What can you learn in 15 minutes about web 2.0?

Today UCL’s Information Services Department put on a series of demonstrations about web2.0 and online applications. It was nicely timed as Research report about the Challenges, usages and benefits of social media in higher education was released not so long ago, and makes for very interesting reading.

The fact that UCL has recognised that social media is becoming an increasingly important aspect for institutions to consider is fantastic. Not only that, but they thought it was necessary to run demonstrations for anybody interested in learning more about web 2.0. Brilliant. The format worked really well, 15minute demonstrations were run during the day about the most used social media applications, and how they can be used in an academic context. It really broke it down into bite sized chunks. This was also streamed live, so I had the pleasure of watching from the comfort of my office.

What I really enjoyed about this was the direct feedback I received. I started tweeting about the demonstrations and attached a link to the live stream. Within five minutes, whilst watching the streaming I recieved a mention, as did ernestopriego they then answered any questions we had, and dealt with streaming problems accordingly. This is a brilliant example of how utilising different web 2.0 applications for one event can turn into virtual extension of the physical event. Allowing for more conversations and discussions to occur and ideas and collaborations to form.

On that note: the demonstrations and the twitter conversations sparked a series of interesting questions:

If UCL is utilising web2.0 applications:

• Is the content archived?
• What happens when you leave UCL?
• Can you take that content with you?
• Are there IPR issues to be considered?
• Can the conversations, networking and discussion data be captured? should it be?

These are all important questions which need to asked and considered. Hopefully these are questions that the centre for Digital Humanities will be attempting to answer in the coming months.