DCU Knowledge Corner M.Sc. in Electronic Commerce (MECB) Practicum Report August 2010

DCU Knowledge Corner
M.Sc. in Electronic Commerce (MECB)
Practicum Report August 2010
Declaration
We the undersigned declare that the project material, which we now submit, is our own work.
Any assistance received by way of borrowing from the work of others has been cited and
acknowledged within the work. We make this declaration in the knowledge that a breach of
the rules pertaining to project submission may carry serious consequences.
Student Name
Student Number
Finbar Browne
59212351
John Dorgan
59213286
Bryan Foley
59212840
Abdulrhman Nagro
59210619
Niamh Rooney
97482781
Technical Supervisor:
Business Supervisor:
Signed
Dr. Cathal Gurrin
Dr. P.J. Byrne
2
Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction & Executive Summary............................................................................ 6
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 6
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 6
Open Education Resources .................................................................................................... 6
Sustainability of OERs ............................................................................................................ 7
Copyright .............................................................................................................................. 7
Sustainability of DCU Knowledge Corner................................................................................. 8
Content ................................................................................................................................ 9
Business Case...................................................................................................................... 10
Competitor Analysis ............................................................................................................ 10
Technology roadmap ........................................................................................................... 12
Social Media Marketing ....................................................................................................... 12
Chapter 2
Open Education Resources ...................................................................................... 14
What is OER? .......................................................................................................................... 14
Why invest in Open Educational Resources? ............................................................................. 15
OER Drivers and Barriers ......................................................................................................... 17
The development of OER ......................................................................................................... 19
OER Sustainability ................................................................................................................... 21
What is sustainability? ......................................................................................................... 21
Models of Sustainability .......................................................................................................... 25
Chapter 3
Copyright ............................................................................................................... 32
Creative Commons .................................................................................................................. 33
Why Share? ............................................................................................................................ 36
Adoption of Creative Commons ............................................................................................... 36
Chapter 4
Feasibility of DCU Knowledge Corner ....................................................................... 38
3
Sustainability .......................................................................................................................... 38
Endowment/Partnership Model ........................................................................................... 39
Segmentation Model ........................................................................................................... 42
Sponsorship ........................................................................................................................ 44
Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 49
Chapter 5
Content.................................................................................................................. 52
Chapter 6
Localisation ............................................................................................................ 56
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 56
What is Localisation?............................................................................................................... 56
Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 68
Chapter 7
Budget and Staffing ................................................................................................ 72
Chapter 8
Market Analysis ...................................................................................................... 74
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 74
Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Corner ......................................................................................... 74
Arizona State University .......................................................................................................... 82
IE Business School ................................................................................................................... 94
Chapter 9
iTunes U............................................................................................................... 105
Brief background to iTunes U ............................................................................................. 105
TCD on iTunes U ................................................................................................................ 105
Chapter 10
Social Media Marketing Plan for DCU Knowledge Corner..................................... 112
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 112
Social Media Recommendations ............................................................................................ 114
Promote site Launch ............................................................................................................. 116
Knowledge Corner on Twitter ................................................................................................ 116
Knowledge Corner Facebook page ......................................................................................... 118
Knowledge Corner on LinkedIn .............................................................................................. 119
Ongoing activity throughout the year (after each event) ......................................................... 120
Monitoring Social Media Activity............................................................................................ 122
4
Chapter 11
Technical Delivery ............................................................................................. 127
Site plan ............................................................................................................................... 127
Wire frame development ...................................................................................................... 130
Prototype development ........................................................................................................ 134
Localization .......................................................................................................................... 138
Video Hosting architecture .................................................................................................... 139
Video Acquisition Format ...................................................................................................... 143
Future developments ............................................................................................................ 145
Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 146
Appendix 1
List of interviewees ........................................................................................... 148
Appendix 2
Competitive Analysis .......................................................................................... 149
Appendix 3
iTunes U ............................................................................................................ 173
Appendix 4
Irish Competitors ............................................................................................... 180
Appendix 5
Competitor Use Cases ........................................................................................ 187
Appendix 6
Social Media Marketing...................................................................................... 207
Appendix 7
Sample Social Media Campaigns ......................................................................... 217
Appendix 8
Creating Social Media Accounts .......................................................................... 225
Appendix 9
Software, Hardware and video hosting costs ....................................................... 265
Appendix 10
Installation of XAMPP and Wordpress ............................................................. 274
Appendix 11
Communication with Intra Office .................................................................... 280
Appendix 12
Interview Transcripts ...................................................................................... 282
Appendix 13
Creative Commons – Non Commercial – Share Alike 3.0 Ireland ........................ 305
Appendix 14
Creative Commons Licenses ............................................................................ 310
Appendix 15
YouTube Translation Case Study ..................................................................... 311
Appendix 16
Interview signoff ............................................................................................ 313
5
Chapter 1
Introduction & Executive Summary
Introduction
Our original brief was to conduct a feasibility study into the creation of DCUBS Online Radio.
Subsequent to an initial analysis of the competitor landscape and an appraisa l of the
technologies deployed within academic institutions and commercial content providers we
concluded that the creation of a multi media repository providing freely accessible rich
media on demand would be a more effective medium to meet the objectives of the
feasibility study.
The objectives of the study were; (1) to enhance brand awareness of DCUBS, (2) to promote
the business school as a recognised thought leader, (3) to use the medium as a marketing
tool to attract potential students to DCUBS. The creation of an online Open Education
Resource within DCUBS would potentially meet these criteria. We had designated this as
DCU Knowledge Corner.
Executive Summary
Open Education Resources
Open Education Resources (OER) are digitised materials offered freely and openly for users.
Content can be shared and re-used for teaching, learning and research. They are composed
of learning content, tools that support the development, use and delivery of content and an
intellectual property licensing mechanism. OER’s offer benefits to authors, consumers and
publishers of content as well as the academic institutions that initiate OER projects.
There are currently over 3,000 open access courses available globally through OER
initiatives. The most prominent of these is MIT which offers over 1900 courses through its
6
MIT Open Course Ware initiative. Community based initiatives such as Wikipedia and
MERLOT have also developed viable OER projects.
Sustainability of OERs
Sustainability is the ability of a project to continue its operations and meet its goals. It can
be divided into two categories, the production of education materials and the sharing of
these materials. The cost of sustaining an OER can be substantial, MIT OCW has an annual
budget of over $4 million. Community projects have smaller funding requirements but less
control over content and quality assurance. Funding the continued operations of OER
projects is a challenge and numerous models of sustainability have been put forward to
meet this challenge. Most OERs are highly dependent on endowment, grant and
institutional funding. There is now a recognition among OER providers that diverse sources
of revenue must be created to ensure their continued operation. Many are looking to the
example of National Public Radio in the US which has a diversified revenue stream funding
their continued operations. Increased corporate underwriting of OERs is viewed as being
essential to reducing OER’s dependence on grant funding.
Copyright
Copyright concerns initially proved to be an impediment to the willingness of academics to
share their work. They wanted assurance that their work would be attributed to them,
published verbatim and restricted to educational and non-commercial uses. In response to
these concerns a legal mechanism known as open content licensing was developed. The
most commonly used mechanism is Creative Commons. It enables the identification,
negotiation and re-utilisation of content for the purposes of creativity and innovation.
7
Licenses are based on generic protocols and there are six core licenses available to copyright
owners. Creative Commons is currently being used in over 50 jurisdictions around the world
and over 350 million works were available via Creative Commons licensing by the end of
2009. We would recommend the use of Creative Commons licensing for DCU Knowledge
Corner as it is due to be implemented in Ireland in 2010 and is the standard open content
licensing mechanism used for OERs globally.
Sustainability of DCU Knowledge Corner
The objectives of DCU Knowledge Corner are to increase brand awareness of DCUBS,
promote the school as a centre of learning and use the site as a marketing tool to attract
students. To achieve a sustainable site we believe that a combination of models could be
used to create a diverse revenue base that would enable its creation and continued
operation. Seed funding could be sought from a private entity like the Ryan Academy that
has existing ties with DCU and seeks to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. The site
could be viewed as a natural companion to the Ryan Academy as they share mutual
objectives. Additional funding could be sought from DCU and form part of the marketing
budget of either the business school or the university. Our interviews with marketing
personnel within DCU indicated that they would view the site as a valuable marketing tool
for the university and a combination of endowment and institutional funding would initially
sustain the site.
Once established, continuing operations could be funded from two sources. The first of
these is sponsorship of content by private enterprise. Our interviews with business
professionals support a case for DCU Knowledge Corner being a viable marketing tool for
8
companies based on the creation of high calibre content that is related to the business of
the sponsor and that reaches key decision makers within their target markets. The
development of marketable, high value, professionally produced content is key to securing
corporate underwriting.
The provision of lecture capture services and educational consulting services offer further
scope for revenue generation. By developing expertise in the area of lecture capture DCU
Knowledge Corner could offer technology consulting both within DCU and externally to
other academic institutions that want to engage in lecture capture. There is also potential
for some content contributors to agree to pay for lecture capture services given the benefits
that accrue to contributors from sharing content openly. There is also the opportunity to
provide educational consulting by providing services like tailored educational programs to
corporate clients and access to research.
The two stages of achieving sustainability would be the initial establishment of the site and
the subsequent development of both technical expertise and high quality content to
generate sponsorship and consultancy revenue.
Content
Content would be based around the five disciplines of DCUBS. The development of high
quality content will be important in two regards. Firstly it will increase the marketability of
the material to potential sponsors. Secondly, it will illustrate the value that recording
speaking events offers to both the business school and the university as a whole. Content is
central to the success of the site and the development of high quality content on core
9
business topics, such as cash flow management, will make the material highly transferable
and relevant to many industries. Creation of a database of content from each of the schools
disciplines will create an asset that is reusable and that offers value to both users and
sponsors.
Business Case
DCU Knowledge Corner will enhance the brand of both the business school and DCU by
acting as a showcase for leading edge business research and practises. The development
and dissemination of this content will deliver benefits to DCU in the form of attracting high
profile sponsors to the site and by acting as an effective marketing tool for potential
students. The potential roll out of the site to other faculties within DCU will increase the
impact of the initiative beyond the business school. Creating localised content will extend
the reach and effectiveness of the site. The addition of localised content for emerging
markets in India and China could potentially accrue significant benefits for DCU as these
markets are the largest overseas users of the world’s leading OER, MIT OCW. The benefits of
attracting students from these markets would in the longer term create a business case for
the funding of the site irrespective of the other funding opportunities we have outlined.
Competitor Analysis
Having an archive of audio and/or video podcasts is increasingly becoming a vital tool for
universities worldwide. Institutions use such tools as both a means of providin g open
educational resources and as a marketing tool showcasing the university and the research
interests of academics teaching at the university. In addition, having an archive of guest
lecturers also allows higher education providers to establish links with industry thereby
10
providing students with more relevant resources to supplement their education. In order to
develop such a resource for DCU Business School we needed to look at what other
institutions worldwide are doing.
Stanford eCorner was the first institution that we
examined as it is probably the most widely accessed university podcast resource. We
investigated the goals of the site, their target audience and reach. We also analysed the
layout of the site and what tools are used to make the user experience more enjoyable.
University podcasting is such an important area that even Apple has developed a section of
their popular iTunes site dedicated to housing educational content. ITunes U was founded in
2007, since then Arizona State University (ASU) has become one of the largest contributors
to iTunes U. We decided to examine the podcasting practices at ASU, and learn from their
experiences working with iTunes U as well as looking at other distribution channels that
they use to share content, namely YouTube.
In order to learn how other institutions deal with providing localised content we looked at IE
University to learn about how they deal with delivering content in both English and Spanish
on their multimedia site. We looked at the type of content they produce, whether they
produce it in both English and Spanish or whether they produce different content to appeal
to different audience segments.
Finally, it was important to look at Ireland and find out what Irish institutions are doing in
terms of podcasting. Trinity College Dublin launched their iTunes U site in 2009. We
analysed their site and the infrastructure behind it. We also investigated the challenges that
they are still addressing in terms of getting iTunes U adoption campus wide.
11
The
accompanying appendices contain a further analysis of what some other universities are
doing in addition to exploring some non-academic and commercial content providers.
Technology roadmap
The first year running costs have been estimated at approximately €58,000 which is broken down
into staffing costs of €41,000 and hardware / site development costs of €17,000. We recommend
that the on-going maintenance of the site and production of video be done by students employed on
Intra work placements from DCU. In particular the work placement would be suitable to students
from BEng Digital Media Engineering and BSc in Marketing, Innovation and Technology.
Hardware costs are made up of the video recording equipment and associated video editing
hardware. For the initial site development we recommend that a core set of functionality be
implemented with the objective of making the site as simple as possible to maintain. This would
compromise the core video playback functionality and associated meta data. As the site progresses
additional features such as transcripts, download to MP3 and iPod could be added. From our
usability testing with DCU’s Marketing Agency we estimate that an initial site could be designed and
developed in approximately 3 weeks.
Social Media Marketing
The DCU knowledge Corner will be an important marketing tool for the Business School.
With this site we intend to produce content directed at a number of different segments, for
example, current and prospective students, alumni and lifelong learners. However, reaching
such a wide audience will be a challenge and so this is where social media marketing will
play a crucial role.
12
Social media marketing is increasingly becoming an effective means of promoting
businesses as well as brands, building up a large community of followers and doing so
inexpensively and on a limited budget. The goals of our social media plan are to create
awareness of the website, help drive traffic to DCU Knowledge Corner and build up a critical
mass of followers. We decided to focus on the main social networking sites, Facebook,
LinkedIn and Twitter to help achieve these goals. We set about demonstrating how to set up
accounts on these sites and how to create a schedule of updates to keep the target
audience engaged and interested.
Other online tools can also have a huge impact on driving traffic to websites. We focus on
some of the main social bookmarking sites and some of the essential media aggregation
tools. We demonstrate how to get your content listed on these sites and ho w to use them
effectively to create awareness. Again, we set out to demonstrate how to set up accounts
on these sites and instruct how often one should be publishing content on these sites.
Finally, all your efforts will be wasted if you have no method of monitoring and measuring
how you are using social media. In order to address this, we examined the tools that DCU
Knowledge Corner has at its disposal and we make recommendations on how to use these
tools effectively.
13
Chapter 2
Open Education Resources
What is OER?
The term Open Educational Resources (OER) was first coined at a UNESCO conference in
2002 to describe the emerging trend towards openness in higher education. Participants at
the conference described OER as “the open provision of educational resources, enabled by
information and communication technologies, for consultation, use and adaptation by a
community of users for non-commercial purposes.”1 This definition has been refined to
reflect the development of OER and the most common definition now applied is “digitised
materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self-learners to use and reuse for teaching, learning and research.”2 A third definition which encompasses the issue of
copyright and OER was given by Abreh (2010) where he described OER as “online digital
resources which have been tested and passed the basic standards of acceptance in the
Creative Commons.”3
To clarify the definition of OER the OECD/CERI (2007) defined OER as consistin g of three
elements:
“Learning Content: Full courses, courseware, content modules, learning objects,
collections and journals.
Tools: Software to support the development, use, re-use and delivery of learning
content including searching and organization of content, content and learning
management systems,
1
Hylen, J. (2005). Open Educational Resources: Opportunities and Challenges, OECD’s Centre for Educational
OECD/CERI. (2007). Giving Knowledge for Free, the Emergence of Open Educational Resources, Centre for
Educational Research in Education, Paris, France.
3
Abreh, M. (2010). Integrating open educational resources (OERs) into colleges of education curriculum in
Ghana: the readiness dimension, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
2
14
content development tools and on-line learning communities.
Implementation Resources: Intellectual property licenses to promote open
publishing of materials, design principles of best practice, and localization of
content.”4
A more comprehensive description of the constituents of OER initiatives is given by Hylen
(2005):
“Open courseware and content
Open software tools
Open material for e-learning capacity building of faculty staff
Repositories of learning objects; and
Free educational resources.”5
Why invest in Open Educational Resources?
Why would an institution invest in the development of an OER and what benefits do they
bring to the various stakeholders involved in establishing an OER? Why would insti tutions or
individuals give away content for free and allow this content to be re-used by third parties?
Abreh (2010) points out that the main reason to invest in OER is based on value. Sharing
knowledge increases innovation, knowledge and co-operation.6 Kansa and Ashley (2005)
argue that the value of research data is increased tenfold when openly shared.7 Hylen
(2005) further develops the case for institutional involvement in OER by laying out five
4
OECD/CERI. (2007). Giving Knowledge for Free, the Emergence of Open Educational Resources, Centre for
Educational Research in Education, Paris, France.
5
Hylen, J. (2005). Open Educational Resources: Opportunities and Challenges, OECD’s Centre for Educational
Research and Innovation, Paris, France
6
Abreh, M. (2010). Integrating open educational resources (OERs) into colleges of education curriculum in
Ghana: the readiness dimension, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
7
Kansa, E. & Ashley, M. (2005). Embedding open content in instruction and research. Utah: Open Education
Conference. Retrieved on 14 th July, 2010 from
http://www.archive.org/details/OpenEd2005EmbeddingOpenContentinInstructionandResearch
15
arguments for engagement. The first of these is the altruistic argument, that sharing
knowledge is in itself a public good. Secondly, he argues that academic institutions should
leverage taxpayer funds through the sharing of information, the creation of which is often
dependent on public funds. Thirdly, sharing and reusing information enables content
development costs to be reduced. Fourthly, OER projects can be good for the public image
of an institution and act as a shop-window to attract new students. Finally, OER can be seen
as a new form of business model for educational institutions as it allows them to compete
with institutions that are already engaged in OER projects.8
The OECD (2007) looked at the rationale behind engaging in OER projects at two high profile
institutions, MIT and the Open University. In their report they quote the former head of
MIT, Charles Vest, who laid out five reasons for the involvement of MIT with OER. These
reasons were “to advance education and widen access; greater opportunity for MIT faculty
to see and reuse each other’s work; to create a good record of materials; increased contact
with alumni; and a way to help their own students become better prepared.” The Open
University echo these reasons and add that OER demonstrates the quality of OU materials,
tests new technology and ways of working and acts as a way of working with external
funders that share a similar vision.9
There are also benefits to the various stakeholders that contribute to OER projects. Authors
that contribute content to OER gain exposure to a wider audience for their work. Consumers
of OER content gain access to a wider body of knowledge. Publishers increase the
8
Hylen, J. (2005). Open Educational Resources: Opportunities and Challenges, OECD’s Centre for Educatio nal
Research and Innovation, Paris, France
9
OECD/CERI. (2007). Giving Knowledge for Free, the Emergence of Open Educational Resources, Centre for
Educational Research in Education, Paris, France.
16
dissemination of the materials that they publish and funders of higher education increase
the return on their investment in education and the creation and distribution of
knowledge.10 Dholakia et al (2006) in their study of the Connexions OER project conclude
that the majority of authors of academic text books do not contribute content to earn
royalties but rather to gain greater exposure for their material through exposure to scholars,
practitioners and students of their disciplines.11
Figure 1 Current Open Educational Resources Logic Model: Source OECD (2007)
OER Drivers and Barriers
As with any project or initiative there are drivers of and barriers to their creation and
implementation. In the case of OERs the OECD (2007) examined these drivers and barriers.
They found the technical drivers of OERs to be:
10
Abreh, M. (2010). Integrating open educational resources (OERs) into colleges of education curriculum in
Ghana: the readiness dimension, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
11
Dholakia, M. King, W. & Baraniuk, R. (2006). What makes an Open Educational Program Sustainable? The
case of Connexions. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/3/6/36781781.pdf on 26/6/10.
17
The increased availability of broadband access.
The lower cost and increased capacity of computing.
The creation of technologies that allow the creation, distribution and sharing of
content.
The provision of software that enables the creation, editing and mixing of content.
The reduced cost of consumer technologies for audio, photo and video.
Social drivers of OCR include the increased appetite for interactivity, the willingness to share
content, the existence of online communities that are active in creating and sharing content
and the changing media consumption patterns of internet users. The legal drivers of OER
include the emergence of licensing schemes such as Creative Commons which enable the
legal creation and distribution of content and policy drivers that enhance the return on
investment in education through the sharing and reuse of knowledge by publicly funded
institutions.
Barriers to OER include the technical barrier of a lack of broadband availability and the
economic barrier of insufficient resources to create OER content. Social barriers include the
possible lack of skills necessary to create an OER project and the reluctance of some
educators or institutions to engage with OER. Localisation of content can also be viewed as a
barrier to the dissemination of OER materials.12
12
OECD/CERI. (2007). Giving Knowledge for Free, the Emergence of Open Educational Resources, Centre for
Educational Research in Education, Paris, France.
18
The development of OER
The OER movement is still at an early stage of development but it is proliferating in its
geographic spread and in the number of institutions that are embracing OER initiatives. The
scale of these initiatives varies for each institution. MIT have made their 1800 courses
available through their Open Courseware project and many other institutions around the
globe are engaged in similar initiatives, albeit on a smaller scale.
Figure 2 the evolution of MIT Open Courseware (Source MIT)
The OECD reported that there were over 3000 open access courses available from over 300
universities in 2007. Among these were:
The China Open Resources for Education (CORE) consortium have made 750 courses
from 222 universities available through open course ware (OCW).
The Japanese OCW consortium has created over 400 open courses from 19 member
institutions.
The Paris Tech OCW project is a consortium of 11 French universities that offer 800
educational resources.
19
Nine of the largest distance learning universities in Europe have created Multilingual
Open Resources for Independent Learning (MORIL) to share resources and increase
the localization of content.13
The OER movement continued to gain traction in the US where Yale initiated their own OER
project in 2007 and joined large institutions such as Johns Hopkins, Rice, Carnegie Mellon
and Utah State in offering open course access.
OER programmes have evolved to include both institution based projects and community
based initiatives. Connexions, which is provided by Rice University combines materials
created by its own staff members and contributions from external providers. Community
based initiatives include Wikipedia and MERLOT which is a free and open online community
of resources designed primarily for faculty, staff and students of higher education from
around the world to share their learning materials and pedagogy.14
13
Hylen, J. (2005). Open Educational Resources: Opportunities and Challenges, OECD’s Centre for Educational
Research and Innovation, Paris, France.
14
http://taste.merlot.org/
20
Figure 3 Categories of OER providers (Source: OCED)
OER Sustainability
What is sustainability?
AS OERs distribute content for free to consumers the question arises as to how can OERs
continue to operate with no apparent income to offset their running costs? The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy can be accessed freely over the internet but the provision of this
site costs almost $200,000 per annum to operate.15 This is the sustainability challenge of
OERs. Firstly a definition of what constitutes sustainability must be established.
Dholakia defines sustainability as the “long term viability and stability of the open education
program.”16 Wiley simply defines it as the “ability of a project to continue its operations.”17
The continuation of OER projects is a vital element of sustainability. However the OECD also
15
Downes, S. (2007). Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources. National Research Council, Canada
Dholakia, M. King, W. & Baraniuk, R. (2006). What makes an Open Educational Program Sustainable? The
case of Connexions. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/3/6/36781781.pdf on 26/6/10.
17
Wiley, D. (2007). On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education.
OECD/CERI.
16
21
includes the idea of accomplishing goals into the definition of sustainability. They conclude
that the definition of sustainability should be defined as an “OER projects ongoing ability to
meet its goals.”18 Sustainability is based on a number of factors as laid out by Abreh (2007)
including funding, technical challenges, content models and staffing.19
Sustainability can be divided into two categories, the production of educational materials
and the sharing of these materials. The production of content must be supported by the
input of staff, workflow processes and the creation of a technological infrastructure.
Content must be captured and digitized. Intellectual property guidelines must be created
and enforced and the content must be checked for quality assurance. The distribution of
content also involves incurring costs. These costs include the bandwidth required for
distributing digital content and maintaining a digital store of material. Additionally there are
the costs involved in the duplication and delivery costs of paper copies of material. 20
Wiley (2007) examines three models for OER projects in higher education to illustrate how
successful OER projects can be sustained across different institutions. The first of these is
the MIT model.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology OCW
MIT OCW employs 29 staff to maintain their open course ware project which offers 1800
courses which can be freely accessed online. These employees are engaged in various
functions such as publication, production, IP research and management and departmental
18
OECD/CERI. (2007). Giving Knowledge for Free, the Emergence of Open Educational Resources, Centre for
Educational Research in Education, Paris, France.
19
Abreh, M. (2010). Integrating open educational resources (OERs) into colleges of education curriculum in
Ghana: the readiness dimension, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
20
Wiley, D. (2007). On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education.
OECD/CERI
22
liaisons. They also engage with vendor partners such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and
Akamai who provide products and services to the project. The budget for MIT OCW is on
average $4.3 million per annum half of which is spent on staff costs, a further 25% on
technology and approximately 13% on outside products and services. MIT OCW produces
540 new courses per annum at an approximate cost of $10,000 per course.21 The funding for
MIT OCW comes from foundation and private donor support and the engagement of vendor
partnerships. It is the most successful OER project in the world currently providing over 50%
of the courses available globally through OER. Key to the success of MIT OCW has been their
relationship with the Hewlett Foundation which contributed $3.1 million in 2007 alone to
enable the completion of the 1800 courses. 22
In 2009 the total number of courses available on MIT OCW was 1,926 representing almost
the entire undergraduate and graduate curricula of MIT’s five schools. A further $1.5 million
in funding was secured from the Hewlett Foundation in 2009 and an additional $145,000 in
small donations. In terms of revenue generation, the Amazon referral program contributed
$36,000 in 2009, double the 2008 contribution from the program. This was the only revenue
generation activity being pursued by MIT OCW in 2009 but the annual report emphasised
revenue generation as being key to the future viability of the initiative. More than 56 million
people have visited the OCW site since its inception and traffic in 2009 was 19% higher than
the previous year. In 2008 the option of accessing material on iTunes U and YouTube was
21
Wiley, D. (2007). On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education.
OECD/CERI
22
MIT Reports to the President 2006-2007, available from
http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres07/02.03.pdf
23
introduced by MIT and this resulted in over 6.5 million views of material on these two sites.
The top countries of origin for non-US users of the MIT OCW site are India and China.23
Utah State University OCW
USU OCW is designed to publish as many of the courses offered by the university as
possible. It has a full time director and five pert-time student assistants as well as student
volunteers involved in the running of the project. OCW related work is eligible for student
course credit which encourages students to dedicate time to the initiative. USU has created
the Centre for Open and Sustainable Learning (COSL) which provides support for other
institutions that want to develop their own OCW initiatives. Their OCW workflow and
management system, eduCommons, assists with uploading materials, copyright issues,
rearranging materials into courses, quality control and publishing.24
USU have raised over $250,000 over the life of the project through foundation support from
the Hewlett Foundation. The budget for the program in 2007 was $127,000 and they
produced courses at an average of $5,000 per course. 25
Rice Connexions
In the Rice Connexions model courses and modules are built using both materials created
within Rice University and contributions from external authors. The site is completely self
organising much like Wikipedia with the contributors taking on the responsibility of
23
MIT Reports to the President 2008-2009, available from
http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres09/2009.10.05.pdf
24
Atkins, D. Brown, J. & Hammond, A. (2007). A review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement:
Achievements, Challenges and New Opportunities. Report to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
25
Wiley, D. (2007). On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education.
OECD/CERI
24
managing the site. Content is provided for free with educational materials being presented
in a modular format using an open software platform that enables materials to reused and
re-contextualised by anyone.26 Creative Commons licenses are used to provide the
framework for managing copyright on the site. Authors retain copyright of their material but
agree to make them freely available using Creative Commons. This results in a very low cost
per course using the Connexions model.27The trade off is the loss of control that Rice has
over the content as it is open to all authors to publish content.
Models of Sustainability
In response to a request from the OECD in 2006 for papers on the sustainability of OER two
papers were published outlining the potential funding models that could be applied to OER
projects. The first of these papers was published by Stephen Downes in 2007 and outlined
several possible funding models.28
Endowment Model – this model is the most frequently used model of sustainability
for OERs. Institutions secure base funding from a benefactor such as the Hewlett
Foundation which covers the establishment and running costs of the OER. Funds are
managed by an administrator and the project is sustained by the income from the
fund. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy raised sufficient funds from several
charitable foundations to generate enough interest income to cover the operating
costs of the site. The largest OER in operation, MIT OCW, supports only 8% of its
budget from sources of revenue that are not either endowment fund or grants from
26
Dholakia, M. King, W. & Baraniuk, R. (2006). What makes an Open Educational Program Sustainable? The
case of Connexions. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/3/6/36781781.pdf on 26/6/10
27
Wiley, D. (2007). On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education.
OECD/CERI
28
Downes, S. (2007). Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources. National Research Council, Canada
25
private foundations or a direct contribution from MIT. They have a very high
dependence on ongoing support from the Hewlett Foundation and the Andrew
Mellon Foundation despite attempts to diversify their funding base.29. In the case of
MIT OCW 72% of its funding has come from this grant funding.30 The endowment
model remains the predominant model of sustainability for OERs.
Membership Model - this model involves interested parties making a contribution
either as seed funding or on an annual basis to generate revenue to meet the
operating costs of the OER. London Business School has created a programme for
Corporate Partners where companies make a contribution of £15,000 per annum
and receive several benefits in return. These include access to cutting edge resea rch
from LBS, access to the business library, speaker opportunities for executives, brand
visibility within the university and preferential rates on executive education
programmes. They currently list 32 corporate partners including Goldman Sachs,
AstraZeneca and McKinsey among other high profile organisations.31
Donations Model – institutions engaged in OER’s request donations from the wider
community which are managed by a non-profit foundation and applied to the
operating expenses of the project. Several open source and open content projects,
such as Wikipedia, use this funding model. The donations model is sometimes
29
MIT Reports to the President 2008-2009, available from
http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres09/2009.10.05.pdf
30
Normandin, R. (2009). Open Course Ware and the Future of Education. The Tech Online Edition, retrieved
from http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N59/normandin.html
31
London Business School
http://www.london.edu/ourcommunity/corporatepartners/corporatepartnerslist.html
26
combined with other funding models as in the case of MIT OCW where an increasing
emphasis is being placed on donations from alumni and senior class students.32
Conversion Model – this model is often used by open source software providers. A
product is given away for free and the customer is then converted into a paying
customer for additional services. Services include installation and support or
advanced features. An example of this is Elgg, the open source social networking
engine that can be deployed as a campus wide social network for an educational
institution. Elgg uses a partner network that offer consulting, hosting, development
and training services where users that require these services are converted to paying
customers.33
Contributor-pay Model – contributors pay the costs of maintaining their contribution
to an OER and the contribution is then made freely available. The Public Lib rary of
Science uses an open access model where the expenses involved in peer review,
production, hosting and archiving are partially covered by charging a publication fee
to the authors or research sponsors.34
Sponsorship Model – this model is based the open access model that is used in free
to air television and radio. It can take the form of advertising on the site or
sponsorship messages that are often used in public broadcasting. Examples of
commercial sponsorships of OER initiatives include the MIT iCampus Outreach
Initiative and the Stanford iTunes project in association with Apple. The iCampus
initiative is research collaboration between MIT and Microsoft designed to create
and demonstrate technologies that can have a significant impact through on campus
32
MIT Reports to the President 2008-2009, available from
http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres09/2009.10.05.pdf
33
Elgg.com http://elgg.com/partners.php
34
Public Library of Science http://www.plos.org/journals/pubfees.php
27
deployment and global multi-institutional collaborations.35 However in the 2009 MIT
report to the President MIT points out that their corporate sponsorship program has
so far proved ineffective in attracting corporate gifts. They are now examining th e
opportunities in corporate underwriting of content that have been successfully used
by National Public Radio in the US. Advertising in the form of corporate underwriting
accounts for 20% of NPR’s revenue, second only to public donations and pledges as a
source of revenue for the broadcaster.36
Institutional Model – the institution itself assumes the responsibility of funding the
OER initiative. In the case of MIT OCW, 22% of the cost of the initiative has been
funded by MIT through a direct contribution.37
Governmental Model – in this model a governmental agency such as the United
Nations or a national government provides direct funding for an initiative. SchoolNet
in Canada which promote the use of ICT in learning is funded by provincial and
territorial governments in Canada.38
A further contribution to the development of sustainable funding models for OERs was
made by Dholakai et al (2006).39 He formulated four further models that could be applied to
the sustainable operation of OERs.
Replacement model – the content created for an OER can be used as a replacement
of other software and educational infrastructure. These could be course
35
MIT iCampus http://icampus.mit.edu/
Weir, D. (2009). NPR: How a Diverse Revenue Stream Works. BNET Media Blog retrieved from
http://industry.bnet.com/media/10002541/npr-how-a-diverse-revenue-stream-works/
37
Normandin, R. (2009). Open Course Ware and the Future of Education. The Tech Online Edition, retrieved
from http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N59/normandin.html
38
SchoolNet http://web.archive.org/web/20070224224427/www.schoolnet.ca/home/e/whatis.asp
39
Dholakia, M. King, W. & Baraniuk, R. (2006). What makes an Open Educational Program Sustainable? The
case of Connexions. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/3/6/36781781.pdf on 26/6/10
36
28
management systems, textbooks, proprietary data repositories or virtual learning
environments. By using OERs as a substitute for these tools the cost savings derived
from this substitution can be diverted towards the funding of the OER project.
Foundation model - by identifying and focussing on an underserved user segment of
knowledge an OER can develop expertise and a significant user base in a specific
subject area. Once this differentiated brand identity has been established the OER
can approach professional societies, trade or industry groups or governmental
agencies that are operating in this area for ongoing funding.
Segmentation model – using this model the OER provides content freely to users but
charges specific user segments for value added services. The type of services that
could be charged for include hard copies of materials on a specific topic, training and
user support for institutions and consulting services that provide tailored education
courses to corporate clients.
Voluntary support model – this model is based on securing voluntary contributions
from both users of the OER and from members of the public that want to support
such initiatives. Voluntary support is the main source of revenue for National Public
Radio in the US.40
In their report to the Hewlett Foundation, Atkins et al (2007) made several
recommendations in relation to improving the sustainability of OERs.
“1. Encourage institutions, rather than just individual pioneer-faculty, to buy into the OER
movement so that institutional resources will be committed to sustain it.
40
Weir, D. (2009). NPR: How a Diverse Revenue Stream Works. BNET Media Blog retrieved from
http://industry.bnet.com/media/10002541/npr-how-a-diverse-revenue-stream-works/
29
2. Situate OER collections not as distinct from the courseware environment for the formally
enrolled students but as a low marginal cost derivative of the routinely used course
preparation and management systems. Increase the amount of course preparation and
management systems that service closed and open institutional courseware.
3. Encourage membership-based consortia (along the lines of Internet) to distribute and to
share cost and expertise.
4. Explore roles for students in creating, enhancing, and adopting OER. Consider an “OER
Corps” in which students receive training, small stipends, and prestige to assist in material
preparation, enhancement, and use (especially in historically disadvantaged domestic
communities and developing countries).
5. Consider a voluntary (or mix of voluntary and paid) wiki-like model, in which OER is the
object of micro-contributions from many. This approach raises complex issues of quality, but
much work on collective “converging to better” is under way.
6. Examine ways that social software can be used to capture and structure user
commentaries on the material. More generally, find ways to instrument the use of the
material with special attention to capturing problems encountered by diverse student
communities. Do the same for teachers using, remixing or repurposing the material.” 41
The challenges of creating a sustainable OER are illustrated by the 2009 report on MIT OCW.
They acknowledge that the decline in grant funding will need to be offset by an increase in
revenue generating activities. To address this they appointed a committee to look at
potential sources of revenue generation for OCW which they recognise as being crucial to
the long term sustainability of the initiative. The committee came up with three
41
Atkins, D. Brown, J. & Hammond, A. (2007). A review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement:
Achievements, Challenges and New Opportunities. Report to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
30
recommendations for revenue enhancement as follows: (1) using MIT OCW to support the
proposed development of a science and technology campus in Singapore. The site could
support the training of Singapore faculty staff and aid curriculum development through the
identification and repurposing of OCW material; (2) offer premium services around OCW
materials such as Q&A’s with staff and exam grading to users; (3) offering certificates of
achievement to users based on OCW content.42
Developing a diverse revenue base that emulates the funding arrangements used by
organisations such as National Public Radio would appear to be the most likely future for
creating a sustainable future for OER initiatives.
Sources of Revenue for US Public Radio
31 percent from listeners in the form of pledges, memberships, and other donations
20 percent from businesses via corporate underwriting
11 percent from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which is federally
funded
10 percent from licensee support
9 percent from foundations and major gifts
5 percent from local and state governments, and
14 percent from all other sources43
42
MIT Reports to the President 2008-2009, available from
http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres09/2009.10.05.pdf
43
Weir, D. (2009). NPR: How a Diverse Revenue Stream Works. BNET Media Blog retrieved from
http://industry.bnet.com/media/10002541/npr-how-a-diverse-revenue-stream-works/
31
Chapter 3
Copyright
In a digital environment material accessed by users is bound by the same principals of
copyright law that have underpinned the distribution of physical media such as books,
journals, newspapers etc. Copyright law provides that you cannot reproduce/copy or
communicate/transmit to the public copyright material without the permission of the
author. Additionally copyright owners are under no obligation to allow for the reuse of their
material even with payment of fair compensation.44
In Ireland copyright is governed by the Copyright & Related Rights Act, 2000. Copyright
protects:
Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works.
Film, sound recordings, broadcasts and the typographical arrangement of published
editions.
Computer software and non-original databases and performances.45
Concerns around copyright have been an impediment to the willingness of academics to
share their work. In 2002 the RoMEO project in the UK conducted a survey of 542
researchers concerning the type of rights they wanted to retain in relation to the sharing of
their work. They drew three conclusions from the survey:
Over 60% of those asked were willing to allow third parties were willing to share
their research papers on condition that the work was attributed to them and all
copies were published verbatim.
44
45
Fitzgerald, B. (2007). Open Content Licensing for Open Educational Resources. QUT, Australia.
Copyright Association of Ireland available from http://www.cai.ie/faq/index.htm#1
32
55% wanted the use of their work to be restricted to educational and non commercial uses.
RoMEO concluded that copyright law offered greater protection than was required
by most academics.46
The ability of users to access and reuse content is a cornerstone of the OER movement and
this has led to the development of a legal mechanism known as open content licensing. This
enables authors to share content legally and seamlessly in a digital environment. The most
commonly used open content licensing mechanism used for OER is Creative Commons.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) was driven by Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford University in
order to create a mechanism that enabled content creators to share and reuse copyright
material without fear of being sued, a creative commons.47 It is a global project with the aim
of “building a distributed information commons by encouraging copyright owners to license
use of their material through open content licensing protocols and thereby promote better
identification, negotiation and reutilisation of content for the purposes of creativity and
innovation.”48 CC is a not for profit organisation based in San Francisco.
CC creates licensing terms for the open distribution of content that can be attributed to
content based on generic protocols. Each type of CC license contain basic features and these
are laid out by CC as follows:
46
Hylen, J. (2005). Open Educational Resources: Opportunities and Challenges, OECD’s Centre for Educational
Research and Innovation, Paris, France.
47
Hylen, J. (2005). Open Educational Resources: Opportunities and Challenges, OECD’s Centre for Educational
Research and Innovation, Paris, France.
48
OECD/CERI. (2007). Giving Knowledge for Free, the Emergence of Open Educational Resources, Centre for
Educational Research in Education, Paris, France
33
Every license will help you;
retain your copyright
announce that other people’s fair use, first sale, and free expression rights are not
affected by the license.
Every license requires licensees
to get your permission to do any of the things you choose to restrict — e.g., make a
commercial use, create a derivative work;
to keep any copyright notice intact on all copies of your work;
to link to your license from copies of the work;
not to alter the terms of the license
not to use technology to restrict other licensees’ lawful uses of the work
Every license allows licensees, provided they live up to your conditions,
to copy the work
to distribute it
to display or perform it publicly
to make digital public performances of it (e.g., webcasting)
to shift the work into another format as a verbatim copy
Every license
applies worldwide
lasts for the duration of the work’s copyright
34
is not revocable49
A summary of the CC license conditions is given below.
