formulated by the researcher
Example:  The below widget displays librarian-chosen resources relating to microgravity and (in a separate tab) articles from Engineering Village related to microgravity (viewable inside the NASA domain only).

Combined Custom Module

with Yahoo!Pipes
  • Pros:
    • professionally constructed sources and search
    • highly configurable
    • embeded
    • real-time automated delivery
  • Cons:
    • Pipes requires a large learning curve
    • branding?
Example:  The below example uses Pipes to search IEEE Xplore database for Space Applications in Nanotubes and removes the IEEE Xplore title from each prior to posting so that users see the most relevant information.  See the Pipe here.

    Nanotubes in Space Applications



    This outline represents a presentation I gave at the 2008 IEEE Library Advisory Council's annual meeting in New York City.
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    LibGuides part 1: Branding

    My library will be implementing LibGuides over the next few months and I will chart our progress here. I will have to explain why we chose LibGuides and our goals for the guides at a later date. What I want to talk about now is branding.

    LibGuides does a great job of letting a library brand their page. Of course, LibGuides is set up on this premise were they are providing libraries a service that the libraries use to serve their patrons. I think that database vendors could take a lesson from them. Often on commercial or society database products the ability to place the library brand on the page is non-existent or very small. I repeatedly hear librarians clamor for more branding. This isn't just a quest for information dominance (ok, maybe a little) but the problem of "everything is free on the Internet" is easy to propogate in this way. If a patron find an article through Google Scholar, clicks, and voila - instant article! They have no way of knowing that there is a cost associated with the product as well as hours of licensing negotiation on their behalf. Now I realize that the publishers have a brand they want to get out there too - however, the libraries are sometimes their only advocates when funding time comes, not the end-user.

    Regardless, I'm impressed so far with how much I can make my LibGuides page feel like my library website. Hopefully this translates into value-added by the library. In the future as we try to be "where the patrons are" more and become ubiquitous the problem arises: how to be valuable when you are (rightfully) invisible.
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    Google: The Lunch Box

    Does anyone remember the movie Spaceballs? How about the gratuitous use of product placement? Spaceballs: The Toilet Paper; Spaceballs: The Doll; etc. This is how I'm beginning to feel about Google (beginning? that ship has sailed!)
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