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Weblogs as Customer Communication & Collaboration Tools: Blogs at APL. Christina K Pikas Computers in Libraries March 22, 2006. Agenda. Our Process Our Current Blog Other Internal Blogs Lessons Learned Future Work. Our Process: Our Environment. Centralized IT management
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Weblogs as Customer Communication & Collaboration Tools: Blogs at APL Christina K Pikas Computers in Libraries March 22, 2006
Agenda • Our Process • Our Current Blog • Other Internal Blogs • Lessons Learned • Future Work
Our Process: Our Environment • Centralized IT management • No library servers, techies • No lab-wide effort • We are the content people • Immediate management pro-innovation
Our Process: Need • Need for newsletter • Intranet portal design is inflexible • Moving to all digital/online > need new communications channels
Our Process: First Try • Librarian Proposal • Potential uses • Requirements • Suggested Software • Techie - Picked another software, that did not meet requirements
Our Process: End of First Try • Librarian • Coded template • Created content • Marketed • No statistics • Server taken away, content backed up
Our Process: Second Try • Head of library group found friendly techie, group to host • Purchased MT license • Librarian • Set up blogs • Created branded templates • Created marketing tools
Current Blog • Statistics via • Apache/Webalizer (2k visits/month) • MT internal • E-mails received requesting inclusion • Linked from department pages
Other Internal Blogs • Mix of software hosts • Under the radar • Do not receive comments – authors get e-mail, phone calls, stopped in the hall • Do not have subscribers, mostly get traffic from search, visits
Future Work • Topical blogs • Internal lab-wide summit for social software • Possible hosting of other department blogs • Surveys to determine other directions
Lessons Learned • Do the best you can to get a stable host • Do not assume customers and IT know/get blogs • Back-up, consider ways to export/import posts • Lots of contact information • Get it advertised on the pages your customers visit!
Contact Information Christina K. Pikas, BS, MLS R.E. Gibson Library & Information CenterThe Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Voice 443.778.4812 (Baltimore) 240.228.4812 (Washington) E-mail Christina.Pikas@jhuapl.edu