Creative Commons License Conditions
Attribution: You allow others to copy, distribute, display, and perform your
copyrighted work - and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way
you request.
Share Alike: You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license
identical to the license that governs your work.
Noncommercial: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work
and derivative works based upon it for noncommercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only
verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.50
There are six core CC licences available to copyright owners the details of which are
contained in Appendix 14. CC licences address the concerns raised by academics in the
RoMEO survey by ensuring that work is attributed to the copyright owners, ensuring that
49
Creative Commons Baseline Rights available from http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Baseline_Rights
Arencibia, A. (2009). Copyright Law, Fair Use, Creative Commons and the Public Domain. University of
Florida.
50
35
content is not distributed for non-commercial purposes and that no derivatives of
copyrighted work are created.
Why Share?
Why should a copyright owner want to share their content and what are the benefits of
doing so? Brian Fitzgerald (2007) summarises the reasons as follows: 51
Sponsor access and innovation.
Distributing a version or chapter of material through open content sharing may
increase the commercial value of the remaining content.
Open contenting generates publicity for contributors and can enhance reputations.
This can be exploited commercially by contributors.
Enhance knowledge and culture.
The choice of CC licence will often be driven by the motivation of the contributor.
Adoption of Creative Commons
CC is currently being used in over 50 international jurisdictions around the world. Ireland is
set to adopt CC licensing in late 2010 and a copy of the draft license is contained in Appendix
13. There are many high profile users of CC licensing across the world including:
Al Jazeera – the Arabic television network uses CC licensing for their video repository
and blogs.
Flickr – use CC to license the over 100 millions images on the site.
MIT OCW - has used CC licensing for content since 2004.
51
Fitzgerald, B. (2007). Open Content Licensing for Open Educational Resources. QUT, Australia.
36
Wikipedia - migrated from GNU to CC licensing after a community vote on licensing.
Whitehouse.gov – uses CC for licensing of presidential photos.52
In the UK, CC licensing has been used by the BBC for the BBC Creative Archive and by
Channel 4 to archive and distribute a series of short documentaries.53 The growth in the
number of CC licenses being used is illustrated in figure four with 350 million licensed works
available globally by the end of 2009. CC is a proven open content licensing mechanism that
caters for the preferences and motivations of copyright providers through the provision of
six core licenses.
Figure 4 Number of CC Licensed Works at December 2009 (Source: Creative Commong.org)
52
53
Creative Commons.org, Who uses CC? Available from http://creativecommons.org/about/who-uses-cc/
Fitzgerald, B. (2007). Open Content Licensing for Open Educational Resources. QUT, Australia.
37
Chapter 4
Feasibility of DCU Knowledge Corner
Sustainability
The first objective when approaching the feasibility of DCU Knowledge Corner was to set out
the objectives of the site, what would be its underlying purpose? In discussion with Dr. Theo
Lynn of DCUBS we established three underlying criteria for the establishment of the site.
These were as follows:
To increase brand awareness of DCUBS.
To promote DCUBS as a centre for cutting edge knowledge, using the site as a
showcase.
Encourage students to come to DCUBS, to act as a marketing tool.
The feasibility of the site had to be framed within these criteria and the potential success or
otherwise of the site would be determined by its ability to feasibly meet these objectives.
When examining the feasibility of DCU Knowledge Corner the first area to be examined is
the sustainability of site. Sustainability remains one of the principal challenges faced by OER
initiatives. Given the current global economic downturn and its impact on Ireland, the
establishment and continued operation of DCU Knowledge Corner may prove to be a
significant challenge.
When approaching the question of sustainability we examined the current models that ha ve
been proposed by the leading academics in the area of sustainability, the models currently
being deployed by OERs and interviews with business professionals and DCU staff.
38
There are several models of sustainability as outlined earlier in the report. Based on our
research we believe that the following models would be the most feasible and appropriate
to meet the objectives of creating a sustainable DCU Knowledge Corner. The use of only one
model of funding may not be feasible to create a sustainable OER within DCUBS and
combining a number of funding models to create a diverse revenue base may offer a
solution to the question of sustainability.
Endowment/Partnership Model
The endowment model is based on the securing of base funding for the OER initiative. As
outlined earlier in the report several OERs have secured endowment funding from
foundations such as the Hewlett Foundation to finance their establishment and continued
operations. Within DCU there is a precedent for this type of funding arrangement through
the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship.54 This is a partnership between DCU and the
family of the late Tony Ryan. This model combines elements of the endowment model,
partnership and the institutional model. Seed funding for the establishment of DCU
Knowledge Corner could be sought from either private individuals or an academy such as
the Ryan Academy. There are further precedents for this type of funding on a much larger
scale such as the UCD Quinn School of Business and the Michael Smurfit School of Business
also at UCD. Base funding for the establishment of DCU Knowledge Corner could be sought
from former alumni of DCU in the form of an endowment or in partnership with DCU.
The rationale for DCU’s involvement in the initiative was discussed in interviews with DCU’s
Laura Grehan and Deirdre Wynter (see Appendix). The interviews focussed on three core
areas.
54
DCU Ryan Academy http://www.dcu.ie/ryanacademy/about.shtml
39
Marketing - Both interviewees expressed the opinion that DCU Knowledge Corner would be
a useful tool for marketing both DCU and the business school. They acknowledged an
increasing emphasis on digital marketing within both the business school and the university
as a whole. Reductions in the marketing budget for the university as a whole have shifted
the emphasis towards better value for money and online marketing can deliver measurable
outcomes. Deirdre expressed the belief that online video and audio would definitely be
useful marketing tools for DCU. Laura felt that it would be particularly relevant to the
postgraduate market as it would give them an indication as to the type and quality of
content and would be a useful tool in attracting students.
The use of a guest lecture series delivered through the site would act as a useful tool in
attracting students to DCUBS as it would help in terms of target market perception of where
we stand as a business school. Deirdre added that the concept could be rolled out across all
the faculties within DCU with each faculty having its own site to act as marketing tools for
each faculty. The DCU marketing office would be supportive of such initiatives as they fit in
with the innovation theme of DCU. Laura added that the DCU website is the primary
communication tool with prospective students and attaching the DCU Knowledge Corner to
the main site could add value in attracting students. Reaching influencers is also an
important element of marketing and DCU Knowledge Corner may help to reach these
influencers and portray the business school in a positive light. She emphasised that
technology plays an important role in projecting DCU as a high tech university and this
initiative would be consistent with this aim.
40
Branding - Laura agreed that a sponsored guest lecture series on DCU Knowledge Corner
would improve the branding of DCU both with prospective students and alumni. It would
raise awareness of the business school and be more likely to be picked up from a PR
perspective. This would have an impact on brand perception within target markets and also
highlight the extent of research being undertaken in the business school which she feels is
an underused resource. Much of this research would be of interest to the general public and
promoting this research would also improve the brand image of DCUBS.
Deirdre pointed out that DCU created a Facebook page for the university that received sixty
thousand views. It was important for DCU to have a strong brand online and the Facebook
page was purely an exercise in branding. A similar case could be made for DCU Knowledge
Corner. Portraying the university in a positive light would add to the brand image of DCU
and the marketing office would be supportive of this.
Target Market - both interviewees felt that the site would be more relevant to the
postgraduate and post experience markets. Deirdre added that an online presence was also
very important to the overseas student market. Using video and audio to bring the DCU
experience to life would help to reach these target markets. Postgraduates would value
seeing a prolific speaker on a subject delivering an online talk on their area of expertise.
Laura felt that podcasts etc can give prospective students a taste for particular programs
and this can be particularly relevant to the postgraduate and post experience markets as
they will usually weigh up a number of courses before choosing. She felt that this should
have a more important role going forward and that the site could act as a shop window for
41
DCUBS within these target markets. Additionally she believes that it would be useful in
targeting the overseas student market and that the international office would be supportive
of it.
In the opinion of the interviewees DCU Knowledge would meet the criteria of (1) enhancing
the brand image of both DCUBS and DCU, (2) promoting DCUBS as a thought leader,
particularly in the area of research, (3) act as a useful marketing tool for attracting potential
students. There is the potential to develop the site sustainably through an initial
endowment or partnership with a private entity such as the Ryan Academy. This could be
done in tandem with the inclusion of the site as part of the overall marketing budget of
DCUBS or the university as a whole with the potential to roll the concept out to each faculty
within DCU. This combination of private funding and institutional support is a feasible
option for the sustainable development of DCU Knowledge Corner.
Segmentation Model
DCU Knowledge Corner would provide open access to content and simultaneously charge
for value-added services to specific users of the site. These services could include
educational consulting services to corporate clients and technology consulting in the form of
lecture capture services.
Lecture Capture Services- UC Berkeley offer lecture capture services through their
Educational Technology Services (ETS) department.55
The focus of ETS is to sell their
services to other faculties, staff and students within Berkeley. Building on their expertise in
55
http://ets.berkeley.edu/about-ets
42
lecture capture they offer full event support including the recording, uploading editing and
encoding of content.56 There is the potential for DCU Knowledge Corner to sell similar
services both internally within DCU and externally to other academic institutions. By
charging other faculties within DCU for lecture capture services DCU Knowledge Corner has
the potential to become a profit centre within the business school. The provision of
consulting services to other academic institutions would increase the size of this market.
Once DCU Knowledge Corner had established itself as a thought leader in the dissemination
of leading edge business knowledge and research there is the possibility that contributors
may agree to pay for lecture capture services in order to contribute to the site. As
highlighted by Fitzgerald (2007) sharing content openly can generate commercial benefits to
contributors through enhanced reputation and an increase in the value of unshared
content.57
Educational Consulting Services - Dholakai et al in their analysis of the segmentation model
cite consulting services to corporate clients as an element of sustainability.58 These services
include paper copies of selected content based around a particular topic, consulting services
provided by DCU staff that contribute to the site and tailored educational programs based
on content contained on DCU Knowledge Corner. London Business School charges corporate
partners for access to research developed within the school and as pointed out by Laura
Grehan in our interview she believes there is great scope to unlock the value of research
conducted within the business school. By promoting the expertise of DCUBS in cutting edge
56
http://ets.berkeley.edu/rates
Fitzgerald, B. (2007). Open Content Licensing for Open Educational Resources. QUT, Australia.
58
Dholakia, M. King, W. & Baraniuk, R. (2006). What makes an Open Educational Program Sustainable? The
case of Connexions. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/3/6/36781781.pdf on 26/6/10
57
43
business research, through DCU Knowledge Corner, there is the potential to grow the
consulting services element of the school. DCU Knowledge Corner would create a dedicated
medium to unlock and exploit the value of research within the business school.
Sponsorship
A further potential model of sustainability is that of sponsorship or corporate underwriting
of lecture series on DCU Knowledge Corner. MIT OCW have highlighted this method of
revenue raising as being of increasing importance in sustaining their OER and it has proved
to be an important source of revenue for National Public Radio in the US.59 Sponsors of NPR
programming receive on air announcements of ten second duration in return for their
corporate sponsorship. They also offer online sponsorship opportunities.60 Corporate
sponsorship generates twenty percent of NPR’s annual budget.61
We asked four business professionals for their views of their organisations towards
corporate sponsorship and their criteria for committing to either sponsorship or
endorsement. We also asked for their views on the potential sponsoring of DCU Knowledge
Corner and what they felt would be the business case for their respective organisations to
become involved in the initiative.
The first interview was with Brian Doyle, Director of Global Business Development with RR
Donnelly62 (see Appendix 12). The focus of their sponsorship is towards networking events
59
MIT Reports to the President 2008-2009, available from
http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres09/2009.10.05.pdf
60
http://www.npr.org/about/place/corpsupport/
61
Weir, D. (2009). NPR: How a Diverse Revenue Stream Works. BNET Media Blog retrieved from
http://industry.bnet.com/media/10002541/npr-how-a-diverse-revenue-stream-works/
62
http://www.rrdonnelley.com/wwwrrd1/Home.asp
44
for which they pay to attend. The rationale for attending these events is to meet decision
makers in targeted companies that RR Donnelley would like to do business with. Their
criteria for sponsorship is based on generating leads for the company. Anything they
sponsor has to generate a measurable number of leads.
RR Donnelley would consider being associated with a lecture series on DCU Knowledge
Corner if they were reasonably sure that it would be on a topic that was relevant to their
target market and that it would be viewed by decision makers within their target market.
Additionally being associated with leading edge thinking in an area like supply chain
management is also something they would want to be associated with. They currently have
an involvement in web conferences and make a monetary contribution to these.
He felt that being associated with leading edge thinking in an area like supply chain
management would be beneficial to the RR Donnelley brand especially if the speakers were
well regarded in the field of knowledge. They would have an interest in being involved with
such an event. If they were to be involved with DCU Knowledge Corner then they would
want their brand to be used but this would obviously entail a cost for RR Donnelley. They
would be willing to promote the event to their client base of over 2,500 to ensure greater
exposure for the event. He acknowledged an increasing emphasis on digital marketing and
added that there is always money for sponsorship if it reaches decision makers, improves
your brand or associates your company with new thinking. The cost of sponsorship is not
necessarily a disincentive. If an event were purely aimed at academics it would be a
disincentive but if it is reaching people making buying decisions then no.
45
Finally in terms of the content he emphasised that the length of online video lectures should
be kept to a maximum of half an hour as they will not hold people’s attention if they are
longer. Equally the content must be relevant, leading edge thinking from well respected
experts that will attract decision makers to view the content.
The second interview was with Conor Healy, Chief Executive of Cork Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber sponsors events that promote Cork as a place to do business and raise the
profile of their members. They sponsor networking events primarily and some cultural
events. They would be interested in sponsoring a series of lectures on DCU Knowledge
Corner, or through another academic institution such as UCC, if the speakers were well
respected and the topic was relevant to the chamber and its members. He also touched on
the length of the videos and emphasised that the length should be reasonable as business
people simply don’t have the time to spend hours viewing content.
They would want the chamber’s brand to be associated with the broadcast as it would
possibly attract new members, be good for the brand image of the organisation and
demonstrate to their membership that they are proactively promoting the chamber. If the
event involved high profile speakers and was professionally run then it would be brand
enhancing to his organisation. They would look at either endorsement or sponsorship of
such an event and would be willing to promote it themselves were they to become involved.
The third interview was with Alan Buckley, Financial Controller at Anglo-American – Lisheen
Mine. Their current emphasis is on sponsoring activities within the local community. It is
primarily focussed on building good relations with the local community as mining has a large
impact on local communities. In relation to sponsoring an event on DCU Knowledge Corner
46
he felt that Anglo American would have an interest in an event centred around mining,
commodities or engineering as they have a tradition of involvement with universities,
especially in South Africa. Anglo American was founded by Cecil Rhodes who created the
Rhodes Scholarships and they have an interest in promoting links with universities.
Anglo American would like to be associated with new thinking in mining engineering and
would want to be associated with a series of lectures on this as they would want
engineering students to see Anglo as a leading company to work for. They would want
assurances as to the type of content being presented as they wouldn’t want to be
associated with anything controversial. If the content were appropriate it would be of
interest and if it were presented through the right institution then there is the possibility of
a tie-up.
The final interview was with David Deighan, Head of Communications at KPMG Ireland. I
spoke to David on the phone and he followed up with a brief email on specific questions.
He stated that KPMG’s decision to sponsor an event is based on the audience of the site, the
cost of sponsorship and the status of hosting site. While KPMG looks to strengthen ties with
universities they usually associate with established media brands when branding
broadcasts. They may look at a specific event and the areas of interest to them would be
around innovation and entrepreneurship.
The key themes to emerge from the interviews are as follows:
The content of lecture series must be related to the business of a potential sponsor.
Content could be centred around themes like innovation and enterprise.
47
Content must also be relevant to the target audience of the sponsor, it must reach
decision makers and influencers.
The lectures should be delivered by high quality speakers that have an existing
profile and recognised expertise in their field of knowledge.
A professionally run lecture series could enhance the brand image of the sponsoring
company.
Being associated with a respected third level institution can also enhance a sponsor
brand.
Sponsors would be willing to promote lecture series independently of and in
conjunction with DCU.
Companies do not draw a large distinction between endorsement and sponsorship;
they will pay for good marketing opportunities. There is an expectation that co branding of events will entail a certain cost to a company.
The potential benefits of such an endorsement/sponsorship arrangement include
reaching targeted decision makers, improved brand image through an association
with leading edge thinking and research and creating positive brand recognition in
the minds of students.
Content should be edited to create short summaries of a lecture series that can be
viewed and reviewed by users.
The overall impression is that sponsorship of DCU Knowledge Corner is a viable
option if the content fits in with the overall strategic and marketing objectives of
potential sponsors.
48
Based on the favourable feedback on the potential sponsorship of DCU Knowledge Corner
we believe that it offers a viable option for sustainability. The key to the success of this
model will be the creation of relevant content and the ability to attract high cali bre
speakers. The creation of this type of product will greatly enhance the site’s ability to attract
sponsorship. Such a product will also drive traffic to the site and this will assist in attracting
further corporate underwriting from companies. It will also attract decision makers and
these are the key target market that corporate underwriters want to reach. The
interviewees also indicated that their respective organisations would be willing to undertake
marketing of sponsored events which would lower marketing costs for DCU Knowledge
Corner and generate increased traffic.
MIT have indicated that they want to move towards greater corporate underwriting of
content and we believe that sponsorship will be a key element in creating a sustainable DCU
Knowledge Corner. Sponsorship could take the form of an online advertisement or
announcement that runs before the video of the lecture series is played as is done by NPR.
This type of sponsorship is very common on commercial broadcasters websites with
advertisements running before a chosen video segment is played.
Conclusions
We believe that the funding models with the highest probability of creating a sustainable
DCU Knowledge Corner are the sponsorship, endowment and segmentation models. The
sponsorship model could sustain the site once it has been created and appropriate content
generated or scheduled. Initial funding could come from DCU directly as part of the
marketing budget or from an endowment which would finance the establishment costs.
49
Segmentation would require the site to be established and experience and expertise to be
developed before making a contribution.
An initial grant from a body such as the Ryan Academy would fit in well with ongoing
corporate sponsorship as a common theme of both is the promotion of innovation and
entrepreneurship. It would also tie in with the innovation theme of DCU. These common
aims create a rationale for collaboration between private foundations, DCU and corporate
sponsors to firstly create and then sustainably operate DCU Knowledge Corner.
As was highlighted by NPR and MIT OCW, a diverse stream of revenues is crucial to the
sustainable operation of an OER. In addition to the aforementioned models there could be
further contributions through donations from DCU alumni, volunteer support from DCU
students and in the longer term, corporate sponsorships along the lines of the program run
by London Business School. By combining contributions from several models it is possible to
create a sustainable initiative. Reliance on one funding model will be insufficient to create a
sustainable OER.
A further aspect to sustainability is the idea of accomplishing the goals of the OER. The goals
for DCU Knowledge Corner are to create brand awareness, to showcase DCUBS as a centre
for research and leading edge thinking and act as a marketing tool to attract potential
students. Based on the establishment of the site along the lines we have laid out, we would
meet these objectives. Brand awareness would be augmented through co-branding with
high profile corporate sponsors and by attracting corporate decision makers to view
content. The dissemination of high quality content will promote DCUBS as a leading thought
50
centre for business and the free availability of this content, endorsed by credible
organisations, should act as an effective marketing tool in attracting students.
51
Chapter 5
Content
Content Providers
We intend to start out providing content from the following series of events. Please note that for
this section we focused on events which took place last year (2009/10) in DCUBS. Our aim is to
illustrate the value that recording such events can give, not just to the business school but to the
university as a whole. We will need content to represent the five disciplines within the DCUBS
faculty. Those five fields include;
1. Accounting
2. Economics, Finance & Entrepreneurship
3. HR Management
4. Management & IS
5. Marketing
Producing Quality Content
If speakers have an issue with sharing their content with the general public then it can be made
available internally only, to students. Alternatively we could simply publish segments or highlights of
content rather than the entire talk. This was also something that was recommended by Guy Mullins
of ASU. He would encourage DCUBS to
“Spend time recording a few quality lectures... For my money what I’d recommend is taking an hour
long lecture and condense it down to 20 minutes of focused content, that’s recorded in a quality way,
even in a studio...then delivering those. I think you end up with a better product”.
-Guy Mullins, ASU.
52
Events
Below is a list of some of the events that we recommend to start focusing on straight away as we
believe they would produce content that would be representative of the business school.
Event
Semester
When
1
Mondays 16.00-18.00
Year-long
Tuesdays 11.00-12.00
Annual event
November 10-21s t 2010
Innovation, Marketing and New
Technology
Foresights
Seminars
Link Seminar Series
Innovation Week
Friday 13.00-15.00 or 15.00NGM Guest Lecture Series
Year-long (once a month)
17.00
2
All day or half day event
Annual event
TBD
Doing Business in...
Nobel Laureate Series
Other content that could be created includes:
Lessons learned from E-Commerce Entrepreneurs (Student interviews from Strategic
Thinking in the Information Age module (taken by MMK and MECB students. We believe
it would encourage student involvement in the site).
53
Sponsorship Opportunities
In our interviews with business professionals we asked for their views on the type of content that
would be attractive for their organizations to be associated with and to potentially sponsor. Their
opinions were relatively uniform towards the content they would view as offering a marketing
opportunity.
Content should be related to their underlying business.
It should be relevant to their target markets.
It should attract the interest of key decision makers within these target markets.
It should be delivered by high profile speakers that have a strong reputation for
expertise within their field of knowledge.
Content should be produced and delivered in a professional manner.
The content should not be of a controversial nature.
They would like to be associated with leading edge thinking in a field of knowledge.
Availability of short videos summarizing the content would be beneficial from a viewers
perspective.
Co-branding with an educational institution could be brand enhancing for the sponsor.
The challenge for DCU Knowledge Corner will be to attract speakers of high caliber that have a
recognized expertise and ideas to share about current business topics that relevant to both
sponsors and decision makers. This and the ability to deliver lecture series in a professional and
concise format will attract both sponsorship and target audiences. The development of lectures on
specific topics such as cash flow management will create highly transferable content that is of
interest to multiple industries. This will make the content far more marketable and increase the
value of the content from a sponsorship perspective. The creation of this type of high quality and
highly relevant content will be key to the potential success of the site.
54
The onus will be on DCU Knowledge Corner to work in tandem with the business school to schedule
lecture series that fall within one of the disciplines of the school and create content that is
marketable to potential sponsor companies.
Marketing Foresights series
Last year’s content could be made available to incoming students. Essentially by having a lecture
series such as this recorded and available for on-demand viewing you are giving academics at DCUBS
a world class stage on which to showcase their work. At the same time DCUBS students and alumni
get to keep up to date with what’s happening in society within their area of study.
Doing Business Seminars
Recording each year’s session would give the university the opportunity to focus on emerging
markets while maintaining an archive of valuable information on other key markets. 2010 was doin g
business in the East, 2011 could focus on the BRIC countries.
Adding value to DCU (not just the business school)
Nobel Laureates Series - At his inauguration, the new President of DCU, Prof. MacCraith announced
a new annual event whereby Nobel Laureates from one of the 6 prize areas (Physics, Chemistry,
Medicine, Literature, Economics and Peace) will come to DCU to deliver a public lecture. 63 There is
tremendous value to the entire university in recording these events and having them available to the
target audience for on-demand viewing at a later stage. This is precisely the type of high quality
content that will attract attention to the Knowledge Corner. Just look at the success of President
Barack Obama’s speech at ASU’s 2009 Commencement. To date that podcast is one of ASUs most
popular.
63
http://www.dcu.ie/news/2010/july/s0710b.shtml [accessed 22/07/10]
55
Chapter 6
Localisation
Introduction
As part of DCU Knowledge Corner we are encompassing localised content. The initial focus
of this will be on the Arabic market as this is viewed as a key market for student enrolment
within DCU. Much of the future growth and development of the site will come from
increased localisation to enable penetration of target markets. MIT have highlighted that
the top countries for non-US users for their MIT OCW site are from India and China.64 These
markets and the Gulf region offer opportunities for DCU Knowledge Corner to act as a
marketing tool with in these markets and build the DCU brand within these regions.
What is Localisation?
Localisation is the process of adapting website features to suit a particular locale. These
features are specific to the target culture. The features of a locale or market segment
include language, currency, level of education and average income.65 A further definition is
provided by Nielsen (1999). “Localisation involves the process of adapting linguistic and
cultural content to specific target audiences in specific locales. Locale is the name for
specific linguistic, cultural and business rules for a given target audience.” 66
Eliminating language barriers is one of the principal aims in the development of crosscultural communication software. The translation and localisation of websites has become a
lucrative, dynamic and inter-professional area, often involving marketing, design, and
64
MIT Reports to the President 2008-2009, available from
http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres09/2009.10.05.pdf accessed on 30/7/10
65
Pym, A. (2009). Website Localisation. Oxford Companion to Translation Studies.
66
Neilsen, J. (1999), Designing Web Usability, New Riders Publishing.
56
software engineering, as well as linguistic processes. At the same time, the development of
the Internet as an interactive medium is giving rise to a series of creative non -professional
translation practices.67
In fact, the translation part of work on websites need not be any different from any other
kind of translation. Text can be extracted from the site, rendered in accordance with the
required communicative purpose, and then reinserted into the site. The localisation of
websites, however, involves more complex processes, in addition to the normal constraints
and goals of translation.68
Figure 1 a general view of the localisation process. (Source Apple Inc.)
This figure above shows the basic phases of localization: setting up the localization
environment, translating and adjusting the UI (User Interface), and testing.
67
68
Pym, A. (2009). Website Localisation. Oxford Companion to Translation Studies
Pym, A. (2009). Website Localisation. Oxford Companion to Translation Studies
57
Here is a brief explanation of these steps:
1. Setting up the localization environment.
2. Translating and adjusting the UI.
3. Testing.
4. When your localization passes all the tests and you are satisfied with it, you are done.69
Website localisation tools
This section addresses the most popular website localisation tools. One of these tools is
direct translation. This method of translation will not always be ideal for the reader as there
will be less than 50% accuracy. When we spoke with Dr. Lamia Tounsi at the Next
Generation Localisation Centre in DCU they said that if we could translate a specific
document for example, accounting papers with particular software where the software is
specialised for the accounting vocabulary it would be 80% accurate. One thing to note when
using software to carry out direct translation is that it is still necessary to get a human to
check the work. 20% inaccuracy is not that small a percentage, and therefore it must b e
addressed too.
Many websites which can translate languages exist. Some examples include Google
translator, Google Chrome browser and YouTube translator. Adobe site can translate speech
to text. Sakher, a computer organization, developed a speech recognition software package
whereby it can translate Arabic to English and vice versa. This application can be
downloaded for iPhone applications.
69
Apple Inc taken from http://developer.apple.com/internationalization/localization/process.html on 30/7/10
58
Most translation memory suites can be used to extract translatable from code, which is then
protected, that is, blocked, and sometimes even hidden from the translator's eyes. The
translator can then work on the nearby and segmented natural-language strings, as with any
other use of translation memories. 70
Some web-editing tools are helpful for the management of the translated pages in a site,
which needs to have all their hyperlinks coordinated with each other. In complex business
situations, use is also made of content management systems that keep track of the short
texts (‘chunks’ or ‘information objects’). Global management systems can also be used,
joining translation-memories and/or machine translation with the modification of elements
for communication on websites, other web-based communication, or in print media. These
tools enable a translation of a short text or update to be distributed automatically across
the various communication media. There are also tools designed to calculate the cost of
localising a website, accounting for the complexity of the site as well as the automatic word
count. Quality-assessment tools then check if the links still work, or whether all the content
has been translated.71
Many of these tools, especially those incorporated into translation memory suites, create
situations in which the translator cannot easily see the actual webpage in its visual format,
which may result in a loss of communicative context. The translator may simply not be able
to grasp the nature and purpose of the text to be translated. On the other hand, much
translation work done in this mode is not on whole sites or pages or such.72
70
Pym, A. (2009). Website Localisation. Oxford Companion to Translation Studies
Pym, A. (2009). Website Localisation. Oxford Companion to Translation Studies
72
Pym, A. (2009). Website Localisation. Oxford Companion to Translation Studies
71
59
Aspects to consider when localising a site
As a consequence of different languages and cultures, users from different parts of the
world will use websites differently. International or universal usability is difficult to reach.
However, as usage grows in different countries, sites will die if they do not provide quality,
local service to their international customers. A good way to overcome the problems of web
site localisation is good planning and a good understanding of what needs to be done.
1. Hard-coded Text. If text is hard-coded within the site it cannot be translated.
Whatever strings are hard-coded will have to remain in English.
2. Hard-coded Fonts. Similar to text if fonts are hard coded then they cannot be
changed. If the fonts used do not hold all of the characters used in the target
language, then there will be major problems.
3. Foreign Characters.
4. Cultural Issues and symbols. As part of the web site design, it is necessary to stay
away from culture-dependent symbols that are not clear to an international
audience. Universal symbols such as an envelope to represent a message are more
easily transferable and universally understood. There are also many symbols that
60
may have different meanings in different cultures. Avoid using graphics that
represent holidays or seasons, such as Christmas trees, pumpkins, or snow.73
The Benefits of Website Localisation
Maximising profits today involves reaching out beyond your home market. Accessing an
international customer base is vital if a business wants to expand and participate in
international trade. 'Localisation' relates to the act of modifying a product to make it both
usable and suitable to a target market. Website localisation therefore refers to the process
of creating localised content that is presented in the language and style that is appropriate
to that market.
The World Wide Web, as its name suggests, is a means by which businesses can reach an
international audience. Companies are now recognising that a key step in successfully
approaching and selling to international customers is through website localisation.
Furthermore, as the number of Arab students studying in Ireland increases, doing a
localisation section of the Knowledge Corner website will be imperative for DCUBS. At
present, there are more than 70 students doing English courses at the moment in the DCU
English School, the majority of which intend to do masters degrees or undergraduate
degrees in DCU.
73
Maroto, J. & Bortoli, (2001), European Languages and the Implementation of Communication and
Information Technologies Conference. University of Paisley.
61
Website localisation increases revenue
Potential revenue is lost each year due to a lack of investment in website localisation. The
usability of a website is increased through localisation as the language barrier to accessing
information and conducting e-commerce are removed by localising content. The cost of
localisation can be justified through vastly increased access to new markets. The increased
access is limited only by the commitment of resources by a website to the number of
markets they want to access and the infrastructure that can accompany delivery of products
and services these markets.
Localisation is an essential commitment for conducting online commerce in international
markets. Localisation involves both technical expertise and an understanding of the cultural
complexity and uniqueness of each marketplace.
Cultural challenges include correct and appropriate translation of language to encompass
regional terminology, dialects and colloquialisms and idioms. Cultural sensitivity to the use
of symbols, images and religious references is intrinsic to successful localisation.
Website localisation is a considerable upfront cost and involves a degree of complexity as it
is not a uniform transferable process from one market to another. Each market is unique
and must be treated as such. When localising your site, ensure you avail of the expertise of
both a website designer and a cross cultural communications consultant and implement a
quality assurance process involving rigorous testing before going live.
62
Ethical issues for website localisation
The decision on the degree of localisation to implement on a site is driven by the potential
return that will be generated by investing in a localisation process. This commitment will be
based on market research on each market that will examine factors such as population,
demographics, internet penetration, GDP per capita, propensity to conduct business online
etc. Investment in localisation can be viewed as a long term commitment as markets can
evolve and gaining a foothold and capturing market share can justify an initial investment in
creating localised content.
Globalisation and increased affluence have created new markets for companies to trade in
but this process has also created new challenges. The assumption cannot be made that
consumers will understand the traditionally dominant romance languages. This has
generated increased demand for localised content that caters for the newly emerging
economies that are playing a more important role in the global economy. This has driven
demand for translation services and multi-lingual content. The ethical problems facing
website communication are therefore not so much the once-dominant role of ‘net speak’
English74 or the imposition of centralised text genres.75
Accessibility must address the range of languages used and the design of highly usable
interfaces: participation means that translations must be able to speak to the old as well as
the young, and that actual user-interaction, rather than linguistic accuracy, should be the
measure of communicative success. Finally, accessibility has to do with opening the web up
74
75
Crystal, D. (2001), Language and the Internet, Cambridge University Press.
Limon, D. (2008), Company websites, genre conventions and the role of the translator, Cultus 1 (1): 56 -59.
63
to more of the world’s 6,000 or so languages, most of which are not available in electronic
form.
As websites increasingly use spoken and visual communication, more and more translation
will be delivered as voice files. Less prominent languages may therefore leap-frog the
processes of graphic representation and finding spaces on Unicode.
Since our target market is the Saudi market and religion plays an important role in the
cultural, political and commercial life of the country we will need to be aware of the images,
videos and the information which we are uploading onto the site. Also, and more
importantly content will need to be related to the university as recommended by the Saudi
embassy and the International Office when we spoke with them (see appendix for
recommendations).
Localization tools and how they match requirements
In the localization tools market there are a number of organizations which deliver a variety
of localization and translation tools. They all focus on specific areas of localization which has
been driven by the localization needs of clients at the time they were designed.
As soon as documentation translation became a requirement the tools to enable
translations of this type of material started surfacing. The same applied to software
localization tools and localization project management applications which have been
designed and released following the huge requirement to be able to control the localization
64
process in a better way. Based on your requirements you will find that the commercial
available tools will fit a number of more or less independent groups:
Tools which will handle your software localization requirements
Other tools which will take care of your documentation localization requirements
Tools which will handle the project management side of your localization projects
Tools which will limit the translation cost by reducing documentation source
material, and the typical single source publishing tools which are available in a
number of different flavours
And the tools which will focus on machine translation
Fig.2
Direct translation & transfer translation pyramids. Source Dr Lamia Tounsi.
65
Speech Recognition
Speech recognition is the process by which a computer (or another type of machine)
identifies spoken words. Basically, it means talking to your computer, and having it correctly
recognize what you are saying.
Types of Speech Recognition:
Speech recognition systems can be separated into several different classes by describing
what types of utterances they have the ability to recognize. These classes are based on the
fact that one of the difficulties of Automatic Speech Recognition or ASR. This is the ability to
determine when a speaker starts and finishes an utterance. Most packages can fit into more
than one class, depending on which mode they're using.
Isolated Words
Connected Words
Continuous Speech
Spontaneous Speech
Voice Verification/Identification
Localisation in Action
INSEAD University
INSEAD University actually developed two pages on the knowledge section of their
website.76 Each one has a different language, one page in Arabic and the other page in
Chinese. This has proven to be quite beneficial as the number of those two nationalities
76
http://knowledge.insead.edu/home.cfm [accessed 27/07/10]
66
studying at INSEAD has increased significantly in recent years. We looked at these localised
university pages and we identified some aspects that could be relevant to Knowledge
Corner.
Figure INSEAD Knowledge site with links to Arabic & Chinese page
We discovered that the Arabic site was substantially different from the original site. The Arab site
contains some articles in English and these were translated to Arabic. Also featured were news
about the Arab world for example, some information on the Arab business world and how it is
growing and some literary information about an Arabic writer.
Additionally, there were also
different videos featuring interviews with businessmen or academics. The website is organised into
different categories for example, marketing, economics and finance. Each of these subjects has their
own videos and some articles about the subject.
67
Figure The Arabic page on INSEAD Knowledge site
Recommendations
We spoke with a number of people for example, the Saudi embassy, the Next Generation
Localisation Centre at DCU and DCU International Office. They advised us on some ideas that should
be considered when localising a section of the website to appeal to Saudi students.
Saudi Embassy
When we spoke to Mr. Ben Youcef at the Saudi embassy on the 26 th June. Mr. Youcef is responsible
for the Saudi student population in Ireland and his job is dealing with universities in Ireland and
68
recommending them to the Saudi Cultural Bureau in the United Kingdom. The Saudi Cultural Bureau
then registers these as universities that accept Saudi students.
We asked Mr. Youcef what he would consider to be the most important elements that Saudi
students would need on a website such as Knowledge Corner. He recommended the following
criteria:
1. Academic content. Visitors need information on internationally approved universities and a
brief summary of life at universities in Ireland, such information is available on each third
level institution website.
2. Immigration content. This is important, visitors do not fully understand registration
requirements and deadlines, and this could lead to serious problems and unnecessary
complications.
3. Fees. Understanding fees is important, some universities do not accept KASP letters as
payments and full fees must be paid in advance.
4. Living expenses and Irish culture. Good understanding of living expenses and living in
Ireland with a small budget and limited resources. Most students overspend and they are
always left with no financial resources for a few days each month.
We spoke to Dr. Claire Bohan, the manager of the International Office and we asked her what she
considers are aspects that should be included on a site such as Knowledge Corner, especially when
targeting Saudi students. She made the following comment and recommendations:
“We are only beginning to get to know the Saudi students on campus and getting many enquiries
from Saudi Arabia. From that experience, perhaps the following will be of some use.”
1. English-language seems to be a big problem. Many of the students don't have any English
Language score and need to be able to prove that they have either 5.5 for the Foundation
Programme of 6.5 for a full degree (under or postgraduate). If they cannot prove that they
can reach this within one year of the programme starting, we cannot make a conditional (or
69
unconditional offer). It would therefore make sense to direct students to DCULS, the English
language school on campus.
2. Some of the students are very focused and know exactly what they want. Others seem not
to have done their research and are enquiring about very 'different' programmes. It would
be great if there could be a 'to do' list (i.e. in order for them to be prepared for their
application, they need to do certain things - including English Language test (IELTS) and
research into the programmes or even consider what they wish to do afterwards -and make
sure that this is, indeed, the correct qualification for them.
Claire also mentioned that the number of Saudi students who are studying at DCU currently is
approximately 15. These students are doing different degrees. The number of Saudi students who
are doing English courses now is over 40 students and most of them they are going to do masters in
a different area as well.
We spoke to Dr. Lamia Tounsi on 14th July. She explained to us some points that we would need to
consider if translating a document to Arabic from English and vice versa.
For several years researchers working in companies with a desire to open up foreign markets are
forced to set-up a localization process quickly. Often the decisions to go global are made overnight,
without recognising the impact localisation will have on the complete organisation.
In most of these cases the person in charge of localisation got this task next to his or her daily
marketing or technical publications career, as if it would be too expensive to hire a dedicated head.
Dr. Lamia stated that “the most important part of translating a document is the speech recognition”
in fact, there are many other parts to consider including the speech recognition, these include:
70
MTK - At the MACHINE TRANSLATION SUMMIT VI EPI*USE Systems (Pty) Ltd is launching a
new version of its language independent machine translation engine TRANSLATOR MTK. The
new version will include new capabilities that will add to the suite of excellent features this
development aid has been known for. 77
Sphinx (CMU) - Sphinx originally started at CMU and has recently been released as open
source. This is a fairly large program that includes a lot of tools and information. It is still "in
development", but includes trainers, recognizers, acoustic models, language models, and
some limited documentation.
Adobe (translates speech to text) - Where you can upload a PDF and translate it to another
language, there are many languages that can documents can be translated into.
These tools mostly give 80% accuracy, but “there must be someone to edit and check the work after
the document has been translated using software”. However, she mentioned “a company called
Sakher developed an application for the iPhone where it can translate a speech from English to
Arabic and vice versa.” Furthermore, this application cost $5 and while it will translate a small
sentence it would not be suitable for a long document.
77
http://www.mt-archive.info/MTS-1997-Oosthuizen.pdf
71
Chapter 7
Budget and Staffing
This section outlines the funding necessary to implement the DCU Knowledge Corner website. The
first year running would be in the region of €58,000. On-going costs from year 2 would total €41,000
to cover the two Intra placements necessary to run the service. Table 1 outline the monthly budget
for year 1.
An initial investment of approximately €17,000 is needed to fund the development of the website
and purchase video production equipment. This investment includes the cost of multimedia PCs and
necessary video editing software and training. Quotations for this equipment, software and
associated training are included in Appendix 9.
We have assumed that the website will be maintained by DCU students on an Intra work placement.
