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Information Services: Merging learning, information and social media

Christy Confetti HigginsSenior Information Expert (aka Librarian)Information Services: Digital Libraries &

ResearchSun MicrosystemsJanuary 25, 2010

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Agenda – Things to chat about...

• Who we are and why• What we do

> Informal learning> Content acquisition and integration> Leveraging social media for learning> Research and information consulting

• Examples of Information Services

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Good information = Smart decisions

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Please ask questions!

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OverviewInformation Services: Digital Libraries & Research

• Digital Libraries & Research (DL&R)• The “library” has been part of Sun for over 20 years• 2 employees today• Part of Sun Learning Services• Focus on information services for employees

Mission: To empower employees by enabling them to find, discover, use, connect with and share the critical information and knowledge needed for their business success.

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DL&R: Roles & Portfolio

Content Services

Information Access

Research & Info Consulting

Info TrainingCommunications

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Why Information Services?

• "Eighty percent of learning is informal, which means only 20% is formal learning. Yet we spend most of our training dollars on formal learning. 1. That means that we are spending 80% of our learning dollars on programs that benefit only 20% of employee learning. 2. Learning organizations must address this discrepancy by looking at complementary informal learning techniques."

Source: “Get Serious About Informal Learning”, April 22, 2009, Forrester, by Claire Schooley

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Why Information Services?

• “If these highly skilled employees lack authoritative information to inform their decisions,their work is compromised.”

Source: “Best Practices: Reinventing The Corporate Library”, Forrester, May 2008

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It's all about the CONTENT ....

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Content Services – More Detail

> Contract negotiations> Relationship management> Renewals> Content pilots> Content integration> Cataloguing> Feedback management

> Deployment> Employee communications

and training> Website and wiki

management> Metrics> Maintenance> Upgrades and

improvements

3rd Party Content Management

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Key Content Sources – for Learning

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Content Acquisition Process• Importance of content to business

> Monitor and integrate corporate goals into our decision process> We immerse ourselves into teams> Communities – social media, email, forums, blogs, etc.

• We know the information vendor landscape so....> Quality of information and satisfaction with product> Conduct trials with targeted groups> Ask trial participants for feedback

• Negotiate – value for price• Then roll out and integrate – make the connections!Source: leveraged Outsell Inc.'s “Vendor Portfolio Management Toolkit: A Decision

Matrix for Vendor Investment”, July 9, 2009

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Content Feedback Loop, Usage and ROI• Surveys to users, target audience• ROI work with vendors: productivity, time savings, dollars

saved, impact to business• Focus groups when possible• Talk to key target user groups at meetings, events, programs• Examples of the types of feedback ....

> “I can have a lot more confidence in the information that I would have in the results of a Google search.”

> “Although Google has become an indispensable reference tool, it is not able to replace authoritative texts on technical subjects”

> “I consider Safari an essential tool in my work here at Sun.”

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Keys for Learning via Information Services – You Must....

Integrate

Communicate

Participate

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Let's take a look – mixing learning, information services and social media

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Our Wiki/Main Site

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Library & Research Twitter

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MyLearning

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Sales U and Services Delivery U

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Blogging

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Feeding Blog to Wiki - Connecting!

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Information Matters Video Podcast

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New Initiative: READ Community

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Safari Books Online Examples

Senior Sun executives and subject matter experts reading lists; collab around book/video content mapped to projects, key subjects, programs

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RSS Feeds Mapped tokey wiki sites

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Content Integration: CEC conference

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Search Strategies• Trainings on various resources or topics – how

to...> Searching IEEE, eBooks, market research, hot topics

• Searching resources internally• Searching from a single source• Visual search

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MyLearning Search

External resources

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MyLearning SearchGSA

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MyLearning Search – Key MatchPulling known resources togetherbased on search terms

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Sun Grokker

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- Visual or text- Categorized- Create list- By source or by topic

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Research & Information Consulting

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Research & Information Consulting• Focus on strategic initiatives, projects, programs

> Both employee and business initiatives

• Integrate Information Experts in those spaces to provide information consulting

• Provide services to initiatives that are important to Sun's profitability

• However, research questions come from EVERYONE and EVERYWHERE

• Helps us to make people to people connections• Helps us keep the pulse on the business information needs

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Pro-active Research Example

• Content in SLX

• Blog about it

• Integrate it

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Content Integration – Virtual Worlds

• Wonderland> Sales pilot, building a library space with information,

activities and scheduled learning sessions

• Second Life> Knowledge sharing events such as Employees Connect

chat series, Safari sessions> Library & Research Space> Bookstore> Information experts

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Sun in VW Blog

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• An experimental learning environment and community created by Sun Learning Services to make learning about Solaris immersive, easy, and fun!

• Office hours, expert chats, learning activities• http://blogs.sun.com/solariscampus

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Pilot for Intern New Hire Program

• Partnered with HR• Intern New Hire activities in

Second Life (7 interns)• Learning games• It's all about interacting and

learning

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Safari in Second Life – Learning Events

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Sun Author Chats

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Java One 2009 – Author Chats

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Santa Clara Data Center• Video on SLX:

https://slx.sun.com/1179273634

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Learning and Information Services• Provide the information for employees to make good decisions• Leverage, embrace, use, share, participate via social media

tools• Integrate information into the business and workflow

> Programs, search tools, learning platforms, strategic initiatives

• Enable collaboration• Communicate constantly • Provide the research expertise• Partner across the organization – with the users (HR,

Marketing, Sales, Eng, R&D, Learning)

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Lessons Learned and Relearned Targeting the knowledge workers in your organization and

engaging them What information do they need for their work

Start small and move forward from there The word “pilot” is your friend Work with existing pain points and needs

Partnering and connecting – in every sense – is essential for success

Continue to experiment and stay on top of technology trends

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Measuring Value

Contentby usage, adoption, feedback survey responses, time saved, stories, spreading of the word

Researchquality not quantity, program integration, strategic initiatives, time saved, survey responses, stories

Virtual worldsemployee adoption, business activity (how many, much), knowledge sharing activities, stories, Sun adoption

Social media usage #'s, participation, stories, spreading the word

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Thank you!

Remember ...

Good information = Smart decisions

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Christy Confetti Higginschristy.confetti@sun.comSkype: cconfettihigginswww.twitter.com/confettiwww.twitter.com/libraryresearchblogs.sun.com/libraryblogs.sun.com/vw

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Appendix

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Website / Videos• History of Information at Sun

> http://thenetworkisthecomputer.com/site/?p=1664• Information Matters

> http://slx.sun.com (search for information matters)• Social Learning Exchange

> http://slx.sun.com Or http://www.slx.com• Blog

> http://blogs.sun.com/library (external blog – internal not available)

> http://blogs.sun.com/vw• Twitter

> http://www.twitter.com/libraryresearch

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Why Information Professionals?• Knowledge Sharing

Information professionals are accountable for gathering, organizing and sharing the right information for the best decisions. Information professionals further create a culture of knowledge sharing by educating colleagues on the best use of information.

• Global Networking

Through active global networking, information professionals promote the exchange of information, innovative ideas, insights and trends.

• Competitive Advantage

Information professionals ensure organizations have the right > information, insights and trends to make good decisions and gain competitive advantage.

• Bottom-line Benefits

Information professionals save organizations time and money by providing value-added intelligence that is accurate, reliable and relevant. We deliver expert information to our organizations in a timely, accessible and convenient manner.