tfpl blog

The Growth of Social Media

by Denise Harmer, Recruitment Consultant

I attended my first NetikX event on Tuesday where Steve Dale and Geoff McCaleb (social media mobile consultant) shared some interesting statistics about social media which is undoubtedly here to stay given that staggeringly two thirds of the population visit a social network site once a month and Facebook has 800 million users...

The future of social media is clearly growth, Facebook’s strategy for example is to encourage users to spend more time on the site, this will soon be a a possibility as they are about to launch Timeline which will encourage the user to spend more time uploading and sharing information. Another major focus of social media will be its mobility -  by 2013, it is predicted that mobile devices will provide more people with their online experiences than desktops.

A few facts – 1 in 3 companies now use some form of social media to recruit (eg LinkedIn), 47% of journalists used twitter as a source in 2010, 50% of the population uses Facebook.
Its official – social media is here to stay and who knows, in ten years time email may be replaced and we could be operating in a Skype based in environment conversing face to face via a mobile platform.

The Annual SLA Winter Warmer Pub Quiz

by Helen Trudgeon, Contracts Recruitment Consultant

 

Last week saw SLA Europe’s Annual Winter Warmer Pub Quiz event take place, once again hosted by professional QuizMaster, AskTony and kindly sponsored by Swets and the Financial Times.

SLA President and TFPL Managing Director Darron Chapman welcomed the 16 teams, made up of SLA members and friends, all eager to be crowned Quiz Champions 2012.  So keen were staff at TFPL, that we were able to field 2 full teams – the IDOX Idles and TFPL & Back - competing not only for the main prize, but also to take home the honour of being TFPL’s own internal champion. Purely in the spirit of friendly rivalry, of course.

The quiz kicked off with an investigation of our knowledge of recent current affairs, which perhaps left a little to be desired, but the room soon warmed up as we were asked, amongst other things, to identify obscure television adverts, to get inside the heads of Sun readers  and to spot price an eyewateringly obscure range of commodities.  Smartphones were sadly banned, but our team nonetheless managed to achieve modest success, based on a sound knowledge of Asda pricing and at least one mathematical genius who knew the current price of Brent Crude.

The final round remains memorable, if only for the noise of over 80 people singing along to Chas n’ Dave and the Rocky soundtrack.  Possibly with more enthusiasm than any inherent musical ability. Or perhaps that was just me.

The eventual and well deserved winners were the Film Club, captained by Mark Haines, whilst both of TFPL’s teams managed a respectable mid-table ranking, with IDOX Idles pipping TFPL & Back by just 1 point.  We are already anticipating next year’s re-match.

Ultimate winners the Film Club https://picasaweb.google.com/asktony.co.uk/Sla2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCJrUv8Dvu5285AE#5698928439449238770

https://picasaweb.google.com/asktony.co.uk/Sla2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCJrUv8Dvu5285AE#5698928397971520194

Which world do we live in?

Author: Vivienne Winterman, Senior Consultant

Physical or virtual?

Tangible or indefinable?

Real or imaginary?

The list is endless. These are the worlds the information professional (IP) has to deal with. Skill requirements are changing. Paradoxically the world is getting bigger yet smaller at the same time in information terms. As the rate of information creation continues to increase at an exponential rate, its retrieval is still ever challenging. Digitisation is in to bring the world of archives into our homes and businesses.

When will it stop?

How do you contain it?

Is it necessary?

Does it benefit us?

To answer the questions. Never. You can’t. Yes/no (glass half full/empty syndrome). It should do.

To take the last question first. It should benefit us. We should learn from good practice, stories and events that ought not to be repeated. But do we?

Is it necessary? Absolutely. All information should be transparent and there if you need it. It does of course need to be well managed, structured and retrievable.

How do you contain it? Well the cloud concept is doing a good job, but I dread to think what will happen when there is a cloud burst! I’ll leave that to your imagination.

Will it stop? No way. There is so much to learn. With the world population rising to 7 billion more and more information will be created just to manage daily living requirements.

What an opportunity for the IP. TFPL’s recent report ‘Connecting information with innovation’ (TFPL’s 2011 survey of skills and roles) http://www.tfpl.com/resources/index.cfm shows that investment in knowledge and information management (KIM) is seen as an essential component contributing to business success. KIM skills are being embedded in the workforce to bring about a new way of working, so that KIM is ‘not another initiative’ but the ‘way we do things around here’. IPs rapidly need to increase their range of skills. They need to be IT proficient, provide e-learning as a means of communicating with the virtual, global, workforce, be metadata and taxonomy advisors, maintain information governance, be concerned about managing risk, aligned to the business supporting the goals and objectives, and many more as detailed in the report. Over 350 individuals have downloaded the report, available in English, French and German.  Have you?