Geraldine Farrell from the Intra Office has outlined the work must need the following requirements
before it could be offered as part of an Intra program –
“The work has to be course related, a supervisor has to be in place to train and monitor the
students’ progress.
The placement period is eleven months and the student would require at least national minimum
wage 78”
Intra placements are offered on at least two DCU undergraduate programs for which this would be
suitable work experience including BEng Digital Media Engineering and BSc in Marketing, Innovation
and Technology. We feel that the video editing and web site management could be done by a BEng
student and the social media campaigns could be run by a BSc student. We have assumed that the
student will be employed for 11 months working 37.5 hrs per week at an hourly rate of €10.
78
Appendix 11
72
DCU Knowledge Corner
Last updated:
27/07/2010
Qty
Personnel
Salaries
PRSI
Training expenses
2
Personnel Total
Other
Multimedia laptop
Sony Camera D1000U
Sony Premium Storage tapes
Sony Lav Mic
Sony Tripod
Adobe Premier Pro
Adobe Premier Pro Training
Website
Other Total
Total Budget
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
€3,250
€457
€20
€3,727
€3,250
€457
€3,250
€457
€3,250
€457
€3,250
€457
€3,250
€457
€3,707
€3,707
€3,707
€3,707
€6,965
€1,652
€16
€558
€1,011
€1,027
€695
€5,000
€16,924
€20,651
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€3,707
€0
€3,707
€0
€3,707
Note: Equipment and software costs VAT inclusive
Salary: €10 per hr for 37.5 hr week
Table 1 DCU Knowledge Corner Budget
73
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
€0
€0
€3,250
€457
€3,250
€457
€3,250
€457
€3,250
€457
€3,250
€457
€3,707
€0
€3,707
€3,707
€3,707
€3,707
€3,707
€35,750
€5,031
€20
€40,801
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€0
€6,965
€1,652
€16
€558
€0
€3,707
€0
€3,707
€0
€0
€0
€3,707
€0
€3,707
€0
€3,707
€0
€3,707
€0
€3,707
€16,924
€57,724
Chapter 8
Market Analysis
Introduction
This chapter takes a snapshot of what some of the top universities are doing currently in terms of
podcasting. We look at the different channels institutions are using to share content, namely, iTunes
U, YouTube and proprietary sites. We examine how these tools are used to promote the university,
how universities deal with content in different languages and how institutions utilize social media to
drive attention and traffic to their various content channels.
Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Corner
The Entrepreneurship Corner (ECorner) website is an internationally recognized resource for
instructors who teach students about technology, leadership and high-tech entrepreneurship. It is an
online archive of content from the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP). The repository is
constantly expanding and includes a searchable database of video clips and podcasts of
entrepreneurial thought leaders; reading lists; case studies on entrepreneurship; and links to
conferences,
foundations, and
groups that support entrepreneurship education. 79 The
Entrepreneurship Corner’s mission is to support and encourage faculty around the world who teach
entrepreneurship to scientists and engineers. The design of the resource is based on feedback from
entrepreneurship instructors regarding the challenges faced when teaching entrepreneurship to
students of all disciplines. 80
The project has three distinct goals:
1. To encourage faculty to think about how entrepreneurship should be taught to all
students.
2. To prepare educational resources from the high-technology industry for access and reuse
by others.
3. To develop an archive of digital resources, and thereby provide access to a network of
resources for entrepreneurship educators.81
79
http://stvp.stanford.edu/outreach/educators-corner.html [accessed 11/06/10]
http://stvp.stanford.edu/outreach/educators-corner.html [accessed 11/06/10]
81
http://stvp.stanford.edu/outreach/educators-corner.html [accessed 11/06/10]
80
74
Stanford eCorner homepage
http://eCorner.stanford.edu/
Figure 5 eCorner homepage
Content on ECorner is free to access, view and share. At present, the site has approximately 1,600
videos and podcasts. Financially, Stanford ECorner is supported by the university in addition to
support from two sponsors, KPCB (Venture Capitalists) and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The site was created by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.
82
Users are encouraged to
share content and the licensing system employed on this site is Creative Commons.
82
http://eCorner.stanford.edu/about.html [accessed 01/06/10]
75
How does Stanford ECorner work?
Content is very well organised. From the homepage the user can browse by topic or they can flick
through the video window which showcases a vast range of the videos on offer. Once the user clicks
on a category, for example, marketing and sales, all videos from that topic are displayed and the
user can then select what ones they wish to watch.
Figure 6 eCorner Sample Content
ECorner is probably the most sophisticated of the free video/podcast resources researched.
Everything has been thought up specifically with the end user in mind therefore the site is very user
friendly and intuitive for first time users and it invites interaction. All the options are there for the
user, they can click into lots of icons and choose options from menus depending on what they want
and rarely do they have to input data. In addition, content on eCorner is produced with the time
poor end user in mind. While transcripts are not always available for the full lecture, key sections of
the talk will have transcripts available. There is an option to watch all the videos in a new window.
76
As you can see from the above screen shot, a brief description of Guy Kawasaki is given below the
video clip. For a more detailed description the user can click on the biography icon. There are various
icons available if the user wishes to download, share, embed, email or add a clip to favourites.
Each talk is broken into two to three minute snippets so that the user can quickly find what they are
looking for without having to watch or skip through an hour long talk just to find one particular
point. The date the talk was recorded is visible and the number of times this segment has been
viewed is also displayed.
Subtitles and Transcripts
Figure 7 Transcripts on eCorner
Subtitles and transcripts are available for some video content but not all. The user can also click on
subtitles or transcript to see what is available for each clip. The above screen shot shows how
transcripts appear for the clip entitled ‘Don’t write a mission statement, write a mantra’. When
available, subtitles will be in English or Spanish and appear across the bottom of the video. Users can
do a keyword search through the transcripts.
Additionally, users can search the entire site to see all subtitled content, simply by clicking on the
subtitled content icon on the homepage, as shown above. Unfortunately, it does not inform the user
which language the subtitles are available in.
77
Figure 8 Searching for Subtitled Content on eCorner
Finally, the creative commons logo is displayed to indicate to the user the type of license associated
with this clip. If the user is unsure what this means they can click on the creative commons license
icon and it brings them to a creative commons page telling them what they can and cannot do with
the content they are currently viewing (see screen shot below). This page informs the user what they
are permitted to do with the content and what they are prevented from doing.
Figure 9 The creative commons link from Stanford eCorner website
78
Who visits eCorner?
According
to
alexa.com
5.5%
of
site
traffic
to
www.stanford.edu
goes
to
the
www.eCorner.stanford.edu sub-domain. 83
Figure 10 Demographics of visitors to the Stanford.edu site
Based on internet averages, stanford.edu is visited more frequently by users who are in the age
range 18-24, have no children, are graduate school educated and browse this site from university.84
Figure 11 Where are come from
The majority of visitors to this site, 37.9%, are from the US, 12.5% are from India and 3.9% of visitors
are from the UK. 85
83
Figures from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/stanford.edu# [accessed 10/06/10]
Figures from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/stanford.edu# [accessed 10/06/10]
85
Figures from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/stanford.edu# [accessed 10/06/10]
84
79
Social Media Marketing
Stanford eCorner Twitter Activity for May 2010
Targeting
Educators worldwide teaching High Tech Entrepreneurship
Students Worldwide (Entrepreneurship / engineering / science)
Content providers
Stanford Technology Ventures Program records and publishes guest lecturers from
industry experts.
Identify what is being tweeted?
Advertising upcoming guest speakers (date, time & venue, reminders)
Linkbacks to eCorner (speaker biographies).
Blog posts (eCorner Linkback).
Reminder about Podcasts/Vodcasts (eCorner uses these terms interchangeably).
Facts/quotes direct from guest speakers (live tweets by audience members).
Always tweet @ guest speakers own twitter page.
Users are encouraged to tweet any questions or queries that they want answered
about Stanford.
Please see excel spreadsheet in Appendix 2 for May Twitter activity.
Other points to note:
Schedule: usually three times weekly (Mondays, Tuesdays & Thursdays).
Followers: 2,494.
Following: 2,432.
Send @replies to users: Regularly reply to queries or questions using this method.
Facebook
Stanford eCorner’s Facebook page has been inactive since February 2008.
80
The Stanford eCorner blog
This is a basic blog created in WordPress. It has one simple purpose, to update followers on the
content and features of eCorner. At the top of the page is a link inviting users to the browse the
latest content posted on eCorner.
Essentially, the activity on the blog echoes what is being promoted through Twitter. Posted on the
blog are the full length videos of the two most recent guest speakers featured in May 2010 and then
some clips from other speakers featured this year. In addition, there are short posts relating to older
content featured on eCorner and links to the videos or podcasts are included. Users can leave
comments relating, to posts, they can search the blog using keyword search or they can subscribe to
an RSS feed of eCorner content. One noticeable omission is that there is no link to twitter feeds and
this is something that can be integrated really simply in WordPress.
Figure 12 The eCorner blog homepage
81
Arizona State University
As Arizona State University (ASU) was one of the earliest adopters of Apple’s iTunes U, we
decided to research their current video and podcasting activities. ASU first launched their
iTunes U site in 2007 following the official iTunes U launch by Apple. Content that was
initially included in the ASU iTunes U site included specific course materials, open guest
lectures, and promotional programs. With iTunes U ASU wanted to reach two broad
categories of users
1. Private podcasts for registered users (current students or staff)
2. Public podcasts (open to everyone)
In an effort to better reach the general public (lifelong learners and students worldwide)
ASU launched a new version of iTunes U dedicated solely to providing public podcast
materials. Examples of such materials include special events programming, e.g. President
Obama’s commencement Speech at ASU in 2009, guest lectures, educational and
informational documentary videos, and open course ware materials. At present the ASU
iTunes U repository is deemed to be one of the largest among universities worldwide. It i s
such as success that Apple showcases ASU as one of the pioneers of iTunes U on their iTunes
U information page86.
Distribution Channels
Up until recently ASU had three dedicated distribution channels:
The university website (mainly a news feed relating to university events)
The ASU YouTube channel (video content)
ITunes U channel (podcasts and vodcasts)
86
http://alti.asu.edu/technology/new-public-itunes-u-site-for-asu/ & ASU is one of the universities profiled on
www.apple.com/education/itunesu [accessed 6/07/10]
82
ASUtv
However, at the end of May 2010 ASUtv was launched. ASUtv is described as an educational
broadcast facility aimed at lifelong learners. It is available worldwide online via Ustream.tv.
The station features programs produced or sponsored by the colleges and schools at ASU
such as lectures, special events, and documentaries87.
Figure 13 ASUtv homepage
The above screen shots show the simple no nonsense layout of the site. Across the top is
the site menu. The main part of the site displays the current video being featured. Beside
that the user can share their chosen content with their peers on the popular microblogging
87
http://asutv.asu.edu/about/ [accessed 06/07/10]
83
sites, social video sites or social bookmarking sites. Below the featured video are various
articles detailing the type of content on the site and any upcoming video series. Each blurb
contains a link to the relevant content.
Content is divided into various topics, for example, shows, spotlight or video. There is also a
link to the archive of older video content created by the university in the past. In addition,
the user can check the schedule of upcoming content. They can also subscribe to the ASUtv
RSS feed. Users can also tag content or add comments about it. Currently there is no search
feature on the ASUtv microsite but users can search the ASU site. Clearly as the site grows
there will be more content on the homepage as currently it does appear to be a bit sparse.
Social Media Marketing
Twitter - http://twitter.com/ASUtv
Targeting
ASU students and staff
Prospective Students
The wider Arizona community
What is being tweeted?
Promoting the website’s launch, its schedule and the creators.
Advertising featured content on ASUtv website.
Reminding followers of the website’s existence (linkbacks to the website included in
tweet).
Promoting other relevant activities or events to do with ASU.
Retweeting posts by other ASU accounts.
Use of hashtag to promote other ASU events and sites.
Other points to note
Schedule: At least once daily but on average there are three to four tweets daily.
Following: 133
Followers: 373
84
Send @ replies to users: Currently not in use.
The Multimedia Section of the ASU Website
Figure 14 ASU multimedia
If the user clicks on the news section of the ASU homepage they see what appears in the above
screen shot 88. There is not much video content here. It appears to be designed to give the viewer a
taste of the university. Content from this site seems to be more promotional, for outside visitors and
informative for current students or staff. Content is organised under different categories and there is
anything from twenty to sixty videos in each category. The video technology employed is Vimeo.
Clips tend to be short, anything from less than a minute to five minutes. There is the opportunity to
88
http://asunews.asu.edu/node/14104?video_tab=0#category-8 [accessed 09/06/10]
85
share the video clip with others via the common social networking and social bookmarking sites.
Each video contains a brief description and there is also a list of other recommended content.
Other delivery channels used by ASU to share content
The ASU YouTube.edu Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/asu
Figure 15 ASU YouTube Channel
86
From the above screen shot it is clear that ASU has had a YouTube channel since 2006. Currently the
site has over 1,000 subscribers and just over half a million videos uploaded.
How is content organised?
Figure 16 Content on ASU YouTube channel
The user has the opportunity to add videos to favourites, share them with friends or flag for later
use. All clips contain a brief description of the content. As with normal YouTube videos, users have
the opportunity to rate videos by awarding them a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. In order to add a
video to your favourites the user needs to be signed into YouTube or Google. Otherwise they are
free to view any ASU content without registering. There is also the opportunity to subscribe to the
content on the site; again the user needs to be signed into YouTube or Google to avail of this service.
The site itself is branded with the ASU logo.
Aside from content in the ‘Events’ playlist all other clips tend to be short clips ranging from just
under a minute to ten minutes in length. Videos in the ‘Events’ category tend to be much longer as
they are often videos of guest speakers at the university. Some last for more than an hour. Overall
the site is easy to navigate and no difficulties were encountered.
87
ASU on iTunes U
Figure 17 ASU homepage on iTunes U
88
Figure 18 The W.P.Carey School of Business on iTunes U
Below is a screen shot of one example of a guest lecture resource. This particular channel is called
‘Knowledge@WPCarey’. It is an online resource offering the latest business insights and research
from a variety of sources. As you can see it contains a series of lectures on topics such as ‘The
Principles of Effective Leadership’ or ‘The Big Gamble – Superbowl Advertising’. Once the user
subscribes to the series, as soon as new content is added it is automatically added to the user’s
itunes account the next time they log in. Alternatively the user can simply download the specific
lecture they are looking for without signing in or subscribing to the entire series.
89
How Content is organised on iTunes U
Figure 19 The Knowledge@WPCarey Lecture Series
Downloading content is really easy. The user simply clicks on the get icon for the chosen content
they are interested in. Once they are logged into iTunes chosen content is downloaded and added to
the user’s iTunes U folder. All content is free.
90
Figure 20 Adding content to the user’s iTunes U folder
If the user decides that they want to subscribe to this lecture series all they have to do is click on the
chosen content, in this case the Knowledge@WP podcast and then click on the subscribe button at
the bottom of the window.
Figure 21 Sharing content
Users have the opportunity to share selected content with their friends or peers by following the
steps outlined in the screen shot above and clicking send.
91
Meta data in iTunes U
Figure 22 Meta tagging content on iTunes U
Administrators can fill our various types of information on each podcast to make it more classifiable
and ultimately more discoverable for the end user.
92
Directing users to iTunes U from the ASU website
Figure 23 ASU iTunes U webpage
The iTunes U site was set up by the Applied Learning Technologies Institute (ALT). ASU provides
both public and private podcast materials. Public content includes guest lectures, events,
documentary videos and open course ware material. Private material is generally only lectures for
ASU courses available to enrolled students. ASU encourages proper metadata tagging of all podcasts
as this allows for more successful discovery when users are searching for content. ASU supplies
podcast makers with a simple one page guide on metadata (using the get info tool in itunes, shown
above). Incidentially, if the user clicks on the youtube icon on this page they are brought directly to
the ASU YouTube.edu channel.
93
IE Business School
As our site will have a localisation aspect to it we decided it was necessary to look at other
renowned worldwide institutions to get a feel for how they present content in multiple languages.
One such institution we looked at was IE in Madrid, Spain as they provide both Spanish and English
content on their multimedia site.
Home page of the IE Business School website - http://www.ie.edu/business
Figure 24 IE homepage
On the homepage of the IE Business School users simply click a tab and this brings them directly to
the multimedia section of the website. The multimedia campus is not specifically for the Business
School rather content on this section of the site represents all faculties of the university.
94
IE Media Campus: the Multimedia Section of the IE Website
Figure 25 IE Media Campus
95
On the homepage you can view the ‘Discover IE’ video. It is just over one minute long. Users can
search for video files, audio files or photos. Users have the option to share videos with their peers.
There are a number of different channels that the user can click into for content. Alternatively the
user can search content by topic. Each video has a brief description (1-2 sentences) outlining the
content. There is an option to add the video to your favourites list. Each video gets a rating from
one to five stars. Along the right hand side of the page are videos of similar content. At the top of
the page there is the option to view the site in English or Spanish. Also located here is the option to
receive RSS feeds from the site.
IE Media Campus in Spanish
Below is a screen shot of the Spanish version of the site. Although the site is translated into Spanish
both Spanish and English content appears on both versions of the site. However, the English site is
dominated with English content and vice versa.
96
Figure 26 Spanish version of IE Media Campus
97
Podcasts on IE
Figure 27 The podcasts homepage
There is about twenty-three podcasts available. The duration of each podcast ranges from just under
one minute to eighteen minutes, although the average length is about three minutes. With each
podcast you have the option of listening to it in a new window. Beside each podcast is a description
(about 1-2 sentences) outlining the topic. It also indicates what language the audio is in. All podcasts
are rated and tagged. They can be downloaded and the user can add comments relating to them.
98
Video Content on IE
Figure 28 The video library on IE Media Campus
There is a guest lecture section featuring videos from various guest speakers that have appeared at
the university. The duration of these videos ranges from just under one minute to twenty minutes.
Some videos are in English and some are in Spanish. Some videos in Spanish are subtitled in English.
As with podcasts, videos can be rated, tagged and the user can add comments.
99
Collaborations or Links with other Universities
Figure 29 Links with Brown University
Content is very much aimed at promoting the university. It contains testimonials from professors
and lecturers who teach at the university and you can hear them discuss the modules they deliver.
You can also hear from recent graduates talking about their experiences in IE. IE also collaborates
with Brown University and this is well promoted on the landing page of the site (see screen shot
above).
General Site Administration
There is no login process. Users are free to view all content. This makes the ‘add to favourites’
option slightly confusing, since if you cannot login, then where do your favourites get saved to?
100
Social Media Marketing
Twitter feed available at http://twitter.com/IEbusiness
Facebook page available at http://www.facebook.com/iebusinessschool
Targeting
Prospective business students worldwide.
Existing business students.
Twitter – what is being tweeted?
Advertising lecturers’ contributions to academic press, complete with links to these
articles e.g. Harvard Business Review.
Linkbacks to IE YouTube content.
Links to press where IE has been mentioned.
Promoting the IE University, usually a link with a video showcasing the institution.
Advertising guest speakers or events taking place in IE or events that IE is linked
with.
#fb used with tweets promoting the university. (These tweets are automatically
imported to Facebook).
Other points to note about Twitter:
Schedule: One tweet daily.
Followers: 2,248.
Following: 558.
Send @replies to users: yes, but not too often.
Facebook
As mentioned above the #fb hashtag is used on the IE Business twitter feed so many tweets appear
on Facebook too. However, Facebook gets more interaction from prospective students looking for
information about the courses or looking to network with other students will be attending the
university in the future.
101
Included on the Facebook page are links to
The IE YouTube channel
A virtual tour of the campus
Twitter
The IE website
The page has slightly less than five thousand followers. Photo albums showcasing different events
that took place on campus are included here also. In addition, videos detailing various courses on
offer at the university are included too. There is also links to every single course offered at the
university.
IE Business on YouTube
IE Business School also has an active YouTube channel. 89
Content is aimed at current and
prospective students with a mix of educational content along with promotional videos showcasing
the university. Content is in English and Spanish. It is divided into various playlists for example,
campus news, economic analysis, the knowledge pill series and conference coverage. Content on
this site seems to differ compared to the media campus site. Below is a shot of a video from the
‘Economic Analysis’ playlist.
Figure 30 IE YouTube channel
89
http://www.youtube.com/IEBusinessSchool [accessed 07/07/10]
102
Currently the channel has approximately 600 subscribers. It also contains linkbacks to IE pages on
other social media networks (Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, MySpace, Xing and Twitter). There are
currently about 182 videos posted to this channel.
IE Business on LinkedIn
IE has a company profile page containing a brief blurb about the school and its ranking. Prospective
students or anyone interested in what the school is doing can follow their activity. Currently they
have 226 followers.
Figure 31 The IE Business School company page on LinkedIn
IE on Flickr
The Flickr account contains photos taken of different parts of the school. Its aim is promotional,
giving the prospective student a taste of campus life at the school.
103
Figure 32 IE on Flickr
In general, the IE Business School’s social media marketing seems to be in its infancy as they don’t
have many followers on any one account. However, they have a presence on many networks making
it easy for current and prospective students to connect with them.
104
Chapter 9
iTunes U
Brief background to iTunes U
ITunes U debuted in October 2005 as a partnership with Stanford University before officially
launching in an expanded form in mid-2007. A number of prominent colleges and universities have
joined the program to offer content over the years, with Harvard University notably coming on
board in March of this year. As of June 2010 the iTunes U channel has surpassed 250 million
downloads since its inception. This represents significant growth in the channel as only six months
ago the service surpassed 100 million downloads 90. At present only one Irish university is on board,
namely Trinity College Dublin (TCD).
TCD on iTunes U
This part of the document sets out to explore what Trinity College Dublin (TCD) is doing on iTunes U,
what type of content they are publishing and how the organise that content.
90
iTunes U reaches 250 million downloads available at http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/29/itunes-ureaches-250-million-downloads/ [accessed 06/07/10]
105
Figure 33 TCD homepage on iTunes U
106
There is not much business content on the TCD site. To be honest if one is not a TCD student or a
prospective student there is not a lot to hold one’s interest on the TCD iTunes U site. Here is an
example of some of the type of content that TCD currently supply via iTunes U.
Figure 34 TCD homepage on iTunes U
The above screen shot shows how the user can download content in either video or audio by simply
clicking on the appropriate tab. The user is informed when this section of the site was last updated.
What copyright restrictions are on TCD Content? There are no DRM (Digital Rights Management)
restrictions, so the content can easily be shared. However, the Trinity College copyright release form
is used to provide protection for the content on the site. 91
91
http://itunes.tcd.ie/faqs/ [accessed 14/06/10]
107
TCD iTunes U infrastructure Case Study 92
The backend infrastructure is supplied by Apple. When TCD were considering introducing this system
their key criteria for implementation was ease of use.
How it works from the user’s perspective (lecturer or guest speaker):
User launches the application.
User logs in.
User clicks the record button.
User clicks the stop button when lecture is finished.
User enters in details about the lecture, e.g. title and a short description.
User presses stop.
The file is submitted to a backend server.
The server processes the file, converting it into a format that can be replayed on an
iPod. An audio only version is also created and a version that can be replayed on a
mobile phone is also created. The file is then posted to a blog and the process is
complete.
The user only presses start and stop, enters the title and description and then they walk away. For
video podcasts the audience sees the slides and hears the audio as a voice over. They cannot see the
speaker.
Legal issues - When implementing this system TCD found legal considerations to be one of the
biggest issues. For instance, if you wish to make content available to the general public then
intellectual property rights need to be addressed.
Background - Introducing podcasting of lectures was 3 years in the making in TCD. It was a joint
effort between the Centre for Learning Technology (CLT) and IS Services. Currently TCD has 13
lecture theatres kitted out to enable lecture recording and subsequently podcast creation. The IS
department also has two Macbooks that can be loaned out. These enable screen capture. The file
produced is a small size but of high quality. Incidentally, any new Mac running OSX 10.5 has the
screen capture software already built in.
92
Hayes, T. (2009) ‘The Potential of Podcasting in Higher Education’. Available from iTunes U, published
07/06/2009 [accessed 14/06/2010]
108
Staff Training & Software Used
In order to get staff on board the CLT and IS run training courses on how to use the facilities. They
also have a number of PDF documents on the IS section of the TCD website outlining how to use this
service and other alternative recording mechanisms. For example, lecturers or guest speakers can
record their lectures using a simple digital voice recorder (DVR) and then very simply edit their file
using Audacity. Users can also bookmark their content using Profcast, which is software that allows
listeners to skip to a particular segment of a video or audio clip. Another type of software TCD uses is
Camtasia which is screen capture software using your webcam. In the summer of 2009, new
software was introduced which would allow dual feeds (screen capture and video combined) which
is ideal for disability students.
TCD’s iTunes U site
The system was launched in June 2008.
One of the biggest challenges faced by TCD when
introducing this system was converting interest in the technology into actual content. Initially 85
user accounts were set up along with 75 blogs. As of June 2009 there were only 15 active users and
only 20 active blogs. To date transcriptions of lectures are not available but this is something that
they hope to provide in the future, more than likely as PDF files.
How important is iTunes U for TCD?
Users find it more focused than having a YouTube channel on YouTube.edu. On iTunes U content is
alongside other similar academic content, whereas on Yo uTube users often find their content next to
a video of a cat dancing! The success of the TCD iTunes U channel has seen TCD be approached by
Steeple (a UK site geared towards supplying content to secondary level teachers) looking for TCD to
provide some adequate content. ITunes U makes content more available for students. Students
don’t always carry their laptops with them but they tend to have a mobile device or an iPod with
them every day. ITunes U allows TCD to make a global impact at a very small cost. Furthermore, the
site services as an obvious marketing channel, introducing prospective students to what TCD has to
offer. Lecturers have the ability to add supplemental lectures to their course. Recoding guest
lecturers allows instructors to save the content and use it as a resource in the future. Also, guest
speakers at conferences could be recorded. Finally, it allows the university to create links with the
wider community.
109
The iTunes U page on the TCD website outlines how the site works and how to access it.
Figure 35 TCD informs students about iTunes U
What the Top 10 Universities worldwide are doing on iTunes U? 93
Figure 36 Universities on iTunes U
93
Hayes, T. (2009) ‘The Potential of Podcasting in Higher Education’. Available from iTunes U, published
07/06/2009 [accessed 14/06/2010]
110
Of the top 10 US universities, 7 out of 10 have an iTunes U presence.
Of the top 10 UK universities, 4 out of 10 have an iTunes U presence.
TCD is currently the only Irish university to have an iTunes U presence. However,
other universities use podcasts but not through an official iTunes U channel.
The Oxford iTunes U Experience
5 people manage podcasting in Oxford.
80% of content is audio only (due to IP issues).
Duke University US (leading the way)
Duke has been using podcasting since 2004. That year all freshmen were given an iPod loaded with
all their course material for that year. Duke also has an iPhone app.
Please see Appendix 2 to Appendix 5 for further market analysis including a look at some of the
leading commercial content providers.
111
Chapter 10
Social Media Marketing Plan for DCU
Knowledge Corner
Introduction
People join social media networks because they wish to be part of a community of people
who share their interests or experiences and such environments allow members to really
express themselves. Increasingly, people are using social media networks to identify with
brands they like, communicate with them, learn more about them and share their opinions
with other brand fans. If used effectively, i.e. supplying your community of followers with
engaging content and maintaining interaction, social media marketing should successfully
promote your business. However, one thing worth remembering is that social media
marketing needs commitment.94 Therefore scheduling your posts will be paramount to your
success.
This document outlines the types of social media available to DCU Knowledge Corner.
Firstly, we run through how to set-up a commercial presence on the essential social
networks. We also provide direction on using the various social bookmarking sites and
media aggregators at Knowledge Corner’s disposal. We provide instructions on how to
monitor your activity on the various social networks. Finally, we conclude with a number of
recommendations when using these tools.
Social Media Goals
In order to successfully promote DCU Knowledge Corner we recommend developing a social
media marketing strategy to launch and grow the business. This suits the limited budget
that will be available to the business. Nevertheless, we believe that there are some inherent
values in using social media marketing to grow a business from scratch. We recommend
using social media to
1. Establish, promote and grow Knowledge Corner as a DCU Business School resource.
94
Shih, Clara (2009). Social Capital from Networking Online in The Facebook Era. Prentice Hall.
112
2. Encourage word-of-mouth marketing by establishing a social media presence, thus
providing channels for the Knowledge Corner community to conduct some word-ofmouth marketing on your behalf.
3. Drive traffic to the Knowledge Corner website and encourage interaction with the
site.
Who are we targeting?
Current students, this includes both undergraduates and postgraduates. We see
Knowledge Corner as a resource that DCUBS students can access to enhance their
learning experience. This also includes the ever increasing Saudi community of
students attending DCUBS.
Prospective students, we intend to promote the youth appeal of DCUBS and its
leadership in terms of innovation and industry links.
Promoting DCUBS to industry as well as to part-time students. This can be done by
promoting DCUBS’ thought leadership in terms of highlighting researchers and their
work through podcasts.
DCUBS Alumni, by giving graduates an opportunity to up-skill or keep up-to-date
with their discipline by accessing resources of up-to-date content.
Lifelong learners wishing to access up-to-the minute knowledge on particular
business topics.
Target Market Characteristics
2010 has seen the highest number of CAO applicants of all time. According to the Higher
Education Authority (HEA) statistics 71,843 applicants applied for third level places, which
translate into a 6.2% rise from 2009. These figures illustrate that the demand for university
places is as competitive as ever and therefore universities must try harder to convince
prospective students to apply for their university. More than two out of three 18 year olds
go onto third level education in Ireland. 30 years ago this figure was one in five.95
Another interesting point to note is that young people applying to attend university
nowadays are increasingly media savvy. These students expect the university to keep up
95
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0330/breaking53.html [accessed 12/07/10]
113
with them and to keep up with the types of technology that they as consumers are using at
home to enhance their learning experiences. Furthermore, with the increasing number of
applications being realised for mobile phones and the increase in portable devices, namely
the iPad, students will look to an institution that will enable them to access relevant
multimedia content to enhance their learning experience whenever and wherever they
choose.96 Therefore we believe that producing audio podcasts or videos showcasing the
university or the work of faculty members within the university will be essential to maintain
competitiveness in the future. Laura Grehan agrees
[Technology] “can really play an important role in marketing not just the business school but
specific programs if people can get a taste for what the lecturers are like in a particular
program. It has an influence at the moment but we are conscious of the fact that it should
have a more important role”.
-Laura Grehan, DCU.
Social Media Recommendations
Set-up
Firstly, check the availability of the site’s name on various social media sites using
http://namechk.com/.
We checked the availability of DCUBS Knowledge Corner and
Knowledge Corner. Although both appeared taken on Stumble Upon when we checked this
out no such names existed.
96
Podcast ready Network Prepares UC Berkeley for Next-Generation Campus available at
http://images.apple.com/channel/us/podcasting/pdfs/Apple-UCBerkeley_case_study.pdf [accessed 30/06/10]
114
Figure 37 Checking names using namechk
Create Social Media Accounts
Next, set up social media accounts on the following sites, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Ensure that the DCU logo or company specific logo (if one is created for Knowledge Corner)
is prominent on these sites. Record all usernames and passwords in an excel spreadsheet.
Please see the How to section in Appendix 8 for more details on setting up social media
accounts.
TweetDeck
Set up TweetDeck and enable it so that Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn updates can be
managed directly from here (add columns for each account to make monitoring activity
easier). Updates in Arabic can be managed from here. Video links can be attached to posts
from here also.
We recommend using TweetDeck as the Knowledge Corner dashboard for managing and
scheduling social media updates. Install TweetDeck on mobile devices or at the very least be
able to access Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn from mobile devices to allow any necessary on the-fly updates. Finally, record all usernames and passwords for each site in an excel
spreadsheet.
115
Setting up accounts on social bookmarking sites
Set up accounts on Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit and Stumble Upon. Record all usernames
and passwords in excel spreadsheet. Due to its ease of use we would recommend
using Digg most frequently.
Setting up accounts on media aggregation sites
Set up an account on SlideShare.net. Record usernames and passwords in an
excel spreadsheet.
Obtain account information (username and password) from Laura Grehan, in
order to use existing DCU Business School channel.
Alternatively set-up your own YouTube channel. Record all usernames and
passwords in spreadsheet.
Promote site Launch
Knowledge Corner on Twitter
Customise Twitter and make sure that the DCU brand is visible. Change the background
image to make it your own distinct page. Add a short bio, giving a description of what
Knowledge Corner is.
1. Promote the existence of the site; Firstly by becoming a follower of Knowledge
Corner on Twitter and getting your friends, colleagues and acquaintances to do the
same. Create awareness of the site amongst existing students in DCU by promoting
the site on the following accounts:
@DCUBS
@destinationDCU
@DCULINK
@DCUSU
@DCUJourno @DublinCityUni
@dcucomputing
@Fiontar
@DCULIB
Identifying what to tweet & who to follow?
Posts can also be scheduled (using TweetDeck). We recommend 5-6 tweets daily informing
people about the following:
What to expect from Knowledge Corner (include linkbacks to the site)
116
Types of content that will be published in the future (include linkbacks to the
site)
How frequent content will be published on Knowledge Corner
How soon you expect new content to appear
How to access the content (include linkbacks to the site)
Check out existing content (include linkbacks to the site)
Invite user feedback
Respond to user feedback
We would recommend that you encourage people to retweet your messages to promote
Knowledge Corner’s existence to their friends or followers. Send DMs to followers who RT
your posts.
2. The next step is to promote Knowledge Corner on related sites e.g. @Link,
@InnovationDub and @ngmdcu etc.
During the first two weeks activities should be focused on drumming up as many followers
as possible. The recommended ratio is 3:1; for every three people that you follow, you hope
that one follows you.
Ongoing activity - To really have an impact with Twitter it is also recommended that you
strive to gain over 2,000 followers. This is quite difficult to achieve but by retweeting
followers posts regularly and sending DMs to followers saying thanks for following DCU
Knowledge Corner, you will begin to build up a base of interested followers.
Another important goal for Knowledge Corner should be getting followers
interested in the website and getting them to click through from the URL in your
tweets to the actual Knowledge Corner website.
It will be important for you at this stage to write engaging messages to keep
followers interested as well as directing users to engaging content already on the
website.
117
Knowledge Corner Facebook page
It is important that the Facebook page represents the type of business or resource that
Knowledge Corner is, who Knowledge Corner is serving, and it should engage with potential
fans and instruct them on where they can learn more about the business. It is useful to ask
yourself when creating the page, as a fan why should I care? In other words is the content
engaging enough for me to want to become a fan of this site and tell others about it?
Customise your Facebook page by adding the following:
A quality picture or logo
Wall (post news/ updates and place for fans to place comments)
Info (brief description of Knowledge Corner)
Discussions (related to topics covered in videos or events)
Video (clips of videos available on the main website)
Links (links to related sites)
Applications - You can add some platform applications such as notes. This will allow you to
upload e.g. presentations. This also allows you to automatically stream RSS feeds from an
external blog, e.g. the Knowledge Corner website, directly into Facebook. You can also add
other tools such as polls or surveys as audience engagement methods.
Welcome message - When you are ready to go public with the site write a welcome
message on the wall. For example, it could say DCU Business School has just launched its
very own podcast site called DCU Knowledge Corner. You can find this site at
www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie. Check it out and let us know what you think about it.
Sample Content - We also suggest putting up some sample content, a video clip of a lecture
and telling the target audience that they can view the full clip on your website. Give them
the URL and if the content is engaging enough they should be encouraged to click through.
Discussions – feed these by posting open-ended questions on topics that will be addressed
in upcoming events.
118
When you are happy with the layout of the page, allow the public to see it.
Become a fan of the page yourself and encourage your friends, family and colleagues
to do the same. The idea is to build a critical mass quickly. 97
Respond to user generated content, comments or messages promptly.
Include links to your website, your Facebook page and your Twitter feed in your
email signatures.
Refresh content on the Facebook page on a weekly basis.
As with the other social networking accounts, Facebook needs commitment. By engaging
your fans you’ll keep them interested.
Knowledge Corner on LinkedIn
Company Profile - We advise having a personal profile on LinkedIn giving visitors a brief
description of Knowledge Corner, what it is, its goals and mission statement. We have
created a sample profile below. Also display the Knowledge Corner logo at the top of the
page.
Groups - We advise joining some relevant groups and monitoring the discussions taking
place among these groups. LinkedIn users generally receive regular updates via email about
ongoing discussions. Below we have listed some relevant groups that we would recommend
joining to get started. Feel free to start any discussions surrounding the type of content
featured on Knowledge Corner.
Sample Knowledge Corner Company Profile on LinkedIn
Knowledge Corner Overview
The DCUBS Knowledge Corner is a repository of audio and video material sourced from
events taking place daily in DCUBS. Current students, future prospective students or faculty
members can access content on-demand and get a feel for the type of research and events
that take place each week in the business school. Content is sourced from a wide variety of
events, such as Next Generation Management, Innovation Week Dublin, Link Seminars and
97
Shih, C. (2009). Chapter 8 Engage Your Customers, in The Facebook Era, Prentice Hall.
119
Innovation, Marketing & New Technology Foresights seminars, to name but a few. Our
mission is to provide users with a rich resource of audio and video content that will enhance
their learning experience as well as keeping them up-to-date with current issues facing the
business world. Our goal is to provide content reflecting the five disciplines within the
business school.
Sample Groups to join on LinkedIn
Human Resources Ireland
DCU Alumni / DCU Business School Alumni
Bizcamp Ireland (Entrepreneurs)
DCU MBS in Marketing Networking
121 Marketing
DCU Business School MSc in Management
Irish Accounting Professionals
DCU MSc in Electronic Commerce
Educause
DCU Doing Business in the East
Technology Integration in Education
DCU International
Web 2.0 for Higher Education
DCU Digital Marketing
Social Media for Higher Education
DCU Learning Innovation Unit
ICT in Education Professionals
Link Research Centre at DCU Business School
Please see Appendix 7 for sample Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn Campaigns.
Ongoing activity throughout the year (after each event)
Publishing content to social bookmarking sites
(Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, & Stumble Upon)
Every time you have a new blog post or a new podcast uploaded to Knowledge
Corner submit the URL to Digg, give it a catchy title, an engaging description and
some quality tags and submit it. Do the same on Reddit.
We recommend dividing up content on Knowledge Corner into pages according to
the disciplines of the business school (HR, Accounting, Marketing etc.). We advise
registering each of these pages on Knowledge Corner on Del.icio.us. Give each page
an effective title, and use appropriate tags to classify the URL so it will appear in
relevant keyword searches.
120
Stumble Upon is a little trickier, it has limits in place about the amount of times you
can submit a page from a single site. With that in mind we suggest employing one of
the following two options:
1. We recommend using Stumble Upon to drive traffic to your site only when really
special content has been added to Knowledge Corner. For example, a new
podcast featuring an extremely high profile business leader, e.g. Nobel Laureate
Series.
2. Alternatively, you can use SU.pr to drive traffic to your site. We would suggest
installing the SU.pr plug-in for WordPress (if you decide to run with a WordPress
site). Although this is only at the beta stage its goal is to get SU members
stumbling through your pages, reviewing them and sharing them with others.
Claim the Knowledge Corner blog using Technorati.
Please see the How to submit to social bookmarking sites section in Appendix 8 for step-bystep instructions on posting updates and claiming your blog.
Publishing content to media aggregators (SlideShare & YouTube)
Once agreement has been gained from guest speaker, post all presentations to
slideshare.net as soon after the event as possible.
Advertise this by posting an announcement on Twitter and Facebook, you can
either use the tools on SlideShare while submitting the presentation or do this
via TweetDeck. Always include the link to the corresponding presentation in your
tweet or in your Facebook post.
Again, once agreement has been received from the guest speaker to share their
video on YouTube, upload it to your channel.
Advertise this by sharing the link on Twitter and Facebook, you can either use the
tools on YouTube while submitting the presentation or do this via TweetDeck.
Always include the link to the corresponding video in your tweet or in your
Facebook post.
