Institutional Web Management Workshop 2012:
Embedding Innovation
Risk Assessment
This page provides information on the possible risks associated with use of technologies at the IWMW 2012 event. The following issues are covered:
Risk Assessment Summary
- Vimeo: Video Recordings
- Video recordings of the plenary talks are hosted on the Vimeo service. This places a dependency on a third-party service. However the Vimeo service is mature and the risk is felt to be low.
- The Twitter service and the #iwmw12 event hashtag was used to for discussions about the IWMW 2012 event.This places a dependency on a third-party service. However the service was only required during the event itself and the risk is felt to be low.
- Coveritlive
- The Coveritlive service was used to provide a discussion channel for remote users to address any technical difficulties. This places a dependency on a third-party service. However the service was only required during the event itself and the risk is felt to be low.
- Storify
- The Storify service was used to keep a record of Twitter discussions for the second and third days. This places a dependency on a third-party service. However the content is likely to be of interest primarily during and for a short period after the event and the risk is felt to be low.
- Google Spreadsheets and the TAGS Archive
- As described on the MASHe blog the TAGS service was used to provide an archive of event tweets. This places a dependency on a third-party service. However the Google Spreadsheets service is felt to be sustainable and the risk is felt to be low.
- Slideshare: Hosting Slides
- Slides from the plenary talks will be hosted on the Slideshare service and workshop facilitators will be encouraged to make their slides available in this group too, thus making it easier for the remote audience to view the slides. This places a dependency on a third-party service. However the Slideshare service is mature and the risk is felt to be low.
- Lanyrd: Hosting Content and Social Networking
- Information about the speakers and facilitators was made available on the Lanyrd service. This places a dependency on a third-party service. However the Lanyrd service is mature and the risk is felt to be low.
- Ideascale: Gathering Ideas for Content
- An Ideascale site has been set up to crowd source ideas from people on sessions etc. There are risks that people will not submit ideas and/or that the ideas suggested cannot be implemented. It is important that expectations are managed and it is made clear to users that there is no guarantee that sessions will be run in suggested areas.
- Flickr: Sharing Photos
- Delegates are encourages to add their photos to Flickr and add the IWMW tag. There are risks that the photos available will not be available in the long term. Flickr has a policy that linked to photos remain available. Copyright may also be an issue but again Flickr is clear on rights.
- Wikipedia: Information about the event
- Details of the IWMW workshop series have been added to Wikipedia. This service is provided by an externally-hosted service and anybody can edit this content. However Wikipedia is a stable and mature service and content misuse seems to be managed effectively. The risks are felt to be small.
- Shhmooze: Communications for Attendees
- As described initially a post entitled Helping You Meet New People posted on the IWMW 2011 blog participants at the IWMW 2011 and IWMW 2012 events were invited to install the Shhmooze app in order to evaluate the potential of this service. The data created by app is intended to be used only during the IWMW 2011 and IWMW 2012 events. This risk of data loss is felt to be small.
- Scribd
- The Scribd service was used to host a copy of the IWMW 2012 programme so that the programme could be embedded in other web sites. This provides an additional access point for the programme. There is felt to be no risk if the content were lost.
- Paper.li
- The Paper.li service was used to provide a daily dynamic newspaper based on the content of links tweeted which contained the #iwmw12 hashtag. The content was deleted two months after the event took place as it was intended for use during the event.
- Eventifier
- The Eventifier service was used to provide an archive of content, including tweets, videos and images, based on content containing iwmw12 tag. This places a dependency on a third-party service. However the service was only required during the event itself and the risk is felt to be low.
In addition to the risks associated with the specific services listed above there may be other risks which are not necessarily associated with particular services, as listed below:
- Loss of ID needed to access services
- The username and passwords used to access several of the services belong to an individual. Access to such services are therefore dependent on the individual, and access could become unavailable if anything untoward were to happen. However since the services are not mission-critical, this should not be a major problem. If the services are felt to be valuable, a more open approach to access of the services will be taken in the future.
- Loss of Credibility
- If UKOLN is not seen to be actively engaged in an area of work with high public profile, such as Web 2.0, our reputation as a leader in digital information management may suffer.
- Failure To Provide Useful Services To Our Users
- If we fail to provide services which the users value, this may undermine our credibility.
- Failure to Learn
- If we fail to make use of such services, we will fail to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of such services, which will undermine our advisory role.
- Failure to Exploit
- If we fail to make use of such services, it will be difficult to exploit successful services in future events we organise.
- Conflicts with other Areas of Work
- If we seek to develop related services inhouse, or to install software provided by others, this will entail technical effort, which may be more effectively deployed in other areas of work.