Social Media adoption research

Author: Claire Valentine, Training Manager

We at TFPL have long be interested in the impact social media has on organisations.  Following on from a survey that was conducted with Edinburgh Napier Univeristy in 2008, we are now happy to promote further post graduate research that they are conducting. 

Are you interested in how social media can support information and knowledge management? Would you have 15-20 minutes to spare to complete a short survey to help us enhance our understanding of the role of social media in organisational settings?

A postgraduate student supervised by Professor Hazel Hall at Edinburgh Napier University is conducting research into the opportunities and risks of social media tools to support information and knowledge management. You can find further information on the previous work that was undertaken jointly by TFPL with Edinburgh Napier University in 2008 here  http://www.soc.napier.ac.uk/~hazelh/esis/soc_comp_proj_rep_public.pdf.  

We would be most grateful if you would contribute to this project by completing the online survey at http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/672848/5b1b3dc8a308.

All responses will be aggregated and no individual or organisation will be identifiable in the results. The findings will be shared with the broader information and knowledge management community after the project is completed.

WEB evolvement – one, two, three...

It does feel like the web today, or www, has all happened very fast. But it has taken 2 decades! Back in 1991 Tim Berners Lee first introduced the web to the public, having created the concept, developed the idea of ‘hypertext’, shaped the first web browser and editor, launched the world’s first website - http://info.cern.ch and gave users an introduction to getting started with their own websites.

Initially websites were there as a means to publish information. Estimates show that the 220 million pages in the 1990s, have grown to a number of 1 Trillion, but as Internet hosting is not restricted the answer is more likely to be ‘infinite’ and growing at that rate too! In the early nineties pc’s were gradually appearing in organisations. There were significant cost factors, training people on how to search, learn keyboarding skills, use DOS, the early non-windows operating system and so on. Mainframes had been around for some time, but only usable by computer programmers who had the skills of cobol, fortran, pascal and the like. In the early nineties the pc was the tool used by the library and information staff to search the bibliographic databases as a profound improvement to thumbing though the printed indexes. Amstrad led the word processing market, then other software providers came along and finally Microsoft conquered the market with their ‘office’ suite. At the same time PCs became laptops, netbooks, iPads and communication moved from ‘wires’ to ‘wireless’ with mobile technology now commonplace.  Another overwhelming advance as to how people can work both in and outside the workplace to access real-time data repositories to save and access information and data.

The web has evolved in tandem. These slides (Download Web 3) take a light hearted look at the changes, which almost typify generations x,y,and z.

What is interesting to information professionals, is the increasing need for the use of taxonomies, metadata standards, tagging, information architecture, enterprise searching and discovery tools.

As the web has evolved so has the requirement for LIS skills. With available information growing at an infinite rate ‘googling’ for items becomes an almost impossible task. Recall is up, precision is down. Indexing/classifying items is the only way through the myriad of websites and pages. Automatic tagging software only really works well once the taxonomy and metadata rules have been set up. Intelligent systems can now clock what we read, films we see, clothes we buy, restaurants we visit so they can provide us with the information before we even know we want it. Sounds familiar? Push and pull? All points in one direction. Long live the information professional!

- Vivienne Winterman, Senior Knowledge and Information Management Consultant

Capitalising on Social Media – Recruitment in a Digital Era

by Luisa Jefford, Director, TFPL

The emergence of social and professional networking tools has had a profound effect on the way the world collaborates and shares knowledge and expertise.  TFPL, are more aware of this than most, we have daily contact with organisations and employees whose roles are to aid the transfer of knowledge, information, intelligence and insight within their domain. 

Having celebrated 20 years in recruitment this year I have seen the landscape change dramatically.  My introduction into recruitment was a folder full of CVs that got added to and searched on a daily basis by the Consultants, people were contacted, submitted and roles obtained. 

Working in a market where demand far outstripped supply there was little need to have a more pro-active approach when meeting your clients requirements, you matched people looking to recruit staff with people who were actively looking for work.  Fast forward 20 years and you are sitting in a market where there is a war for talent and the recruitment business is a competitive one.  People looking for work are and should continue to be prized assets for any employment business and having a strategy for attracting talent is vital for an organisation that wants to stay ahead of the competition. 

These days the competition comes in many guises and perhaps one of the largest impacts on the recruitment industry has been a sharp increase in people leveraging their own professional network to widen the opportunities available, combine this with astute organisations and their hiring managers effectively using a variety of tools and techniques as part of their talent management strategy and as the middle man you are in danger of being kept out of the loop. 