Please see the How to submit to section in the Appendix 8 for step-by-step instructions on
uploading documents to SlideShare and videos to YouTube. In addition, please see the excel
121
spreadsheet in Appendix 7 which illustrates a sample social media marketing and monitoring
schedule.
Monitoring Social Media Activity
1. Google Webmaster tools
Google webmaster tools is a useful device for checking how your site ranks with Google and
for determining what search criteria your site turns up against when people use Google
search. Webmaster tools are extremely useful for determining what is working well and
what isn’t so effective on your website. You can then alter it accordingly. Registering your
site with Google will improve the website’s visibility on Google search engine therefore
making it more discoverable by search engine users.
Figure 38 Sample criteria you can check on Google Webmaster tools
Keywords – these are the most significant keywords that Google found when it crawled
your site. This tool allows you to see how Google interprets the content of your site. Check
this to make sure that this is how you want your site to be perceived.
Search queries – This tool is useful for checking what search terms bring up your site. You
can also see impressions, clicks and the click through rate (CTR) for your site.
Subscriber stats – This tool will indicate the number of subscribers to RSS feeds.
122
Our Recommendations
Submit the site to Google. Do this by creating an account with Google Webmaster
tools. Once you’ve created an account go to the dashboard to see a list of criteria
that you can check your site against (see picture above).
Submit a sitemap for the website also. This will aid Google to learn about the
structure of your site and should impact positively on future indexing of the website
in Google search results.
Monitor this on a weekly basis.
2. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an effective tool for allowing website administrators to gain valuable
insights across their website and its activities. This tool is especially effective when used in
conjunction with Google Webmaster tools. Analytics provides access to a range of reports
that will help improve your website’s performance and reach online. By choosing the right
reports you can gain more accurate information on the types of traffic to your site. You can
examine how people find your site, how they navigate through it and which pages they
linger on and where they exit your site.
Our Recommendations
Set-up an Analytics account. Sign up to the keyword performance report. This
should give you an idea of the types of keywords that are associated with your site.
Utilize the traffic sources and visitors data information on the dashboard and
monitor these on a weekly basis.
If used effectively these tools should improve your site’s overall performance.
3. Alexa
www.alexa.com is a useful analytics resource for websites. On alexa you can compare the
data about your competitors’ sites with your own data generated by Google Analytics.
Information is available for different time periods, the last six months, the last three
months, the last seven days or the previous day.
123
We recommend using alexa to compare competitor activity to your own activity. It will help
you determine whether you need to make any changes to how your site is set-up.
Monitoring your competitors should be an ongoing activity.
Look at traffic rank, reach, page views, bounce and time on site.
Alexa provides analytics on search terms used to find competitors sites.
Search Analytics will show you which terms your competition is using to get traffic.
Look at the audience demographics of your competitors’ sites, age, gender and
where they access the site from.
Look at the click-stream data to determine where your competition is getting traffic
from.
4. Google Alerts
This tool allows you to generate email updates of the latest news, blogs, and information on
the web, (on Google) based on your choice of query or topic.
Our Recommendations
Set-up Google alerts for the following keywords:
University podcasting
University podcasts
Business podcasts
iTunes U
Vodcasts
University vodcasting
You can elect to receive these alerts daily or weekly. Check out anything of interest that has
been highlighted through the alerts.
5. Facebook Insights
This is Facebook’s analytical section of their site. It allows users to monitor interactions with
fans over a particular period of time. Using Insights you can also learn about how your fans
124
navigate your page in addition to monitoring interactions per post, post quality, reviews and
mentions. You can monitor the type of fans the page gets, what countries they come from,
their demographics, what pages they visited, new subscriptions or those who have cancelled
their subscriptions. Furthermore, you can check what media fans viewed. Demographic
information (gender and age) about your fans is provided, as well as geographic details.
Our Recommendations
Check the insights section on a weekly basis. Examine the type of fan you have and
whether this matches your desired target market. Demographics will be useful here.
Once the site is up and running and discussions are started it would be worthwhile
monitoring fans interactions with these discussions.
Analyse how users are interacting with multimedia clips. As outlined earlier, we
recommend adding a video clip to advertise each new podcast posted. Many insights
would be gained from examining if users viewed multimedia content.
6. YouTube Insight
This tool allows all YouTube users to find out the following analytics on the video content
that they have uploaded to their channel:
You can check the number of views your video is receiving. This can be broken down
by country and by region.
You can determine how popular your content is over a given period of time and you
can see what regions it is popular in.
You can analyse where viewers discovered your content from and which sources,
e.g. google.ie were the most popular.
You can check out the demographics of viewers of your content.
The Hot Shots tool allows you to see the drop-off rate for your video and compare it
with other videos of similar length.
125
Our recommendations
We advise monitoring these analytics for new content added on a weekly basis. This should
give you a feel for the type of audience you are reaching and whether it matches who you
actually want to reach. When good social media promotion surrounds a new upload this
should aid in driving traffic to your new content. These tools will be especially useful when
you begin populating your YouTube channel. For example, upload a new video of an event
today and check your hits in a week’s time. These tools should enable you to see where
viewers are clicking onto your content from, both sites and regions. All of this data should
be very informative in helping you reach your target market and further segment future
content.
Please see the How to section in the Appendix 8 for details on using all these monitoring tools.
126
Chapter 11
Technical Delivery
The technical delivery for this project compromised the following elements -
Development of a site plan and page templates to support a website
Evaluation of different methods of delivering video content
Use of rapid application development techniques to develop a working prototype
website with suitable content to act as a proof of concept
User evaluation testing of the prototype website
After completing the initial site plan and prototype we completed initial usability testing
with Laura Grehan of DCU Business School and RMG Target who act as DCU’s Marketing
Agency. The feedback from these tests has been incorporated into the final site plan and
working prototype described below. The transcripts of the usability tests can be found in
Appendix 12.
Site plan
Following on from the detailed competitive analysis we developed a high level site plan to
structure the site organisation and pages needed. Figure 39 details the main elements of the
site.
The home page would contain a listing of the latest videos with thumbnails of the speaker
and a brief overview of the talk. By clicking on a talk the user would open another page with
a video playback window as well as a biography of the speaker, a transcript of the talk and
127
links to share or download the content. The user could play the entire video or select
different chapters for playback. An overview of these chapters would be displayed to the
right of the video playback window and a user clicking a chapter would cause the video to
start playing from that chapter’s start location.
Each of the Business School Work Areas (Accounting, Economics, HR, Management and
Marketing) would be identified as ‘channel’ and a user selecting a channel would see the
latest content relating to that Work Area. We also included a Student channel where
accomplishments of DCU students could be highlighted (such as Accenture Leaders of
Tomorrow competition).
The home pages would also have a Contact us, Login/Subscribe and Arabic links as well as a
calendar of upcoming events.
128
Figure 39 DCU Knowledge Corner site diagram
129
Wire frame development
Following completion of the site plan we then moved on to completing a wire frame of the
site web pages. Figure 40 shows the final version of the site home page. Positioned
prominently in the centre of the page are the latest videos with a thumbnail of the speaker,
a talk title and description. The page also includes navigation by Channel to allow users
browse the latest content from each work area. The home page includes social media links,
a calendar of upcoming events, sponsorship information. It would also include a toggle to
switch between English and Arabic.
This page was revised following usability testing with Laura Grehan and RMG Target (see
Appendix 12 for transcript of interviews). The main revisions they suggested were including
a calendar of upcoming events and also changing the orientation of videos from vertical to
horizontal to maximise the amount of information above the fold.
130
Figure 40 DCU Knowledge Corner Home Page
Each of the channels (Accounting, Economics, HR, Management and Marketing) would have
a detail page similar to Figure 41. This would allow the user to quickly browse the available
videos picking one that is relevant to their current needs. The thumbnail would be an image
131
of the speaker. Also included would be a title for the talk and a description. The title and
description are repeated on this page to help improve the site’s SEO ranking.
Figure 41: Channel Management Latest Video
132
When a user clicks a particular talk they would see a page similar to Figure 42.
Figure 42 Video playback page
The main element on the page is the video playback window which is prominently displayed
on the left hand side of the page. Above this is a description of the talk and speaker
information. A biography of the speaker could be displayed in a pop-up window. To the right
of the video playback window is a series of chapters which could be used for easy navigation
to particular segments of the video.
133
Below the chapters are links to download the video Podcast or MP3. Above this is a
transcript of the talk which would be displayed in a new page. Below the video playback
window are links for the user to share the content via social media channels or email. This
page contains creative commons licence for the works (see section Creative Commons for
detailed creative commons information).
Once the wireframe had been completed we processed to develop a prototype using
Wordpress which is described in the following section.
Prototype development
This section gives a brief overview of the development work we have undertaken to build a
proof of concept website to showcase how a lecture delivery website could be developed.
To assist with the rapid development of a prototype website we have utilised a number of
open source resources.
The prototype involved setting up the following components
Web server - required to process user http requests and send them to the web
browser
Database – MySql to manage data generated by web site.
Wordpress – Content Management System
134
For the web server and MySql database we have used XAMPP which is an open source
software package comprising an Apache webserver, PHP and MySql database licensed under
a General Public Licence. XAMPP allowed us to install a web server locally on a laptop. In
addition we have used Wordpress as a web development platform as it can be used as a
Content Management System (CMS) as well as featuring a rich variety of themes and plugins
that can be utilised to customise the web site layout. There is also an active support forum
both for the core wordpress product as well as the themes and plugins which can be called
on to provide help if required. Detailed instructions for installing XAMPP and wordpress are
included in Appendix 10
After some testing with a variety of different wordpress themes we identified Atahualpa as
meeting our needs. It is a customisable theme allowing different column layouts,
changeable web site fonts and colours, widget area and SEO features. We also used a
number of plugins and widgets to include functionality to connect with Social Media
Channels, Calendars and Video Playback. Figure 43 and Figure 44 show the completed DCU
Knowledge Corner Home page and a sample video playback page.
135
Figure 43: DCU Knowledge Corner Home Page
136
Figure 44: DCU Knowledge Corner Video Playback page
137
Localization
One of the requirements we have been given for DCU Knowledge Corner is that it should
have Arabic content targeted to the Saudi Arabian market. In this section we will consider
the technical requirements to deliver this. Refer to Chapter 6 for a detailed discussion of the
type of content which would be delivered through Arabic.
When developing a site where the content will be available in multiple languages we need
to consider the impact this will have on Search Engine Optimization. Google uses the visible
content of a web page to determine its language and they recommend that a page is written
using a single language for content and navigation and to avoid side by side navigation 98. To
avoid the same content appearing in user search results with various paragraph heading or
navigation languages the following recommendations should be considered.
Make the content available on separate URL (e.g. www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie for
English and www.knowledgecornerAR.dcu.ie for Arabic).
Avoid using automatic redirection based on the user’s default browser language as it
may prevent them from viewing all versions of the site.
Arabic content is read from right to left whereas English is read the other way around.
During a usability test with designers from RMG Target they recommended flipping the
content over when viewing Arabic content. This may also require that the position of image
thumbnails is switched for Arabic content. The current design has images to the left of
English text however an alternative orientation would be more appropriate for Arabic.
98
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=182192
138
Video Hosting architecture
For hosting video we have explored a number of options ranging from online video
platforms such as YouTube and Brightcove, to using the services of HEAnet or installing a
dedicated streaming media server on DCU network to deliver the video content. In the
following sections we consider each of these options.
Online video platforms
YouTube has become one of the most popular websites since it was established in 200599. In
Ireland, Alexa.com ranks it as the 4th most popular site100. On a daily basis 2 billion videos
are viewed and 24 hours of new video is uploaded every minute101. While there has been
some controversy regarding breaches of copyright and offensive content, the platform is
used by many Universities, companies and governments to communicate with internet
users.
After a video has completed playing YouTube shows related videos in the video player
window. Figure 45 shows how YouTube suggests related video after the current one has
stopped playing. We feel that this would not be a desirable feature for videos shown on
DCU Knowledge Corner. This can be disabled by inserting the html code at this YouTube blog
post102. This could be done to prevent videos that have not been previewed or approved
from appearing on the DCU Knowledge corner website.
99
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/youtube.com Accessed 22 July, 2010
http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/IE Accessed 22 July, 2010
101
http://www.youtube.com/t/fact_sheet Accessed 22 July, 2010
102
http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2007/06/update-on-new-embedded-player.html Accessed 22 July,
2010
100
139
Figure 45: YouTube video of BSc in Aviation Management with Pilot Studies at DCU
A major advantage of using YouTube as a video platform is the wide range of video formats
it supports as well as providing the service for free. While there are restrictions on the
length of uploaded video (circa 15 mins) this is an advantage as the lecture can be broken
down into concise chapters and uploaded separately to YouTube. Each chapter can be a
separate link from the video playback page on the DCU Knowledge Corner website.
Brightcove103 is an alternative paid video hosting service used by organisations such as Sun
Microsystems, The New York Times and the University of Colorado. Brightcove pricing starts
103
http://www.brightcove.com/en/video-platform Accessed 25 July, 2010
140
at $99 per month to host 50 videos (Appendix 9). The primary difference between
Brightcove and YouTube is that the viewership can be restricted and detailed analytics are
available via Brightcove.
HEAnet
HEAnet are responsible for providing broadband infrastructure to Universities, Institutes of
Technology and schools in Ireland. The HEAnet provide a streaming media service to their
clients. Video can be encoded either for Flash or Windows Media format. The HEAnet would
have to provide a URL to DCU for each video that is uploaded. The interaction with the
HEAnet personnel adds an additional step to the video production workflow and DCU would
lose some ownership of the process. As such we do not feel that this option should be
pursued further.
Dedicated Server
Video can be delivered to the user in a number of different ways – downloaded, progressive
download or streamed. The video files could be downloaded to the user’s device directly
from the web server and played from there. This would be a slow process as the entire
video file has to be stored locally on the user’s device before playback commences. An
alternative is to stream the video from the server so it displays as it arrives on the device.
Streaming video isn’t stored on the user device and therefore this method can also be used
for live video opening up the possibility that events could be transmitted as they occur. An
intermediate method between download and streaming is progressive download. With this
method the video starts to playback before the full file is downloaded. The file is stored
141
locally on the user’s device during download. Both downloading methods can be done via an
ordinary web server whereas streaming requires a streaming media server as depicted in
Figure 46.
HTTTP
Web Server
RTMP
Streaming Media Server
Figure 46 Web site architecture (based on
https://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/pdfs/fms3_5_wp_ue.pdf)
For streaming to work the network must be able to deliver the data stream fast enough for
playback and therefore the data rate and quality are restricted by what the network can
deliver104. A traditional web server does not utilise network bandwidth most efficiently as
the server pushes data to the client as quickly as possible without taking the clients
bandwidth capabilities into account. By deploying a streaming media server the stream’s
104
Digital Multimedia, Chapman, N & Chapman, J. Third Addition, p237
142
quality of delivery can be monitored and playback can switch to a higher or lower bit rate
stream if needed105.
When the number of users increases the load on the streaming media server needs to be
managed efficiently. The bandwidth required to deliver video files to large audience could
put strain on the bandwidth of the existing DCU network. A content delivery network can
overcome some of these problems by having a decentralised architecture which spread the
usage across different servers and networks.
Video Acquisition Format
Standard Definition (SD) or High Definition (HD)
There are a number of advantages to working with SD video including the cheaper cost of
equipment, less storage media is required as well as a simpler workflow for processing video
compared to HD106. However as noted by the European Broadcasting Union “the highest
quality for the viewer will result if the highest quality is used for programme production,
and the most efficient format used for compression for broadcasting, bearing in mind
viewer’s display capabilities.107” Other reasons to use HD include
“The footage has residual value and will be used in future productions
The project has additional distribution channels like broadcast and HD-DVD or Bluray108”
105
https://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/pdfs/fms3_5_wp_ue.pdf Accessed 12 July, 2010
Producing Video Podcasts, A guide for Media Professionals, p89, Harrington et al, 2008
107
Current Status of High Definition Television Delivery Technology, p15, 2008, EBU, available from
http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3328.pdf, accessed 29 July 2010
108
Producing Video Podcasts, A guide for Media Professionals, p92, Harrington et al, 2008
106
143
The Sony camera we have identified shoots in HDV format which is an ideal, cost efficient
entry point to HD. The camera shoots at 1080/60i which has dimensions of 1920*1080
pixels and 29.97 frames per second. We recommend that video production is done in HD
format. HD up to 1920*1080 or 1280*720 is supported by the Video hosting service
(YouTube) that we have identified for DCU Knowledge Corner.
Video Codecs
Digital video occupies a lot of storage space which in turn means it requires a lot of
bandwidth to be transferred over a network. As a result digital video is usually compressed
and decompressed using software called a codec109. Different codecs use different
compression algorithms to achieve optimal video quality at acceptable bit rates. A direct
comparison of different codecs is difficult as “the parameters which each codec provides for
varying the quality are not the same.110”
Two commonly used codecs for digital video are MPEG-4 and H.264/AVC. MPEG-4 part 2
was first released in 1999 and compromises a number of profiles that address the needs of
different applications from low to high quality. Simple Profile and Advanced Simple Profile
have been implemented in systems such as QuickTime and in devices such as PDA and
portable video players111. H.264/AVC is an optimised version of MPEG-4 part 2 and is a
standard for Blu-Ray players. While H.264 standard is patented (as is MPEG-4), the patent
holders MPEG LA “will continue not to charge royalties for Internet Video that is free to end
109
Digital Multimedia, p 30, Chapman and Chapman, 2009
Ibid, p222
111
Ibid, p220
110
144
users … to December 31, 2015112” We believe this is the most suitable codec for encoding
DCU Knowledge Corner videos as it is the preferred codec for YouTube. This also allows
YouTube videos to be displayed on Apple iPad and iPhone devices.
Future developments
A variety of different standard exists for playing videos. Proprietary formats such as Adobe
Flash has become popular because the Flash video player is installed on the vast majority of
web browsers. A survey by Millard Brown in June 2010 showed that 99% of internet enabled
PCs has a Flash player installed113. A separate survey by Forrester Research of enterprise
users during H1 2009 showed that a Flash player penetration rate of 98.2%114. Adobe has
also released a Lite version of Flash which allows playback on mobile phones and other
portable media devices. According to a survey compiled by Strategy Analytics the number of
Flash Lite devices will reach 2.5 billion by the end of 2010 115. However not every mobile or
portable media device manufacturer has adopted Flash Lite. Apple has not adopted Flash
for its iPhone, iPod or iPad devices. In an open letter on the launch of the iPad Steve Jobs,
Apple CEO, listed a number of reasons for not adopting Flash their devices including issues
around security, drain on battery life and Flash is a proprietary standard. Instead Apple has
adopted HTML5, CSS and Javascript116. However, HTML5 standard has not been finalised
and the companies writing browsers have not agreed a video format which will be
112
http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf Accessed
29 July 2010
113
http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/ Accessed 13 July, 2010
114
http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/enterprise_penetration.html Accessed 13
July, 2010
115
https://www.adobe.com/mobile/pdfs/flash_lite_forecast_installed_base_jan09.pdf Accessed 13 July, 2010
116
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/ Accessed 13 July, 2010
145
supported by HTML5117. The widespread adoption of HTML5 compatible browsers will go
some way towards breaking the hold which Flash has as a video playback platform.
However, usage statistics from W3Schools indicate that in June 2010 Internet Explorer
version 6 or 7 was used by over 15% of internet users118. Therefore the adoption of HTML5
compatible browsers is likely to ongoing process over a number of years.
Recommendations
The prototype screen shots in the previous sections include a number of placeholders for
advanced functionality that may not be needed in an initial implementation and could be
added over time to achieve a fully functional website. Laura Grehan agreed during our
usability test that the functionality was “something you could build up over time.”
Also during our interview with RMG Target they emphasised that a key design consideration
is making the site “as simple as possible to update” and “by stripping down features, the
nice to have, and going with a key set for launch would be the way that we would probably
approach it. And then as the site progresses you can add extra features and see how that
goes.”
Our recommendation for the initial development of the site would be to exclude features
such as transcripts and downloads until such time as the basic functionality has been
developed and proven. After this has been live for some time could the site be expanded to
include additional functionality. RMG Target has estimated that a website with core
117
http://blog.streamingmedia.com/the_business_of_online_vi/2010/05/h264-is-a-codec-flash-is-a-platformone-cant-kill-off-the-other.html Accessed 13 July, 2010
118
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp Accessed 13 July, 2010
146
functionality could be designed and built in approximately 2 to 3 weeks. Additional nice to
have functionality would add considerable time to the development effort and therefore
the cost.
Appendix 9 details the costings associated with building a streaming media server including
the hardware and software costs. As these costs would involve a substantial capital
investment we feel that it would be more appropriate to use a free service such as YouTube
until a trial of DCU Knowledge Corner has been completed and the benefits of such a trial
have been quantified.
147
Appendix 1
List of interviewees
Brian Doyle, Director of Global Business Development, RR Donnelley
Alan Buckley, Financial Controller at Anglo American – Lisheen Mine
Conor Healy, Chief Executive of Cork Chamber of Commerce
David Deighan, Head of Communications, KPMG
Guy Mullins, Applied Learning Technologies Institute (ALT^I) at Arizona State University
RMG Target (DCU Marketing Agency), Northumberland Road
Dr. Lamia Tounsi, Post Doc Researcher, National Centre for Language Technology
Laura Grehan, Marketing & Development Officer at DCU Business School.
Deirdre Wynter, DCU Marketing Officer
Geraldine Farrell, Intra Office, DCU
Dr. Claire Bohan, International Office, DCU
Ben Youcef, Commercial and Academic Liaison, Saudi Arabian Embassy
148
Appendix 2
Competitive Analysis
Academic Earth
Academic Earth is a video lecture sharing resource and a global archive of 1,500 video lectures from
mainly Ivy League universities. It was launched in 2008 by Richard Ludlow. Currently it has 400,000
visitors per month. Academic Earth’s mission is to provide access to world-class education to
everyone on earth. The site aims to appeal to scholars worldwide and lifelong learners. Ludlow, a
self confessed social entrepreneur and Yale graduate believes that everyone should have access to
an Ivy League standard of education even if they cannot afford the tuition fees.
Academic Earth’s goals include:
Bringing together world-class content in one easy to use site.
Being able to find innovative ways to use technology to make learning easier.
Encouraging participation from world-class learners in the form of contributions119.
One of the main contributors to Academic Earth is Stanford eCorner, which streams approximately
one thousand videos to their catalogue. The eCorner videos comprise nearly all of the content on
the site’s entrepreneurship channel. 120
119
120
http://www.academicearth.org/about [accessed 09/06/10]
http://cgi.stanford.edu/~group-edcorner/wordpress/ [accessed 30/06/10]
149
Who uses it?
Figure 47 Latest statistics available for Academic Earth
Figure 48 Alexa analytics for Academic Earth
121
122
121
122
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/academicearth.org/ [accessed 09/06/10]
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/academicearth.org#trafficstats [accessed 09/06/10]
150
Figure 49 Audience demographics for Academic Earth
The audience mainly consists of American visitors, however, it is popular among Indian and Chinese
users, while in Europe users come from Britain and Germany. In terms of demographics users are
mostly 18-24, males with a graduate level of education. Users log on from home or school. 123
123
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/academicearth.org#trafficstats [accessed 09/06/10]
151
Academic Earth homepage
Figure 50 Academic Earth homepage http://www.academicearth.org/
152
What institutions provide content to Academic Earth?
As you can see all the Ivy League Colleges are represented on
Academic Earth as well as some of the top UK universities, i.e. London
School of Economics and Oxford. Ludlow has outlined how he would
like to get content from Cambridge in the future also 124.
What topics are covered?
How content is organised
Figure 51 Content is organised into different themes and playlists
124
http://fm.schmoller.net/2009/01/academic-earth-founder-richard-ludlow-answers-some-questions.html
[accessed 09/06/10]
153
Searching for Content
Figure 52 Searching on Academic Earth
Users can refine their search using a number of parameters. All lectures start out with a grade B.
From there the grade is an average of the grades (ratings) that academic earth users award each
video. Highly rated content will show up first in search results and in the ‘Top Rated’ sections in the
homepage. The more people provide feedback, the better the ratings get 125.
125
http://academicearth.org/pages/faq#1 [accessed 09/06/10].
154
The User’s Perspective
Figure 53 Content landing page
The user searched the term ‘Zuckerberg’. This initial search gave back nine results. Results are rated
by grade, A+ being the highest and F being the lowest. Search can be refined by a number of
parameters; in this case it was refined by grade. A search for content with an A+ rating was
conducted. This refined the search results down to two.
Users have the opportunity to share content via a number of social networks, Facebook,
StumbleUpon, or Delicious. Users can also share content with their friends or peers by emailing the
video or embedding it into their website and or future presentations. Each video contains a brief
description. If the video is part of a course or lecture series the user gets details on the course index.
Other information that may be of interest is the year the video was recorded, what institution it is
from and the licensing information (creative commons is used here). Finally, the site recommends
other similar videos to users.
155
Social Media Marketing
The Academic Earth Facebook page was created in 2008. Since then the page has approximately
thirty-two thousand followers. The site is mainly used as a blog to direct users or fans to new
content uploaded to AcademicEarth.org. The links to the content in question are always included
with the posts. Posting of information is quite sporadic and up until recently there have often been
less than two posts a day. Users or fans can add their comments as feedback to each post or share
the post with their peers. The info tab simply outlines the background to Academic Earth and its
mission, while also including a link to the website.
A typical week’s activity on www.facebook.com/academicearth
Mon 24th
No activity.
Week commencing Sun May 23rd 2010
Tue 25th
Wed 26th
Thur 27 th
Link to
Links to two
Psychology
new degrees
course added to
that are
No activity.
academic earth.
available online
Video also
from academic
embedded with
earth.
post.
Link to new
MBA from
Maryland
University
posted.
Fri 28th
Advertising
Web
development
course. Link to
content on
academic earth
site.
Link to lecture
on Roman
Architecture.
Video is
embedded in
this post.
Activity on the Twitter account at http://twitter.com/academic_earth contains the same posts as
Facebook. It is supplemented by the occasional re-tweet and comment on another members twitter
account using the ‘@ ‘facility. The twitter page currently has approximately two thousand followers.
156
Commercial Content Providers
(FORA. TV, B igth ink.c om & TED.c om)
1. FORA.tv
www.fora.tv
FORA.tv is a video directory which gathers the web’s largest collection of unmediated video taken
from live events, lectures, and debates taking place at the world’s top universities, think tanks and
conferences. This provocative, big-idea content is presented for anyone to watch, interact with, and
share whenever and however they choose. FORA.TV was founded in 2005 and is funded by a select
group of investors some of which include William R. Hearst III and Adobe Ventures. 126 FORA.tv
considers its main competitors to be TED.com, Academicearth.org and BigThink.com.
Is it any use?
FORA.tv was named 16th out of Time’s top 50 websites of 2009.
The Sunday Telegraph named FORA.tv as one of the web’s best education websites
of 2009.
Some of FORA.tv’s partners include top universities in the US, Wired magazine and the World
Economic Forum to name but a small few. FORA partners with a diverse selection of content
providers in an effort to secure quality content for their audience. The true value of the resource is
that users are getting filtered content. Some content is premium so users have to pay to access it
but quite a lot of content is free. Premium content can often be viewed live by the user; they can
also access it on demand. To view content users don’t need an account or have to be logged in.
The ‘Freemium’ model
Fora.tv pretty much employs the so-called ‘freemium’ business model. The idea behind freemium is
that you aim to get as many users as possible and then try to convert some users into paying for
particular content over the long-term. However, in order to attract users in the first place you need
to be supplying high quality content at a very low cost. If the content is of a high quality you will
eventually be able to convert a certain section of users to move over to the premium model
whereby they agree to pay for certain higher quality content because they believe that it is content
that they’ve simply ‘gotta have’. Basic content is available for free but additional content is available
at a price. 127
126
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/fora-tv [accessed 15/06/10]
Macsai, Dan (01/07/10) ‘Three steps to freemium success’ available at
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/147/next-tech-remember-the-money.html [accessed 07/07/10]
127
157
Fora.tv features
Figure 54 FORA.tv homepage
Content is divided into a number of categories, na mely economy, environment, politics, science,
technology and culture. There is a link to the FORA.tv blog. Users can subscribe to RSS feeds. Users
can log in using Facebook connect.
158
Additional information supplied with each video clip
Figure 55 Content
landing page
Users can click on ‘info’ to get a brief description of the video.
‘Bio’ will provide users with a biography of the speaker.
Content can be divided into different chapters or highlights which could save the
user from watching the entire video.
If the users clicks ‘transcript’ they can check if there is a transcript available for the
particular video they are viewing.
Users have the option of downloading content, either as an MP3 file or as an MP4
file.
Clicking on ‘Britannica’ will direct the user to additional information on this topic
that Britannica has.
‘More’ directs the user to some suggested links.
Users can share content with their friends by clicking on the share icon. They are
given a number of social networking sites to share it on.
On the right hand side of the page the user gets a list of recommended content based on their
current selection. Also, at the top right hand corner of the page the user can see what rating this
video has and how many users have viewed it to date.
159
FORA.tv YouTube Channel
Figure 56 FORA.tv on YouTube
Content is divided into two playlists:
1. Technology & the Internet
2. Energy & the Environment
FORA.tv has had a channel on YouTube since 2006. To date the channel has just over twenty-six
thousand subscribers. As with other YouTube channels, users have the option to view, share, add to
favourites, flag and choose whether they like or dislike content.
160
FORA.tv on iTunes U
Figure 57 FORA.tv on iTunes U
As with other iTunes U sites content is categorized according to subject. Users can also search
through the top downloads. When a user clicks into a particular course they are brought to another
page containing all the available content in that category. Content is available as video or audio files.
Transcripts (PDF documents) are available for certain content.
Figure 58 FORA.tv on iTunes U
161
Social Media Marketing
Targeting
Lifelong learners throughout the globe, with internet access, interested in learning
more about current affairs, economics, politics and technology.
Educators looking to supplement course material.
Students looking to supplement course material with additional sources of
information.
Twitter - http://twitter.com/foratv
What is being tweeted?
Advertising upcoming events or speaker series (date and time).
Linkbacks to Fora.tv (recent videos posted).
Advertising archived content (linkback to fora.tv).
Facts/quotes direct from featured speakers (linkback to fora.tv).
Retweet any positive comments users make about Fora.tv.
Use of hashtag to advertise content about topical issues, e.g. #BP.
Other points to note:
Schedule: Usually about 3-4 tweets daily.
Followers: 4,655
Following: 935
Use of @: regularly post tweets on other organisation’s sites if their content features on Fora.tv.
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/FORAtv
Fora.tv on Facebook currently has approximately 7,500 fans. This site contains some of the same
posts as twitter but it is much more interactive than twitter. For example, videos are embedded
onto the site to accompany posts so users don’t even have to navigate away from Facebook to view
advertised content or to share it with friends. In addition, users can add comments there and then.
Usually one item is posted daily, consisting of a brief overview of a particular featured video, the
video itself and comments from users.
Blog - http://blog.fora.tv/
Advertises upcoming events by announcing what the event is, when it is taking place and providing a
brief background to the speaker. Users are given the opportunity to click on links for more
information on the post. Users can also post comments related to this post. Other news and links to
recent events and the accompanying content is posted on the blog also. Finally, Twitter feeds appear
on the blog as well as Facebook updates. The FORA.tv archive can also be accessed from here.
2. Big Think
www.bigthink.com
Background - Launched in January 2008, Big Think serves as a public forum for users to interact with
public intellectuals on numerous topics or subjects. Big Think originally came about because the
founders had a vision to create a YouTube for intellectuals i.e. YouTube but with highbrow content,
while at the same time creating a repository of primary information for university students.
How it works - Thousands of hours of footage from interviews of various experts is available to
users. Users can search interviews by topic or question. Big Think is a two -way communication
channel; users have the ability to respond to the ideas presented in the videos by posting their own
162
videos or questions to experts, thereby creating a conversation in the public sphere. Typically, each
video shows a public intellectual or pundit against a stark white background answering a single
pointed question in three to five minutes. Big Think launched with 2,000 clips from 85 guest
speakers. 128
Business Model - When it started out, Big Thinks’ business model (a classic two-sided network) was
about attracting viewers. Once a sufficient amount of viewers are on board Big Think beli eves it will
be in a better position to attract advertisers. 129 In the future, Big Think wants to focus on leveraging
its knowledge network. In addition, Big Think wishes to slowly move away from the YouTube model,
and instead place a strong focus on crowd-sourcing, user-rating and direct user/expert interaction. 130
Competitors – According to TechCrunch Big Think is competing for the same audience segment as
FORA.tv. FORA.tv gathers a lot more video of public intellectuals, politicians, and business celebrities
from conferences and other public-speaking venues and presents them in three-minute clips on its
website. Big Think positions itself as a two way communication channel producing content
specifically for the online viewing experience whereas FORA.tv is about delivering high quality
content but in one direction. 131
128
(2008) Thoughts about Big Think available at http://techcrunch.com/2008/01/07/thoughts-about-bigthink/
[accessed 16/06/10]
129
Arango, Tim (2008). Ex-Harvard President meets a former student and Intellectual Sparks Fly available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/technology/07summers.html?_r=1 [accessed 16/06/10]
130
Big Think Company Profile on TechCrunch available at http://www.crunchbase.com/company/bigthink
[accessed 16/06/10]
131
(2008) Thoughts about Big Think available at http://techcrunch.com/2008/01/07/thoughts-about-bigthink/
[accessed 16/06/10]
163
Big Think homepage
Figure 59 Big Think
Homepage
164
Figure 60 viewing content on BigThink.com
This is what the user sees when they select a video to view on BigThink.com. To play the video the
user simply clicks on the play icon on the particular video chosen. There is a transcript of the video
available. The user can rate the video from 1-5 by clicking on the stars underneath the clip. Users can
share content via various social networking and bookmarking sites. Code is supplied for the user to
embed the video into their website. Recommendations are provided for the user based on the
content they are currently viewing. In order to comment on a clip or add to a discussion the user
must create an account and log in.
Content is divided into a number of different topics. Users can also access numerous blogs. The user
can click into these categories for content or simply use the search box located at the top right hand
corner and search by keyword. Big Think uses the creative commons license.
165
Social Media Marketing
Targeting
Lifelong learners or intellectuals seeking video content on the big ideas affecting the
world today.
University students looking to supplement course work with additional resources.
Twitter - http://twitter.com/big_think
What is being tweeted?
Advertising existing content on www.bigthink.com (linkbacks to individual video clips
on bigthink.com).
Questions posed and answers revealed in videos (includes a linkback to the featured
video on bigthink.com).
Most popular videos on bigthink.com so far in 2010 / top 10 videos of 2010
(including linkbacks).
Use of hashtag to advertise content about topical issues, e.g. #worldcup.
Other points to note:
Schedule: Usually post between 7-10 tweets daily.
Followers: 7,418
Following: 2,517
Use of @: post links relating to particular speakers on their twitter page.
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/BigThinkdotcom
The Big Think Facebook page is quite cleaver. Its aim is to drive users back to bigthinkcom. The
thinking is if users like the videos posted on the Facebook page then they’ll be encouraged to check
out more videos on the actual Big Think site. Each post is a question and the answer is given in the
video that is embedded below the question. There is also a short blurb given about the video. Users
then get to post their comments after each post. It seems to be an effective method of advertising
content on your site but getting people to think about the ‘big’ issues of the day. Currently the fan
page has approximately 9,200 fans. On average one question is posed on Facebook daily and users
get to ponder that issue for the day.
166
BigThink.com vs. FORA.tv vs. TED.com 132
Figure 61 Analytics
Clearly TED.com is the most popular of all the sites, with a 0.05% higher reach than its competitors.
This is not surprising since TED has been around the longest. The other sites seem to have a very
similar reach, FORA.tv peaks slightly ahead of the others in June; this could be because its appeal is
beyond the academic audience.
132
Analytics from www.alexa.com [accessed 16/06/10].
167
3. TED.com
www.ted.com
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It is a small non-profit foundation known for
its annual conferences called TED Talks. TED Talks are videos of lectures from the conferences and
are shared widely online. 133 The best talks and performances from TED conferences are available to
the world for free via TED.com. Videos are released under a Creative Commons license, and can
therefore be freely shared and reposted. 134
Figure 62 TED Homepage
133
134
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/ted [accessed 16/06/10]
http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/5 [accessed 16/06/10]
168
TED also has its own YouTube Channel 135
Figure 63 TED.com homepage
TED holds two conferences each year, one in Palm Springs and another in Oxford, UK. Each year
some of the world’s top thinkers are invited to speak at these conferences and the videos are then
posted on TED.com at a later date.
135
http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksdirector [accessed 09/06/10]
169
Figure 64 Viewing content on TED.com
Users can search for content under a number of different criteria located at the top of the page.
Alternatively they can use the search box. A brief description of the talk and the author is provided
for the user on the left hand side of the page followed by some recommendations based on the
user’s current choice. Users can share the video via the various social networking and bookmarking
sites. They can also tweet directly from this page about this video. Code is available so that users can
embed the video into their own site. Users can also download this video, add it to their favourites
(users need to create an account and be logged in to avail of this service) or email it to their peers.
IBM, Cisco, Autodesk, Tiffany & Co. is just some of the sponsors supporting this site. IBM supports
this site as part of their Smarter Planet initiative.
170
Closed Captioning & Transcripts on TED
Figure 65: Transcripts
Transcripts are available to accompany the video clips. Some transcripts are available in multiple
languages. All of the talks featured on TED.com have closed captions in English, and many feature
subtitles in various languages.
Figure 66 Rating content
Rating - Users can rate the content more accurately than by awarding it a mark from 1-5.
171
Social Media Marketing
Targeting
Lifelong learners looking for video content on technology, entertainment or design.
University students looking to supplement course work with additional resources.
Twitter - http://twitter.com/tedtalks
What is being tweeted?
Advertising new talks on www.ted.com (linkbacks to individual video clips on
www.ted.com).
Use of hashtag to advertise ted talks that twitter users might search for e.g. #TED.
Other points to note:
Schedule: Generally just one post a day.
Followers: 139,635
Following: 33
Use of @: only if it’s to do with TED (they have another twitter feed ted news).
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/TED
The fan page has approximately 500,000 fans. Post are about daily TED talks, news, TED events and
photos, and any video exclusives that they wish to share with their audience. Posts are mainly from
fans commenting on what they like about TED or commenting on particular content. In the
discussions tab there are 106 ongoing discussions on various issues covered in TED talks. There is
also a tab advertising upcoming TED events. Finally, there are a handful of videos posted. However,
the idea here is if you want to view content you need to go to www.ted.com.
Blog - http://blog.ted.com/
This is a supplemental site to www.ted.com. Naturally the site contains a number of linkbacks to
www.ted.com. The blog contains about three to four of the most recent ted talks, the videos to
accompany these talks and a brief description of the talk or of the person giving the talk or an
interview with the person giving the talk. Other items featured on the blog include snippets from
popular older talks or lecture series. As usual users can add comments or share the clip with their
peers through the common social networking and social bookmarking sites. Users can also access
the TED archive from here, as well as view recent posts from other users on featured content. There
is also a list of blogs that TED recommends. Finally, users can sign up to the receive RSS feeds of the
TED blog.
172
Appendix 3
iTunes U
The Open University on iTunes U
Figure 67 The Open University Business School Channel on iTunes U
The Open University (OU) has a separate media team responsible for producing all of their content.
Since June 2008 the OU has had 3.4 million downloads (in the form of PDF documents). This
translates to roughly 75 thousand downloads per week. 88% of visitors are from outside the UK. 1 in
6 of these visitors goes onto the OU site by clicking on the link on the iTunes U site. Finally, the OU
iTunes U site experiences 1 new visitor every 2 minutes. 136
136
Hayes, T. (2009) ‘The Potential of Podcasting in Higher Education’. Available from iTunes U, published
07/06/2009 [accessed 14/06/2010]
173
Figure 68 How content is delivered on Open University iTunes U
The user can download an audio version of the podcast. In addition, the user has access to a
transcript of the audio file. One reason why content may not be available as video yet is possibly to
do with digital rights management. This is currently one of the biggest challenges that many
institutions face when making their content available via iTunes U to the general public. 137
Figure 69 Transcripts
When the user clicks on the transcript tab they see a list of the same content but the file types are
different. The icon (booklet) changes to indicate to the user that they are downloading a document.
