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Thursday, March 29, 2007

Workshop: Introducing Blogs, Wikis, Newsfeeds and RSS - Maastricht, 22 and 23 March, 2007

On March 22 and 23, Euforic organised a two-day workshop on the 'new web'. The programme, covered the use of Blogs, Wikis, Newsfeeds and RSS and included a mixture of presentations and hands-on practical sessions. Participants were able to get familiar with the major 'new web' concepts and the various associated applications. Further, drawing on experiences from Euforic and its network, participants had the opportunity to see and hear how organisations and individuals have been using these tools to deliver an effective, participatory, and more integrated web presence. In particular Joitske Hulsebosch revealed her expereinces in the blogosphere, sharing many interesting ideas and practical tips.

As the final round table revealed, participants went home with more than a
series of application installed on their laptops:

"The CMS in use at the moment in my organisation is rather complex, but I think I got some ideas how to make it easier, by combining it with a blog and a social bookmarking system. The use of RSS and google home page could easily complement the use of the intranet".

"I find this was a great experience of peer-to-peer knowledge exchange".

"The potential of using wikis for collaborative project as writing papers is
amazing".

"The main lesson is that there's still a lot I have to learn! Even if I already know some of the tools we used these days, I have now a deeper knowledge of them. In particular, I'm curious about podcast and video: I think I'll investigate and experiment with these as follow up of this course".

"Before using a blog, I didn't know it could have been so easy to publish my own news. Further, selecting information you want via more specific web searches is something I was not aware of. But the most interesting element for me is the possibility given by wikis (and blogs), to create pages collectively with southern partners. This way, their participation could be much easier".

"I have to say, at the beginning a was quite scared of all the tools and possibilities which are out there. In reality, I discovered that thanks to examples that demonstrate what's possible, and thanks to effective peer-to-peer assistance, you can learn fast and see the advantages the 'new web' offers".

"Most of the tools were not new to me. Nevertheless, it's the different uses people make of these tools that is interesting. In particular, blogger is a really powerful instrument that could be even used as CMS. Wikis were completely new to me, but seeing their potential, I'll recommend them to my organisation for several projects".

This workshop formed part of the Euforic web2share initiative that supports Euforic members in using the new web tools and services and working collectively.

To know more about the web2share initiative, visit Euforic's projects page.

See also Euforic dossier on information, knowledge, communication.