JISC

Brian Kelly of UKOLN’s UK Web Focus has been named IWR’s ‘Informational Professional of the Year’. Well known in the UK and abroad for his work in highlighting the benefits of Web 2.0 – or social and interactive web technologies – he accepted his Information World Review award at the recent Online conference at Olympia in London, and in an interview for JISC, called for a wide-ranging debate on the policy issues to which the new technologies are giving rise.

The award is a recognition, Kelly believes, not only of his commitment to spreading the word about Web 2.0 and its benefits to education and research (he gave 34 presentations during the year and published widely), but also to a very practical commitment to demonstrating its effectiveness.

‘I think the award reflects my commitment to making use of the technologies I advocate to others,’ he says, ‘such as organising “amplified events” in which the outputs and impact of an event are maximised through the engagement of a remote audience use of networked technologies such as Skype, video streaming, pod casting, and so on.

‘In addition the UK Web Focus blog, launched in November 2006, received very positive feedback in a recent survey. I’m sure that the success of the blog, in its dissemination role and in engaging the readership in discussions and debate, were also influential in the judges' decision-making.’

Kelly believes that the benefits of Web 2.0 tools such as blogs and wiki – that they can allow students to be active creators of content rather than passive consumers and that social networking services can support the social and collaborative aspects of learning – are largely accepted now, as is the strategic importance of Web 2.0 for the higher and further education communities.

He goes further than most, however, when he claims that the ‘openness’ upon which Web 2.0 services are based is a fundamental aspect of the very openness that underpins education and research. ‘The non-technical aspects of Web 2.0, such as embracing openness and placing a greater trust in the user community, also reflect some of the fundamental principles of our community. The open access policies we’re developing for our research publications and scientific data and the benefits of open source software can be seen as part of an open development culture which is a key characteristic of the Web 2.0 environment.’

The importance Kelly grants to the new technologies means significant changes for the sector, however, changes which are not always fully appreciated by decision-makers.

‘There are divergences in opinion within the sector over the most appropriate development and deployment strategies for Web 2.0,’ he claims. ‘Some argue that higher educational institutions should be installing Web 2.0 services locally whilst others would argue that externally-hosted services can be used to support institutional requirements, with this providing benefits of scale and acknowledges that such services will, in any case, be used by people in their social activities.’

These are important policy issues which do need to be openly debated, he suggests, and ‘in the context of a much better understanding of the global networked environment.’

As one who battles hard to promote that greater understanding, Kelly believes that information professionals have a key role to play here, but also that policy makers need to think more strategically about the development of the web environment: ‘We need to ensure that our policy makers, our heads of services, our project managers and our developers need to be aware that, in a Web 2.0 environment, services can be delivered by a range of providers and there is a need is to develop risk assessment and management strategies - and to remember that there are risks associated with doing nothing or in continuing well-established working practices.’

For Kelly the risks associated with failing to understand the importance of the advance of web technologies and their implications for our behaviour – both in education and research and in general - are enormous. There is, after all, he claims, a precedent for such a misunderstanding: ‘Remember that the Internet and the web were dismissed as irrelevant by various senior figures in the 1980s and early 1990s. Let's not repeat such mistakes.’

For further information, please go to: Information Professional of the Year

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