This is a transcript of the podcast as a PDF file. The downloading process is the same, the user clicks
the get button and the content is then added to their iTunes U folder. The user can tweet about this
content or share it on their favourite social network by clicking the appropriate link.
The OU & Creative Commons
137
Hayes, T. (2009) ‘The Potential of Podcasting in Higher Education’. Available from iTunes U, published
07/06/2009 [accessed 14/06/2010]
174
By publishing their content under a Creative Commons licence the OU gives permission for users to
download, amend, reuse and share their materials with anyone. Users might want to translate the
materials, add a new activity or update some older course materials with the latest thinking. The
point of Creative Commons is to ask that users attribute The Open University as the source of the
educational material, publish any changes they make to the material under the same Creative
Commons licence and that users don't use the content commercially (although they can use it in a
course for which they charge an admission fee).
Other activity that OU is involved in…
The Open University Lab Space is a resource that allows students and teachers to share and remix
open educational resources. Students can publish their own educational content in the Lab Space
and contribute to a growing library of free online materials for higher education.
The OU also has Open Learn which provides free learning resources from the OU. One interesting
technology that students use if they wish to share content, notes, resources with others is flashvlog.
This software allows users to capture what they are doing on their own desktop and share it with
their peers.
175
Cambridge University on iTunes U
Figure 70 Cambridge University iTunes U homepage
Cambridge joined iTunes U in October 2008. The university hosts its audio and video content on its
Streaming Media Service run by the university’s Computing Service. All recorded content is then
edited, quality controlled, categorized and finally uploaded to iTunes U.
176
What the Judge Business School is doing on iTunes U
Figure 71 Judge Business School on iTunes U
Content is sorted into various categories (see above). Users can peruse which category they are
interested in and then click into this. Each subject lists the number of tracks and the date it was last
modified, giving the user an indication of how recent content is. If the user is not interested in any
content on this page they can simply use one of the links to return to the main page and choose a
different category. To date transcriptions of content are not available. In other categories content is
provided in the form of video.
177
Fig.58 The Entrepreneurship Channel on Cambridge iTunes U
Figure 72 Cambridge university website link to iTunes U
178
Closed Captioning on iTunes U
Not many of the institutions are currently using the closed captioning facility available through
iTunes U. Users can use the power search tool to look for closed captioned content.
Figure 73 CC on iTunes U
Closed captioned content is indicated by the CC icon. In the screen shot below, the user can tell that
the circled content is a closed captioned video file.
Figure 74 CC on iTunes U
179
Appendix 4
Irish Competitors
UCD
Podcasting
UCDscholarcast (series of podcasts) is a research-oriented podcasting initiative. Podcasts are
studio-recorded to broadcast standard and are aimed at a wide academic audience of scholars,
graduate students, undergraduates and interested others. Each scholarcast is accompanied by a
downloadable PDF transcript to facilitate citation in written academic work. Dr PJ Mathews runs
this service. 138
Figure 75 UCD scholarcast
A very simple or basic service is offered. Users can download a transcript of the podcast as a PDF file
or they can download the MP3 audio file to listen to. An abstract is available giving a brief overview
of the podcast and a brief biography is available of the presenter. Users can subscribe to an RSS feed
of Scholarcast. In addition, podcasts can be accessed via iTunes by clicking on the link provided
(regular iTunes, not iTunes U).
A creative commons license is used. UCDscholarcast podcast and transcripts are made under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported
license.
138
http://www.ucd.ie/itservices/mediaservices/latestdevelopments/index.html#content13 [accessed
16/06/10]
180
Lecture capture at UCD
Figure 76 The Echo360 system currently in use at UCD
UCD IT Services deployed a lecture capture solution in 2009 in four teaching spaces in UCD.
Users can also borrow a mobile laptop to capture lectures. This solution allows the lecturer to
easily capture different aspects of their lecture (speaker, slides, and other class materials)
and to make it available to their students via their Blackboard module. This can be done
in two simple steps which can either be completely automated by scheduling in advance or
done in an ad-hoc manner on the day. The first step is capturing the podcast. Next, the
capture is processed and published to the learning management system.
The technology used here is Echo 360. It seems really easy to use; there is a guide on the UCD
website outlining step-by-step use of the system. It allows users to capture:
Anything presented via a PC or laptop
Anything presented via a visualiser
Audio from the room's AV system
Video input from a video camera
To access the service lecturers or guest speakers complete a form requesting lecture capture of a
particular module. The service is operated by the Teaching and Learning IT department.
181
The Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business
Figure 77 The Michael Smurfit Graduate School homepage on YouTube
Content is mainly testimonials from past students promoting the various courses on offer. There is a
video on each course offered by the school. Some content is in Spanish, Italian, German and Chinese.
These videos are the same content just dubbed with native voice-overs. Any interviews in the videos
conducted in English remain in English. Content is divided into playlists and favourites. Users can
rate content or add comments. The channel is a little over a year old. The oldest content is from a
year ago. In total there are approximately fifty-two videos, each one lasting from under a minute to
ten minutes. However, most videos are very short, basically giving a brief description of the course.
The most viewed video is one detailing ‘Life at UCD Smurfit School’. It is safe to say that this is purely
182
a marketing channel promoting what the Smurfit School has to offer to prospective students and
giving prospective students a chance to get a feel for the school. The site is administered by a web
team.
As with all YouTube channels there is a small blurb about the business school and a link to the main
website. The same content is repeated on this website and is called the ‘Multimedia Centre’.
Figure 78 The multimedia centre on the Michael Smurfit Business School website
183
Social Media Marketing
Targeting
Prospective students interested in attending the university in the future.
Current students, keeping them up to date with what is happening in the university
presently.
Twitter - http://twitter.com/SmurfitSchool
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/SmurfitSchool
Twitter
Smurfit Business School’s twitter feed is very recent. They appear to be online from the end of April
2010. To date they only have eighteen followers and are not following anyone. Tweets are very
much aimed at promoting the school and directing followers to content on the Smurfit website
detailing the university (courses and life on campus). In terms of their tweeting schedule, tweets
appear to be random with on average one tweet a week.
Facebook
The page has just over six hundred and fifty fans. One interesting aspect is the future student tab
which outlines the basics that prospective students would ask. It also contains links back to the main
school website. Aside from that the wall allows current and future students to post comments and
connect with alumni or future class mates or those that share similar interests. There are also posts
detailing information about courses, grants and college life.
184
UCC
Figure 79 The UCC YouTube channel
According to this site UCC joined in January 2010. Clearly they haven’t been too active on the site to
date as there are currently just 4 videos posted up on the channel and the site currently has 8
subscribers. As there is so little content it is not really categorised yet. Content includes promotional
videos detailing ongoing research at UCC, showcasing events taking place in UCC, and field trip video
diaries from current students.
Social Media Marketing
Targeting
Current staff and students.
Twitter- http://twitter.com/UCC_Ireland
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/universitycollegecork
Facebook and Twitter
185
Both sites act as general news feed about UCC and what’s currently going on, recent events,
conferences, awards or history. UCC twitter has over 1,500 followers while Facebook has about
1,100 fans. Posts to both sites are the same; obviously Facebook posts contain more information or
pictures to accompany the posts. Tweets generally include linkbacks to news stories featured on the
UCC website. In terms of schedule, there seems to be one post or tweet daily.
186
Appendix 5
Competitor Use Cases
Use Case Scenarios f or Stanford eC orner
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Use Case 01. Quick Search
All users (members or Guests).
http://eCorner.stanford.edu/
User should be able to perform a quick search.
User should be in the homepage.
User would be able to see the results according to the indicated search criteria.
1. This use case begins when user enters search criteria into the search
box at the top right hand corner of the homepage.
2. The user clicks the search button.
3. The site displays the search results according to user’s criteria and this
use case ends.
Use Case 02. Advanced Search
All users (members or Guests).
http://eCorner.stanford.edu/search.html?keywords=mark+zuckerberg (URL as
a result of already carrying out a quick search).
User should be able to refine a search from a previously conducted search.
User should have already performed Quick Search Use Case.
User would be able to refine a search.
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on the ‘Advanced Search’
link.
2. The user selects criteria from the parameters on the page to filter the
existing generated search results.
3. The search results are refined, the site displays the corresponding
search results and this use case ends.
Use Case 03. Sort by
All users (members or Guests).
http://eCorner.stanford.edu/search.html?keywords=mark+zuckerberg (URL as
a result of already carrying out a quick search).
Users should be able to sort through search results.
User should have performed a search and is viewing the search results page.
User would be able to sort through results.
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on one of the six headings
used to display content (see screen shot below).
2. The site sorts the corresponding column that was selected (e.g. when
date is selected the most recent content is at the top) and this use case
ends.
187
How to sort results on eCorner
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Use Case 04. View Content Landing
All Users.
URL of chosen video / podcast.
User should be able to view content landing page.
User should have already performed search.
User should be looking at the content landing page.
User would be able to view content landing page with the details of the
content (video/podcast).
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on the chosen content link.
2. The site displays the content landing page and this use case ends.
Use Case 05. Viewing Content
All users.
Page displaying video or podcast.
User should be able to view the video / podcast they chose.
User should have already chosen content.
User should be viewing the content landing page of the video.
User would be able to view a video or listen to a podcast.
1. This use case begins when actor clicks on the play icon on the video.
2. The site begins playback of the video and the use case ends.
188
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Use Case 06. Download a Video
All users (members or guests).
URL of content landing page.
User should be able to download chosen video.
User should be on the content landing page.
User will be able to download chosen video.
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on the download icon in
the bottom right hand corner of the content landing page.
2. The user chooses the type of file they wish to download from the
available options in the pop up window displayed.
3. User clicks save button.
4. Site displays file directory pop-up box.
5. User selects directory to save the video to and this use case ends.
Use Case 07. Download a Podcast
All users (members or guests).
URL of content landing page.
User should be able to download chosen podcast.
User should be on the content landing page.
User will be able to download chosen podcast.
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on the podcast icon in the
bottom right hand corner of the content landing page.
2. The user chooses to download MP3 audio file from the pop-up
window.
3. User clicks save button.
4. Site displays file directory pop-up box.
5. User selects directory to save the podcast to. This use case ends.
Use Case 08. Add Video to Favourites
Members.
URL of content landing page.
User should be able to add the video to favourites.
User should be on the content landing page.
User should be logged into the site.
User would be able to add the video to their favourites.
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on the ‘Add to favourites’
icon in the bottom right hand corner of the content landing page.
2. Site adds video to the user’s favourites.
3. Site displays the item in the user’s favourite folder and the use case
ends.
189
Use Case 09. Share Video
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
All users.
URL of content landing page.
User should be able to share content.
User should be on the content landing page.
User should have an account with the social network / bookmark site they
wish to share content on.
User would be able to share video with peers through selected social
networks or social bookmarking sites.
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on the share icon on the
bottom right hand corner of the content landing page.
2. The user chooses from the given selection which site to share content
on.
3. User clicks on the icon of chosen site.
4. The users is brought to a separate page and asked to login to their
chosen social network.
5. The site then prompts the user to click the share button to complete
this use case.
Use Case 10. Embed the Video
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
All users.
URL of content landing page.
User should be able to embed this content onto their website.
User should be on the content landing page.
User would be able to view video on own website.
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on the embed icon on the
bottom right hand corner of the content landing page.
2. The user copies the code from the pop up window, and pastes it into
their website and this use case ends.
Use Case 11. Email the Video
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Members.
URL of content landing page.
User can email video to peers.
User should be on the content landing page.
User needs to be logged in to avail of this service.
User would be able to share the video with peers.
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on the ‘Email’ icon on the
bottom right hand corner of the content landing page.
2. The user is brought to a new page.
3. The user enters the details of the recipient.
4. The users hits the submit email button and this use case ends.
190
Site Registration & Login
In order to access content on the Stanford eCorner users do not have to be registered or be logged
into the system. However, to take advantage of the site and to save content for later use or to share
content with friends, users will need an account and they will need to be logged in.
Registration process on eCorner
The
191
Use Case 12. Quick Registration
User
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Notes
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Alternative
Course 1
All users
http://eCorner.stanford.edu/loginregister.html
User should be able to register into the system.
All users should register from the sign-up page.
User should be able to login to the system in the future using registered
username and password.
1. User clicks on the ‘Register’ link on the homepage.
2. User enters first name and last name into appropriate fields.
3. User enters their email address which will be their username.
4. User enters a password.
5. User indicates level of education from the profile dropdown menu.
6. User enters University or Organisation they are in.
7. User indicates which country they are from, from the dropdown
menu.
8. There is an option to check a box to subscribe to a monthly email.
9. The user agrees to the terms of use.
10. User clicks register.
11. System returns to homepage and user can see that there login was a
success as their username is displayed at the top of the page. Use
Case ends.
Registration was quick and simple. It took less than a minute. There is no
option to create a user profile beyond what is needed for registration.
Use Case 13. Log In
All Users.
http://eCorner.stanford.edu/loginregister.html
User should be able to login to the system.
User should have already registered.
User should be in the homepage.
User would be able to login and use the site.
1. Use case begins when user clicks on login located at the top right hand
corner of the homepage.
2. User enters their email and password and then clicks Login.
3. Site updates homepage by displaying username in top right hand of
homepage and user knows login was successful. The use case ends.
User Logins with incorrect username or password
The user can click on the ‘Forgot your password’ link and the site emails a
new password to the user.
192
ASU You Tube.edu Channel Use Case
Use Case 01. View Content on ASU homepage on YouTube
Users
All users.
URL
http://www.youtube.com/user/asu
Description
User should be looking at content on the YouTube.com/edu channel
for ASU.
Preconditions
If user wishes to save content to favourites or subscribe to site they will
need to be logged into YouTube/Google.
Post Conditions
User will be able to view all ASU content on their YouTube.com/edu
channel.
Normal Course
1. The user clicks on a video clip from the menu on the right hand
side.
2. The chosen clip is then played in the centre of the page and
this use case ends.
Alternative Course
1. The user can click on Uploads.
1
2. The user can then peruse this section in the menu on the right
hand side of the page and choose an appropriate video.
3. When the user clicks on the video it plays and this use case
ends.
Alternative Course
1. The user can click on favourites.
2
2. The user can then peruse the favourites list and choose an
appropriate video.
3. When the user clicks on the video it plays and this use case
ends.
Alternative Course
1. The user can click on playlists.
3
2. The user can then peruse playlists and choose an appropriate
video.
3. When the user clicks on the video it plays and this use case
ends.
Alternative Course
1. The user decides to search for a particular term in the search
4
bar at the top of the page.
2. The user enters a search term to do with ASU.
3. The user is then brought out of the ASU YouTube channel and
is now on the normal YouTube site viewing the search results
and this use case ends.
Notes and Issues
Unless the user knows the URL for ASU’s YouTube channel it is
awkward to find. If the user searches within YouTube for it they simply
get search results displaying any content with ASU in the description
but they are not brought directly to the ASU YouTube.edu channel.
193
IE Media Campus Us e Cases
Searching for content
Use Case 01. Quick Search
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post conditions
Normal Course
All users.
http://mediacampus.ie.edu/
User should be able to perform a quick search.
Users should be in the homepage.
User should be able to understand the results according to indicated
search criteria.
1. User enters search criteria in the search field. In this case the
user entered ‘entrepreneurs’.
2. User clicks search button.
3. System displays search results corresponding to search
criteria and use case ends. In this case 6 results were
displayed.
I entered the term ‘entrepreneur’ into the search box. The results showed 6 videos that matched my
search. I also had the option of refining my search using the options along the left hand side of the
page.
As you can see the user can refine their search by file (video, audio, photo), by rating, by year and by
language.
194
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Notes and Issues
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Notes and Issues
Use Case 03. View Content Landing Page
All users.
http://mediacampus.ie.edu/eng/ie-experience/edutainment-ieuniversity-episode-1 (URL of users search criteria)
User should be able to view content landing page.
User should have already performed search.
User should be already viewing the search results page.
User should be able to view content landing page with the details of
the selected result.
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on either the link to
view the video in a new window or on the play icon.
2. The site displays the content landing page, the video starts
and this use case ends.
1. The user can add the results to their favourites but since the
user has not created an account it is difficult to see where
the user can access their favourites from at a later date.
2. Users can rate content or add comments on content. They
can also share content with peers.
Use Case 02. Refine Search
All users.
http://mediacampus.ie.edu/
User should be able to refine a search from a previously conducted
search.
User should have already performed Use Case 01. Quick Search.
User should be able to refine a search.
1. This use case begins when the user selects criteria from the
parameters portion of the page to filter the existing
generated search results. In this case these are located on
the left hand side of the page.
2. User doesn’t need to hit search again, site automatically
updates content according to criteria checked.
3. System displays search results according to the selected filter
criteria and use case ends.
1. The site defaulted into Spanish once search criteria were
refined.
2. The user cannot change the number of search results shown.
195
Refining a Search
When I filter my search (see screen shot above) the site automatically defaults into Spanish.
Obviously this is not ideal for English speaking users. However, the visual cues on the page do make
it slightly easy to navigate the page despite the language barrier. But this situation is far from ideal.
196
IE Media Campus Usability Assessment
1. Consistency: The layout at each page is consistent, everything is in the same area on each
page, and e.g. the search box is at the top of each page. The channels and topic menus are
located on the left hand side and recommended videos are located on the right hand side.
Location, contact and social media information is located at the bottom of each webpage on
the site. All relevant information appears to be logically grouped together.
2. Use of simple and natural dialogue: The layout appears quite clean and uncluttered. The
font is the same from one page to the next and the background colour of blue is inoffensive
and easy on the eye. The text is easily readable from this background. The font appears to be
Arial which is recommended by many usability experts for easy on screen reading. There are
less than five colours used, blue, white, cream and light green appear to be the main colours
used in this site.
3. Speak the user’s language: There are lots of metaphors on this site which make usability of
the site almost automatic. For videos the movie reel symbol is used. For audio the
headphones symbol is used. If users wish to play a video they can simply click on the play
symbol. The design of the site means that anyone can instantly use the site and there is not
much learning involved. A good information to administration ratio is employed as only
necessary words are on the website, where possible symbolic cues are used. For example
the RSS symbol, the share symbol or the logos of the various social networking sites are all
used.
4. Reduce user’s memory load: The user has the opportunity to choose from many different
menus and they are given very little opportunity to enter information. The whole idea is that
they choose from pre-existing information.
5. Provide informative feedback: The site loads very quickly and when loading users can see
the loading symbol on the page.
6. Provide shortcuts for frequent users: There is not much content on this site so shortcuts are
unnecessary.
7. Use of error messages: No errors were encountered when using the site.
197
Use Case Scenarios for Academic Earth
User
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post
Conditions
Normal
Course
Notes
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post
Conditions
Normal
Course
Alternative
Course 1
Alternative
Course 2
Use Case 01. Quick Registration
All users.
http://www.academicearth.org/users/signup
User should be able to register into the system.
All users should register from the sign-up page.
User should be able to login to the system in the future using registered
username and password.
12. User clicks on the ‘Register’ link on the homepage.
13. User enters preferred user name into the ‘user name’ field.
14. The user is informed that the username and password are case
sensitive.
15. User enters a preferred password.
16. User retypes password.
17. User enters email address.
18. User indicates level of education from the dropdown menu.
19. There is an option to check a box if the user is still a student.
20. User enters DOB.
21. User indicates which country they are from, from the dropdown
menu.
22. There is an option to check a box to subscribe to an email.
23. The user has to type six numbers into a box. This is the
verification stage.
24. User clicks register.
25. System returns to homepage and user can see that their login
was a success as their username is displayed at the top of the
page. Use Case ends.
Registration was quick and simple. It took about two minutes in total.
There is no option to create a user profile beyond what is needed for
registration.
Use Case 02. Log In
All Academic Earth Registered users
http://www.academicearth.org/
User should be able to login to the system.
User should have already registered. User should be in the homepage.
User would be able to login and use the site.
4. Use case begins when user clicks on login located at the top
right hand corner of the homepage.
5. User enters their username and password and then clicks Login.
6. Site updates homepage by displaying username in top right hand
of homepage and user knows login was successful. The use case
ends.
User forgets Password
It is up to the user to remember this.
User logins with incorrect username or password
The site lets users retry many different passwords until they remember
the correct one.
198
Notes and
Issues
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post
Conditions
Normal
Course
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post
Conditions
Normal
Course
There is no assistance available if the user forgets their password.
However, users only need to login to see their favourites. They can still
use the site without being logged in.
Use Case 03. Quick Search
All users (registered or guests).
http://www.academicearth.org/
User should be able to perform a quick search.
User should be in the homepage.
User would be able to see the results corresponding to their search
criteria.
1. User enters some search criteria in the search field.
2. User clicks search.
3. Site displays all content that matches to the search criteria
indicated by the user and the use case ends.
Use Case 04. Advanced Search
All users (registered or guests).
http://www.academicearth.org/lectures/advanced
User should be able to refine a search from a previously conducted
search.
User should have already performed Use Case 03. Quick Search.
User would be able to refine a search.
1. This page begins when the user clicks ‘advanced search’.
2. User re-enters their search criteria into the search box.
3. The user refines their search by checking the boxes of a number
of parameters to help refine the search.
4. When the user is happy with chosen parameters they click
‘Search’.
5. The site displays the refined search results corresponding to the
parameters selected and the use case ends.
199
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post
Conditions
Normal
Course
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post
Conditions
Normal
Course
Notes
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Use Case 05. Sort by
All users (registered or guests).
(URL from search results page – use case 03 or use case 04).
Users should be able to sort results.
Users should have already preformed search.
Users should be viewing the search results page.
User would be able to sort search results.
1. This use case begins when users select how to sort their search.
Users can sort search by relevancy, title or rating.
2. User clicks on an option and the site refreshes the page
accordingly.
Use Case 06. View Content Landing
All users (registered or guests).
http://www.academicearth.org/lectures/generating-revenue (URL of
chosen video from search results).
User should be able to view content landing page.
User should have already performed search.
User should be currently looking at the search results page.
User would be able to view the content landing page with the selected
video.
1. This case begins when the user clicks on the chosen item from
their search results.
2. The site displays the video landing page and the video begins to
play. The use case is now complete.
If users wish to save this video to their favourites they need to be logged
in.
Use Case 07. Add Video to Favourites
Members.
URL of content landing page.
User should be able to add the video to favourites.
User should be on the content landing page.
User should be logged into the site.
User would be able to add the video to their favourites.
4. This use case begins when the user clicks on the ‘Add to
favourites’ icon below the video on the content landing page.
5. Site adds video to the user’s favourites and displays added to
favourites when complete. This use case ends.
Use Case 08. Share Video
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
All users.
URL of content landing page.
User should be able to share content.
User should be on the content landing page.
User should have an account with the social network / bookmark site
200
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
they wish to share content on.
User would be able to share video with peers through selected social
networks or social bookmarking sites.
6. This use case begins when the user clicks on the share icon
below the video on the content landing page.
7. The user chooses from the given selection which site to share
content on.
8. User clicks on the icon of chosen site.
9. The users is brought to a separate window and asked to login to
their chosen social network.
10. The site then prompts the user to click the share button to
complete this use case.
Use Case 09. Embed the Video
All users.
URL of content landing page.
User should be able to embed this content onto their website.
User should be on the content landing page.
User would be able to view video on own website.
3. This use case begins when the user clicks on the embed icon
below the video on the content landing page.
4. A small window opens which contains the code to embed the
video.
5. The user copies the code from the pop up window, and pastes
it into their website, then clicks the ‘x’ to close the pop-up
window and this use case ends.
201
Users
URL
Description
Preconditions
Post Conditions
Normal Course
Use Case 10. Email the Video
All users.
URL of content landing page.
User can email video to peers.
User should be on the content landing page.
User would be able to share the video with peers.
5. This use case begins when the user clicks on the ‘Envelope’
icon below the video on the content landing page.
6. A new window appears with a ‘from’ and a ‘to’ box and an
area to type a message.
7. The user enters their details and clicks ‘send an email’.
8. The email is sent and this use case ends.
Use Case 11. Cite the video in other acade mic work
Users
All users.
URL
URL of content landing page.
Description
User can get exact information on how to cite content.
Preconditions
User should be on the content landing page.
Post Conditions User would be able to cite the video as per the author’s instructions /
creative commons license.
Normal Course
1. This use case begins when the user clicks on the ‘citation’
below the video on the content landing page.
2. A pop-up window appears containing the citation information.
3. The user copies these details and uses them appropriately.
4. The user clicks on the ‘x’, the pop-up window closes this use
case ends.
202
Academic Earth Usability Analysis
1. Be consistent: The website definitely has a predictable look and feel to it. Across all
the pages of the website the menu bar (situated at the top of the page in the above
screen shot) remains in the same position, and the options remain the same.
Navigating the site is very easy. It is designed in such a way that the user finds the
content they are looking for pretty easily. Future visits to the site will be even more
user friendly. Alternatively if the user is not exactly sure what they are looking for
browsing is fairly straightforward. In terms of the layout the white background with
charcoal writing makes for easy reading and it is aesthetically inoffensive. In the
majority of cases there are less than five colours used on the site. The font is arial
which is recommended for easy reading.
2. Simple and Natural dialogue: The information to administration ratio is good in that
only necessary information is displayed on the screen. Pictures are used or menus
and any site administration information can be accessed from the bottom of the web
page (see above screen shot). The information is logically grouped together, either
203
by school, by subject or by playlist. There is no overuse of emphasis and to be honest
the layout of the site is kept simple so as not to distract from the main function of
the site, which is to provide information.
3. Speak the user’s language: All information on the site is worded using familiar
academic terminology which users of the site should be familiar with. For example,
the featured content is rated based on the grading system, so if students or other
academics are using the rating system it should be fairly intuitive. There are some
metaphors used on the site. For example, the magnifying glass to indicate the search
box. The ‘play’ symbol located on some pictures means that the user can click into
these to launch the video. Whenever the mouse hovers over anything which can be
clicked the pointer changes to a finger indicating to the users that that particular
item contains more information.
4. Reduce user’s memory load: The only time the user inputs data onto the site is
when they are using the search tool. However, when using the advanced search tool
the user can narrow their search by choosing from an already pre-defined list of
parameters. Furthermore, the user doesn’t even have to login to the site to view
content unless they want to save it to their favourites. Only then do they need to
remember a username and password.
5. Provide informative feedback and easy reversal of actions: As soon as the user
clicks on an item the page loads very quickly or the video is buffered very quickly.
When a video is loading the circle loading symbol is displayed on screen informing
the user about what is happening. If the user hits the back button the site
immediately returns to the previous page the user was viewing. No user-driven error
was encountered when using this site.
6. Error messages: No errors were encountered using this site so no ambiguous or
incomprehensible error messages were displayed.
204
FORA.tv vs. TED.com 139
What can you watch?
Who’s watching?
Slogan
Paradigmatic Viewer
Follow the money
FORA.tv
TED.com
More than 10,000 talks
available, in whole or in part,
from 160 presenters at venues
such as the Cambridge Union
Society and the New York
Public Library.
More than 2 million streams
served per month; 41% of
viewers are overseas.
"The world is thinking" ("Isn't
technology great? We can use
it to watch these videos.")
Tom Friedman, or the hippest
humanities professor at
Williams College
For-profit; revenue from onsite sponsorships (e.g.,
Chevron) and ad splits with
distribution partners such as
Hulu. Expects to break even
this year.
A total of more than 596 talks
available, all from TED's two
annual conferences, TED
(February, in California) and
TEDGlobal (July, in Oxford,
England).
About 11 million streams
served per month; 60% of
viewers are overseas.
"Ideas worth spreading" ("Isn't
technology great? We can use
it to save the world.")
Penn Jillette: intelligent, tech
savvy, sometimes funny, a bit
of a blowhard
Not-for-profit; revenue via
Web-site ad placements,
conference fees, and
sponsorships. Corporate
partners include BMW, GE,
and IBM.
Oceanographer David Gallo
on "underwater
astonishments";
Pattie Maes of the MIT Media
Lab demo-ing an alternate
interface to the human
environment.
Most Popular Videos
MythBusters's Adam Savage
on "colossal failures";
astrophysicist Neil deGrasse
Tyson on "America's
irrational love affair with
Pluto".
Viewing Experience
Sombre charcoal gray and
black. Think Master's Tea at
Yale.
139
Crisp white with accents of
steel gray and red. Think
lunch at the Googleplex.
Barol, Bill (01/03/2010). ‘Face-Off Ted Talks vs. Fora.tv’, available at
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/143/face-off-brain-versus-brain.html [accessed 15/06/10]
205
Mon 3rd
Announce guest
speaker: Lisa
Lambert from Intel
speaking on 6th.
Reply to @...How to
listen to podcasts on
iPhone instructions.
w/c 2nd
Tue 4th
Wed 5th
no activity
Link to bio of
guest speaker
Thur 6th
Reminder for
attendees that
guest lecture
starting shortly
Reminder about
what time content
will be available on
eCorner.
Fri 7th
no activity
Monday 10th
Advertising this
week's speaker
& link to bio on
Ecorner.
Tue 11th
Reminder of
time & venue
of guest
speaker.
w/c 9th
Wed 12th
no activity
Thur 13th
Fri 14th
no activity
Mon 17th
Reminder that
guest lecture
starting shortly.
Advertise this
week's guest
lecture (speaker,
time & venue).
2 Facts from
lecture tweeted
live.
Bio for guest
lecture link on
Ecorner.
Link to other talks
given by same
speaker on Intel
site.
RT question
asked at event.
2 Facts from
lecture tweeted
live.
Direct link to
today's podcast on
Ecorner.
Quotes from
today's speaker
tweeted.
Next week's
speaker
advertised.
w/c 16th
Tue 18th Wed 19th
no activity no activity
Thur 20th
Reminder that guest
lecture starting
shortly.
Quote from guest
speaker.
Advertise next
week's guest
speaker & inform
that it is last in
series.
Reply to follower
@...giving details of
how soon today's
podcast will be
available.
Confirming who
exactly next week's
speaker is.
Letting followers
know that podcast
now available on
Ecorner. Link
included.
Advertise other
recent podcasts
just posted to
Ecorner
Reminder about
next week's guest
speaker.
206
Fri 21st
no activity
Mon 24th
Advertising
who this
week's
speaker is.
Link to bio of
guest speaker
on the
Ecorner site.
w/c 23rd
Tue 25th Wed 26th
no activity
Reminder
about this
weeks guest
lecture.
Thur 27th
Reminder that
guest speaker
starting soon.
2 quotes from
lecture tweeted.
Link to site
mentioned by
speaker during
talk.
Reminder of what
time podcast will
be available today
from Ecorner.
Link to Ecorner for
podcast of lecture.
Another q
yesterday
tweeted.
Reminder
lecture se
link to en
on Ecorne
Appendix 6
Social Media Marketing
Twitt er
What is it?
Twitter is a micro-blogging site which allows users to create, discover and share ideas with
others. For businesses, Twitter allows them to communicate with their customers in realtime, informing them about new offers, or replying to customers’ comments or gathering
feedback or market research, essentially building relationships with new and existing
customers. 140
Who uses it?
Fig. 1 Twitter analytics
As we can see from the above statistics Twitter’s constantly increasing. Alexa ranks
Twitter.com as the 11th most popular site worldwide.141 According to Twitter and as of
February 2010, some 50 million tweets are sent each day. As more and more people begin
to access the site via their mobile devices Twitter’s popularity worldwide continues to grow.
Furthermore, the content produced by twitter each month is also on the increase.142
How does it work?
Users sign up by choosing a username and a password. If they want to they can compose a
short bio about themselves that will appear at the top right hand of their Twitter page.
Users can search for other users or companies that they might be interested in following by
using the ‘find people’ tool. If a user decides to follow a brand or another user they simply
click follow under the other person’s profile. Users can compose a message consisting of
140 characters (including text and spaces). The message is public and shared with all your
followers. Users see their followers’ messages on a timeline that updates as new updates
(called tweets) are posted. Users are free to post as many or as few tweets as they please
each day.
Some useful Twitter Tools
140
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/ [accessed 12/07/10]
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/twitter.com [accessed 12/07/10]
142
http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/02/22/twitter-statistics-full-picture/ [accessed 12/07/10]
141
207
Direct Messages (DMs) – Can be sent directly to followers to thank them for mentioning
you or promoting your site (possibly by retweeting one of your messages) to their followers.
It adds the personal touch and shows that you appreciate their support.
Use of @ - by placing the @ symbol before a person’s Twitter username without a space,
users can post tweets on that users twitter page, e.g. @DCUBSCorner. It is an effective way
to respond to users’ comments or questions or if you want to inform a user about some
aspect of your business that you know they’ll be interested in. One good example of this is
Stanford eCorner, when adding a new podcast they always post a tweet on the guest
speaker’s twitter page, advertising the material not only to Stanford eCorner followers but
also to the guest speakers followers’, therefore extending their reach.
Retweeting (RT) – this tool allows users to copy a message from one of their followers and
repost it thereby sharing it with their followers.
Hashtags (#) - In order to categorise Twitter messages and make them more discoverable
when twitter users uses the search tool you can employ the hashtag in your tweet. By
placing the symbol directly before a topic you are tweeting about, e.g. #podcasting, it will
allow this topic to appear in searches. If enough people use the same hashtag then that
term will appear in Twitter’s trendy topics.
Facebook
What is Facebook?
Facebook is an online network that lets users connect with and share information with their
family, friends and colleagues, allowing them to communicate more efficiently and keep up
to date with the goings on in their peers lives. Why should businesses be interested? Well
Facebook is considered to have some of the most sophisticated advertising tools compared
with other social networks. Business users can take advantage of tools like hyper-targeting
to direct campaigns at very specific segments to promote word of mouth or viral marketing.
143
Who uses it?
As of July 2010, Facebook has over 500 million users of which 50% are active in any given
day.144 The average user has 130 friends. People spend over 500 billion minutes on
Facebook per month. In terms of global reach, there are over 70 translations of the site
available and 70% of users are located outside the USA. Accessing Facebook from your
mobile is growing and currently there are over 100 million users accessing Facebook this
way. According to Facebook statistics, users who access the site from their mobile are twice
as active as non-mobile users. 145
143
Shih, Clara. (2009) The Facebook Era, pp214. Prentice Hall
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=409753352130 [accessed 25/07/10]
145
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics [accessed 12/07/10]
144
208
Fig. 2 Facebook.com analytics
Facebook is ranked as the 2nd most popular site worldwide and in the US. Also illustrated in
the above statistics is the increase in new users from 2009-2010 and this is still rising.146
TweetDeck
What is it?
TweetDeck is an online real-time application that allows users to stay in touch with what’s
happening right now on the major social networks. Through TweetDeck users can connect
with their contacts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn among others. TweetDeck functions
like a dashboard or browser letting users customise their Twitter experience with columns,
lists, saved searches and automatic updates. Users can also tweet, share photos, videos or
links directly from TweetDeck to their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.
How can it be used?
Users can follow all their friends in one column or divide them up into different lists and
then create different columns. This allows more targeted information to be sent to each list.
Users can also set up columns to see what DMs they’ve received and who has written on
their page (for example, @DCUBSCorner). Using TweetDeck is an easier and more time
efficient way to manage updates across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
TweetDeck also has a number of interesting features allowing users to get the most out of
the 140 character limit that Twitter imposes on all posts. For instance, users can
Shorten URLs so that they don’t take over the bulk of the message
Use TweetShrink to shorten certain words to allow users to get more into the 140
character limit
Translate posts (Arabic is available although we’re not sure how accurate it is but it
can only get better)
Schedule updates
Attach photos and videos to posts
LinkedIn
What is it?
LinkedIn is an online professional networking site that allows members to create business
contacts, search for jobs, and find potential clients. Individuals have the ability to create
146
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/facebook.com [accessed 12/07/10]
209
their own professional profile that can be viewed by others in their network, and also view
the profiles of their own contacts. Strict privacy guidelines are in place on LinkedIn. All
connections made are mutually confirmed and individuals only appear in the LinkedIn
network with their explicit consent.147
Using the network - LinkedIn allows users to make new business connections, be found for
business opportunities or find potential business partners. LinkedIn offers an effective way
by which people can develop an extensive list of contacts, as your network consists of your
own connections, your connections’ connections (2nd degree connections), as well as your
2nd degree’s connections (called your 3rd degree connections).148 In addition, by joining
groups, members can quickly build new relationships and gain valuable insights from
discussions with likeminded professionals. Users can also join subgroups for a more focused
discussion on a particular topic. Finally, the feature ‘LinkedIn Answers’ allows registered
users to post business-related questions that anyone else can answer. Users get rated for
their helpfulness.
Types of accounts - Basic, Business, Business Plus and Pro. The basic account is free; all the
other accounts are priced at a monthly rate. A free account allows users to set up a very
comprehensive profile, join relevant groups or discussions and build their network. Paid
accounts offer more tools to find people. A basic account will suffice for DCU Knowledge
Corner (see below for recommendations).
LIONs – In order to connect with someone on LinkedIn users will need some prior
relationship with other LinkedIn members (usually their email address). LIONs (LinkedIn
Open Networkers) get around this by placing their email address in the headline of their
profile and by placing the term ‘LION’ here too, thus advertising that they’ll accept invites
from strangers. They believe it allows users to build a more valuable and comprehensive
network. To increase connections users can create both a LIONs profile and an individual
profile.
Who uses it?
Fig. 3 LinkedIn Analytics
According to LinkedIn, as of July 2010 they have over 70 million members in over 200
countries. Approximately half of LinkedIn members are located outside of the USA. LinkedIn
is ranked 29th in the world and 18th in the US by Alexa.
Meta-tags for LinkedIn
147
148
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/linkedin [accessed 20/07/10]
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/linkedin [accessed 20/07/10]
210
#in or #li – if a user has their Twitter account integrated into their LinkedIn profile, each
time they post a tweet with the hashtag followed by ‘in’ then this tweet will automatically
appear in the status bar of their LinkedIn Profile. This can be used on TweetDeck also.
Fig. 4 Update posted on twitter containing the #in hashtag
Fig. 5 The same update on LinkedIn Profile
The same message then automatically appears on your LinkedIn profile. Alternatively you
can choose all your tweets to appear in the status update section of your LinkedIn account
simply by selecting ‘share all tweets’ in the Twitter settings of LinkedIn (see how to section
for diagrams).
Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking is the practice of saving links or URLs to a public site on the web, tagging
them and sharing them with others as oppose to saving them into a folder in your browser.
This allows an easier way to share links and content with other like-minded individuals as
well as having access to your bookmarks no matter what computer you are logged on to.
Visitors to such social bookmarking sites can then see which topics, sites or lin ks are the
most popular on the web, rate these links themselves and search for content by keywords
or tags. The idea is that quality content becomes more discoverable.
Social Bookmarking Sites
Del.icio.us is a website that allows members to store all their bookmarks (favourite sites) on
the web making them accessible from anywhere. In addition, members can also add tags
(keyword categorizations) to the sites they choose to bookmark thereby allowing
bookmarks to appear under a number of categories according to the assigned tags. The real
value of del.icio.us is that as a community member you also get to see who else
bookmarked a site, what tags other people have applied to the same site you have tagged
and when they found the site.149
Where does del.icio.us fit into your social media strategy? The idea is to get your website
bookmarked or pages within your website bookmarked. If enough people save your site in a
bookmark, it will make the del.icio.us popular page and send a lot of traffic your way.150
149
McAfee, A. (2006) Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration, Sloan Management Review , Spring
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/125-social-bookmarking-sites-importance-of-user-generated-tagsvotes-and-links/6066/ [accessed 15/07/10]
150
211
Digg is a social news site, a place where people come to either share or discover content on
the internet. It is considered to be quite influential as everything is submitted by members
of the Digg community, not editors and all submissions are voted for by the Digg
community.151
Where does Digg fit into your social media strategy? A listing in Digg for a site, even if it only
has a couple of votes, will rank highly on Google and other search engines for certain terms.
