Keywords to define

Keywords to define

Social network - is a social structure made up of individuals or groups of individuals who are connected by a common interest, relationship or other aspect of their personal or business life. The relationships within a social network can be strong or conducted on an acquaintance basis.

Professional Development - The process of improving the knowledge of employees in a professional capability so they are more able to provide quality goods or services in their field of business or expertise. This can include on-the-job training, outside training, or observation of the work of others.
Ref.
erc.msh.org/staticpages_printerfriendly/2.2.3_gmt_English_.htm

Web 2.0 - The term "Web 2.0" are web applications which provide interactive information sharing, online collaboration, where the user has the ability to create and design on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies. Users can interact and change website contents when using at site that has Web 2.0 applications.
ref
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

blog - A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links.
Ref
http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/

micro blog - is a brief message, it can be, a thought, important information, a URL, a photo or an audio clip.

wiki - A Web site that enables collaborative work, it allows many authors to work together to create content. A wiki permits users to not only access a Web site, but to edit, delete or modify the content that has been placed there. This means users are able to change the work of previous authors.
Ref
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/wiki.html

mashup - In web development, a mashup is the creation of a new web service that has been created from the integration of two or more sources of functionality or data. The term mashup implies easy, fast integration, frequently using open APIs (An application programming interface) and data sources to produce results that were not the original reason for producing the raw source data.
Ref
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_(web_application_hybrid)

CIO Recommendations

 This entry is from Yellow Pods wiki http://yellowpod.wikispaces.com/message/list/home

While Facebook does provide a social forum that could be used for professional development, we believe that Moodle provides the best forum for professional development at this stage. Moodle provides an effective way to manage a course it;
• allows access to world-wide information with management control.
• can build in almost any kind of web content into the course, this includes video, podcasts and audio
• has multipage lessons
• is able to link webpages, text documents, glossaries
• provides opportunity for real time chat and video conferencing
• has the ability to make quizzes with built-in solutions.
• has a wiki

Moodle has developed a reputation as a risk free, easy to use way of managing a course.

2. We also recommend the use of Twitter be adopted by the company as an adjunct to Moodle. It can be used to give employees directions or URLs that will provide additional PD as required.

POD Group relections

I enjoyed our POD discussions, but I do think they were limited in content because everyone is busy and short of time. 

We used Ning for our discussions, which was largely due to Diana Briscoe setting it up, but it worked well so we stayed with it.  I suppose you could say its usability levels are high because we happily stuck to it and had no issues with it for the purposes of discussion. 

The wiki was also used for the joint construction of keyword definitions.

Our Ning discussions are at http://yellowpod.ning.com/forum 
Our Wiki is http://yellowpod.wikispaces.com/message/list/home

10.1 Complexity and Social Networks

Yellow Pods Social Network

a)      Peta – following b,c,d,e,f plus one other

b)     Jessica – following a,d,e,f plus many others

c)      Lloyd – following a,b,d,f

d)     Thomas – a,b,c

e)      Dianne – unable to identify

f)       Ash – following a,b,c,d plus one other

 

Over the last couple of weeks I have been have been following a few extra people from time to time, really just to check if we are understanding the questions/tasks the same way.  I have noticed that others seem to be doing the same.  Also to be totally honest I have made sure I have followed my pod mates to show that I am a diligent blogger, I presume others have been doing the same thing too. The social network diagram gives the impression that we are all following each other, but this is not so, to give better information each member of the pod should be given their own colour, then it will look like this.

 It can be seen in the above diagram that some of our group have a greater need or desire to follow other members' blogs than others.  This shows the dynamics could change greatly if a follower moved on or a new follower came in.  I have also noticed that it has been rare that people have commented on others, blogs.  I wonder if this is normal behaviour or if it is because of the purpose for which we are using our blogs.  I admit I have read some blogs and I have thought "I don't really agree", or "that's an interesting perspective",but I haven't commented, whereas I probably would in another environment.

If I repeated this activity with another Pod group, my observations could be quite different.   The reason for this is that a social network, like our Pod blogs are complex systems and they display emergent properties.  Jennifer Hallinan explains, these are ‘due to the interactions in a system, and are not inherent in the individual components.

