Collaborative Online tools for Business and Community Engagement Case Study Case Study Title
G Blog: The Listening Blog ‘Getting to know you better’ “Adnabod Chwi Yn Gwell”
Institution(s) involved
University of Glamorgan
Contact + Email
Pam Voisey, pvoisey@glam.ac.uk
JISC programme (if applicable)
Business and Community Engagement, Collaborative Tools [BCECT]
Project Dates
March 2009 to July 2010
Tags
List tags/keywords which best describe the focus of the project. Blog; listening zone; network; informal access; collaboration; University of Glamorgan; G-Blog; GTi business incubation; RCT Business Club ; Centre for Enterprise
Headings/Questions
Explanation and further information
0. Briefly describe your project (abstract)
A short description of your project designed to give a reader the key points of context, approach and technologies used so they can decide whether to read the full case study. It is usually best to write this section last. The University of Glamorgan supports graduate enterprise, start-up and small th business development in its business incubation facility, GTi. In its 10 year of operation, GTi sought to provide a forum for University academics and SMEs and micro-businesses to interact in an informal arena. With support from JISC under the BCECT Programme, funding was obtained to create a blog for the exchange of ideas, the creation of collaboration and new networks. WordPress was chosen, a reliable OSS platform, hosted by Media Temple. Working closely with colleagues in Media Development at the University of Glamorgan, G-Blog was designed and launched in partnership with the local authority, RCT, Business Club. Progress has been slow because of uncertainties in the higher education sector affecting academics, and competition with other longer established blogging and networking sites. By extending the remit of G-Blog, this resource is now established and growing into a much needed central repository at the heart of a community of practice of entrepreneurs.
1. Why did you use this approach? Approx 250 words
Describe your original challenge – the reason you gave at the outset for needing to trail collaborative online tools in this context – and include other factors that influenced your decision making as the project progressed, for example:
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Collaborative Online tools for Business and Community Engagement Case Study •
institutional mission/vision - why this issue is important to your institution;
The University of Glamorgan fully supports the aims and objectives of the ‘GTi’ Business Incubator and its ‘graduated’ and currently registered businesses. The development of additional methods of supporting their business growth and development is important and for this reason this Project is of particular interest. The IT Development team has been engaged in projects aimed at enhancing the student experience and this is an interesting project for them to take on. The University also wishes to strengthen its role as a source of expertise to SMEs in South Wales •
external partner strategies and priorities
The University has had a developing relationship with the local authority’s Business Club and welcomed the opportunity to partner with them on this project, for the purpose of widening the access to the university for small businesses who may not have considered approaching the University for advice, innovation - contact with academics. The University has a good track record of using European Funds to promote initiatives which benefit enterprise creation and support in the South Wales Valleys •
pedagogical (learning, teaching and assessment) considerations;
G-Blog was designed to provide a platform for academic and SMEs to meet informally and exchange information. For academics, direct access to SMEs for the purpose of research was considered an advantage. Currently the system is that GTi often acts as a broker in finding businesses willing to be interviewed by students, or to trial innovative developments in areas such as psychometric testing 2. What is the context in which you are using this approach? Approx 250 words
Give details here of the external engagement context and any specific issues you were trying to address. For example: •
characteristics of institution and partners involved;
The University of Glamorgan places special emphasis on the employability of th its graduates. Started as the School of Mines in the 19 century, it was created to provide training for miners and supervisors to improve conditions in the coalmines of the South Wales Valleys. It now operates in a post-coal era, where regeneration and enterprise support are still a necessity because of the prevalence of economic inactivity in the Valleys (as high as 33% in some areas). Rhondda Cynon Taf Business Club has re-launched in the past 5 years, finding a new formula, new branding to promote business growth in the local authority area. The University’s business incubation facility, GTi, is part of its regeneration ’third mission’ strategy. It has been operating since 2000 and offers support services to entrepreneurs, by removing the barriers to setting up businesses for students and graduates, University staff and other individuals. manufacturing. •
composition of stakeholder groups affected by new ways of doing things;
Incubating businesses operate across a number of sectors - media, training, consultancy; comprised of graduates, academics, necessity entrepreneurs (affected by redundancy). Academics in the Business School were targeted to participate as they were the group requesting access to GTi for students writing dissertations on small business formation and development. The Centre for Enterprise conducts research on enterprise, bringing entrepreneurial activity 2
Collaborative Online tools for Business and Community Engagement Case Study across Faculties together. how this issue was addressed prior to your use of the new approach;
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The GTi business incubation facility had a web page on the University’s website, controlled by a central department. Some of the businesses had suggested that a blog would be a useful addition to the services offered by the incubator, allowing for information to be shared by the businesses in the GTi network. There was neither time nor resources to provide a GTi blog. any problems or challenges which you anticipated that this context (cultural or technical) would produce in terms of implementation of the delivery approach.