If your site is shared and voted upon on Digg, and makes the Digg homepage, you’ll get a lot
of traffic and attention from other people who read Digg. 152
Reddit is a source for what's new and popular on the web. Members provide all of the
content and decide what's good and what’s not by voting on submissions. As with Digg, links
that receive community approval make their way towards the number one slot. The idea
being that the front page is constantly changing and filled with the most current and
interesting links.153 Users then log on to Reddit to see what’s happening on the internet
each day. Content can be categorized under different topics. By submitting quality links
users get awarded Karma. Users with high Karma are considered to be superior and reliable
content providers. Just like Digg, Reddit can drive traffic to your site and drive interest in
new posts on your site.
Stumble Upon has approximately 10.5 million members. As the name suggests it is the best
place to discover the ‘best of the web’. Stumble Upon aims to help users discover and share
great websites. Users install the stumble upon tool bar on their web browser and once they
are logged in they can click the stumble button and they will be directed to sites based on
their personal preferences. As a user you can rate pages by awarding them a thumbs-up or
thumbs down. Each site discovered through stumble upon is saved in your stumble upon
personal profile. 154
Where does Stumble Upon fit into your social media strategy? Members can add URLs that
they wish to share with other Stumble Upon users. So if you have new content on your own
blog or website you can share the URL with other members of the community thereby directing
them to your site and thus increasing the traffic to your site.
SU.pr This is a recent addition to Stumble Upon and is still in the beta stages. Users with an
SU account can post content to SU, Facebook and Twitter simultaneously. Furthermore,
there is a SU.pr plugin available for wordpress. Some of the features offered by SU.pr
include
URL-shortening to Twitter and Facebook accounts
Scheduling of posts
Optimal posting times suggested
Reporting and graphs available for posts
However, the main advantage that SU.pr offers is that it helps make your content visible to
the entire StumbleUpon community thus increasing traffic to your site.155
151
http://about.digg.com/ [accessed 15/07/10]
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/125-social-bookmarking-sites-importance-of-user-generated-tagsvotes-and-links/6066/ [accessed 15/07/10]
153
http://www.reddit.com/help/faq#Whatisreddit [accessed 15/07/10]
154
http://www.stumbleupon.com/aboutus/ [accessed 15/07/10]
155
http://www.stumbleupon.com/help/How_to_use_Su.pr [accessed 15/07/10]
152
212
Technorati is a blog search engine. Essentially, Technorati indexes millions of blog posts in
real time and creates links to these blogs for users and other search engines. Technorati is a
useful source for the latest news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics and
business content. 156
Where does Technorati fit into your social media strategy? The real value of Technorati is
using the ‘claim your blog’ tool. Once this tool is enabled each time a new post is added to
your blog, Technorati is informed and it in turn informs other search engines such as Google.
This is an essential tool to improve your site’s SEO ranking and it can help drive traffic to
your site. In order to get the most out of this service always tag your content and do so by
using the tags recommended by Technorati.
Who uses these sites?
Fig. 6 Alexa analytics for Digg.com & Reddit.com
The above screen shot shows how much more popular Digg is than Reddit. 157 This is not
surprising considering how much more user-friendly Digg is and how much more appealing
the site is to first time users. During the last six months, Digg’s reach has been between 0.80.9% while Reddit’s reach for the same period is trailing, but steady on 0.3%. Stumble Upon
has a slightly higher reach than Reddit, at 0.5% for the last six months.
156
157
http://technorati.com/about-technorati/ [accessed 15/07/10]
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/digg.com [accessed 15/07/10]
213
Fig. 7 Digg.com vs. del.icio.us
Del.icio.us’ reach is similar to Reddit’s at 0.3%. As with Reddit and Stumble Upon, del.icio.us’ reach
has remained steady throughout the last six months 158
Media Aggregrtors
SlideShare is an online community for sharing presentations. Organizations or individuals
can upload and share their PowerPoint, PDF, or OpenOffice presentations. Users can then
search SlideShare for presentations on a particular topic of interest. As its name suggests,
SlideShare allows users to tag presentations and download or embed them into their own
websites or blogs. Users can join groups to connect with other SlideShare members who
share similar interests. The majority of the content is made up of business presentations.
Finally, SlideShare also has a Facebook application for uploading documents.159
Who uses it?
As you can see SlideShare’s daily reach averages between 0.3% and 0.5%.160 According to
Alexa SlideShare’s popularity rank is not great, at just 334 worldwide. However, its reach has
been growing slightly over the last six months as SlideShare gains traction among other
users worldwide. Moreover, it is worth nothing that Alexa calculates website ranking based
on average daily visitors to each site and page views on each site over the past 3 months.
The site with the highest combination of visitors and page views is ranked #1. Therefore
sites are not divided into different categories so the measurement can be slightly
misleading.
158
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/digg.com [accessed 19/07/10]
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/slideshare [accessed 19/07/10]
160
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/slideshare.net [accessed 19/07/10]
159
214
Fig 8 Slideshare.net Analytics
YouTube
YouTube is the world's most popular online video community. YouTube provides a forum or
distribution platform for people to connect and inform others across the globe by sharing
their video creations. At present the Business School already has a channel on YouTube (see
appendix for screen shot). This was created by and is currently administered by Laura
Grehan.161 However, to date it only has one video published. According to Laura (Marketing
and Development Officer at DCUBS) the reason is as follows
“We haven’t really gone any further with it than that. In terms of recording guest lecturers or
sample lectures on individual programs, it has really been a resource issue. In terms of
recording it and identifying lecturing staff who would be willing to do it, as it would be a
time commitment from them”.
-Laura
Grehan,
DCU.
It is hard for such a site to have an impact with little content and limited focus. We would
recommend that Knowledge Corner teams up with Laura. DCUBS will have content and the
channel is already established. The DCUBS Channel could be used as another distribution
channel for any video podcast content produced for Knowledge Corner. At the end of the
day both initiatives are focused on turning the spotlight on DCUBS and promoting the school
to prospective students. Additionally, rather than having a number of DCUBS Channels on
YouTube, having the one channel where content is sorted into appropriate playlists would
lesson confusion and mean that prospective students would be directed to the same landing
page. This should lead to a more cohesive marketing strategy.
YouTube EDU
A more focused YouTube, it centralizes the video collections from over 100 universities and
colleges which amount to over 20,000 individual videos and 200 complete courses. It also
makes these collections much easier for new users to discover and sift through.162
According to YouTube this service is currently only available to the US, Canada, UK,
France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Russia & Israel. Schools can still apply for a channel but it
is at the discretion of YouTube. To be considered for a YouTube EDU the school’s YouTube
161
162
http://www.youtube.com/user/DCUBusinessSchool [accessed 19/07/10]
http://www.openculture.com/2009/03/a_closer_look_at_youtube_edu.html [accessed 19/07/10]
215
channel should already be established with a representative amount of educational videos and
interested institutions need to offer four year courses. It is worth noting that many institutions
are refused application. Only one channel per institution is allowed which means that all
faculties and schools must be represented via the one channel, although this rule is
questionable as Harvard appears to have the Harvard Channel (containing purely promotional
material) and the Harvard Business Channel (academic content). 163 Furthermore, YouTube
EDU is intended to be for educational materials as opposed to promotional material but this rule
doesn’t appear to be too stringently enforced. 164
Who uses it?
Fig. 9 YouTube analytics
Ranked the 3rd most popular site worldwide by alexa, YouTube has a phenomenal
worldwide appeal.165 Although the majority of visitors are from the US, the site is accessed
by a worldwide audience. Therefore getting quality content on YouTube and making it easily
discoverable, via effective tags and descriptive yet snappy titles can be extremely
worthwhile.
163
164
http://www.youtube.com/user/Harvard & http://www.youtube.com/user/HarvardBusiness [both accessed 09/06/10]
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dHZvSHRGS0xMdzdlQjdvV2JyNG9tUEE6MA
[accessed 09/06/10]
165
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/youtube.com [accessed 25/07/10]
216
Appendix 7
Sample Social Media Campaigns
1. Promotion f or Inn ovat ion Dublin 2010 Event s tak in g p lace in DCUBS.
(We used an event that took place as part of this series last year (09/10) to show how we
would run a sample campaign on Twitter).
Twitter Activity
Today’s #InnovationWeek Event: Innovation & the Smart Economy, by David Jacobson.
Catch it live in Q119 #DCUBS at 1pm. Podcast to follow.
10am
Today’s speaker is David Jacobson. For bio & research interests check out
http://bit.ly/bqyo7j. 11am
“How do you define Innovation?” – David Jacobson
1.10pm
“Ireland’s GERD only 1.5%, should be reaching 3% by 2010” – Jacobson. 1.30pm
Innovation & the Smart Economy podcast just uploaded to DCU Knowledge Corner. Check it
out at (insert direct URL here). 6pm
Some interesting insights from David Jacobson about developing Ireland’s Smart Economy.
Go to full podcast (insert direct URL to podcast here). 6.30pm
For other #InnovationDublin events check out www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie 7pm
Promoting the same item on Facebook
10am - Today’s featured Innovation Week Event in DCUBS is ‘Innovation & the Smart
Economy’ given by David Jacobson. In his talk David hopes to provide some insights on
where Ireland can improve their approach to building a smarter economy. For a brief
biography of David Jacobson check out this link http://bit.ly/bqyo7j. The podcast of this
event will follow shortly.
11am - Today’s speaker is David Jacobson. For bio & research interests check out
http://bit.ly/bqyo7j.
6pm - Podcast of Innovation & the Smart Economy now available on DCU Knowledge Corner
at (insert direct URL here & Include a video or audio clip of the event). Here’s a taster, but
for the entire podcast check out our website at www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie Share your
thoughts on this podcast.
7pm - For other Innovation Dublin events check out www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie
LinkedIn Activity
Note the above Twitter stream will also appear on the LinkedIn page under the status
update section once you share your tweets in your LinkedIn Status.
2. Promotion for NGM Guest Speaker Series
217
(We used an event that took place last year e.g. Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. The event took
place on a Friday).
Twitter Activity
Want to learn more about Social Entrepreneurs Ireland? Attend this week’s #NGM Guest
Lecture Event this Friday, in HG23 #DCU 1-3pm.
Monday 10am
Want to learn more about Social Entrepreneurs Ireland? This week’s #NGM Guest Lecture
Event takes place on Friday, in HG23 #DCU 1-3pm.
Wednesday 10am
Today’s Guest Speakers for #NGM are Annalisa O’Carroll & Sean Coughlan from SEI. For
more info check out http://bit.ly/3TwTsH.
Friday 10am
SEI talk beginning shortly in HG23, DCU.
Can’t attend #SEI #NGM
www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie
event,
Friday 12.00pm
not
to
worry,
find
“What is a social entrepreneur?” – Annalisa O’Carroll.
the podcast at
Friday 12.30pm
1.20pm
“What does SEI do?” – Annalisa O’Carroll.
1.30pm
Some really interesting Social Entrepreneurs showcased today. To find out more about
social entrepreneurship check out the podcast of today’s event (insert URL to podcast here).
6pm
More podcasts from the
www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie
#NGM
Guest
Lecture
Series
available here
6.30pm
Promoting the same item on Facebook
Monday 10am - Want to learn more about Social Entrepreneurs Ireland? Attend this week’s
NGM Guest Lecture Event this Friday, in HG23, DCU, 1-3pm.
Wednesday 10am - Want to learn more about Social Entrepreneurs Ireland? This week’s
NGM Guest Lecture Event takes place on Friday, in HG23, DCU, 1-3pm.
Friday 10am - Today’s Guest Speakers for NGM are Annalisa O’Carroll and Sean Coughlan
from SEI. They hope to inform the NGM class about what it is to be a social entrepreneur in
Ireland. Some current social entrepreneurs working with SEI will also be present to discuss
their experiences. If you want to attend in person, then head to HG23, DCU for 1pm. If you
can’t make it the podcast will be available later. If you want to know more about SEI check
out http://bit.ly/3TwTsH
6pm - SEI event podcast just posted to www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie. (Include an audio or
video clip of the event). Let us know what you thought of the event.
6.30pm - More podcasts from the #NGM Guest Lecture Series available here
www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie
218
LinkedIn Activity
Note the above Twitter stream will also appear on the LinkedIn page under the status
update section once you share your tweets in your LinkedIn Status.
3. Promotion for Link Seminar Series
(These events take place every Tuesday; again we used events that took place last year as
sample events).
Twitter Activity
Ever wondered about the effect of art on employee sentiment? Learn more at the Link
Seminar Series, every Tuesday in #DCUBS. Mon 10am
Maybe you’ve pondered the role of intuition in management decision making? Learn more
at the Link seminar series #DUCBS every Tuesday. Mon 11am
This week’s Link seminar series will feature Brian Harney talking about Theorising #HRM and
HRM Theorising.
Mon 12pm
For a bio on Brian Harney, this week’s Link seminar series speaker, check out
http://bit.ly/d2er9x Mon 12pm
Today’s Link Seminar Series is starting shortly; if you can’t attend the podcast will be
available later at www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie
Tue 10am
Interesting seminar, Brian left us with lots to think about. The podcast of this event is now
available at (insert URL to podcast here). Tue 6pm
For previous Link seminar series talks check out www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie. Info on next
week’s speaker to follow.
Tue 6.30pm
Promoting the same item on Facebook
Monday 12pm - This week’s Link Seminar series will feature Dr. Brian Harney of DCUBS
discussing HRM Theorising. If you’d like to attend, register in advance at... Can’t attend,
don’t worry the podcast of this event will be posted after the event. For a bio of Brian and
some info on his research interests check out the following http://bit.ly/d2er9x.
Tuesday 6pm - The podcast of this week’s Link Seminar series now available on (insert URL
to podcast here). Here is a brief clip of the event. Remember if you missed this event or
other talks in the Link series you can catch the full series of podcasts available at
www.knowledgecorner.ie let us know what you think of these podcasts.
6.30pm - For previous Link seminar series talks check out
www.knowledgecorner.ie. Info on next week’s speaker to follow.
219
LinkedIn
Note the above Twitter stream will also appear on the LinkedIn page under the status
update section once you share your tweets in your LinkedIn Status.
4. Promotin g Student Entrepren eur Int erviews
(These could be conducted as part of the Strategic thinking in the Information Age module by
students).
Twitter Activity
#DCU #NGM students find out what it’s like to be an e-commerce entrepreneur in Ireland.
(Insert URL to interview clips here)
Mon 10am
Ever wondered what it’s like starting your own e-commerce venture in Ireland? Find out
more at (insert URL to interview clips here)
Tue 10am
What sort of challenges do entrepreneurs face when launching their own e-commerce
venture? Learn more at (insert URL here)
Wed 10am
Lots of insights available from Irish e-commerce entrepreneurs. Learn from their
experiences at (insert URL here)
Thur 10am
What are the lessons to be learned from e-commerce entrepreneurs? Find out at (insert
URL here)
Fri 10am
Promoting the same item on Facebook
Mon 10am - During semester two a number of MECB and MMK students went out and
interviewed some successful Irish e-commerce entrepreneurs. Check out the entrepreneur
series of interviews on the DCU knowledge Corner website. Learn about the challenges and
difficulties they faced in getting their businesses off the ground. Include video clip.
Tue 10am - Ever wondered what it’s like starting your own e-commerce venture in Ireland?
Find out more at (insert URL to interview clips here).
Wed 10am - What sort of challenges do entrepreneurs face when launching their own ecommerce venture? Learn more at (insert URL here).
Thur 10am - Lots of insights available from Irish e-commerce entrepreneurs. Learn from
their experiences at (insert URL here).
Fri 10am - What are the lessons to be learned from e-commerce entrepreneurs? Find out at
(insert URL here).
LinkedIn
Note this Twitter stream will also appear on the LinkedIn page under the status update
section once you share your tweets in your LinkedIn Status.
220
DCU Business School on YouTube
Although DCUBS joined in November 2009 there has been no activity aside from the one
video uploaded. In addition, it is quite difficult to find this channel when searching for
DCUBS content on YouTube.
.
221
Blank page for social media schedule
222
Blank page for social
media schedule
223
Blank page for social media schedule
224
Appendix 8
Creating Social Media Accounts
How to set up accounts on the various social media networks
1. Setting up an account on Twitter
Go to www.twitter.com. Click on the ‘Sign- Up’ icon.
Fill in name, desired username (this will be your twitter name so choose carefully), password and an
email address. Then click on ‘create my account’.
225
You will then be asked to verify that you are a genuine user. Retype the words and click ‘finish’.
The following three steps are designed by Twitter to help users get started. You can follow them or
skip straight through and get started tweeting.
Browse categories to find people or topics that you would be interested i n following.
226
Alternatively you can use your email address book to help you find others you know who already
have Twitter accounts.
You can also use the search tool and type in keywords or names of people you wish to follow.
Once past this stage you’ll have to verify your account. Twitter will send you an email. Copy the link
in the mail into your web browser. Once Twitter verifies your account you are all set-up.
227
Registration is complete and you are now ready to start tweeting. You can customise the
background and other settings by clicking on the settings tab.
2. Setting up an account on Facebook
Go to www.facebook.com. Click on ‘Create a Page’.
228
Choose the type of page you would like. In the above case local business was chosen. Alternatively
you could choose organisation. Give your page a name and then click ‘create official page’.
You will be asked to enter a few more details, once complete click ‘sign me up’. Facebook will then
send you an email and ask you to verify the email address. Once this is done your Facebook page is
created.
229
If you are already a Facebook member then you can skip the above section and login to create a
business account.
Facebook gives you a number of things to edit to make your page better. You can link your Twitter
account with you Facebook account. However, we recommended not doing this as you can manage
Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn much more efficiently using TweetDeck.
Your page should look something like this once you’ve edited it. You can add or remove tabs, we
recommend adding the Video tab. You can also enter a brief description of your business and some
information about its location, opening hours, etc. In the Info tab you can enter your businesses or
organisation’s web address. Add a Links tab to include links to other sites that fans of your site might
also be interested in.
Click on ‘settings’ to adjust the account settings and also wall permissions.
230
This allows you to determine who can post updates to your wall and what type of content they can
post.
231
3. Setting up an account on LinkedIn
Go to www.linkedin.com. Fill in the required details, once complete click ‘join now’.
Enter in a few more details. Then click ‘create my profile’. You’ll have to verify your email address.
LinkedIn will send an email containing a link, click on this and then your verification is complete.
Once you verify your email address LinkedIn will help you find connections using your email
contacts.
232
LinkedIn will also recommend connecting with people that it thinks you might know.
The final step is to choose the account type you desire. A basic account should suffice. Click on
‘choose basic’. Your LinkedIn account is ready. All you have to do now is edit it.
233
You can add any details under the headings on the left hand side. The richer your profile the more
complete it will be. Also, we recommend adding your company logo where it says ‘add photo’.
Altering you twitter settings on your LinkedIn profile. You can either share all your tweets or only
those containing the #li or #in hashtag.
234
This is a sample LinkedIn Profile for DCU Knowledge Corner that we would recommend creating.
3.1 Setting up a company profile on LinkedIn
You will need a personal profile in order to access this feature. Sign into LinkedIn. Click on ‘More’ in
the menu bar and then click on ‘companies’. Next click on add a company.
Once you enter these basic details and verify your email address you can move onto the next step.
(Picture taken from the LinkedIn Blog 166)
166
http://blog.linkedin.com/2008/11/17/creating-company-profiles-on-linkedin/ [accessed 20/07/10].
235
Fill out some details about your company such as company name, description of the business, and
industry. Add your company logo and you’re done. You’re completed profile should look something
like the below picture.
This is what your completed company profile page should look like. This sample was taken from
LinkedIn. 167
4. Installing TweetDeck
Go to www.tweetdeck.com.
On the bottom of the homepage click on ‘For Mac, PC or Linux’.
167
http://www.linkedin.com/companies/sample [accessed 20/07/10]
236
Click on the ‘Download now, it’s free’ icon.
A new window will appear featuring a time bar showing the progress of the download which will
take a couple of seconds. Once that’s complete you’ll need to create a username and password then
you are ready to start using TweetDeck.
This is the area where you enter updates. By clicking on the various accounts you can choose which
accounts to update using TweetDeck. Twitter is selected in this shot. If you click on the spanner
symbol you can add more accounts. There are also some tools to help you shorten URLs included in
posts.
237
In settings - Choose which accounts you wish to sync with TweetDeck. Then click on ‘Add new
account’ and follow instructions.
Once you sync your Twitter account with TweetDeck this is what your Dashboard will look like.
Column for Friends
Column for Mentions (@DCUBSCorner)
Column for DMs
Column for LinkedIn
Column for Facebook
238
To add a new column simply click on the ‘+’ symbol above the update window. Choose the type of
column you want to add and click ‘create your column’.
Create a list for your Twitter account using TweetDeck
239
To create a new Twitter List via TweetDeck 168:
Click the Add Column button
Click the Twitter icon, then select the Twitter account under which you wish to create the List
Click Groups/Lists
Click New List
Give your list a Title and a Description
Select whether this list will be Private (only visible to the Twitter account selected above) or
Public (visible to everyone)
Click Add list members.
Your list is now created.
168
http://support.tweetdeck.com/forums/63876/entries/82695 [accessed 25/07/10]
240
How to submit cont ent to socia l bookmarkin g & media aggregation s ites ?
1. Del.icio.us – If you already have a Yahoo account you can login using your Yahoo id. Otherwise
you can create a new account.
Go to www.del.icio.us. Click on ‘Join Now’.
Enter yahoo account details or set up a yahoo account.
Once signed in, on the homepage click on ‘Save a new bookmark’.
241
Enter the desired URL you wish to bookmark and click ‘next’.
Enter the desired ‘tags’ you wish to use to describe the URL you are bookmarking, then click ‘save’.
On your homepage you can see that your new bookmark is now saved along with your cho sen tags.
2. Digg – You can sign in using your Facebook id.
242
Simply click on the ‘Connect with Facebook’ icon.
Click on the ‘submit new’ icon. Enter the desired URL and choose what type of content it is. Next
click ‘continue’.
243
Enter a brief description about your submission. The more engaging it is the more interested the
Digg community will be in it. Then choose a topic to characterise the content. Try to be precise.
Preview your entry. If you are happy with it, enter the security code and click ‘submit story’.
Your content is now submitted to Digg. You can share this submission on Facebook, Twitter or email
it by clicking on the appropriate icons.
3. Reddit
244
If you don’t already have an account you can create one very simply by filling out the above form.
Once you’ve created a username and password you are ready to submit links.
Enter your username and password and click ‘login’.
Once you are logged in, click on the ‘submit a link’ icon.
245
When you are happy with the URL, title, and category (AskReddit in this case) click ‘submit’. Your link
has now been added to Reddit.
4. Stumble Upon
Create an account by filling out the form above. If you already have an account, click login and enter
username and password. Next install the SU toolbar.
246
Once the SU toolbar is installed enter a URL in your browser and click on the ‘share’ icon on the SU
toolbar. You are given a number of sites that you can share the page with.
SU lets you sign into your twitter account a nd it automatically creates a shortened version of your
URL so that you can add some information along with the URL. Click ‘Tweet’ and you can share your
site with your contacts.
You can also add a site to SU. Click on the ‘add a site’ icon. Insert the URL and a brief review of the
site, then click ‘Add a site’.
247
The URL has now been shared with the SU community.
5. Technorati
Claim your blog through Technorati. Create an account on Technorati.com.
Once your account is created, go to ‘my profile’ and scroll down to the end of the page.
Type in the URL of your blog and click ‘claim’.
248
Fill in the details as above, checking the topics that your blog covers and click ‘submit’ once you are
done. Technorati will then display a message saying that it will verify your claim shortly. Technorati
will then send you an email with instructions and a code explaining that you need to publish a blog
post containing this code. When this is complete click on the Technorati link in the email and click
submit. The Technorati bot will crawl your blog to check for the code. Once that is confirmed, you
have successfully claimed your blog and you will get listed in the Technorati blog directory.
6. Uploading a presentation to www.slideshare.net.
Set-up an account on SlideShare by filling in the boxes as shown in the screen shot above and below.
Once all details are entered click on the ‘signup’ button.
249
Once you are signed in go to the homepage click on ‘upload’.
Click on ‘Browse and select files’ to choose what file to upload.
250
Once you have selected a file to upload, enter the appropriate details. Make sure to add descriptive
tags and an effective description to make your submission more discoverable. Once you are happy
with the details entered click the ‘saved details’ button.
You can preview your submission or share it Twitter, Facebook or via email by clicking on the
corresponding icons. This is recommended as it draws more traffic. When complete click the ‘x’ to
close this box.
251
The final screen shows you how your file will appear. You have now published your first presentation
or document to SlideShare.net.
7. Uploading a video to YouTube
Click on ‘create an account’ on the YouTube homepage.
Enter the required details in the spaces provided. When done, click on the ‘I accept’ button. You
have now created a YouTube account.
252
To upload a video, click on the ‘upload video’ button. Browse through files and select file you wish to
share on YouTube.
You can see the progress of you file uploading. In addition you can customise some of the privacy
settings. Add a snappy title, a brief description and some appropriate tags to describe your video.
Choose a category for it to appear under during searches. Choose desired privacy settings and then
click on ‘save changes’.
Once the file is ready a unique URL is generated for it. In addition, code to embed this file in another
website is also provided.
253
Once content is uploaded it will appear as such. From here it can be edited or deleted.
254
How to use various mon itorin g tools ?
How to set-up Google Webmaster tools
Go to http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
Create a Google account.
Once an account is created, sign in and click on add a site.
Enter the URL of your website, e.g. www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie and click ‘continue’.
Next you’ll be asked to verify your site by giving it a name e.g. Knowledge Corner. Google will
confirm this verification and then your site is registered with Google.
255
Once the site is added, click on it to get to the dashboard for the site.
Click into ‘your site on the web’.
You now have a number of web tools at your disposal.
How to set-up Google Analytics
Sign-up by going to http://www.google.com/analytics/index.html
256
Click on the ‘Access Analytics’ button on the homepage.
If you already have a Google account then you can sign in using those details.
Once you sign in, click on the ‘sign up’ button.
257
Enter the required information then click on ‘continue’.
Enter more details here. Then click on ‘continue’.
Analytics will then provide you with some code which you simply copy and paste into the <head>
</head> section of each page of your website that you want to monitor. Once complete click on
‘save and finish’.
258
In the menu bar at the top of the page choose the website that you wish to see Analytics for.
This is the dashboard for your website. You can check various statistics for your site under the menu
on the left-hand side. In addition, you can customise the types of report that you wish to receive.
Checking Competitors on Alexa
Go to www.aexa.com. In the search box enter the site you want to learn about, e.g. google.ie. Click
‘search’.
259
Select the result you want and click on it.
This is what a typical result looks like on alexa. You can toggle your results to display traffic rank,
reach, page views, bounce, time on site and search %. In addition, you can click on search analytics,
audience or click-stream for more information about the site you are interested in learning about.
Setting up Google Alerts
260
Enter the keyword or topic you wish to receive alerts for. Click ‘preview results’ for an idea of the
type of results you'll receive. If you are happy with these click ‘Create Alert’. You can create
individual alerts for many terms or topics. You can also sign in using your Google account to manage
all the different alerts that you have created.
Using Facebook Insights
Login to your Facebook account.
In the wall tab of your Facebook page, under Insights click on ‘see all’.
Monitor interactions with your page over a period of time. Choose criteria from the dropdown
menu. When you have more fans interacting with your page Facebook will also provide demographic
and geographic information (on the right hand side of the page).
261
You can also choose which parts of your Facebook page you want to measure interactions for. Check
the box of these options (circled above) to choose which area you want analytics on.
Monitor your fans over time - Choose criteria from the dropdown menu to get particular analytics
over a period of time. As you gain fans Facebook will also provide demographic and geographic
information on those fans (on the right hand side of page).
Using YouTube Insight 169
Go to www.youtube.com. Sign in, go to your username and click on ‘Account’.
169
http://www.youtube.com/t/advertising_insight [accessed 23/07/10]
262
In your ‘My Account’ page click on ‘Insight’ and you’ll see the following results for all the videos on
your site.
Views – Tells you where viewers were are from and when they were viewing your content.
Popularity – Tells you how popular this video was and over what time period.
Discovery - Tells you how viewers found your content.
263
This area provides demographic details on viewers of your content.
Hot Spots – Allows you to compare the drop-off rate for your video with similar length videos.
By clicking on the file icon you can download reports for the past 31 days and export them to a CSV
file which can be opened in excel.
264
Appendix 9
Software, Hardware and video hosting costs
Price €4314 ex VAT
Storage specification
Price €1950 ex VAT
265
266
Video Editing Laptop
Price - €2878 ex vat
267
Flash Media Interactive Server 3.5
Price € 4759 ex VAT
268
Video equipment
269
270
Adobe Premier Pro
Software training
271
272
Brightcove pricings
Price $99 per month for 50 videos
273
Appendix 10
Installation of XAMPP and Wordpress
XAMPP is a utility that provides web development technologies including an Apache webserver, PHP
and MySql database licensed under a General Public Licence i.e. the software is free. XAMPP for
Windows is available for download from http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html. A
number of different versions of XAMPP are available and for the prototype we decided to utilise the
“lite” version. The primary different between this and the standard version is that a number of
additional tools such as Mercury Mail and FileZilla FTP are missing from the “lite” version. Download
and installation instructions can be found here http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xamppwindows.html#522. Once the application was downloaded we installed it on a local folder. This will
correspond to the root of our web server.
XAMPP compon ents
Apache Web Server – A survey 170 by Netcraft in June 2010 identified Apache as one of the most
popular web server platforms with a 54.7% market share amongst almost 207 million web sites
surveyed and it has been consistently the most popular web server since 1996. A web server is a
program that delivers web contents to a user’s browsers. The content can be web pages coded in
HTML or served dynamically using PHP.
MySQL database – Once XAMPP has been installed an application is used to give access to the
Control Panel which has options for configuring both the server and creating the MySql database.
Figure 80: XAMPP Control panel
From XAMPP both the web server and MySql database can be installed. Installation of the web
server will prompt for creation of an SQL root user account which will be used to create the
database.
170
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/category/web-server-survey/
274
Figure 81 Apache server
Figure 82 shows the mySQL admin panel accessible from XAMPP.
Figure 82 MySql setup
Once Apache and MySql have been installed we them downloaded and installed wordpress. We
decided to use wordpress as a content management system as it is licensed as an open source
product and does not require a steep learning curve to become productive unlike other CMS’s such
as Drupal. In addition wordpress has won a number of industry awards including Overall Best Open
Source CMS in 2009 171.
The install is available from http://wordpress.org/download/. The wordpress file should be saved in
the HTDOCS folder that is in the root of the web server created previously. Once this is completed
we navigated to our website http://localhost/dcubsradio/and complete the configuration process.
171
http://wordpress.org/news/2009/11/wordpress-wins-cms-award/
275
More detailed instructions can be found on the wordpress site
http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress. Once the installation process is complete you are
presented with the wordpress admin panel.
276
Figure 83 Wordpress Admin Panel
One additional step is required to make the wordpress install work as a standard website rather than
a blog.
277
Make the front page a static page via the Settings > Reading control panel option.
Figure 84: Setting front page to be static
Once wordpress was installed we them proceeded to customise the look and feel of the site.
Wordpress has a large number of available themes that can be used to change the layout and
configuration of the site. After trying a number of different themes we decide that Atahualpa theme
was suitable for our needs. Figure 85 shows the Atahualpa configuration panel. The theme has a
large number of configuration and styling options which were used to layout and customise the
prototype web site used to demonstrate the DCU Knowledge Corner to a number of end users.
278
Figure 85 Atahualpa Configuration control panel
279
Appendix 11
Communication with Intra Office
From: Geraldine Farrell <[email protected]>
Date: 14 July 2010 15:10
Subject: RE: Intra placement for DCUBS
To: John Dorgan <[email protected]>
Dear John
Thanks for your email. The project sounds like an interesting project which might be suitable
for the MInT INTRA placement. There are a number of criteria such as the work has to be
course related, a supervisor has to be in place to train and monitor the students’ progress.
The placement period is eleven months and the student would require at least national
minimum wage. If you feel that this criteria is met please make contact with Dr. Yuhui Gao in
the Business School for final ratification and we could go ahead with advertising the position
to the 6 MInT students left for the 2010/11 period.
Kind regards
Geraldine
Geraldine Farrell
INTRA Co-ordinator
7005033
---------- Forwarded message ---------From: John Dorgan <[email protected]>
Date: 14 July 2010 13:59
Subject: Intra placement for DCUBS
To: [email protected]
Vanessa,
I’m a taught post-graduate student in the Business School and I am involved in a sponsored
practicum to evaluate the benefits of publishing videos of guest lectures on the web to raise the
brand awareness of DCU and encourage prospective students to pick DCUBS. We are producing a
feasibility study for the business school on this.
The project would involve marketing the business school through social media channels and
production of digital media such as video and audio from the guest lectures. We wanted to explore
whether this would be a suitable position for an Intra placement. From reviewing the courses that
offer a placement it might provide suitable work experience for students on Marketing Innovation &
Technology and Digital Media Engineering.
Would it be possible to interview someone to explore this further? We wanted to understand the
criteria you use for accepting Intra positions and what the salary expectations might be.
280
Many thanks,
John
281
Appendix 12
Interview Transcripts
Interview w ith Laura Grehan, Mark et ing & D evelopment Off icer at DCU
Business School.
The interview was conducted by Bryan Foley on 6/7/2010 in DCUBS.
Q1. What would DCUBS consider to be their target market?
LG: We consider that we have four main target markets. It really depends on the type of program
being offered. The first would be for undergraduate programs, the target market would be typically
17 or 18 year old generally doing their leaving cert and applying through the CAO. Increasingly we’re
seeing applications coming from transfer students wanting to come into DCU from other institutions
and mature candidates as well. The primary target market for undergraduates is the final year
leaving cert students. With that we really need to keep in mind the influencers on the decision
making process for the market so we have to consider teachers, guidance councilors, parents and
friends.
Working up to our pre-experience or full time postgraduate courses the main market would be final
year undergraduates or recent graduates. Usually around 20-23 years old and based in Ireland. They
would be the market for our full time taught programs. We have a small number of people who have
come back in with industry experience but again primarily it’s the recent graduate.
For our post experience programs we are looking at mid-career professionals who are typically in
senior or middle management positions. They are aged up to 55 years old but are pre-dominantly in
their mid twenties or thirties. Post experience students the market is based around Dublin. Location
is important to them as they try to juggle work and study. The post experience students would be
students who come into our part time postgraduate programs and also the part time doctoral
students.
The final main market would be our international market. This tends to be targeted by the
international office more than the individual faculties within the university. They look to recruit both
undergraduate and postgraduate students. They tend to get out on the ground and have extensive
networks and agents who do their recruiting on behalf of the faculties.
Q2. How do they try to position DCU compared with the compared with the competition? Would you
consider the higher education market very competitive in Ireland?
In terms of positioning ourselves DCU is the youngest university in the country. What we have to
recognize that we can’t possibly position ourselves in terms of history and tradition. What we have
recognized is that our youth is our strength and we have taken advantage of the clean slate that
we’ve had from the start. We provide modern courses for the modern economy. We are pioneers in
being the first university to offer work placement as part of our undergraduate degrees. We were
the first to introduce interdisciplinary degrees with combined studies in business and languages. We
were the first to formally recognize student’s involvement in extracurricular activities. We have
differentiated ourselves in that we are very much industry focused, industry led and that we are
pioneers in a number of areas. Even in the number of offerings that we have a number of the
programs are the first of their kind. Overall we are the most industry focused and industry linked.
We have a very serious work ethic as well and student would recognize this. We provide the kind of
education that prepares students directly for employment.
The education market is very competitive for as long as I can remember. It is increasingly
competitive and will continue to be more competitive. There has been a growth in the target market
for undergraduate studies in the last couple of years particularly with the large increase in transfer
and mature students. The leaving cert market is likely to contract in the next few years looking at the
demographics. In terms of the amount of promotion, not just that the university sector is engaged in
but also the institutes of technology and the private colleges. That has helped to increase the
competition as well. There is so much available out there in terms of the number of programs that
are offered across the different institutions.
Q3. What are the main channels of communication used to connect with target audiences?
282
LG: Taking the online channels first, our primary communication tool for prospective students and
industry as well would be the main DCU website. We found that increasingly students take it as the
first point of call if they have an interest. It is the first port of call for individual programs and general
interest. Other online tools are increasing use of social media. We have a presence for the school on
facebook, linked in, wordpress, slideshare, flickr etc. We are trying to engage more and more with
prospective students through social media. We also continue to do some paid advertising on social
media including Google Adwords. We have ramped up our spend there and its seems to be
something that’s engaging well with our target audience in terms of CTR. That would be for the
undergraduate and postgraduate markets.
We also have a presence on Grad Ireland, CAO and Qualifax. We get a lot of people coming from
those websites onto our own. In terms of offline or more we would still advertise quite a bit in
national papers and at postgraduate level we would be looking at specific trade magazines that ar e
relevant to specific courses. We do a small bit of radio advertising, it tends to be more brand
building there. Our public affairs office would work to get information on the programs or research
activities out to the media. We would also be heavily involved in relationship building with
influencers. The likes of the business studies teachers association and we are offering junior cert
awards this year. This is helping to encourage influencers like business teachers, guidance councilors
to recommend DCU to their students. We also run seminars for teachers to keep DCU fresh in their
mind.
Q4. Which channels are the most important or influential?
LG: I think direct communication with prospective students. It’s amazing how much of a difference it
makes. I found at recent careers fairs that people would have applied already to DCU and they
maybe want to clarify some things. It’s not possible to get out to everyone with that. In terms of the
open evenings we would monitor the number of attendees and how many come through as
students and there is a huge conversion rate there. The online side is something we need to pay
really close attention to. Things like boards.ie in terms of your own reputation management is
something that we have to keep a really close eye on it can be very influential and if there is
negative information out there it can influence people.
Q5. Does the role of technology in delivering education have an influence when marketing DCUBS?
LG: In terms of DCU promoting itself as a high tech university it’s important to us. In school visits we
would promote that we have the highest PC to student ratio across the universities. Moodle is
always very popular particularly with the undergraduate market. I think it’s an area that we need to
pay more attention to because we would have very few videos on our website and podcasts etc. It
can really play an important role in marketing not just the business school but specific programs if
people can get a taste for what the lecturers are like in a particular program. It has an influence at
the moment but we are conscious of the fact that it should have a more important role.
Q6. Is online video something that is being demanded more by students?
LG: I think so. Students are more conscious particularly at postgraduate level that they are paying
high fees for most of the programs and they want to get as much information as possible as to what
they are getting themselves into. A good way to get some sense of the quality of lecturing would be
through sample lectures available online. It’s something that could be very useful for us. We have
done promotional videos for the Masters in Marketing and Aviation Management. We have had very
good feedback from perspective students on those. A video capture of a visiting lecturer is a nice
bonus for our alumni in that it helps maintain the link as they don’t have the time to come in and
attend the lecture but if there is a repository of videos available then it could be useful for them.
Q7. The DCU Business Chanel on YouTube – who is responsible for it?
LG: I created it. The reason why we set up the channel was really just to get the aviation
management video up on YouTube. We haven’t really gone any further with it than that. In terms of
recording guest lecturers or sample lectures on individual programs, it has really been a resource
issue. In terms of recording it and identifying lecturing staff who would be willing to do it, as it would
be a time commitment from them.
283
Q8. Is it that staff feel it’s a burden on their resources or that they don’t see the value in it?
LG: For some people they wouldn’t really see the value in it. Some wouldn’t have developed their
own material for a lecture and it’s going out into the public domain. They have put the time and
effort into it and it’s out there for anyone to use. What it really comes down to is that they haven’t
really been asked.