According to the University of Michigan's Centre for the Study of Complex Systems, a complex system displays some or all of the following characteristics and they can be used to explain why we could expect different levels of activity and interaction throughout the various pod groups:

• Agent-based
• Basic building blocks are the characteristics and activities of individual agents – our Pods are made up of individuals, with different levels of confidence, enthusiasm and desire to share.
• Heterogeneous
• The agents differ in important characteristics.  The participants in our Pod groups are diverse and not necessarily comparable in the levels of participation in their allocated group.
• Dynamic
• Characteristics change over time, usually in a nonlinear way; adaptation.  Our Pod groups have changed over time, with some members dropping out, other members have participating on a very casual bases in the beginning, but towards the due assessment force is applied from the assessment deadline and perhaps other members of the group to participate.
• Feedback
• Changes are often the result of feedback from the environment.  Feedback can have considerable effect on the Pod system, there will be pods that have given each other more feedback and support which may have either pulled the group together or divided it.  It just depends on the type of feedback and how it has been accepted.
• Organization
• Agents are organized into groups or hierarchies.  Our groups were formed by Ken and we were expected to work together. This was done randomly and it depended on the dynamics of the group if there was someone to lead the group by arranging and setting up meeting places and leading group discussions.  No doubt some leaders were more active and motivated than others.
• Emergence
• Macro-level behaviours that emerge from agent actions and interactions.  The Pod groups have potential to cover a large scope of sharing and discussion, with few rules, in fact most rule have probable been unspoken.

http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~comp4001/

9.2 Research and evaluation in Government

A Wiki can be used as a place on the Internet where a government department can invite interested parties to contribute to a discussion paper on any issue of concern, e.g. The establishment of an Environmental Management Plan for a local riparian area or Development of child protection guidelines. The ‘open editing’ format allows anyone interested in the topic to make contributions to the document and edit/delete any previous comments. A wiki provides the opportunity for interested people from all areas of public life to seriously present their arguments on public policy. It can be accepted or rejected by others. All contributions are stored as data and can be referred to even if they have been edited by another person. A wiki provides policy makers with a draft and all proposals that have been contributed to assist them in preparing a policy that has been actively debated in a public domain.

Twitter in government is common place many politicians are using it to provide constituents with snippets of information or links to sites where they can find details on issues. Government departments could offer a service of answering quick question at set times. E.g. Centrelink could offer Monday 2nd November 1pm – 3pm tweet your questions about ‘rent assistance’.

Me as a supporter of Government 2.0
I do support Gov 2.0. At first I could only think of chaos when imagining the mining companies versus the greens and all the rest of us who have opinions completing a Wiki draft on ‘clean energy’. I had a vision of it being like ebay, where the last one to hit the enter button at close off is the winner. Then I thought about all the data the policy makers would have collected from contributors all over the country/world that they could use to write the policy document and then I felt calmer. I also read a great comment made by Matt Barton who really bought the whole use of wikis into perspective, he states, ‘they …enable collaboration and teach us all something very important about what a true democracy is all about’. His comments can be read at the following link.
http://wikieducator.org/Wikieducator_tutorial/What_is_a_wiki/Advantages_and_disadvantages

Twitter is happening. As the IT illiterates, who don’t want to get involved with Web 2.0 (or aren’t encouraged to by management) retire from government and the public service and those with the skills or willingness to participate and learn step up to the plate one of the biggest hurdles for governments in embracing Web 2.0 will be solved.

9.1 Is social networking a business model?

I have just joined Linkedin and I have sent out requests, My uncle has an account and I can see that his business, developing 5 star B&Bs and hotels, including interior decorating. He is continually dealing with people in Australia & Asia and as many of his clients use his service more than once I can see his business would benefit from using a social network in order to keep his business fresh in his clients’ minds.

An effective business model has a combination of different concepts such as infrastructure, offering, customers and finances. Social networking as a standalone business model design would not be functional, but as part of a business model it would be a valuable tool in the management of customer relationships.
Businesses keep in contact with their customers through phone calls, emails and traditional hardcopy mail, but I can see a great benefit to many business through establishing a social network between themselves and their clients. An example is; Last weekend I caught a business show with David Kosh, (it was obviously sponsored by Westpac, but I’ve put that aside) he was assisting two young guys who had established a ‘boot camp’ exercise business, they wanted a way to keep established clients when they employed a new trainer to take the class they established. It was all about keeping it personal. The business lady suggested contacting their clients with emails to ask how they were going and if they needed any advise to keep the personal contact, which is good, but … a social network would be a lot better. Through a social network all members of the class could be connected in another way and the greater the friendship between participants the more likely they will keep coming to boot camp classes. Also it could provide an opportunity where the trainers could give general tips to all, which could create discussions or they communicate by private email if the issue is more personal. It would also provide an opportunity for members’ contacts to get interested and join the group.

