Digital Life Beyond The Institution

Digital Life Beyond The Institution
1
Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus

Talk 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 Kelly
Independent 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 Details
Email: ukwebfocus@gmail.com
Twitter: @briankelly
Blog: http://ukwebfocus.com/
Slides and further information available at
http://ukwebfocus.com/events/mmit-2015-digital-life-beyond-the-institution/
UK Web Focus
30+ years working in university sector!

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About This Talk
Social 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! 4

About This Talk
Social 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!
5

About Me
Brian Kelly
Formerly:
• 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
6

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?
7
Who has responsibilities for ensuring staff and researchers
are able to respond appropriately to such ‘life events’?

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
8

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
9

About You
What 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?
10

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
11
Should we say:
• “the ability to find, use and reuse, evaluate and
communicate information”
where reuse includes future use in a different work
context

Assumptions
The 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)
12
Will the institution’s IT environment be regarded as a
silo (a ‘walled garden’) afer you leave the institution?

Policy at Bath University
13
See http://www.bath.ac.uk/bucs/news/news_0013.html ×

University gives very brief details when:
Policy at Bath University
14
Detailed policies• Detailed policies
• Staff leave
• Staff have a new job in the Uni
• Staff are dismissed
• Staff die
But is leaving the institution really an unusual event?

The Open Agenda
We 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
15
Education and user support and – the missing
component? An opportunity for librarians?!

My Move to The Cloud:
A Case Study
Following 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
16
Note that since I didn’t intent to die in my job,
such plans should have been in place in any
case!

The Institutional Repository
Opus, the University
of Bath institutional
repository, provides
a secure, reliable &
maintained
repository for my
research papers,
project reports, etc. 17
My Opus entry, which provides a record of my
publications from 1997-2013. See
http://opus.bath.ac.uk/view/person_id/588.html

Persistency of Records
Opus policy seeks to ensure
long-term persistency of content.
18
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?

Persistency of Records
Informal 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
19

The Institutional Silo
Opus, the University
of Bath institutional
repository, provides
a secure, reliable &
maintained
repository for my
research papers,
project reports, etc. 20
An out-of-date view of research
activities (and typically only PDFs
available, not the original master copy).

Manage Your Own Records
Ensure 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.)
21

Manage Your Own Content
Ensure that your (open
access) publications are
hosted in an environment
you can maintain when
you leave the institution.
For example:
• ResearchGate
22
Papers hosted initially in local open
access repository

Manage Your Own Content
Ensure that your (open
access) publications are
hosted in an environment
you can maintain when
you leave the institution.
For example:
• ResearchGate
• Academia.edu
• …
23
No permission to upload book
chapter, so metadata-only records
Full-text of open access paper available

Manage Your Own Ideas
Ensure 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
24
Blog at ukwebfocus.wordpress.com continued with
no need to migrate content (now at ukwebfocus.com)

Use Cloud Sharing Services
Have you got your OneDrive,
Google Drive or Dropbox
accounts?
25
Case study
Since 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’

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
26
My ORCID: 0000-0001-5875-8744
Not coupled to
institutional ID

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
27
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

Email For Authentication
Change your email address to
ensure you aren’t locked out
of Cloud services!
28
Claim your papers in Google
Scholar while your
institutional email is valid –
otherwise you might not be
able to claim them!

Manage Your Own Domain
A 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
29

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.
30
“Empowering users and their institutions : A risks and opportunities framework
for exploiting the potential of the social web” Kelly, B & Oppenheim, C

The Role of Librarians
What 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?
31
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”, … )

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
32
My
University
Slideshare
Google

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)
33
My
PLE/PRE
My current place of work
My first university

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 institution34

SCONUL
36
Thoughts:
• No digital
literacies for staff
& researchers?
• Limited view on
‘digital literacy’?

JISC Co-design group
JISC Co-design
group
Focus on:
• Authenticating
access to
library
resources
• Institutional
perspective
Relevance to
former staff
deemed out-of-
scope
37

38
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

39
Research Concordat
Shouldn’t
life-long
skills to
manage
digital
content be
addressed in
the
Research
Concordat?

Survey Across The
Community
Survey 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!”
40
Poster presented at LILAC 2014

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.” 41
Not accessible

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.”
42




Which is ,  or 

Reflections
Digital 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?
43

From “Jisc NUS Benchmarking Tool” …
http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6140/1/Jisc_NUS_student_ex
perience_benchmarking_tool.pdf
44
… … … … …

… To “Beyond Institution Benchmarking
Tool”
http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6140/1/Jisc_NUS_student_ex
perience_benchmarking_tool.pdf
45
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.

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.
46

Who’ll Run This Course?
Title: Preparation for Digital Life When You Leave
Audience: 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 learning
47
Note 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

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?
50

Questions?
Any questions, comments, …?
51
Carry on the discussion – see the blog post at
https://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/

This presentation, “Digital Life Beyond The Institution” by Brian Kelly,
UK Web Focus is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Licence
Note 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.
52
Slides and further information available at
https://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/digital-life-beyond-the-institution/
Licence and Additional Resources

Digital Life Beyond The Institution

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