Q9. Do you think that having a guest lecture series sponsored by an important business brand would
have a measurable impact on attracting future students or attracting attention to the school?
LG: I think it would. We have two significant seminar series that take place during the year, the LINK
lectures and the spring marketing series. We don’t really promote them, even to our own alumni. It’s
mostly our own students who attend them. I think a high profile business brand would help to raise
awareness and it’s something that would have a better chance of being picked up on from a PR
perspective than just something that was just run by DCUBS. It would help as well in terms of the
target markets perception of where we stand. It would also help to demonstrate the extent of
research that goes on in the business school. That’s something that we haven’t done our best to
promote.
Q10. Is there an untapped value in that research?
LG:Absolutely. The more established universities have done a better job of getting word out there as
to the type of research that goes on. A lot of what goes on here would be of interest to the general
public but we haven’t realized the value of it. Also in terms of prospective students they would
realize that some of the lecturing staff we have is at the forefront of their own disciplines. That can
only help when looking at choices available for study.
Q11. Did the business school get much of a response to this year’s “Doing business in the East”? By
recording these events and making them available at a later stage, would it significantly add to the
marketability of DCUBS?
LG: We had some interest from industry. Mostly in terms of the people who attended it would have
been our own students. Apart from them it was mostly direct contacts that people had out in
industry that came in for the event. We were a little disappointed that we had teamed it up with the
post grad open evening that took place immediately after the event. We had hoped that people
would come in for doing business in the east to get a sample of the kind of industry engagement but
there were a very low number of people that would have attended both events.
In terms of our promotion of it, we did promote it quite late in the day as we were late confirming
some of the speakers. I think that having it on the same day as the open evening took our eye off the
ball in that there was so much preparation goes into the open evening. If they were separate it
would have worked better. Some of the presentations from the event were recorded by the
speakers and we had plans to post them on the web but we had difficulty actually getting agreement
form the people to put their material online. That is an issue but if we had given more thought to it
in advance it could have been overcome. Most people were happy to have their slides made
available on slideshare. We had requests for slides from industry people subsequently so there was
interest in the event.
Q12. Would a link with a Saudi University be something that would interest DCUBS in terms of
marketing the school in the Arab world and encourage more students to study here?
LG: I think it’s something that we will be looking at. We have had visits from the Ministry of
Education in Saudi Arabia but its early days at this stage. We have seen so far relatively small
numbers of students coming to us from overseas universities. More at postgraduate level but some
at undergraduate where we are twinned with them. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be attractive for us
to have a link with a Saudi University. We have an international committee within the business
school and it looks at possibilities in a number of countries and Saudi Arabia would be one o f those.
Q13. Would the international office at DCU see the development of the DCUBS site as a useful tool?
LG: I think they would be behind it. I think as a useful tool for them you could make them aware of
any features that the site has that might be of interest to international students. They would see as a
useful marketing tool overall.
284
Transcript of an in terview w ith Deirdre W ynter, DCU ma rket in g off icer on
14/7/10.
BF: Where is the current emphasis in terms of choosing media for the marketing of DCU?
DW: Any media choices are based on the demographics of the target market. Within that there are
things we have to consider so this year there has been a reduction of twenty percent in the
marketing budget. That makes us rethink our media options and there is greater weighting now
towards digital marketing. It tends to be more cost effective and it is measurable. You can go to
Google analytics and see the number of visits to your page. The current emphasis is still on the
greatest reach for the target market but relevance is considered as well.
BF: Is the allocation of resources to various media changing to reflect the increasing prominence of
online media?
DW: The two major markets we would look at are school leavers for the undergraduate market and
final year undergraduates for our post grad programs. This is increasingly important and also post
experience professionals. With the leaving cert students in the past outdoor was a good way of
reaching them and all of that was removed this year in favour of online activity. What we did instead
was to create a facebook application which had over sixty thousand views and we put some spend
into search as well. Radio is still popular and it is quite cost effective and a good way of reaching the
undergraduate market. You also need a presence in newspaper supplements and these are relevant
to parents and guidance councilors. Now the emphasis is on press online and radio.
BF: What are DCU’s target markets and which media do you view as being the most relevant to each
target group?
DW: The broad markets are undergraduate and postgraduate. I would do focus groups with the
undergraduate market at least once a year and this helps to inform the marketing activity for the
year. We used facebook for the postgraduate audience and it as a brand campaign that promoted
DCU as a brand.
BF: Do you handle marketing for overseas students?
DW: It comes under the responsibility of the international office. In focus groups that I have done
online presence is very important. They will compare programs online to compare like with like.
BF: Does the marketing department believe that the use of online video and audio podcasts would
serve as valuable marketing tools for DCU?
DW: Definitely. Anything that brings the DCU experience to life would be useful. Audio visual media
can bring that to life. For postgraduates a prolific speaker coming to speak on a topic would be
useful but it is difficult to know what the optimum length of such a video would be. More organically
generated content would be relevant for undergraduates but the relevance of the content and how
it is presented would be important.
BF: Would it be feasible to roll out a similar multi-media portal to each faculty individually or would
it be preferable to have a combined site encompassing all faculties?
DW: If it was an all encompassing one it could be so busy that it might not achieve its aim. I think it
would be more effective if the content was relating to each course and this might be the right
context for it.
BF: What would be the input of the marketing department to the site? Could we launch such a site
without sign off from the marketing office?
DW: No you couldn’t launch it without our sign-off. Our input would be on the brand guidelines and
the suitability of the content. It would have to be within the strategic objectives of the university.
The embracing of technology would fit in with the innovation theme in DCU. As long as it portrays
the university in a positive light we would be in favour of it.
BF: Would the marketing office be willing to assist with a PR launch of the site?
DW: Yes any support we could give we would help with.
285
Transcript of Int erview with A lan Buck ley, F inancial C ontroller at Anglo
American – Lisheen M ine, C ounty Tipperary.
The interview took place at Alan’s office on 20/7/10. Anglo American are one of the largest mining
companies in the world with 107,000 employees and profits in 2009 of $5 billion.
BF: What are your current sponsorship activities at the mine Alan?
AB: We sponsor a lot of local community activities. We sponsor the local GAA club. We recently paid
for the construction of a stand in the local GAA club.
BF: Do you look at that from a CSR perspective?
AB: It is from a CSR perspective but ultimately it ends up in the bottom line. It’s part of our branding
and our image that we want to be seen to be supporting the local community. For mining companies
in particular we like to be seen to give back to the community, it’s good for business.
BF: In terms of sponsorship what is the business case for corporate sponsorship in your opinion?
AB: Profile in the local area. We are a B2B enterprise so we look to be seen as a good employer. We
don’t advertise on national television saying buy our zinc. For us it’s increasing the profile of the
business. We have a wind farm here where when we were building it we spent some money on
sponsorship. There was a local action group set up to object to its construction. We had meetings
with the local community in town hall meetings. It came up in these meetings that they felt we
didn’t make enough investment in the locality. We made a conscious decision to sponsor a lot of
local events such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, the Lions Club etc. If we do have an
issue again we feel that our engagement in the community will be more receptive to us as a
company in the community. It’s about keeping in good stead with the community. As a mining
company what you would also want to look at is reaching the best and the brightest in universities
so that they view you as being the best company to work for.
BF: If a university were doing a series of lectures on a topic that was related to the mining industry
would it be something that your company would want to be associated with?
AB: Yes. In the case of Anglo American they would certainly be interested in that. They like to be
associated with new technologies and cutting edge thinking in their field. The larger mining
companies engage in this type of activity all the time, its right up their alley. Particularly in South
Africa Anglo American are involved in bursaries and research etc in universities.
BF: Would co-branding be important and would they want an amount of editorial influence?
AB: It’s hard to say. Anglo would like to be associated with new thinking but not anything
controversial. They would want assurances as to the content. Editorial control is a bit too far. As long
as the content is appropriate it would be of interest.
BF: Would it be a case of doing the talks first and then seeking sponsorship or seeking it beforehand?
AB: The latter would be fine as long as there wasn’t anything too radical in there. If it were a series
of talks on commodities or China then in principal it would be something right up their alley.
BF: So potentially you could see a possible tie-up there?
AB: Yes absolutely. Given the right content and the right institution there would be potential for a
tie-up.
286
Transcript of int erview with Con or Healy, Chief Execut ive of Cork Chamber of
Commerce.
The interview took place on 20/7/10 in his office in Cork.
BF: Does you organisation engage in any sponsorship?
CH: The short answer is yes we do. Where we feel it will enhance the profile of businesses in the
local Cork region or promote Cork as a place to do business we will seek to have an involvement in it.
Currently due to financial constraints we have cut back on sponsorship but again if we are
approached about sponsoring an event that has relevance to our organisation and what we are
about then we will look at it. We sponsor many events such as business breakfasts that help with
networking and some cultural events. We are about helping our members build relationships and
promote their businesses and any event that can assist with that we will look to be involved with.
BF: Would your organisation be willing to be associated with a series of lectures on an area that was
relevant to your organisation that are delivered in an academic institution and subsequently
broadcast on the internet?
CH. Yes if the content were relevant and the speakers that were giving the talks were well respected
in the area. If we felt that it would promote enterprise in the Cork region and that it would reach the
proper audience then it is something that as you say we would want to be associated with. Having
that delivered by an institution like UCC or DCU would definitely add to that. As long as the talks
were relevant and the length of the lectures was not too long then yes.
BF: Would you look for your brand to be used along with the universities?
CH: We would want it to be associated with it as we are about promoting our members. If other
businesses were to see our brand being associated with the talks then that could act as a way of
attracting new members which would be of interest to us.
BF: Would an event like that be useful in enhancing your brand?
CH: It would if were seen to be associated with a high profile event that was run and delivered in a
professional way. Obviously the content and presentation of the talks would have to be done in a
professional manner but it certainly wouldn’t hurt Cork Chamber of Commerce to be associated with
the right event. The type of event you are describing would definitely enhance your brand. If you can
attract the right quality of speaker it reflects well on you to be associated with it.
BF: Would you be willing to endorse or sponsor such an event?
CH: Yes we would certainly look at endorsement as again if it were the right event and it reached the
right people then there is only an upside in being associated with such an event. As long as the
members and potential members of the Chamber could see a value in it, that the content was
relevant to them then we would also look at sponsorship. For the right type of events there is always
money available. We would also look at promoting it to our members and possibly doing some press
promotion for it.
BF: What would your organisation find attractive about sponsoring such an event?
CH: It would definitely be a positive for our brand image and for connecting with potential members.
Our existing members would also see it as raising the profile of their organisation which is beneficial
for everyone involved. Again if the content was relevant to us as an organisation we would certainly
look at sponsoring or endorsing it.
BF: Do you think there is an increased emphasis on digital marketing in your organisation?
CH: It isn’t so pronounced for us as a lot of our members are in an older age profile but for younger
businesses it is certainly more important. We still rely a lot on traditional marketing for promotion
but I can see a greater place for digital marketing like the event you describe going forward. This is
something that we have to be aware of and if we receive the right proposition then we will look at
that.
Email w ith David D eighan f rom KPMG on 21/7 /10
287
1) What are the general criteria used by your organisation to evaluate the decision to endorse or
sponsor an event like a video or audio podcast on a business related topic that was distributed
through a dedicated DCUBS website?
[Deighan, David] The main criteria are audience and cost and the status of the hosting site.
2) Would your organisation be interested in endorsing such an event by allowing the KMPG brand to
be used in association with DCU Business School. This endorsement would not involve a monetary
contribution but would require co-branding of the event and possibly some marketing of it to your
client base. This would be at your discretion.
[Deighan, David] This may be a possibility as we are keen to continually strengthen relationships
with 3rd level colleges – however we draw a distinction between being associated with a specific
event (such as a business briefing) and branding a broadcast where typically we would tend to
engage only with established media brands.
3) What type of content would KPMG be interested in sponsoring for the video/audio podcasts?
Would you require editorial control over the content?[Deighan, David] Subject to point two we are
particularly interested in areas such as entrepreneurship and innovation
Transcript of an in terview w ith Brian D oyle, D irect or of G lobal Busin ess
Developm ent w ith RR Donnelley.
Brian works on providing global turnkey solutions for corporate clients and holds an MBA from UCC.
RR Donnelley has over 60,000 customers worldwide and had a turnover of approximately $ 10 billion
in 2009. The interview was based around the business case for large companies in becoming
involved in sponsoring events in conjunction with third parties.
BF: Does your company currently do any sponsorship?
BD: I’ll talk about GTS firstly and then RR Donnelley. At GTS we do targeted events, so for example
we will go to about ten events a year and these are networking events. The last one I did was called I
for transport and GTS was there as a super sponsor. These conferences will find decision makers in
companies that we want to do business with and they will pay for them to come to this event. We
pay to attend and sponsor the generation of a white paper. The rationale is that we hope to talk to
targeted people. RR Donnelley in the US sponsor a lot more as anything to do with print, they will
want to speak to people in that industry.
BF: What are your general criteria for sponsorship, what do you look for when getting involved in
sponsorship?
BD: Very clearly it is about leads. A lead is someone in a company that we think has an interest in
what we do. They may not want it now but they may do in the future. We can point out a need to
them. Anything we sponsor has to generate a measurable amount of leads.
BF: Would your company be willing to be associated with a series of lectures on, for example, supply
chain management that are delivered in DCU by guest speakers and then are broadcast over the
internet?
BD: Yes possibly. If there were going to people watching this that were a targeted audience. We
have an involvement in some web conferences and we make a contribution to these conferences.
The rationale for sponsoring this is to be associated with it. If you are talking about leading edge
supply chain practices then we want to be associated with it.
BF: Would it enrich your brand to be associated with leading edge thinking in supply chain
management?
BD: Yes. The content is very important. Secondly, if there were experts present with a high profile
involved in delivering the talks it would be of interest to us in terms of our participation.
288
BF: Would you look for your brand to be used along with DCU’s?
BD: There is a rule of engagement. The more you pay for these things the highe r profile your brand
will receive. If it’s a web based event then your name may be associated with the emails going out
promoting it. Also, when people log in you would like them to see your logo somewhere.
BF: What would companies find attractive about this type of sponsorship where their name is
associated with an academic talk on a specific topic?
BD: If it is leading edge thinking then as a company you want to be associated with these ideas. If the
speakers are associated with forward thinking initiatives as a company you want to lend our name to
new ways of thinking. A lot more marketing is going digital and any content that is in the digital
sphere we want to be associated with. One area in which we collaborate with Microsoft is in the
distribution of digital content. A seminar on a topic like that would be of interest to us.
BF: Would it be a disincentive if there were a cost associated with the sponsorship?
BD: Not necessarily. There is always money for sponsorship of something that will enhance their
brand or associate them with new thinking. If it just goes to academia possibly yes but you want the
content to reach people who are making buying decisions.
BF: The movement towards digital marketing, have you seen a shift towards that in your business?
BD: It has to be targeted in B2B. We have a decent database of clients. If there was content that we
were associated with we would let our clients know this by emailing our database of 2,500 clients.
We would control to an extent the viewership of the content. This would drive people to the site and
allow us to promote the content to the people we feel it is important to reach. In the case of online
videos the length of them would be important. The maximum length should be about half an hour
otherwise people will switch off. A summary of all the talks in a half hour package would be
definitely worth looking at.
Guy Mullins Interview (13/07/10) – Theme Sheet
Give a quick intro at the start to say the following...
We are researching how other universities set-up podcasting systems with a view to setting up our
own system here in DCU Business School. We envision a site that showcases talks by guest lecture.
We see it as both a marketing tool for the university but also as a tool that will add value to the
university for both current and prospective student. Should such a system prove a success we would
hope to recommend that it is rolled out throughout the entire university.
What difficulties or challenges did you encounter when setting up the podcasti ng system on
campus? Was / is there a team dedicated to the process?
What led the university to choose iTunes U?
How long did the process take, in terms of having the idea, planning and implementation?
Was it difficult to encourage faculty members to ut ilise the available technology or to get
guest speakers to agree to have their lectures recorded?
How did you decide what content to record and publish internally vs. externally (just
available to students vs. available worldwide)?
In terms of storage of content, how long does the university retain content for?
Licensing / copyright – do you use the creative commons license system?
Budget – how do you fund this service? How many staff is dedicated to the service?
289
How important is the availability of transcripts or closed captioning to video content?
From our point of view, would you recommend starting with audio only or a mix of video
and audio content?
How many classrooms on campus are enabled with podcasting technology? How many
classrooms would you recommend starting out with? All our rooms are already equipped
with PCs, audio equipment, projectors etc, so would we just need video recorders and
microphones?
How important a role do social media sites / social bookmarking sites play in driving traffic to
university podcasts?
290
Guy Mu llins, of Applied Lea rnin g Technologies Institut e (A LT^I) at Arizona
State Universit y
Interview conducted 13/07/10 by Bryan Foley and Niamh Rooney via Skype. (5-6pm).
Bryan: Hi Guy, thanks for taking our call, myself and my colleague Niamh just want to ask you a few
questions on ASU’s podcasting experience, in particular your experience with iTunes U. I emailed you
through a list of questions, I’m not sure if you got a chance to look at them at all?
Guy: Yes, actually, I’m really glad you did send those, those are very helpful and fortunately they’re
about stuff that I even know the answers to! That’s even better.
B: Brill, we’re talking to the right person so.
Guy: Exactly, well it sounds like you all are interested in setting up your own iTunes U or some other
similar podcasting solution.
B: Yeah, we’re looking at the feasibility of it Guy and we’re looking at it for the Business School in
DCU. We’re looking at different systems that are possible to use. The reason we’re talking to you is
because you’ve been through this whole process and we’d really like to hear your thoughts and your
experiences of actually setting it up.
Guy: To be honest with you, some of the experiences that we went through getting iTunes U set-up
are not going to be reflected by people starting out now. ASU was, in my opinion, one of the first
official iTunes U establishments. When it was first initially announced [that is iTunes U] there were
already two that existed, one at Stanford and another one at Duke. There may have been one other
one, I’m not certain. To my understanding, those were effectively developed by Apple prior to the
release and when we set ours up it was really one of the first ones out of the gate were they opened
it up to people to establish systems. To be perfectly frank things were quite sketchy in the early days
so it was a bit of a challenge. It didn’t really work too well on either end but iTunes U has really
matured a great deal in the last several years and I expect the technical challenges are much simpler
to manage than they were early on.
One thing you need to be aware of and I see some of your comments here, trying to decide on what
would be public and what would be private. That’s the terminology typically used in iTu nes U. In
terms of public access, it used to be when you set-up an iTunes U course or a site rather, you could
put content up and determine whether that content was publically available or privately available
and there was really only one mechanism for establishing an iTunes U site. That is the way our
original site is set-up. We have since taken that original site, which is accessed by both professors
putting content up (I’m going to say professors because they’re not the only ones using that system
anymore) and then the students’ access it for downloading files. That is all a private network that
you have to have an ASU ID to access, to upload content and to download content and that system
works the same way as our course management system. In fact, when a professor requests an
iTunes U course they are using the same interface they would use to request a Blackboard or a Sakai
course, it is literally just checking a box. The system is automatically built. That was the bulk of our
early work, getting that set-up to make that automatically happen.
Now as I mentioned to you Apple has a public iTunes U now and those systems are only accessible
with an Apple ID versus what they call a transfer script. So all of the content that is put up, as you
might imagine, in a public site is publicly available. There are some changes happening right now
with how Apple is approaching that public content. They are really trying to encourage people to
make it very high quality content but also encourage people to just discover content by browsing
and poking around in the iTunes U interface, not necessarily in iTunes U.
B: That’s all very informative Guy. I appreciate that is has evolved and its very important stuff. Just in
terms of structuring the interview, I’ll maybe give you the questions and we can run through them.
Guy: Sure, Sure.
B: Ok, the first one is what difficulties or challenges did you encounter when setting up the
podcasting system on campus?
291
Guy: Well again, as I mentioned the biggest challenges we had were in establishing the technical
code to make that transfer script function and work properly. When you entered your ASU ID into
the system it would know that you were either a teacher or a student and then based on your
credentials at ASU it would give you permissions at iTunes. And again, because in the early days
there was not much documentation, that was a really challenging task. That code is all functioning
now and in fact it is available now as open source code in the Google repository. We’ve put it up a nd
made it available to use so from a technical perspective that was a big challenge. But to be honest
with you, it wasn’t really my headache because I’m more of a media producer; it was really our code
monkeys who had to deal with that!
B: Right.
Guy: Now the bigger challenge, which is something that I was more focused on was really in
educating people about not only what podcasting was, I think there is still a mystery about what
podcasting is. People just think an MP3 or audio file that you click on, o n a webpage is a podcast.
They use the term like Kleenex or Coke, what have you, without really defining it. There was a little
bit of a learning curve there. But then an even bigger challenge is getting people to figure out how
best to use podcast media as well as any media in education. I would say we’re still dealing with
that. There are people that don’t make very effective use of media. It’s always a challenge to get
people pointed in the right direction as far as that goes.
B: So, do you think it is more of a human problem than a technical problem? The technical stuff has
been overcome; it is just getting people up to speed?
Guy: Absolutely, it is a human problem. Definitely getting people to make effective use of media and
that means spending the time on the content and then making it available in a useful manner for
whatever their audience is, a handful of students in a classroom or public content that you want the
world to be able to access. I’ll give you an example, my son is a sophomore at the university right
now. He is taking a class in computer gaming so it’s an online course. A lot of the materials are
screencast video lectures of the professor showing them how to use different pieces of software. For
whatever reason this professor at ASU has apparently no idea that iTunes U exists because he is
using a commercial service to deliver these screencasts that are very long and require fairly high
bandwidth to stream the video and the performance is unacceptable and it’s kind of making learning
difficult. If he had just taken these screencasts and put them up on iTunes U people could have just
downloaded them and watched them without having to have a high quality internet connection to
stream them. So there you go that is a human problem, all the technical stuff is in place for whatever
reason there is a communication breakdown.
B: Sure, I understand. The second part of that question was is there a dedicated team looking after
the service?
Guy: Well, you’re talking to most of the team right now! Really, even with a university the size of
ASU, we’re 60,000, I think. The number of people actually using iTunes U is relatively small. And
again that goes back to what I was talking about earlier. People putting their energy into producing
and using media, you’re going to find that even though it’s available for everyone, 10% will use it and
only 1% will use it well. For the initial set-up, we had a hand full of us focused on getting iTunes U up
and running and a lot of it was taking existing content that we had and building out our iTunes
channels. It was a classic case of if you build it they will come. The approach that we put forth was
we took a lot of our existing materials which were not really course lecture materials but rather they
are programs that had been produced for one reason or another at the university and we built out
an iTunes U site so that we would have something to show people what it could be used for. At the
early stages there were several media folk and by several I mean three or four working on getting
that effort on the technical side of writing that code and getting the tab A plugged into slot B of our
systems and Apple systems. It’s really just one or two people doing some computer programming
and if you’re doing a private site that requires that transfer script then it requires almost no
technical expertise. If you’re doing a public site it is really a file management structure and one or
two people is perfectly fine to get that running and in fact the new public system that Apple is
292
putting in place, you can only access it using an individual Apple ID. So really they are no more than a
few people for each institution managing a public iTunes u site. They are no longer having that
automatic transfer script accessed like the private site does.
B: Right. What led the university to choose iTunes U?
Guy: Well, I’m not sure of the whole answer to that question. Early on, some of our very early
podcasts were done in the traditional manner, media would be stored on a web server and we
would have a blog generating the RSS feed with the embedded media in it, so by all measures that
was a podcast. The university has been moving a lot of our services to hosted solutions. You may
know that we use Gmail for our student email. Again, we were one of the first although now it’s a
relatively common thing for folks to do. Right about the time that we began to move the direction to
offload some of our non-core technical services from being hosted at the university to outside is the
time that iTunes U came into being. So it seemed a particularly good solution. Going back to the
early days of iTunes U, it was not only required that you would host your media at Apple, on Apple’s
servers and again that seemed like a very attractive solution because it meant that we didn’t have to
be responsible for the care of feeding of these large media files. Apple still supports this approach,
that you are able to upload your media to Apple’s servers and have it all hosted there. So it makes it
quite simple to establish a podcast however the newer system of iTunes U are allowing you in fact, I
would say they are encouraging you to manage your own podcast servers much the way we did
historically. You have a blog with an embedded media and then just point those feeds to iTunes U. It
works well for a public site because you kind of get the best of both worlds, especially for a public
university.
In my opinion, I think it is kind of a responsible thing for a public university to maintain their original
source material on their own systems. Maybe I’m just old school but that’s just the way I think you
ought to do it. Yet by having your broadcast or publication in the iTunes U environment, especially
for public content you get the benefit of eyeballs browsing and looking at stuff and just searching
and coming across your content were they might not be quite as likely to do that in the larger web.
B: Yeah, it makes sense. How long did the process take, in terms of having the idea, planning and
implementation?
Guy: We’re still at it! We’ve been at it for several years. I think again the biggest challenge in terms
of implementing an iTunes U set-up at a university, we faced this challenge and I’ve seen a lot of
others deal with it, is literally legal arrangements, all the legality. Getting the contracts signed
between what Apple requires and what various institutions require. Technically it is not a big deal.
You are more challenged by the categorising and managing of your content. So I would say the
length of time required would really be determined by the size of your content. Actually, I should
address that.
I mentioned that the new public iTunes U is going through some changes. This summer they are
restructuring how the public sites are done. For the last year and a half or so Apple has been very
strongly encouraging people to categorise their content and put up a very structured system of
where content would live and how it would be displayed. Again they were encouraging, through this
category structure, they were encouraging content to be more easily discovered by people browsing
in the iTunes U location. I believe Apple has recognised that that was a bit of a mistake because it
put a bit of a burden on producers to organise and categorise their content in a structured way and
it would be kind of locked in once you set it up.
B: Sure.
Guy: If you look at the ASU public site that is how that site was built. It’s all built around categories.
As you might imagine we’re going through our content and trying to take existing content an d plug it
into different categories. You may have a particular guest lecture from a top executive but he’s
lecturing about Bio Medicine. So does that go into a leadership category or does it go into a medical
category? Now what they’ve put in place is a tagging mechanism for the new system so content can
just be tagged like you can do in Flickr or any modern Web 2.0 site. Based on these tags you’re
content will still have a home category. One place where it physically sits, but according to the tags
293
of the content it will appear in multiple categories so that is really quite encouraging. That was a
long answer to a short question!
B: That’s alright! I think the next question we’ve kind of covered in terms of the faculty members. I
don’t know if you want to add anything to that Guy in that there is obviously a general reluctance
unless the people are insiders like yourself, in the system, to kind of engage with it. Would that be a
fair observation?
Guy: Yes, I suppose it would. I should say that even when we put up our initial iTunes U site which by
today’s standards is considered to be a private site, public content could exist on that site as well.
We found, I mentioned to you early on that it is still quite simple for a faculty member at the
beginning of the semester to go into what we call our course enrolment manager which is just a web
form and check off whether they want to have a Blackboard or Sakai course associated with their
course or an iTunes U course. About every semester we would have about 400 people check the
iTunes U box which was the reason why it was quite important for us to not have to build each one
of those things manually. Now in terms of how many people would actually use those 400 classes
and publish content, it’s really very few. On the other hand, what we did find especially in terms of
the number of files and disk space is that a lot more ASU applications of iTunes U was more for
marketing, PR, guest lecturers being brought in, stuff that was not necessarily produced by a
particular faculty member or published by a faculty member. We’ve had more adoption on that side
than we’ve had on actual course lecture content.
B: Sure, that’s actually an interesting observation. In terms of the next question, how did you decide
what content to record and publish internally vs. externally, how did you make that distinction?
Guy: I think we’ve kind of addressed that. Some of that is done almost technically by the way it is
set-up because we are using three iTunes U sites. At ASU we run two, the private side which is
strictly course related material. So if a professor wants to wear a wireless microphone in a lecture
and record their lecture to their students and put it up, that’s one approach. Or maybe they want to
sit at their desk and record something similar to what we’re doing now, record this conversation and
publish it as attached to a class. Really, in terms of usage most of it, the culture of the university,
there has been more desire to do public content that would be high profile stuff. That would maybe
help promote the university. Or be good content that you just want to get out and make available.
More like that versus course related material.
B: How long do you retain the stuff for Guy?
Guy: Well forever hopefully. Again, I think we touched on this earlier on. I was a little bit anxious
early on when we moved in the direction of sending all our content to Apple and having it hosted
there permanently. So the content that we have with Apple technically, I believe we have 500gigs
available within our site, I believe we likely exceeded that storage and Apple hasn’t complained
about it. I believe if we had 5000gigs that might be as issue of course in the few short years that
we’ve been at this disc space just keeps dropping every week. It’s not really a huge issue anymore.
It’s more probably the electricity to have the drives plugged in, that’s the expensive thing.
We have a policy that is somewhat attached to iTunes U as well as the other media systems that we
have. The iTunes U distribution system or any other distribution system we would have in place is
just that a distribution system. We really put the burden on the individual producer of the content to
always maintain an archive of the original content. If a library records a guest lecture r and they want
to put it up in iTunes U, then it’s up in iTunes U. If Apple pulls the plug next week that shouldn’t
really hurt the university because that original recording is somewhere.
B: On that, do you use Creative Commons; is that your licensing s ystem?
Guy: Yes and no. I think we definitely encourage people, softly encourage people, to put things up in
Creative Commons. I believe in a court of law, technically, everything is licensed by our board of
regions. We are a state agency so I don’t think, technically, the Creative Commons really would
apply. It’s something, if the issue were to come up, anything that is put out on the public side is just
that, it’s public. We’re supporters of the open-courseware and open source ware; the same would
294
apply to our media as well. We’re not trying to make money off of this stuff. We want the message
to go out far and wide. If sticking a Creative Commons logo on it helps then we’ll do that as well.
B: Budgeting – Do you get some form of endorsement or is it funded by the university or do you get
external funding?
Guy: All of the above for the most part. The initial set-up of iTunes U was done by state employees
so there wasn’t any specific funding allocated to establish an iTunes U. It was just one of the tasks on
the university technology office agenda.
B: Ok.
Guy: It really wasn’t a huge undertaking and it’s even less so today. The real costs come in the
production of quality media. We have my department e.g. the Applied Learning Technologies
Institute. We are about 70% funded by external grants that come into the university so a lot of the
media equipment that we have acquired over the years has been purchased in support of grants. I
would say it’s probably about a 70/30 split as far as the actual media produc tion. Rather the
establishing of the iTunes U site and arrangements with Apple that was pretty much a state
initiative. Not a huge undertaking really.
B: And do you have members of staff that are specifically paid, that this is a full-time job for them or
you get undergraduate or postgraduate students to run the site?
Guy: Right now we only have probably one person who is really responsible for the care of the
feeding of iTunes U. That is not their full-time job. However, we recognise if we wanted iTunes U to
really be the quality environment that it can be, and I would be the first to admit that the system is
not as good as it could be, there should be probably at least one person identified, I refer to the care
of feeding and curator of the content, be responsible for quality artwork, quality meta-data tagging,
some of that category stuff I mentioned to you earlier. Promoting the system both externally and
even within the iTunes U site. To have content appearing, it could easily be a full-time job for one
person. In terms of the amount of content produced, that’s really just determined by how much
content you have, how many people it would take to produce quality content. Also, that would be
driven by what that content is, that person recording a course lecture, you can do that relatively
easy with just one person versus filming a documentary file or promotional material, a crew of
people would be required for this.
B: Ok, Guy, that dovetails nicely into our next question. How important is the availability of
transcripts or closed captioning to video content?
Guy: Well I think legally there are, especially the programmes that are federally funded, there are
some accessibility requirements. There is not as much attention or resources given to that as
probably should be. From a technical stand point we have used a service that we are quite happy
with to do a transcribing of our podcasting material or at least some of them. There is an outfit
called castingwords.com, are you familiar with that?
B: No.
Guy: Are you familiar with the Amazon mechanical Turk?
B: No, Guy, no!
Guy: What castingwords is, it’s a transcription service that is relatively inexpensive for transcribing.
At least one of our podcasts all of their content is transcribed and made available through
castingwords. It’s our ‘Ask a Biologist’ podcast which is our biggest success story. It’s actually picked
up from iTunes U and broadcast by a number of radio stations. With castingwords what you do is
you pay a monthly fee. You provide them with your po dcast feed and that feed is made available to
a team of people working for very small amounts of money and it’s transcribed. Depending on how
fast you need it turned around is how inexpensive it is, or should I say how much it costs. And I
mentioned the Amazon mechanical Turk because that is where their labour force comes from which
is why it is so inexpensive. The mechanical Turk is a system that is run through Amazon that makes
the distribution of these quite automated tasks quite simple. So it applies that model of Amazon
book sales to human resources. So if someone is just sitting at home really not doing much and
maybe not really interested in making a living but wants to make some pocket change they can log
295
into the system and select a job. Just as a matter of curiosity I applied myself as a mechanical Turk
worker just to sort of see what that system looks like. And in going through the jobs I was surprised
at how many of the jobs were actually castingwords jobs. This [service] is available for all mann er of
jobs but castingwords.com is quite a success story both in transcribing services and utilising the
mechanical Turk. If you’re interested in doing transcribing that seems to be a very effective way. I
think it works out at $1-$2 a minute of video which if you’ve done any transcribing that’s really quite
cheap.
B: Where does the term ‘mechanical Turk’ come from?
Guy: Not too sure, don’t fully understand it myself. You should Google it. That system is utilised for a
variety of things. But I think castingwords is one of their biggest customers.
B: Ok. We’re coming up to the final straight. How many classrooms on campus are enabled with
podcasting technology?
Guy: Therein lies the rub. This university has never fully supported media production of course
content. We do have and have historically had a number of classrooms that, by numbers, I believe it
was five. So you can look at the size of this university, I think about 60,000 students across the four
or five campuses. Going back to the 1980s we had about five classrooms that were equipped to do
cable TV production, so a person sitting at a desk with a pad camera lecturing to a group of students.
The majority of those classes were geared towards our engineering community which is fairly large
in the Phoenix area in Arizona. There has not been a large push to mediate classes at the university
other than those cable televisions. I think engineering has built a couple of others in the last 5-6
years. Though there are classrooms that have projectors and lecterns and even P.A. systems and
wireless microphones. There are quite a few mediated classrooms. As far as the ability to record the
lectures there is very few other than those that were historically set-up for that. Even those cable TV
classes, well they don’t go out over cable TV now, they are now using a Mediasite system which is a
video and PowerPoint lecture capture system.
That model of automated course capture in particular, has not been successful at the university. I
don’t, I have never been a big proponent of that kind of podcasting so maybe that is one of the
reasons it hasn’t really taken off. I haven’t really pushed it very hard. This university has been more
leaning towards producing more quality material versus just recording course capture lecture
material.
Look at a university like Berkeley for example where course capture was part of their DNA for quite
some time, even before there was an iTunes U or a YouTube or anything of that sort. What they’ve
been able to do, they have a large variety of courses up on both YouTube and iTunes U because
those mechanisms were already in place. In fact are you familiar with the Opencast Community and
the Matterhorn project?
B: Yes, Niamh’s looked at it more so than I have. But we’d be familiar with it, yes.
Guy: That really comes out of the folks at Berkeley and Zurich, I can’t remember, but the Opencast
initiative is out of Berkeley. What they found and there are some very smart guys doing wonderful
work in this area, what they found they had half a dozen or 8-10 classrooms that were set-up that
enabled class production or recording rather, but giving agreements and mechanisms, getting
professors to sign up to do it was a bit of a challenge. That’s were some of the opencast software, in
addition to just automatically recording the file and getting it connected to an iTunes U space. So
that’s almost as big a challenge as the physical production of the media. It’s just knowing how many
classrooms you have, which professors are going to record themselves, which will be very few by the
way or which ones do we need to send a team out to, even if it’s just an MP3 recorder and a wireless
microphone. This university has not really pushed that approach of just automated course capture. I
find it a more successful model would be to spend the time recording a few quality lectures.
B: Yes ok. How many classrooms would you recommend starting out with then? I know the obvious
answer would be as many as possible?
Guy: No, my answer would be zero. I’m not a big proponent of that model. What you’ll get in that
situation, a professor recording a screencast narrating what he’s doing on screen. The professor sees
296
it as a one-to-one conversation. Then students start to complain about dialogue between students
and lectures [during a non recorded lecture] which is what should occur in a classroom. End result is
the person listening to the podcast has a disconnected experience. For my money what I’d
recommend is taking an hour long lecture and condense it down to 20 minutes of focused content,
that’s recorded in a quality way, even in a studio or just audio and then delivering those. I think you
end up with a better product.
B: The last question, how important a role do social media sites play in driving traffic to podcasts?
Guy: We are very encouraged by social media, like a lot of folks. We have a handful of people doing
Twitter and Facebook. We actually have a Facebook application at the university that is actually kind
of unique in that is connects professors’ Facebook accounts with students’ Facebook accounts in a
proxy oriented way so that they don’t have to be true friends but can just be friends through their
course engagement. As for driving traffic to podcasts I would say it’s important, but we are perhaps
not using it as effectively as we should except last summer when president Obama gave our
commencement address.
B: Oh wow!
Guy: Yeah, we were kind of excited about that! Or those of us on the left were excited about that.
We spent quite a bit of time setting up a webcast feed for this. I’ve been doing various webcasts at
this university for about 15 years. Usually if you get 100 people to tune into your webcast you’re
going to do back flips because people often say unless you’re Bono or a Victoria Secret model no one
cares about your webcasts. But we knew Obama was going to be big numbers. We connected to a
content delivery network that could distribute the content out to people simultaneously which you
can’t do on your own. So we went through quite a bit of effort to do that and get it set-up. Then
about a week before the commencement we decided to simultaneously put it up with a UStream
feed. Similar to YouTube but more for live video and they have a very strong presence in social
media. In about half an hour of technical set-up and a few phone calls to the folks at UStream to
encourage them not to put advertising on this particular feed. So really with very little technical setup we were able to duplicate the audience size because UStream was putting it out over their social
media networks and letting people know that this was available, that versus our weeks of prior
effort to attract traffic. It turns out we had about 20,000 people on each one. But the point being
and to answer your question, a little bit of focus in the right social media channels and working with
the right partners we were able to really get just as much turn out for a lot of effort in the wrong
direction.
B: So how many people tuned in for Obama?
Guy: Live connections, probably about 50,000 between the two feeds. It’s also up on iTunes now. I
can’t remember the last time I checked but it’s arguably the largest webcast we’ve ever done. I don’t
think we’ll ever achieve those numbers again unless Bono does our next commencement.
4-5 hours work using social media tools achieved the same results as traditional methods, i.e.
putting up a website and streaming it. UStream supports a live Twitter feed and we also had a
dedicated media team for this event putting out different tweets about the event. So it worked quite
well.
B: Well thanks Guy. That was incredibly comprehensive and informative and thanks for taking the
time to answer all our questions, it was beyond what we were expecting.
Transcript of w eb site demonst ration t o Laura Grehan
Present: Laura Grehen (LG), Niamh Rooney (NR) and John Dorgan (JD)
Date: 26 July, 2010
Location: DCU
297
JD: I think it was Deirdre Winter with the Marketing department who arrange a meeting with RMG
Target. I was with them on Thursday. With one of their creative and one of their technical people to
give me some ideas on how we might implement the web site.
What I did to start off was to develop some mock-ups using a software package to show you what it
might look like on paper. We were thinking that it would be hosted on the main DCU website so the
url would be something like www.knowledgecorner.dcu.ie . We’re focused particularly on the
Business School but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be rolled out to the other schools and
departments. So what we’ve done is put the channels in based on the areas within the Business
School.
LG: That makes sense.
JD: On the home page you’ve got a contact us link where users can send emails, a logon or subscribe
so if people wanted o subscribe to the website you could capture their email addresses and Theo
Lynn was interested in the Saudi Arabian market so we’ve added that. Not everything would be
translated into Arabic and you might have flags with a UK flag representing English and Arabic is
used in quite a lot of countries so I’m not sure what flag to go for.
LG: Yeah, what flag to go for?