For the down side though, if a couple of people get disgruntled and start winging on the social network it could lead to people moving on, but it does give the business managers the opportunity to quickly address the issues, which will keep the customers satisfied.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_model

The Elgg Social Engine

d) Elgg.org is a social networking and social publishing platform, which powers a diverse range of social groups. It appears to be a well developed site and it promotes itself as being ‘elegant’ and ‘flexible’ with ‘scalable solutions for organizations, groups and individuals. It offers users an activity stream which shows your own actions, your friends' activity and the activity from across the site. It also offers other entities such as profiles, notifications, groups, blogs and embedded files, a full file repository and microblogging.

It has an appealing look and I like the uncluttered, clean look that I saw on the demo site. It has a professional look, which I like and I think it would be an attractive alternative to Facebook as a work-based social network.


Reference
http://elgg.org/

8.4: Aggregation, syndication and the social engine

a) RSS is a format for distributing regularly changing web content. With RSS you can get news feeds, events listings, news stories, headlines, project updates, excerpts from discussion forums or even corporate information from the sites you are interested in without having to check the site every day or week. Time is saved by not having to visit each site separately.

Subscribing to an RSS is simple. You first need to get an RSS reader, e.g. http://www.rssreader. When a RSS reader is set up all the user needs to do is put the selected addresses of the RSS feeds into the downloaded reader. This can be done with any source displaying the orange RSS icon.

The term RSS is most frequently used as a name to mean the syndication of Web content. Syndication is the sharing of content among different Web sites. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation. A web feed is also sometimes referred to as a syndicated feed.

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg provides a place where people can collectively determine the value of content as the users vote on the best surfaces. Content is displayed in stacks and digs.
Stack
Digg Stack shows diggs occurring in real time on up to 100 stories at once. Diggers fall from above and stack up on popular stories. Brightly colored stories have more Diggs. (dig.com)
Swarm
Digg Swarm draws a circle for stories as they're dugg. Diggers swarm around stories, and make them grow. Brightly colored stories have more Diggs. (dig.com).

References
http://www.whatisrss.com/
http://www.financial-freedom-informant.com/define-rss.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/syndication.html
http://labs.digg.com/

b) Social bookmarking is a way Internet users are able to reference their favourite sites. On these websites a user can add, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources. The benefit of using an online social bookmarking site is that a user’s bookmarked sites can be access at any computer that is connected to the Internet. Also it provides a facility to share bookmarks with others so your friends, coworkers, and other people can view them for reference, amusement, collaboration, or anything else.

When using delicious users can tag a page then once they have bookmarked the page they add tags in order to organize the sites for easy retrieval. Tags are one-word descriptors that a user can assign to their bookmarks. Tags can be described as being like keywords, but the user chooses them.

References
http://delicious.com/help/faq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking

c) GoToWeb20.net is amazing, I couldn’t have imagined that there were so many web applications available. I have bookmarked the blogging apps (in delicious of course) to have a try when I come for air in a few weeks. ScreenToaster and Speedtile look interesting too. I am starting to understand more and more that we will all get very used to having our desktop online which will mean all our personal settings and applications will be available anywhere, anytime. This will no doubt make working life more efficient.

Reference
http://www.go2web20.net/

8.3 Data portability, FOAF and the Semantic Web

How does the FOAF tag form part of the Semantic Web and Web services via social networks?
FOAF is an acronym for Friend of a friend and it is an organized computer readable collection of information describing people, their connections with other people, the activities they are involved in and all other relevant entities. FOAF allows an individual’s personal information to be transferred between Web sites, organize it and then group them into relevant social networks without the need for a centralised database. FOAF tags contribute to the semantic web through collecting and collating data using a software system designed to support machine to machine interaction over a network (Web services) making it feasible for the web to recognise and fulfill the requests of people and machines to use the World Wide Web.

References
http://www.foaf-project.org/about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOAF_(software)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_service
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=ontology

8.2 An interview with myself.

Why did I select this subject as part of my Post Graduate Certificate ITC Education?
I had wanted to investigate online social networks for quite a while, but other priorities always got in the way. There is nothing like a uni course and the thought of failure to change my priorities. I also was quite amazed that the course outline meant very little to me, which I interpreted as “I need to know a lot more about this area of IT”.

