The Web 2.0 working party was established by the IT Users' Forum at its meeting in April 2008. Its work follows on from earlier work on this wiki and the report to cabinet by Jane Rawson and Louise Clarke and from discussions at the Web 2.0 study day.

Background

• At the web 2.0 training day/conference there was discussion about the use of third party software for “web 2.0” type applications.
  
• Concerns were raised about
  • Lack of branding
  • Privacy / security etc
  • Intellectual property / copyright
  • Investing money / time / user confidence in applications which may disappear / cease to be developed / become expensive/ change their terms and conditions.

• Questions were raised about web2.0 and the OULS CMS (MySourceMatrix):
  • Whether the functionality offered by third party applications can be provided by the OULS CMS
  • How well third party solutions can be integrated into the CMS
• It was suggested that a working party should be set up to explore these issues
• Following the conference the IT users group has convened this working party to report on these issues and to advise on best practice
• The working party will report to the IT user group

Questions to be addressed

• What web 2.0 applications are being used within OULS? (For more information please see the case studies and the list of applications currently being considered by the working party )
• Which of these use third party software applications and which use applications developed/managed by OULS/OUCS/Oxford University?
• What are the implications of using third party applications? (for a list of the issues currently being considered by the working party under this heading please see Issues to be considered).
  • Generally
  • Specific concerns about specific applications (for more information about specific applications please see notes on specific applications)
  • Are there any ways in which we can mitigate against the problems associated with third party applications? (e.g. local hosting) and
  • If so, how practical are these to implement?
  • Are there examples of useful policies/good practice relating to the use of third party applications elsewhere in Oxford University?
• How well can third party applications be integrated into the CMS?
  • Generally
  • Specifically
• What can the CMS offer us in terms of Web 2.0 type functionality?
  • How favourable does this functionality compare with third party applications already in use?
• What can other software developed / controlled by Oxford University offer us?
  • How favourable does this compare with third party applications already in use?

Interested? If you're interested in joining this working party please contact angela.carritt@bodley.ox.ac.uk