Web and new media for public engagement

Top tips

• Set up a Twitter channel
• A University of Bristol blogging platform is available (though this is unsupported)
• Use the services of the Institute of Learning and Research Technology (ILRT)

Pitfalls

• Resources to manage, for example:
• YouTube requires editing and checking footage
• Quality control
• University Facebook page - managing interactive areas
• You can go in as organisation or business
• Portal to areas in University site
• Need a dedicated staff member for social networking

Lessons

• Set up a news feed from your department - Twitter
• Good marketing
• Access to audiences
• Entry on Wikipedia? But this needs monitoring
• Wiki - four official entries for University of Bristol
• Mobile platform

Challenges

• Creating communities - be honest
• No resources to keep even normal web pages updated
• Officiality?
• Anyone can set up a social networking group - how to keep track of this?
• Information Services - provide tools for interactivity
• There's a potential to miss audiences if we ignore Facebook, Twitter and others

How can CPE and the Web Editor Team help?

• Review outdated sites
• Talk to heads of department about the importance of the web
• Massive digital footprint
• Need to prioritise
• Continue this group - action learning set