What have been the positive aspects of the course?
I have ‘learnt by doing’, which is a great way to learn. I have really enjoyed getting onto the various online community spaces and testing them out. I found that there are similarities between sites and that once you have mastered chat in one place you can chat when it is offered at other sites. I have also learnt that the various aspects of usability play an important part to the success of a website or online community site.

I have created a blog, got started with Twitter , chatted on Etherpad, CSU Interact, LC Moo, and Skype. I’m now very enthusiastic about Moodle, talked face to face on Skype and worked on Ning with my pod.

What have been the negative aspects of the course?
I have struggled with writing the mini essays of around 250 words, I have found the questions are fairly complex and I feel the 250 word limit doesn’t allow for a smooth flowing essay that includes an introduction and conclusion.
It has been difficult at times to get to our group sessions on Wednesday evenings, but it is mostly only a matter of organisation and I have been able to get their most weeks.

How will I integrate the use of online communities into my teaching?
The first thing I have done is got on board with a group of teachers who have a high interest in IT and become part of a Twitter group of teachers who are happy to help each other out professionally.

The next thing I want to do is set up a blog for the students at school and I will be using Moodle next year (when I will have more time, due to no uni study) to set up a unit of work for my students.

What I am finding now when issues are being discussed in regards to teaching or professional development I am now able to consider if an online network could be useful to our needs and which one would be best.

8.1 A description of a walk in the bush

As I stepped out my door to take my walk on our bush property I disturbed a lace monitor who scurried back into his hidey hole under a rock in a garden. As I took off down our dirt track driveway I saw a rainbow bee-eater fly out of its hole near our shed, its blue, yellow and green feathers shimmered in the sunlight.

After a few minutes of walking I heard a couple of channel bill cuckoos heralding the start of summer as they flew overhead. I then stopped to listen. I could hear many birds, some I could recognize, others I couldn’t. The fig birds hanging around in the palm trees always remind me of the tropics. The joker of the bush, the kookaburra, had a laugh and then flew to a gnarled old gum nearby. I then walked on.

High up on the escarpment there was a stronger wind blowing than the gentle breeze where I was walking. There are many species of eucalypts and other natives growing up the escarpment that creates great habitats for the whip birds and the bush turkeys I could hear. I tried hard to ignore the insidious lantana.

As I walked past the huge sandstone rocks that have stood the weathering of time, I thought of all the fun my kids had playing on these when they were young. The rope hanging from a high tallowood tree over the Waterfall Rock must be 10 years old now. The Truck Rock (named because it looks like a semi-trailer) has a strangler fig growing over part of it. It will look spectacular in 20 years time.

Exercise 7.2 New devices, age care and people with disabilities

In a 2000 study, 888,000 older people required assistance with common daily activities, because of disability or age (lifetec.org.au). Many companies involved with computer sciences are developing sophisticated technologies that can assist the elderly and disabled. Some developments are listed below.

An assistive listening device (ALD) can be used with or without hearing aids to overcome the negative effects of distance, background noise, or poor room acoustics.

The purpose of a Smart wheelchairs is to reduce or eliminate the user's task of driving a motorized wheelchair. Usually, a smart wheelchair is controlled by a computer, has a suite of sensors and applies techniques in mobile robotics. The interface may consist of a conventional wheelchair joystick , or it may be a "sipp and puff" device or a touch-sensitive display connected to a computer.

The new iPhone has voice control, which means elderly or disabled people can access their contact via voice commands after a push of one button on their phone. The touch screen on the iPhone also makes it easier to use for the elderly and disabled.

At home there are many innovations to help the aged and disabled, things such as mattress sensor pad which turns on the lights for when people get out of bed at night so they don’t trip or fall. Also there is a sensor which alerts if the gas has been left on and a device which reminds people to take their medication. Devices can also be installed to collect data on a person’s vital health signs, such as blood pressure and heart rate, this enables health professionals to monitor someone without actually seeing them. “In the future, homes could be built with technology installed such as sensors under the carpet to detect a fall or sensors to detect water overflows in the bathroom,”

Robotic lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners are available and the Japanese are currently developing an interactive face robot that is able to communicate both verbally and non-verbally with humans.

References
http://www.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/pubs/06spp.html
http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471696943.html
©1997-2009 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/treatment/assist_tech.htm
Official Blue Care staff and volunteer newsletter Volume 13 2007
www.bluecare.org.au/NewsAndEvents/.../Blue%20Print%2013%201-9.pdf
http://www.lifetec.org.au/_uploads/4841061011_MR_Functional_kitchens_for_all_abilities.pdf

7.1 Smart screen interface case study

There are three basic arrangements that are used to identify touch. They are resistive, capacitive and surface acoustic wave.

