IWMW 2011 blog » #p3 http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2011 Supporting UKOLN's IWMW 2011 event Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:43:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 Plenary 3: Using activity data to support your users http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2011/2011/07/29/plenary-3-using-activity-data-to-support-your-users/ http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2011/2011/07/29/plenary-3-using-activity-data-to-support-your-users/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:26:58 +0000 kirsty-pitkin http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2011/?p=569 Continue reading →]]> Picture 034

 

Tom Franklin from the University of Manchester and Franklin Consulting discussed some of the issues that need to be addressed if you want to use activity data to inform your work.

 

Tom began by discussing the uses of activity data, some of which are good, and some of which are bad…

 

“ Franklin: Credit card companies use activity data to detect fraud, so it’s not all bad #iwmw11 #p3
iwmwlive
July 26, 2011

 

He went on to discuss the practical ways in which universities could make use of activity data relating to their sites…

 

“ Franklin: Discussing how activity data can help with student recruitment. What are prospective students doing on your site? #iwmw11 #p3
iwmwlive
July 26, 2011
“ Franklin: We can use activity data to enhance student retention and improve success by looking how successful students behave #iwmw11 #p3
iwmwlive
July 26, 2011
“ Franklin: Spotting patterns in student activity helps to provide feedback and encourage those to undertake activities to improve #iwmw11 #p3
iwmwlive
July 26, 2011
“ Franklin: Activity data can be used to create an Amazon-style recommendation system to increase discovery of research papers #iwmw11 #p3
iwmwlive
July 26, 2011

 

To put this into context, he cited work by the University of Huddersfield to map library borrowing activity to final degree grade…

 

“ Franklin: University of Huddersfield show correlation between the number of books borrowed from the library and degree grade #iwmw11 #p3
iwmwlive
July 26, 2011
“ Franklin: Students want to know how to move from one grade to another, so analysis of this activity data could really help them #iwmw11 #p3
iwmwlive
July 26, 2011

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He also discussed the issues associated with collecting this data, which generated considerable debate on the Twitter backchannel…

 

“ Franklin: Some of the things that get in the way include getting consent, data sharing, anonymisation & collection purposes #iwmw11 #p3
iwmwlive
July 26, 2011
“ “@the_web_guru: Privacy concerns with collecting /using activity data? #iwmw11 #p3″ <<< was just thinking this!
MikeNolan
July 26, 2011
“ Data analysis good, however… you need permission to collect, mechanisms to collect, storage and retrieval #iwmw11 #p3
mecb
July 26, 2011

View this video on YouTube.
“ Contentious stuff around data mining in #iwmw11 #p3. Valid concerns raised from audience. To what extent should education mimic commercial?
lisapr1ce
July 26, 2011

 

Tom concluded by emphasising the positive reasons to collect activity data…

 

“ Franklin: Costs of collecting the data are low, & there are some real benefits, so determine those benefits & argue for funding #iwmw11 #p3
iwmwlive
July 26, 2011

Reactions

Besides the concerns about privacy and changes to the law regarding cookies, here are some of the responses the audience had to Tom Franklin’s presentation…

 

“ Big theme of data today. Very much an issue for us and one that a lot of institutions are, no doubt, currently grappling with. #iwmw11 #P3
PlanetClaire
July 26, 2011
“ #iwmw11 In Catalonia we have some (nonpublic) data on consulting Ph.D. Theses and repository. #iwmw11 #p3 Sometimes analysis provided
q5x
July 26, 2011
“ Library usage correlates to student success/retention? Hmmm…too simplistic? #iwmw11 #p3
mancypino
July 26, 2011
“ Wow – Huddersfield Uni book borrowing mapped against degree result. Frightening! #iwmw11 #p3
mecb
July 26, 2011

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