These tools include Linked In, Viadeo, Twitter, Monster, Facebook to name a few and reach an audience that perhaps aren’t always aware they are actively job seeking.   The power of a casual internet search for a new opportunity should not be underestimated by any recruiter.  These are the people we need to work hard to attract.  In addition they allow individuals to maintain contact with organisations and colleagues that perhaps would not have happened before the emergence of these tools. 

So in today’s world, with much talk about Recruitment 3.0, what should we be doing?  At TFPL we believe that the combination of our expertise, market knowledge and strongly developed professional relationships with our clients and a robust strategy for using social media tools and techniques is truly the winning combination. 

From a job hunters perspective these tools give you valuable market insight into roles that are being recruited and salaries being offered  but also offer organisational intelligence, who are the growing organisations and which industries do they operate in.  They should certainly be in your job hunting strategy.  However, it is worth remembering that a TFPL can and will offer you this and more.

At TFPL we use a variety of tools and techniques to manage existing relationships with our clients and candidates, sell our services, give distinct marketing and pr messages to a wider audience whilst remembering that doing all of this makes us more visible to our market place and also people sitting on the edges of current market.  In addition we also remember that doing this makes us more visible to the masses than a well developed website ever will, so quality assurance of our message is an important part of this. 

Public Access to Information Conference- 14 April 2011, UCL

Author:  Matt Woods, Contract Recruiter, TFPL

Members of the International Society for Knowledge Organisation (ISKO) met at University College London to hear about the challenges facing people managing, using and requesting information in and from the public sector.

On the panel were the Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, Prof Charles Oppenheim, Carol Tullo of the National Archives and Paul Davidson, Chief Information Officer for Sedgemoor District Council and Director of Standards for the Local e-Government Standards Body.

Previous events at the London Information and Knowledge Exchange and other discussions, have touched on the theme that the boundaries of information sharing and access are now less technological and more likely to be related to human ability and human-imposed legislation.  The ISKO forum developed this idea very well, in terms of the effects and future direction of Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation. 

While many recent headlines have focussed on the expectation that local councils publish their spending, the panel all took this idea to the next logical step by imagining the possibilities of “innovator” in communities using the released data to present it to others in a useful way.  This could be information on schools, extensions of current initiatives on crime mapping or variations on some of the spending trackers produced by newspapers.

Obstacles to the effective use of this slew of information identified by the panel ranged from Conflicts between Data Protection and Freedom of Information requirements (discussed with great insight by Christopher Graham), practical considerations of handling these requests (Carol Tullo), the pressures of legislation, particularly the Freedom Bill on government bodies to open up their information to the taxpaying public (Prof Oppenheim) and, probably most interestingly of all from a Data Management and Information Processing point of view, a theme developed by Paul Davidson that following an initial focus on releasing financial information, government will move towards not only publishing other information, but setting all information in a context.  Paul Davidson expanded on the potential for using linked data to greatly increase the potential for “innovators” (individuals, businesses, interest groups) to create a plethora of applications and arguments.

A lively panel discussion followed, with ISKO members and guests pressing the panel on issues from DPA/FoI conflicts to the potential uptake of information among different parts of the population.  These issues appear to be changing all the time, with all information and knowledge professionals now looking forward to keeping a keen eye on legislative and industry developments.

London Information and Knowledge Exchange, 31 March 2011

Matthew Woods, Consultant
TFPL Intelligent Resources

Is mobile information technology really as new as we think? Perhaps not, as Mark Needham, founder of Widget UK explained to the London Information and Knowledge Exchange at the Crown Tavern, Clerkenwell.

Quoting from 1974 science fiction, Mark suggested that much of the information sharing devices we now take for granted have been around in concept and technology for longer than we might think, even if only in the pages of novels. Recent developments coming mainly as a result of improvements to hardware have enabled smaller, faster processors and storage devices that resemble the sleek hardware we all know. Mark drew on his personal experience as a graduate with Psion, makers of the Psion Organiser, the world’s first pocket computer, to his present day role as Chairman of Widget and an i-Phone user.

From the recruiter’s point of view, the ubiquity of mobile technology poses interesting questions in terms of how to keep abreast of required skills and competencies, as well as having to consider the potential changes to traditional Information and Knowledge Management roles in a variety of sectors. How might different sectors respond to the changing face of the way we share information in our work as well as social lives?

Being asked to consider the potential for mobile information sharing in different professions, LIKE members were soon able to come up with all manner of ways in which information sharing on the move could be applied to doctors, teachers, aid workers and business people. What of the limitations of technology? Could it be that we’re heading for some technological asymptote?