The resistive system consists of a layer of glass covered with a conductive and a resistive metallic layer, which are separated by spacers. During operation an electrical currents runs through the layers and when pressure is applied to the screen and the two layers touch a change in the current is recognized and the coordinates are determined. Then a driver converts the touch into an instruction.

The capacity system has a layer of glass with a transparent metallic conductive coating. An electrode pattern distributes a low voltage field over the conductive layer. When a finger touches the screen it creates a voltage drop and the current flow is able to be measured to calculate locate the point of contact. The information is then transmitted to the computer. POS (Point of Sale), kiosks and ATMs use capacity systems.

A touch screen using a surface acoustic wave system uses a receiving and a sending transducer, which are positioned on the X and Y axes of the monitor’s glass plate. The reflectors on the glass plate reflect the electrical signal sent from one transducer to the other. The receiving transducer can instantly detect if the wave has been disturbed by a touch.

The touch screen on the iPhone has large buttons that can be pushed directly on the screen and allow the user to complete phone tasks without having to use the small buttons on a typical mobile phone. With the elimination of the keypad on a mobile phone it allows for a bigger screen without increasing the size of the phone. This has allowed for a widescreen facility to be included on the iPhone. Touch screen technology allows for easy access for consumers and businesses to use touch screen to do their banking at ATMs, get customer information from shopping centre kiosks and cash registers.

References
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ipod-touch.htm
http://www.ezscreen.com/capacitive_touch_screens.html
http://www.ideamarketers.com/?windows_mobile_6_sip,_windows_mobile_si&articleid=599233

Topic 6: Trust and reputation

Trust and reputation how is it achieved?
Discussing across any TWO online communities.

Twitter was developed in 2006 and is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read brief messages known as tweets. The site is used by 6 million unique monthly visitors world-wide. The author's profile page displays the tweets and they are sent to the author's subscribers who are known as followers. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website. Twitter developers have made changes to their site to ensure its reputation remains reputable, some of these are including passwords and the ability for users to select their followers.

Twittering has dramatically increased in popularity over the last couple of years and it is seen as a respectable site. Its profile has been lifted with politicians, news services and celebrities twittering. Twitter is used for spreading news, spam, self-promotion, social grooming, conversations and for passing along information. Some aspects of twitter that I find appealing are no advertising, no quizzes like ‘what colour is your aura’, and messages are brief. Twitter has managed to have its service incorporated into business, as it provides an easy and fast form of brief communications between colleagues, this builds its reputation and trust within the community.

Wikipedia states that only 40 percent of Twitter's users are retained, this may be due to the services’ exponential growth and many people try it out, but have no real purpose for the service. Another aspect of twitter, which many novice users may experience are that if they do not block new followers initially they will end up with thousands of followers all sending irrelevant tweets. Also I have found by following a prolific twitterer like Radio National or a news company you get so many tweets that at a quick look once a day you often miss a tweet from a colleague or friend.

Facebook is also a free online social networking website. Wikipedia states that Facebook is the most used social networking site world-wide. It has an intuitive interface and users can be actively involved online quickly. Users can form groups that share a common interest, they can also share thoughts, photos and private emails with friends. Real-time chat is also available.

Facebook developers have included features to reduce invasion of privacy and the risk of identity fraud. They have included username and password to access the site. Also a user can select only to show limited information about them self prior to accepting a person as a friend. These actions show credibility. There are still security issues, which may not be being addressed purely because many young people share too much information about themselves online, users may in the future demand Facebook developers need to accept some of the responsibility for educating its users.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

Wikis and Moodles usability, sociability and sustainability

Wiki and Moodle
Likeable design features that are tips for usability, sociability and sustainability

Usability
Both Wiki and Moodle are easy to locate and log into on the Internet. The sites are easy to navigate. Wikis are excellent for beginners and quite intuitive, they are easy to use by the creator and other users. Moodles allow the creator to easily add web content into the site and the end users are able to simple navigate the Moodle format to participate in their course. Both sites off high levels of support and there are many excellent tutorials for using these sites online.

Sociability
Wikis and Moodles both offer opportunities for sociability. A wiki allows all members to participate in preparing a collaborative essay or document, as there is also a wiki feature in Moodle this enables both of these applications this element of sociability. Moodle also provides real-time chat and video conferencing features which enhance sociability. Both Wikis and Moodles have changed as new features are developed through user and programmer suggestions.

