Presented at LILAC 2008

1. LILAC 2008 18th March 2008
Power t o t he peopl e:
expl ori ng t he devel opment of t he
Inf orms sof t ware t ool t hrough
communi t y engagement
Diana Massam, Intute Executive

2. LILAC 2008 18th March 2008
Questions, questions…
• How do you think Informs should
develop in the Web 2.0
environment?
• Which social networking tools would
YOU use to engage with other
Informs users?

3. LILAC 2008 18th March 2008
What is Informs?
• Flexible software tool for the creation of
online tutorials
• Database of user created content for
sharing, re-using and amending by other
users: mainly in area of information skills
development
• Community of practice and committed
user community

4. LILAC 2008 18th March 2008

5. LILAC 2008 18th March 2008
Background
• 2001 – 2003: Informs conceived and created as a result of JISC
funded projects, based at the University of Huddersfield.
• 2003 – 2006: After project end, server maintained at
Huddersfield through goodwill with limited technical and
administrative support.
• 2006 – 2007: User community lobbied for safe future home for
Informs: scoping project recommends Intute. JISC fund 6 month
Integration Project to transfer Informs to Intute.
• 2007 – Informs an established Intute service.

6. LILAC 2008 18th March 2008
Informs @ Intute
• User community still growing: now c170
– Mixture of HE, FE. Some other sectors represented e.g. NHS
– Over 2000 learning objects: tutorials which can be shared and re-
used
• Stakeholder engagement:
– Key outcome of the Integration Project was recognition of
community ‘ownership’ and potential for developing community of
practice
– Synergy with Web 2.0 environment
• Future development priorities (based on user review):
– Customisation, Accessibility, Functionality
– Community engagement & social networking

7. Tagging
Web 2.0
What’s New
Quality
Ratings User
comment
s
User
comment
s
Awards
Events Regional
networks
Regional
networks
Forum/
Blog
Forum/
Blog
E-mail
newsletter
E-mail
newsletter
RSS
Feeds
RSS
Feeds
Sharing
content
Sharing
content
Community
building

8. LILAC 2008 18th March 2008
Questions again: over to you
• How do you think Informs should
develop in the Web 2.0
environment?
• Which social networking tools would
YOU use to engage with other
Informs users?

9. LILAC 2008 18th March 2008
Further information?
www.informs.intute.ac.uk
Diana.Massam@manchester.ac.uk

10. LILAC 2008 18th March 2008
Further information?
www.informs.intute.ac.uk
Diana.Massam@manchester.ac.uk