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It was anticipated that it would be harder to achieve engagement with the academics than businesses. The experience of Commercial Services was that some academics were reluctant to engage outside of their core activity. 3. What collaborative online tools and other technologies were involved? Approx 250 words
Give details here of the technologies and/or tools you used;
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A blog, using WordPress why you chose these technologies or undertook these developments (for example, compliance with institutional strategies, pedagogical considerations, security, used in other contexts, or other factors).
•
A blog provided a simple methodology to achieve a space where academics and businesses could interact, share information and build relationships which brought the local SME community and the University closer. Open Source software in the form of WordPress had been tried and tested by the Senior Multimedia Developer, as had the host, MediaTemple. WordPress was seen as reliable with regular updates and customizable. MediaTemple is located in the US, and the difference in time zones meant that any maintenance would be done when it was night in the UK, minimizing any downtime for user. This proved to be correct.
4. How did you design or set up the interactions design? Approx 150 words
Give details here of •
the design of the approach;
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the process you worked through in order to complete that design;
•
the personnel involved in the design process.
The project leader (Pam Voisey) worked closely with the Senior Multimedia Developer (Barry Richard) in the IT department of the University. A small online survey was undertaken to see what the attitude to blogging was among the SME group in GTi and via the RCT Business Club. The results showed that there was an awareness of blogging, and that those who did not blog felt that they should do so as part of their marketing and networking activity. The colour blue was chosen as the main theme colour. Blue and yellow are the University’s corporate colours, but we felt that a slightly different shade of blue added to the corporate dark blue would pull together the brand of GTi and the University. The design of the GTi logo as a ‘listening ear’ came as a result of the strapline, ‘the listening zone - getting to know you better’. 3
Collaborative Online tools for Business and Community Engagement Case Study Pam and Barry worked closely together on all stages of the design, deciding on what the headings should be for permanent content, and generating the copy to be used. It was decided to pay for external hosting as there was some doubt whether there was sufficient capacity on the University servers available. 5. How did you implement and embed this approach? Approx 350 words
Give details here of: •
how this approach was 'rolled out' in practice, including information on support and training for all those involved;
The launch was the beginning, and we gave a brief demonstration on how to navigate the functions of the blog. Thereafter Grace contributed a series of ‘howto-blog’ posts. Events that were either wholly or in part G-Blog centric, provided opportunities to demonstrate G-Blog, and explore tools that would make it easier to post to many blogs at once, such as Live Writer. •
how you evaluated this collaborative approach;
The main evaluation tool was monitoring the number of posts. We also asked the target audience why they were not using G-Blog. •
whether any anticipated problems or challenges in implementing this approach (see Question 2 above) did in reality materialise;
The difficulty that was anticipated, namely, reluctance to become involved was not, finally, the real problem we encountered. In presenting G-Blog to colleagues across the Business School, there was interest, enthusiasm, and a willingness to be involved. It was doubly disappointing that the anticipated activity on G-Blog failed to materialise. One of the risks identified at the outset was the amount of time available to team members. This was a problem for the academics invited to contribute, too. The answers we got were largely based on “I’ll do it when I’ve written up my PhD; got back from teaching in Hungary; my contract ends in September”. •
whether any unanticipated problems or challenges in implementing this approach materialised;
No. There was always a risk that the uptake would be low, but it was outside of the team’s control. The reaction to G-Blog was always enthusiastic, but in hindsight that may have been a reflection of the team’s energy in promoting it. In reality the posts did not materialise. •
how you overcame these problems or challenges.
The G-Blog moderator, Grace Long did all she could to persuade, explain, demonstrate how to blog, what to blog - the joy of blogging! - but it has been slow to build momentum in terms of posting. What we did find out is that businesses were reading the posts and making contact offline as a result, which was pleasing in itself, if not what we were aiming for. 6. What benefits is this delivery approach producing for stakeholders? Approx 400 words
Give details here of any tangible benefits for staff, students, external partners and organisations, other stakeholders, and the department and/or institution under as many headings as appropriate – some examples suggested below. Please state the evidence used to assess benefits: •
significant improvements in student learning; n/a
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new collaborative partnerships;
It is difficult to provide evidence for collaboration or links made offline, as a 4
Collaborative Online tools for Business and Community Engagement Case Study result of reading the blog. People tended to make contact at G-Blog events, having read what was posted and further those links in person. •
improved collaborative partnerships;
The partnership with RCT Business Club did not improve, but this was not connected with the blog.. •
significant improvement in staff's ability to engage with collaborative online tools;
The project leader (also the incubator manager) had not previously either read or posted content on blogs. The process of looking at different blogging platforms, the design, deciding on content headings and having administrator rights was a very steep learning curve. The result is a much greater interest in blogging, and an appreciation of its value in PR, sales and marketing which is the focus of the incubating businesses. •
significant improvement in staff performance including that of external partners; n/a
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increased performance towards departmental and/or institutional strategic targets through the use of this approach to using collaborative online tools
One of the Universities strategic objectives is to engage more fully with local businesses and promote and strengthen links. G-Blog contributes to this activity. •
any actual savings in terms of costs, time and resources.
