Webwatch – IRISS Comment
By Webwatch,

There are now various and easy ways to publish material on the web. Blogs and communities of practice are examples of the ways people are using the web to publish their own views and opinions and receive comments from others.

Using the web is now more about active participation rather than passive viewing – it can empower and engage individuals and kick-start interesting discussions and conversations.

To encourage and nurture active participation, IRISS has developed Comment, a website for publishing documents in a format that encourages discussion. Initially it was developed to encourage wider discussion on the issues raised by our own study of social media in the social services. We found it a useful way to obtain comment and further the debate, so we have decided to open it up to other organisations to publish reports, thoughts, ideas, indeed anything that might benefit from a public airing.

Comment will improve the consultation process and generate debate on research findings. It can be used as an alternative to the traditional way of publishing a document: mailing it out to interested parties, or offering the whole document as a download in electronic form. This type of web publishing invites people to comment not only on the whole document but on individual points within the document. Documents can be published quickly and cheaply and can be easily referenced or publicised using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook which will attract a wider audience.

Comment is user friendly, cost effective, easy to maintain and secure. Visitors who wish to comment are required to log in which means you will know who is commenting. For further information on publishing using this format, please email: [email protected].