Many of the limitations and potential obstacles to the proliferation of this technology suggested by the assembled information professionals were human factors: suspicion, resistance to change, technical ability and data protection fears. This was perhaps a good reminder, reinforced by convivial talk and mingling over dinner and drinks, that the sharing of information and ideas will always be, at its heart, a very social and human endeavour.

Matt Woods attended the LIKE meeting on Mobile Information Sharing. Details of the London Information Knowledge Exchange can be found on LinkedIn

TFPL Connect International 2010 - cash is tight KIM is core

Last night we hosted TFPL Connect International at the Grand Connaught Rooms in Holborn, generously sponsored by Steve Goldstein and Don Roll of Alacra.  The theme for the evening was cash is tight, KIM is core, reflecting on how crucial knowledge and information management is in enabling global business in tough economic conditions.

The evening was kindly chaired by Adrian del Maestro of Booz & Company who presided over presentations from Philip Weinberg of McKinsey and Company and Mike Palmer of Henley Business School.   

Adrian introduced the theme for the evening and spoke about his own experiences in such a tough economic environment suggesting we need to look at process and content through a lens of pragmatism and commerciality.  Organisations need to balance on and off shore teams, embedding the offshore team into the organisation and getting the two teams to work together.

He drove home the need for excellence in the ability to communicate a simple message when working with a wide range of stakeholders. The art of succinct communication is vital – maybe a topic to build on for a future event?

Philip spoke about how McKinsey values KIM, the lessons they learned from the last big crash when the dot com bubble burst and the challenges they face today with off shoring work.  He went on to talk about innovative ways in which the organisation have used technology and resources to meet the challenges of today's environment.  One of the major themes from Philip’s talk was the need of continual reinvention and to never stagnate.  This means that we must continually redefine ourselves and what we do to maximise our efficiency and value to the business.  He recommended that we specialise, but not too much; become indispensable by aligning with one or two key business initiatives.

Philip gave an insightful understanding of cultural complexities in having a range of offshored teams to manage. From handling recruitment assignments and intensity of time spent in screening CVs, to dealing with high/fast attrition through to expectations of working culture.

One concept that McKinsey use is 'house swap', where employees swap locations (Singapore and London for example) - quite interesting and an innovative way to bridge lines of cultural division in a global organisation. 

Where the cost of travel is increasingly becoming a dispensable cost, Philip demonstrated a need for more uptake in use of social media and collaborative/virtual teaming tools

Philip described KIM as “the institutional glue” that holds professional services together – this demonstrates how important KIM still is in our corporate world and we should take this as a positive that there is very much still an active KIM industry and offshoring has not been the death knell that some people think.

Mike Palmer from the Henley KM Forum stepped into Jane McKenzie’s shoes last minute to talk to us about the research that they have been doing, enabling cultural change for better knowledge management.  It was very interesting to learn about why information professionals have moved towards more of an IT function with the adoption of Web 2.0, and what this means for the future.

It was interesting to see Connect members engaged at different points throughout all of the presentations, I think that shows there was something of interest to everyone and Philip clearly sparked some lively debate on working hours!

The message we interpreted in the whole across all of the presentations was there is very much still a need for KIM roles and increasingly so for sector specialists, insightful research, collaborative KIM and content managers.  Workers need to be flexible, adaptable, global, collaborative and great communicators.

Finally, a big thank you to the delegates who made for a big turnout in braving the cold weather conditions and Tube strike to join us in learning and exchanging insight ahead of the Online Information Conference.  To learn how you can take part in future Connect and TFPL events, please visit: http://www.tfpl.com/networks_events/tfplconnect.cfm.

Pictures from the event below:

- Networking:

- Presentations:

 

To tweet or not to tweet?

Author: John Davies
TFPL, Senior Records and Information Management Consultant

It happened when email arrived and it happened again when the World Wide Web arrived.  So, here we go again, as a group of major German companies unite to ban Facebook and Twitter from the workplace.  According to a report in WirtschaftsWoche, a group of firms including VW, Daimler and Porsche are blocking access because of fears over espionage (the majority) or lost productivity (a significant minority). 

While computer systems security is clearly an issue for all organizations, attitudes to social networking applications are still very confused.  Some management teams still fear that employees will not get on the with their daily work if they have access.  On the other hand, privacy campaigners are wary of the use employers can make of social networking applications.  Distinctions are being drawn between information available on the web and that contained in social network tools designed for communication.  Very tenuous and very legalistic.

Compliance and security are legitimate concerns for all organizations but banning access to anything rarely works in the long term.