G-Blog is an additional service, rather than replacing a more costly methodology. However, there is a saving on staff time which would have been spent updating the central University website as GTi services evolve, and events such as the move to another location, result in changes to the website. G-Blog has become the repository of all things GTi, which is a particularly useful facility as well as encouraging traffic to the blog through the necessity of accessing GTi information. 7. Did implementation of this approach have any disadvantages or drawbacks? approx. 250 words
Give details here of, for example •
disadvantages or drawbacks with collaborative online tools;
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departmental / institutional/external partners disadvantages or drawbacks, (for example, extra expenditure or time costs);
•
any other disadvantages or drawbacks.
There are no drawbacks to the operation of G-Blog. It can be frustrating that it is taking longer than anticipated for G-Blog to reach critical mass, but the reason for its existence is sound and still relevant, and the remit has been widened to provide a greater, more accessible resource for the incubating businesses. 8. How will this approach be taken further? approx. 250 words
What are you going to do with the results? Give details here of ways in which this delivery approach •
will be rolled out on a larger scale;
•
has changed practice in ways that will sustained in future developments;
•
has now become an embedded means of collaborating with 5
Collaborative Online tools for Business and Community Engagement Case Study external partners G-Blog has enabled a change in providing SMEs and business support networks informal and ad hoc access to University academics. Discussions are currently underway with several academic colleagues with new remits, new projects, and there is a more positive attitude to being involved in G-Blog. It is anticipated that G-Blog will fulfil its original remit, but in a longer timeframe than envisaged.
9.
Summary and Reflection
approx. 250 words
Give details here of •
how this approach addressed the challenge(s) you identified;
The original idea to create a ‘forum for listening’ is taking longer to achieve than planned, but the project team see the value of continuing to support the blog as it has proved a suitable vehicle for the task. •
how you believe this approach could be of value to other institutions and their external partners in other contexts;
Using an OSS platform such as WordPress, and a low-cost hosting option, creating this type of blog provides a method of facilitating informal contact between groups that may not belong to the same networks - where there might be a perceived imbalance in status, hierarchy, or level of interest. In Wenger’s model of a Community of Practice, there described are beginners, peripheral, occasional, experts, alumni, outsiders and lurkers. This disparate group is a community of practice because of a common goal or interest in promoting, for example, a project. A blog, such as G-Blog, provides an informal space where even the lurkers can contribute! •
what you have learned from implementing this approach;
A personal viewpoint from the project leader is that blogging and blogs are not necessarily, or by definition, trivial. The value of the information and the ease of sharing it has been a revelation. For others who are blogging veterans the problem is how many blogs to keep in sight. The thrill of the newly discovered soon becomes just another thing to do that takes up time. Any blog has to ‘earn its keep’ and provide a real return for the time spent visiting. This is where critical mass has to be achieved, to provide a valuable resource, quality information and signposting. The provider of any blog must view the users as ‘customers’. If customers do not find something sufficiently engaging on one blog, they will take their time and input to one which gives them more value for the time they spend. •
building on this experience, how you will work to further transform approaches using collaborative online tools in your context;
I will certainly be more proactive in blogging, seeking out useful blogs, and signposting them on G-Blog. G-Blog will be developed to ‘wow’ the customer. I believe we should be an exemplar as the provider of business incubation/business support.
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your top tips for others adopting a similar approach?
Treat the project as a business - clearly define your proposition, understand what the customer needs, then wants; find the supply chain, do sufficient PR and marketing to raise the profile and awareness in your market, and remember that the virtual world is mirrored in the real one! When you have gathered them 6
Collaborative Online tools for Business and Community Engagement Case Study in the virtual world, hold your real world event and make sure there is plenty of food! This may sound rather tongue in cheek, but all of us have only so many minutes in the day, and if you are asking someone to ‘spend’ their precious minutes on your blog, it has to be a great experience, easy to use and rewarding at the end.
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