JD: We’d have to be a bit sensitive I suppose. But that’s probably how it would look like in reality
with some flags. And you’ve got a search option to search by keyword or speaker names and things
like that.
LG: Yeah.
JD: You’d have the DCU logo and a tag line or statement about what the whole thing represents. The
channels would represent the areas within the business school. Then we were thinking for things like
the Accenture Leaders of Tomorrow it might be an idea to have a Student Corner showing what the
students are doing or videos like that.
LG: Sure, yeah.
JD: The main body of the website would have images captured during the lecture and then a
paragraph or a few lines about what the talk was about. And some contact information. Niamh has
been doing a lot on social media and the ways the content via facebook, twitter, linkedin or bebo.
And then I thought on the main site you might have regular DCU news but if you had a talk on
economics or something like that you could link in to some of the courses in that area and trying to
promote them as well.
LG: That makes sense.
JD: Towards the bottom you might have sponsor information so logos and things like that and
normal terms and conditions.
LG: That looks good.
JD: This page looks pretty much the same. I just broken it down into what the management category
might look like. But say you drilled into one of these talks you might have something like this. We’ve
got a big window where the video would play in the middle of the screen. A tag line for the talk. Who
the speaker was. On that you could have a transcript of the talk or a biography of the speaker where
somebody could click on that person and it would bring up some more information on their
background, what their career was and things like that. The talk might be 30 minutes or an hour and
rather than having somebody sit through that entire thing you could have chapters here where
someone click on a chapter and it bring them to that particular part of the talk and they can play it
from there on.
LG: That would be nice.
JD: What else have I got? You could download it so if someone wanted to listen on their iPod or MP3
player and share it via the normal social media channels. We were thinking that in terms of copyright
that it would be licensed as creative commons…
LG: OK
298
JD: You’re providing it to the public so they can reuse it once they attribute it to DCU and people can
use it for academic or other purposes as they want.
LG: That looks great.
JD: One of the concerns that some other universities had was if the speaker was using images or
videos during their presentation
LG: oh yeah. Would you see them?
JD: You probably would. In terms of the setup you could just have one camera in a room but if they
don’t hold the copyright over the material. You’d want to have some sort of signoff.
LG: Oh yeah.
JD: That their covered if they are using music or something like that. And some people might not
even want their videos shown.
LG: Absolutely you’d have to make it optional.
JD: It’s optional for everybody.
LG: I think though that generally whenever we’ve asked speakers would they have any objections to
being recorded they don’t generally.
JD: I’m sure people wouldn’t because it’s promoting them as well.
LG: Exactly.
JD: But that’s kind of a quick mock-up of how it might look. I don’t know if there anything that stands
out? That looks good or looks bad or you might add or take away?
LG: I think generally it looks great. I think the news would be one to have a think about. And maybe
having upcoming events and flagging them there.
JD: I did have some on the website where you could show events coming up next month or in the
future. And if people were subscribing you could always notify them. And with an RSS feed on the
website it pushes out new content to the people so they see the latest updates. That’s something
that could be fairly easily incorporated.
LG: The idea I think is brilliant and I think we’ve always said wouldn’t it be nice to do this but it
actually getting the time to plan it out and implement it.
JD: We spoke to the Intra group here in DCU and it might be something that a student could do
obviously under supervision. But the skills to setup the website and run it and manage it and do the
social media stuff. It probably would be suitable for someone coming from an undergraduate
marketing. That you could do it as an 11 month placement. So you could keep the costs down. And
there are different options for the videos as well. You can do this on YouTube but you have the
YouTube watermark on the video like you do for the aviation course. But there are other options as
well. RMG Target were telling me about a website that a lot of American companies use and they
charge $10 per month to host up to 50 video.
LG: Ah, ok.
JD: And it used by Reebok and companies like that. And then getting beyond that buying a server
you’re getting into thousands or tens of thousands.
LG: I think even if it’s a case of using YouTube, I think people are fine with seeing YouTube videos.
There’s no kind of stigma or anything like that attached to that. It’s very common place.
JD: And as a way of just getting going, showing the business case to people it would be a relatively
simple and cheap way of doing it.
LG: I think it would be great as well in terms of Alumni relations because it’s one of the things. All of
the Alumni activities are managed centrally here in DCU and it’s not something we’re particularly
happy about because even in terms of contact details for our own graduates it ’s really hard to get
access. They are very protective of their database. Even the Alumni office themselves have said to us
what about putting on speaker series or something along those lines. I think with something like this
we could definitely maintain ownership rather than going back to the Alumni or somewhere else.
JD: I did a quick mock-up using some free software just to show something. I was trying to make it
look like the DCU homepage but I was a little bit restricted by the technology. When I was talking to
the guys in RMG Target they were saying for a simple solution, using YouTube and without doing all
299
the transcripts and things like that. Just a basic site. They were thinking maybe two weeks. So that’s
pretty quick. That’s for the design. I don’t know if there are the normal marketing company that DCU
uses.
LG: We were contracted to use then. We had to use them for pretty much everything. But I think it’s
out of contract and it’s out to tender.
JD: Ah, maybe that’s why they were interested in what I was doing. They were saying about a week
for a graphic designer to do the mock-up and maybe another week for a programmer to do the
layout and stuff. This is just showing what I had previously. So you have images of the different
speakers and I’ve just taken some well known faces.
LG: It would be nice if we could get them.
JD: You’ve got connect with us via facebook, twitter and whatever. Ideally these would be links but
I’ve put them in as pages. I’m also showing the different channels. And if I just go to the
management one. So we’ve got Bill Cullen was talking. You could have a link to his biography. You
could have a transcript. You could have a download to an iPod or MP3. And different sharing options
as well. Ideally you have links on these areas as well. So if someone wants more information on how
to make a great sales pitch they would click the link and it would bring them to that portion of the
video. And behind this is the aviation video. I need to do a little bit. But just to show that w hen you
click on the link you have it embedded. And if you have the videos on YouTube people can see then
there rather than coming to the main site. And you could have links back from YouTube to the
knowledge corner website. And some creative commons. The licensing stuff. I think I took the same
one that Stanford in the US had used.
LG: OK. What you have there doesn’t look far off.
JD: And that’s with a free tool.
LG: It doesn’t need to be particularly snazzy.
JD: There were probably easier ways I could have developed it but just to get the idea across of what
it might look like.
LG: It’s something that you could build up over time.
JD: You could add bits of the functionality as you go on. You could add a calendar so you have a
listing of people who are coming in the future and people can see that. And as you build up the
content over time you would be able to scroll down to see other speakers.
LG: I think it would be great. Within the MBS in Marketing has the spring lecture series and
sometimes there is fairly senior marketing people coming in and then the Finance and Capital
Markets program last year introduced a speaker seminar series for the first time as well. Even taking
them as a starting point.
JD: There’s a lot of potential and to get up and running it doesn’t take an awful lot. It’s just the
investment of time on your part or somebody else.
LG: But once it’s up and running it should be easy to maintain really.
JD: Getting the right content. Getting the right people speaking and having it relevant. I think Bryan
has done a lot of interviews with potential sponsors and I think that’s what they were saying that
they would have no problem sponsoring something if the content was relevant and it was going to
connect with their audience, their customer as well.
LG: Some of the lectures are fairly well connected.
JD: I saw that when the new president was inaugurated that a Nobel Laureate speaker series was
announced. I don’t know what area they are in but it’s something that the university generally coul d
promote.
LG: Absolutely. I think there was one for Economics. If they could concentrate on getting that one
first it would be nice.
JD: So that’s a mock-up and a storyboard of how it might look.
LG: I think even to develop it further out from that there are a huge number of student produced
videos in DCU. Now there are very different in nature to this. This is a lot more structured and
300
professional but once that’s setup there’s no reason why you couldn’t copy it and use for
prospective students.
JD: I think the MMK students were doing a lot of viral videos last year and they had posted them to
youtube. You could do something similar where all the class videos are put up and people could see
them. I suppose a step beyond this would be capturing lectures for students but that a whole other
ball game. That’s what other universities are doing. MIT with their Open Course Ware, there’s no
editing involved, they just stick a camera and away you go. Guys talking about last week’s results and
stuff like that.
LG: It’s a funny approach like that.
JD: I think Bryan was saying that it costs then a couple of million every year to run and they get 30 or
40 thousand in revenue. Again this sort of this isn’t. You might get additional student registering
because of the affects but it’s kind of a secondary affect. You’re not going to be getting money
directly from this. Unless some famous alumni decided they wanted to put their name on it. You
might get that but otherwise I suppose it’s a cost to the university. It’s part of the marketing budget.
LG: Oh, certainly and we look at where our students are coming from. Students both post grad and
undergrad, literally every single person had gone to the DCU website as their main source of
information. So it’s a step on from that. And this is really showing we have strong links with industry
if we are able to attract in fairly high profile speakers. That reinforces it all. So it will be a challenge
for us to get the speakers in but
NR: Even on our course we had quite a few plausible things that could have been recorded. It’s more
a case of scheduling stuff as well. So people know this is happening this week. It’s going to be
recorded.
LG: It’s making the most of everything that is going on.
JD: Some of the ones we had were a bit academic for general consumption maybe but we had
speakers in from Philips and a few other areas speaking about innovation. Even people from Google
but they seemed a bit reluctant to be recorded. A lot of the international students would use
recording devices to record the lecture. Lecture capture would help them.
LG: That’s true all right. We’ve a new Masters in Digital Marketing starting this September and some
of that will be delivered online. Which we’ve never really done before.
JD: Isn’t there a group here in DCU that does online education?
LG: The National Distance Education Centre is here, Oscail, but the program won’t have any input
from them. We know what we’re doing we’re fine.
JD: Everybody uses Moodle and as a teaching resource it’s great. You don’t have to be on campus all
the time. You can access the lectures notes and library.
LG: It’s getting good in terms of remote access all right. So have you much left to do on it now?
JD: A lot of writing.
NR: Lots of editing to make it connect which is the worst part.
LG: Well I’m sure you’ll do great.
NR: Thanks
JD: Thanks for all the time you’ve spent with us.
Transcript of w eb site demonst ration t o RMG Target (DCU Ma rket in g A genc y)
Present: Ben, Aidan, Jenny (RMG) and John Dorgan
Date: 22 July,
Location: RMG Target. Northumberland Road.
John: We were doing some competitive analysis and we look at what people like Stanford or MIT
were doing and a lot of them are including as well as the guest lectures, MIT in particular have a
system called OCW (Open Course Ware) and for a lot of their university courses they will publish
those on the web so anybody can view these. You don’t need to be a student.
301
So most of the websites are pretty simple. They contain videos that you can see as a flash and you
can also download as podcast or MP4 and they also include bios of the speakers and transcripts. I
done something in wordpress which I downloaded to the laptop and we haven’t actually made
anything live. I used Visio to mock up what the website might look like.
We were thinking that we would call it Knowledge Corner and it would be accessible from a url like
KnowledgeCorner.dcu.ie and would be part of the DCU website. In its first iteration it would mainly
be for the Business School which is broken down into five different areas so we categories the
lectures into these areas and uses can navigate via the categories or a dropdown and we would like
this into social media so we would have social media campaigns like twitter, facebook and linkedin,
etc.
And we also thought it might be a good idea to have some advertising so if you had a particular
lecture on accounting you could be promoting the courses in that area.
[Aidan]: So like internal advertising?
John: It would be so members of the public could look at this and they would see if someone was
talking about accounting or finance you would have the latest news from these areas in that part of
the website.
[Aidan]: Gotcha, yeah.
John: We’ve been talking to some sponsors so we might have sponsorship, logos, things l ike that.
And then terms and conditions, copyright, etc.
You can think of this as the home page so you would have the latest videos a tag line of what the talk
is about and a paragraph about the lecture and an image tag for the speaker. And the user would
click on this and you might get something like this which would be a detail page. So you would have
who the speaker is, a biography you could click on. What I was thinking is that the video would be a
flash video that the user could click on to play. And you could also have links to particular segments
so what they were talking about particular topics
[Ben] Video chapters?
John: Exactly, so instead of somebody having o playback the entire video, 30 mins or whatever it
might be, the user can navigate to the relevant portions of it and we could have transcripts.
I think with Flash Apple don’t really support that format so you would have the options to download
for iPod or MP4. So we’re covering the iPads and iPhones. Finally sharing buttons and tags.
We were probably going to release everything as creative commons so people could reuse that.
[Ben]: What sort of creative commons licence were you going to use? There are several types of
licences you can get. One which is share and share alike. I can’t remember. They is one that allows
you to share it as it is and others that allow you to create derivative works.
John: I think for the prototype I used what Stanford were doing.
*Ben+: That’s probably OK.
John: I suppose one concern with creative commons, and it was a concern that other universities
had, was that if the person speaking was using material and they didn’t have copyright rights. If they
were using videos, images or sound you have to get a disclosure agreement that the speaker would
agree to be recorded and also agree that any material they are using isn’t covered by copyright.
[Ben] Yeah, of course.
John: That’s the detail behind one of the links that a user might click on. This is an example of where
the user is navigating to the Management area and it’s very like the home page. And the site would
have scroll bars to view videos over time.
[Aidan] An advice on the home page. Is maybe have more text and maybe a large thumbnail.
Because if it’s a portal you want people to be able to browse into different categories and it’s better
not to have too much detail.
[Ben] And I suppose if you have less text you can have the video this way (horizontal) so you have
more information above the fold. And in terms of SEO it could be better to have the text on the page
with the video as well.
302
*Aidan+ It reminds me, did you ever see Ted.com. That’s how I would see this kind of working. Ted is
a nice visualisation of how different categories, the newest videos and all there are is a big grid of
the videos but they are sized either on importance or popularity.
[Ben] Oh yeah.
*Aidan+ It’s like a huge grid of thumbnails that are all size differently so that bigger the more
important they are. It’s a more interesting example of how to do it.
John: The sponsor of the projects was interested in Arabic because we have quite a lot of Saudi
Arabian students not just learning English but also going thought the regular courses. I think the
Saudi government sponsor them as well so they get their fees paid which are a lot more than f or
European students. In terms of the layout I not sure that having an Arabic link just sitting there like
that is the best way to integrate this.
*Ben+ It’s going to be very hard because Arabic is a right to left language so it means reconsidering
everything to be honest. I don’t think any of us would have spend time working on Arabic sites.
[Jenny] I was working on a website with English and Arabic for the Asian games back in 2006 but
what we did was we had the English version which was this way and for the Arabic version we
flipped the content over so you’re reading it the other way around.
[Aidan] Were you concerned about the priority of the links?
John: I put the links up here because it was a small portion of the audience that would be coming . I
didn’t want to make it too prominent because 90% of the audience would be looking for English
content.
[Aidan] Those kind of links usually live in the top right as the smaller links are relevant to the site and
would be on every page. It could be a language drop down or flags. If it’s just two languages it just a
toggle between the two so you could have English selected and then you switch to Arabic.
[Ben] Are you expecting users to access the site through college PCs or their own PCs?
John: This would be public so could be accessed by anyone external to the university.
[Ben] You could check the language setting on the browser and then automatically load that or even
use geo location to detect what country they are in. And just show the content appropriately. A nd of
course if it’s going to be a dynamic site make sure the English URL is going to be different from the
Arabic version. That’s again for SEO reasons so Google doesn’t get confused parsing the same pages
once in English and once in Arabic and doesn’t know whether the page is English or Arabic.
John: That’s the concept. It’s pretty simple. I don’t know if you have any general feedback. If you
think it’s a good or a bad idea?
*Ben+ I think it’s good. You mentioned you would have some transcriptions. As soon as you add in a
transcribe button that’s a lot more maintenance straight from the off. The thing about sites like
these is you want to keep then as simple as possible to update. That’s going to be key to the design the updating part. So by stripping down features, the nice to have, and going with a key set for
launch would be the way that we would probably approach it. And then as the site progresses you
can add extra features and see how that goes.
John: We were looking at the costing. There are a number of courses that involve an element of
work placement of around 11 months in 3rd or 4th year. I think maybe you could have a student from
the business school running some of it. Maybe the social media marketing. Twitter updates and
things like fairly simple. Obviously they would be under somebody in the marketing department. But
you also some have someone from the communications schools editing down some of the videos.
John: I can show you what I did in wordpress. It might have been easier to just do it in html but
anyway. As the URL would be off the DCU website I was trying to use the same colour and schemas.
I just taken one of the free themes that are available in wordpress and customised it a bit. This is the
main page and I included some links and downloaded some image tags. This is a table in HTML. I just
built this to show some of the people in the marketing department because they aren’t that familiar
so it just a quick and dirty prototype for them as well.
303
[Aidan] It might be advisable based on your skill set, that’s the way I work, because I’m a designer I
generally mock it up in photoshop first. If you want to describe a visual to somebody. It best to do in
photoshop. You’ve more control. You’re not going to build something.
John: I have photoshop but I’m not that experience with it. That’s why I went with visio.
[Ben] Well a lot of the time we work we start with visio and the first thing we do is site map even if
it’s a very simple site to show the way the pages relate to each other and that would be the core
document for everything. We call these wireframes and our project manager would use visio. Aidan,
because he is a designer and on a Mac would be using photoshop. And that would be the process.
And from there it would be some time before we started coding in html but obviously if it’s for a
demo it’s more a problem.
John: We’re not handing over a website at the end so it’s for demo only. I added a couple of widgets
so you’ve links to RSS and facebook. It doesn’t look example like the pape r mock-ups.
[Ben] Would this whole thing not work as a YouTube channel?
John: You could do that. Some universities do that. DCU has a YouTube channel with a couple of
things that they have put up there. Most of the demos that we have done we linked directly to
Youtube videos. I guess the thing about YouTube is you don’t have any control about what is played
after your video. It could be anything. It’s kind of wide open.
[Ben] It depends. If you want to restrict access to it then YouTube may not be the way to go. There’s
alternatives. There’s Vimeo which is fine as long as you’re non-commercial so if this all academic I
think that’s ok. I think Viemo has a nice interface from a design point of view. And it isn’t part of the
whole YouTube thing.
John: I was thinking about how the architecture might work. If you were to host the whole thing in
DCU you would have to have a steaming media server and I was reading some stuff about adobe and
Microsoft and I don’t know how difficult it is to set those things up.
[Aidan+ There’s a service by brightcove.
[Jenny] Brightcover do the streaming video. They will actually host the server and you just share the
link out.
[Aidan] A kink of skinnable, customisable player.
John: I was trying to do some costings so I went to Dell and prices a server.
[Ben] Probably the most cost effective solutions are YouTube or Vimeo. Or one of the other larger
ones.
[Jenny] Brighcove would be the one you would use if you wanted some level of security in terms of
securing who sees the video. That’s what Obama used during his election.
[Aidan] And I think Channel 4 used it for a bit as well until they got their own customised one. They
integrate it into their site so it video and content all managed and it’s not branded Brightcove so
doesn’t have a watermark.
*Jenny+ And I don’t think you can view another video on Brightcove unless you have the link to it.
John: That might be an alternative, yeah. Because we were looking at the cost of a server.
*Ben+ It’s not just that. You’ve got the content delivery network and all sorts of other costs. A
content delivery network will allow you to deliver video quickly across the world.
[Jenny] And actually while I think about it HEAnet do video streaming. And they probably would
charge a huge amount because you’re on their network anyway.
John: That’s true. Thanks.
[Jenny] They were doing the video streaming from dotConf this morning.
John: That’s great. On the team we don’t have a huge amount of technical skills. I’ve don’t a class in
web design and html and that’s about it. Most of the people on the team, there’s about 5 of us, are
more on the business side rather than the technical side. So in terms of the architecture we’re
mocking up a website like this and going that far.
John: Let me ask you a theoretical question. If you were to build that, would you have an idea of
finger in the air timeline? I know there are some many ifs and buts that it’s difficult.
*Ben+ Yeah, if we were building it I don’t know if we would lick wordpress to build it in.
304
John: I just used that because we did a short class in it.
*Jenny+ It’s three templates.
*Ben+ Yeah, it’s three templates. Very straight forward. If you were to throw in YouTube so there’s
no requirement for uploading video and your just pasting a URL into the CMS side and tag it up.
Write in the description, give it a title. I don’t know. How long would it take to design something like
that?
*Aidan+ Well you see when you add design on top as well. If it’s as small as that, template kind of
driven. A week maybe.
[Speak 2] yeah for design. And we would probably want another week or week and a half for
development. And of course testing.
John: It’s almost something they could get running for this academic year.
[Ben] The issue with these sort of sites would be the signoff process. And the content as well.
John: That’s the most important thing. Getting the content.
[Aidan] Relevant content and interesting content.
John: That’s what all of the sponsors said. They would have no problem coming on board if the
content was relevant so they could promote the company and sent it to their audience as well.
[Ben] I do think it would be worthwhile considering just doing it as a youtube channel. It would cover
off most of the bases. Unless. I don’t know about restricting. If for some reason you wanted to
restrict the video.
John: No, there isn’t really. I suppose the thing with YouTube is how it can show related or similar
videos.
[Ben] You can restrict YouTube if you were to embed it on a page you can stop it showing relate d
videos at the end. Is that what your concern is?
[Aidan] You think the association with the fact that youtube is wide open
John: Yeah.
[Ben] I see you point.
John: There might be other solutions.
*Jenny+ Well there’s HEAnet and brightcove. Heanet before brightcove.
[Ben] I was trying to think of free solutions.
[Jenny] HEAnet is the higher education authority in this country who supply bandwidth to all the
colleges. So it’s in their interest. This is their sort of stuff. They are big into this.
John: I know YouTube have an education channel as well but I don’t know how that is differenciated
from the regular channel. I’m not sure if they have a separate area. I don’t think it’s available in
Ireland. They were trying to push it in other European countries and the US.
[Ben] does that help?
John: Yes, absolutely. I didn’t think so many would be attending this meeting. Thanks very much. I
don’t want to be taking up too much of your time.
Appendix 13
Alike 3.0 Ireland
Creative Commons – Non Commercial – Share
Page 1 of 6
Attribution - Non-Commercial - Share-Alike 3.0 Ireland
CREATIVE COMMONS CORPORATION IS NOT A LAW FIRM AND DOES NOT PROVIDE
LEGAL SERVICES. DISTRIBUTION OF THIS LICENCE DOES NOT CREATE A
SOLICITOR-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. CREATIVE COMMONS PROVIDES THIS
INFORMATION ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS. CREATIVE COMMONS MAKES NO WARRANTIES
REGARDING THE INFORMATION PROVIDED, AND DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR
DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ITS USE.
Licence
THE WORK (AS DEFINED BELOW) IS PROVIDED UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS
305
CREATIVE COMMONS PUBLIC LICENCE ("CCPL" OR "LICENCE"). THE WORK IS
PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT, RELATED RIGHTS, DATABASE SUI GENERIS RIGHT,
AND/OR OTHER APPLICABLE LAW. ANY USE OF THE WORK OTHER THAN AS
AUTHORISED UNDER THIS LICENCE OR COPYRIGHT LAW IS PROHIBITED. BY
EXERCISING ANY RIGHTS TO THE WORK PROVIDED HERE, YOU ACCEPT AND
AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENCE. THE LICENSOR GRANTS
YOU THE RIGHTS CONTAINED HERE IN CONSIDERATION OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF
SUCH TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
This Creative Commons Ireland Public Licence enables You (all capitalised terms defined
below) to view, edit, modify, translate and distribute Works worldwide, under the terms of this
licence, provided that You credit the Original Author.
'The Licensor' (one or more natural or legal persons offering the Work under the terms and
conditions of this Licence)
and
'You' (the Person acquiring rights under this Licence)
agree as follows:
1. Definitions
(a) "Attribution" means acknowledging all the parties who have contributed to and
have rights in the Work or Collective Work under this Licence.
(b) "Collective Work" means the Work in its entirety in unmodified form along with one
or more other contributions, assembled into a collective whole.
(c) “Creative Commons Compatible License” means a license means a license that is
listed at http://creativecommons.org/compatiblelicenses that has been approved by
Creative Commons as being essentially equivalent to this License, including, at a
minimum, because that license: (i) contains terms that have the same purpose,
meaning and effect as the License Elements of this License; and, (ii) explicitly
permits the relicensing of adaptations of works made available under that license
under this License or a Creative Commons jurisdiction license with the same
License Elements as this License.
[DRAFTING NOTE: Definition of "Creative Commons Compatible License": The
definition will only be in the BY-SA licence ]
(d) "Derivative Work" means any work created by the editing, modification, adaptation
or translation of the Work in any media (however a work that constitutes a
Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work for the purpose of this
Licence). For the avoidance of doubt, where the Work is a musical composition or
sound recording, the synchronization of the Work in timed-relation with a moving
Page 2 of 6
image ("synching") will be considered a Derivative Work for the purpose of this
Licence.
(e) "Licence" means this Creative Commons Ireland Public Licence agreement.
(f) "Licence Elements" means the following high-level licence attributes indicated in
the title of this Licence: Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-Alike.
(g) "Original Author" means the natural or legal person or persons that created the
Work.
(h) “Performance” means a performance of any actors, singers, musicians, dancers or
other persons who act, sing, deliver, declaim, play in, interpret or otherwise perform
literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works or expressions of works of folklore,
which is a live performance given by one or more individuals, and shall include a
performance of a variety act or any similar presentation. A performance of a literary
work includes a reading or recitation and a performance of a dramatic work
includes a choreographic work or a work of mime. “Perform” shall be construed
accordingly.
(i) "Work" means the work protected by copyright which is offered under the terms of
this Licence. For the purposes of this Licence a Work shall also be taken to mean
a live performance or a database insofar as these are protected under the
applicable law within Your jurisdiction.
For the purpose of this Licence, when not inconsistent with the context, words in the singular
number include the plural number.
2. Fair Dealing Rights
Nothing in this Licence is intended to reduce, limit, or restrict any uses or rights permitted
306
under any applicable law, including fair use, fair dealing or any other legally recognised
limitation or exception to copyright infringement.
3. License Grant
Subject to the terms and conditions of this Licence, the Licensor hereby grants to You a
worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, Licence to exercise the rights in the Work as stated
below for the duration of copyright, related right and/or database sui generis right in the Work.
(a) to reproduce the Work;
(b) to create one or more Derivative Works; provided that any such Derivative Work,
including any translation in any medium, takes reasonable steps to clearly label,
demarcate or otherwise identify that changes were made to the original Work. For
example, a translation could be marked “The original work was translated from
English to Spanish,” or a modification could indicate “The original work has been
modified.”;
(c) to incorporate the Work into one or more Collective Works;
(d) to reproduce Derivative Works or the Work as incorporated in any Collective Work;
(e) when the Work is a database, to extract and reutilise substantial parts of the
database; and
(f) to publish, distribute, archive, perform or otherwise disseminate the Work or the
Work as incorporated in any Collective Work, to the public in any material form in
any media whether now known or hereafter created.
The above rights may be exercised in all media and formats whether now known or hereafter
devised. The above rights include the right to make such modifications as are technically
necessary to exercise the rights in other media and formats. All rights not expressly granted
Page 3 of 6
by Licensor are hereby reserved, including but not limited to the rights set forth in Sections
4(e) and 4(f).
Where the licensor is the owner of the sui generis database rights under national law
implementing Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases, the licensor waives
these rights.
[Drafting Note: In the licenses which permit commercial use, we will include the following
clause:
For the avoidance of doubt, the Licensor waives the right to collect royalties, whether
individually or, in the event that the Licensor is a member of a collecting society that
administers voluntary licensing schemes, via that society, from any exercise by You of the
rights granted under this License.]
4. Restrictions
The license granted in section 3 above is expressly made subject and limited by the following
restrictions:
(a) You may distribute or perform the Work only under the terms of this License. You must
make reference to this Licence (by Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), spoken word or as
appropriate to the media used) on all copies of the Work and Collective Works published,
distributed, performed or otherwise disseminated or made available to the public by You.
You may not offer or impose any terms on the use to be made of the Work, the Derivative
Work or the Work as incorporated in a Collective Work that alter or restrict the terms of
this Licence or the ability of a recipient of the Work to exercise the rights granted to the
recipient under the terms of the License. You may not sublicense the Work. To the
extent reasonably practicable, You must keep intact all notices that refer to this Licence
and to the disclaimer of warranties, in particular the URI, if any, that the Licensor specifies
to be associated with the Work, unless such URI does not refer to the copyright notice or
licensing information for the Work. When you distribute, publicly display, perform, or
digitally perform the Work, You must not impose any technological measures on the Work
or the Work as incorporated in a Collective Work that restrict the ability of a recipient of
the Work from You to exercise the rights granted to that recipient under the terms of the
License. This section 4(a) applies to the Work as incorporated in a Collection, but this
does not require the Collection apart from the Work itself to be made subject to the terms
of this License. If you create a Collection, upon notice from any Licensor You must, to
the extent practicable, remove from the Collection any credit as required by Section 4(d),
as requested. If you create an Adaptation, upon notice from any Licensor You must, to
the extent practicable, remove from the Adaptation any credit as required by Section 4(d),
as requested.
307
(b) You may Distribute or Perform an Adaptation only under: (i) the terms of this License; (ii)
a later version of this License with the same License Elements as this License; (iii) either
the Creative Commons Unported license or a Creative Commons jurisdiction license
(either this or a later license version) that contains the same License Elements as this
License (e.g., Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported) ("Applicable
License"). (iv) a Creative Commons Compatible License.
[DRAFTING NOTE: Item (iv) will only appear in the BY-SA licence.]
If you license the Adaptation under one of the licenses mentioned in (iv), you must
comply with the terms of that license. If you license the Adaptation under the terms any of
the licenses mentioned in (i), (ii) or (iii) (the “Applicable License”), you must comply with
the terms of the Applicable License generally and the following provisions: You must
include a copy of, or the URI for the Applicable License with every copy of each
Adaptation You distribute, display or perform. You may not offer or impose any terms on
the Adaptation that restrict the terms of the Applicable License or the ability of the
recipient of the Adaptation to exercise the rights granted to that recipient under the terms
of the Applicable License. You must keep intact all notices that refer to the Applicable
Page 4 of 6
License and to the disclaimer of warranties with every copy of the Work as included in the
Adaptation You Distribute or Perform. When You Distribute or Perform the Adaptation,
You may not impose any effective technological measures on the Adaptation that restrict
the ability of a recipient of the Adaptation from You to exercise the rights granted to that
recipient under the terms of the Applicable License. This Section 4(b) applies to the
Adaptation as incorporated in a Collection, but this does not require the Collection apart
from the Adaptation itself to be made subject to the terms of the Applicable License.
(c) You may not exercise any of the rights granted to You in Section 3 above in any manner
that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private
monetary compensation. The exchange of the Work for other copyrighted works by
means of digital file-sharing or otherwise shall not be considered to be intended for or
directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation, provided there
is no payment of any monetary compensation in connection with the exc hange of
copyrighted works.
(d) For the avoidance of doubt: The restrictions mentioned above (4(a) and 4(b)) do not apply
to those parts of the work considered to fall within the definition of a "work" under this
license exclusively because they meet the criteria of the sui generis database right under
national law implementing Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases.
(e) If You Distribute, or Perform the Work or any Adaptations or Collections, You must,
unless a request has been made pursuant to Section 4(a), keep intact all copyright
notices for the Work and provide, reasonable to the medium or means You are utilising:
(i) the name of the Original Author (or pseudonym, if applicable) if supplied, and/or if the
Original Author and/or Licensor designate another party or parties (e.g., a sponsor
institute, publishing entity, journal) for attribution ("Attribution Parties") in Licensor's
copyright notice, terms of service or by other reasonable means, the name of such party
or parties; (ii) the title of the Work if supplied; (iii) to the extent reasonably practicable, the
URI, if any, that Licensor specifies to be associated with the Work, unless such URI does
not refer to the copyright notice or licensing information for the Work; and, (iv) consi stent
with Section 3(b), in the case of an Adaptation, a credit identifying the use of the Work in
the Adaptation (e.g., "French translation of the Work by Original Author," or "Screenplay
based on original Work by Original Author"). The credit required by this Section 4(d) may
be implemented in any reasonable manner; provided, however, that in the case of a
Adaptation or Collection, at a minimum such credit will appear, if a credit for all
contributing authors of the Adaptation or Collection appears, then as part of these credits
and in a manner at least as prominent as the credits for the other contributing authors.
For the avoidance of doubt, You may only use the credit required by this Section for the
purpose of attribution in the manner set out above and, by exercising Your rights under
this License, You may not implicitly or explicitly assert or imply any connection with,
sponsorship or endorsement by the Original Author, Licensor and/or Attribution Parties,
as appropriate, of You or Your use of the Work, without the separate, express prior
written permission of the Original Author, Licensor and/or Attribution Parties.
(f) For the avoidance of doubt: Voluntary License Schemes. The Licensor reserves the right
to collect royalties, whether individually or, in the event that the Licensor is a member of a
308
collecting society that administers voluntary licensing schemes, via that society, from any
exercise by You of the rights granted under this License that is for a purpose or use which
is otherwise than non-commercial as permitted under Section 4(c).
(g) Moral rights remain unaffected to the extent they are recognised and not waivable by
applicable law.
Additional Provisions for third parties making use of the Work
5. Further licence from the Licensor
Each time You publish, distribute, perform or otherwise disseminate
the Work; or
any Derivative Work; or
the Work as incorporated in a Collective Work
the Licensor agrees to offer to the relevant third party making use of the Work (in any of the
alternatives set out above) a licence to use the Work on the same terms and conditions as
granted to You hereunder.
Page 5 of 6
6. Further licence from You
Each time You publish, distribute, perform or otherwise disseminate
a Derivative Work; or
a Derivative Work as incorporated in a Collective Work
You agree to offer to the relevant third party making use of the Work (in either of the
alternatives set out above) a licence to use the Derivative Work on any of the
following premises:
a licence on the same terms and conditions as the licence granted to You hereunder;
or
a later version of the licence granted to You hereunder; or
any other Creative Commons licence with the same Licence Elements.
7. All rights not expressly granted by the Licensor are hereby reserved, including but not
limited to, the exclusive right to collect, whether individually or via a licensing body, such as a
collecting society, royalties for any use of the Work which results in commercial advan tage or
private monetary compensation.
8. Warranties and Disclaimer
Except as required by law, the Work is licensed by the Licensor on an "as is" and "as
available" basis and without any warranty of any kind, either express or implied.
9 Limit of Liability
Subject to any liability which may not be excluded or limited by law the Licensor shall not be
liable and hereby expressly excludes all liability for loss or damage howsoever and whenever
caused to You.
10. Termination
The rights granted to You under this Licence shall terminate automatically upon any breach
by You of the terms of this Licence. Natural or legal persons who have received Collective
Works from You under this Licence, however, will not have their Licences terminated provided
such persons remain in full compliance with those Licences.
11. General
11.1. The validity or enforceability of the remaining terms of this agreement is not affected by
the holding of any provision of it to be invalid or unenforceable.
11.2. This Licence constitutes the entire Licence Agreement between the parties with respect
to the Work licensed here. There are no understandings, agreements or representations with
respect to the Work not specified here. The Licensor shall not be bound by any additional
provisions that may appear in any communication in any form.
11.3. Except as otherwise agreed, this Licence shall be governed by the law of Ireland.
12. Creative Commons Notice
12.1. Except for the limited purpose of indicating to the public that the Work is licensed under
the CCPL, Creative Commons does not authorise the use by either party of the trademark
“Creative Commons”. Any permitted use has to be in compliance with the Creative Commons
trade mark usage guidelines at the time of use of the Creative Commons trade mark. These
guidelines may be found on the Creative Commons website or be otherwise available upon
request from time to time. For the avoidance of doubt, this trademark restriction does not
form part of the License.
12.2. Creative Commons Corporation does not profit financially from its role in providing this
Licence and will not investigate the claims of any Licensor or user of the Licence.
309
Page 6 of 6
12.3. One of the conditions that Creative Commons Corporation requires of the Licensor and
You is an acknowledgement of its limited role and agreement by all who use the Licence that
the Corporation is not responsible to anyone for the statements and actions of You or the
Licensor or anyone else attempting to use or using this Licence.
12.4. Creative Commons Corporation is not a party to this Licence, and makes no warranty
whatsoever in connection to the Work or in connection to the Licence, and in all events is not
liable for any loss or damage resulting from the Licensor's or Your reliance on this Licence or
on its enforceability.
12.5. USE OF THIS LICENCE MEANS THAT YOU AND THE LICENSOR EACH ACCEPTS
THESE CONDITIONS IN SECTION 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4 AND EACH ACKNOWLEDGES
CREATIVE COMMONS CORPORATION'S VERY LIMITED ROLE AS A FACILITATOR OF
THE LICENCE FROM THE LICENSOR TO YOU.
Creative Commons is not a party to this Licence, and makes no warranty whatsoever in
connection with the Work. Creative Commons will not be liable to You or any party on any
legal theory for any damages whatsoever, including without limitation any general, special,
incidental or consequential damages arising in connection to this licence. Notwithstanding the
foregoing two (2) sentences, if Creative Commons has expressly identified itself as the
Licensor hereunder, it shall have all rights and obligations of Licensor.
Except for the limited purpose of indicating to the public that the Work is licensed under the
CCPL, neither party will use the trademark "Creative Commons" or any related trademark or
logo of Creative Commons without the prior written consent of Creative Commons. Any
permitted use will be in compliance with Creative Commons' then-current trademark usage
guidelines, as may be published on its website or otherwise made available upon request
from time to time.
Appendix 14
Creative Commons Licenses
Attribution (BY) – This is the most accommodating of the licenses offered, in terms of what others
can do with your work. It lets others copy, distribute, re-use and build upon your work, even
commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.
• Attribution-Non-commercial (BY-NC) – This license lets others copy, distribute, re-use and build
upon your work, as long as it is not for commercial purposes and they credit you as the original
author.
• Attribution-Share alike (BY-SA) – This license lets others re-use and build upon your work even for
commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license any derivative works under identical
terms.
• Attribution-Non-commercial-Share alike (BY-NC-SA) – This license lets others re-use and build
upon your work, as long as it is for non-commercial purposes, they credit you and they license their
new creations under identical terms.
• Attribution-No derivatives (BY-ND) – This license allows use of a work in its current form for both
commercial and non-commercial purposes, as long as it is not changed in any way or used to make
derivative works, and credit is given to the original author.
• Attribution-Non-commercial-No derivatives (BY-NC-ND) – This is the most restrictive of the six
core licenses. It is often called the “advertising” license because it only allows a work to be copied
and shared with others in its original form, and only for non-commercial purposes and where credit
is provided to the original author. This license does not allow the creation of derivative works, or the
use of the work for commercial purposes.
Each Creative Commons license is expressed in three ways:
1. the Commons Deed, that is, a simple, plain-English summary of the license, together with the
relevant icon/s that indicates the scope of permitted use;
2. the Legal Code, that is the dense legal “fine print” license document; and
3. the Digital Code, that is, metadata that highlights what license is attached to the content.
310
Appendix 15
YouTube Translation Case Study
In an effort to research different methods of translating videos, we tried to use the YouTube
function and discover what it can offer, if anything for our project. As we want a tool that can
translate English to Arabic, thus localising our site, we uploaded a few English videos that were
captured in DCUBS and we tried to translate them into Arabic or at least get subtitles in Arabic.
Firstly, we created an account on YouTube. Then we added a video from (My Video) function. Next,
we clicked on the ‘caption’ button.
Fig.1 uploading our content to YouTube
Next we uploaded the transcript that we had for the video. This should provide subtitles for the
video. However, it took quite a while for the process to finish.
Fig.2 –
Adding closed captions to video on YouTube
Once this process was complete the subtitles appeared on the video. Alternatively, if the video has
its own subtitles in a different language we could download the script and translate it by using
Google translation tools or translate it manually.
311
Fig.
3
Video with Arabic subtitles.
As you can see above the video has been subtitled in Arabic. Additionally, the function (CC)
underneath the video screen can translate the audio to a text by using Google translate. We can also
translate this to many languages after copying the transcript and translating it manually or by using
software.
312
Appendix 16
Interview signoff
313