Sustainability
Both Wikis and Moodles are powerful sites that have intuitive interfaces, which are easily accessible to the user. They have been widely promoted as essential tools for sharing and learning. Wikipeadia is a great example of a sustainable collaborative site. Moodle has developed a reputation as a risk free, easy to use way of managing a course.

Topic 6: Compare Wiki & Moodle

Click on the above Venn Diagram to see the full image size.

Topic 6: Wiki and Moodle design

Wiki design features that I like are;
• It can be modified by multiple users, which make it ideal for collaborative projects.
• It is easy for beginners to online communities to use.
• It provides a space for students or anyone to create pages.
• It can be used to easily publish student work.
• Podcasts can be embedded.

Moodle design features that I like are
• Provides an effective way to manage a course
• Allows access to world-wide information with teacher control.
• Can build in almost any kind of web content into the course
• Multipage lessons
• Able to link webpages, text documents, glossaries
• Provides opportunity for real time chat and video conferencing
• Ability to make quizzes with built-in solutions.
• Available wiki

Topic 6: CSU design rules for forum

Click on the above table to see a larger image.

Webex

Our online learning about Webex was very interesting, it seems like it would be easy to use and would provide lots of practical uses in an educational environment. But it is fairly expensive. This product/application is very similar to Smart Bridgit conferencing software which we use at school to share desktops while in a video conference. I had a look at Bridgit software including Voice over IP (VoIP)it is US$35 pm, I'm glad the dept pays for our Bridgit subcription. No doubt when we all can't live without it we will gladly pay, just like we do for Internet, pay TV etc.

Compare and Contrast Adam Curry & David Winer

Compare and contrast the works of Adam Curry and David Winer.
What has been their contribution to development of online communities?

Adam Curry and David Winer have come from different background, but they have both made major contributions to the development of online communities. Together they have been recognized for their contributions in developing, podcasting, web logging and Really Simple Syndication (RSS), which are a family of data formats used to publish frequently updated works. During their careers they have worked independently and collaboratively to design digital media files that have given them International recognition as leaders in enhancing web technology media.

Adam Curry became a high profile presenter on MTV in the 1980s and his interest in web technology media came from being a user. In the early nineties Curry started his own web-portal design and hosting company, OnRamp Inc . Curry sold and established two other companies during the nineties (Wikipedia, 2009). It was in 2004 when collaborating with David Winer he helped to develop the podcast (Curry, 2005). His high profile and the development of his podcast company known as Daily Source Code enabled him to promote the podcast to the point where his is sometimes called ‘podfather’ (Wikipedia, 2009).

David Winer came into web technology media from a different background to Curry, he started his career as a computer programmer in the late 1970s (Winer, 2005). During 1997 he developed an outliner, which was a tool for organizing outines, which could serve as an index on the database (Winer, 2009). The Company Personal Software was interested in his outline and he was contracted to develop a product called VisiText (Winer, 2009). This was the start of Winer being recognized as an outlines expert, he founded Userland Software in 1988. He went on to develop xml, which is a way of creating file formats and RSS which he published a version on the Userland website in 2001. His knowledge in developing RSS bought him together with Adam Curry to develop an RSS with enclosures that would have a set of subscriptions that are checked regularly for updates and instead of reading the feeds on your computer screen (Webopedia, 2009).

Both Curry (2005) and Winer (2005) have stated that it has been a great benefit to their work in developing their technology when they have looked at the work they have been doing from the other standpoint. Curry (2005) stated when he and Winer swapped roles when they were developing the format used for podcasting it enabled both of them to realize the frustrations each other were experiencing in their roles and this provided the ‘light bulb’ moment that enabled them to successfully complete the podcast.

Winer & Curry are both widely published as they have both used the Internet to communicate their ideas widely. Curry has recorded 821 podcasts with his business Daily Source Code and he presented a keynote address at the Gnomedex 5.0 in 2005. Both Winer and Curry have given interviews and they use blogs and website to self publish their work, but Curry’s presence on the Internet is more extensive over the past 5 years (Curry.com, www.dailysourcecode.com,DaveNet.com , davewiner.userland.com/).

Both Winer and Curry have contributed significantly to the development of online communities and it can be stated that these two men have driven the Internet and the way we use it forward greatly. Curry and Winer have been agents of change as they have shown persistence in overcoming the obstacles they faced during the development of their products. Winer in an interview in 2005 (Nerd TV)was talking about the importance that RSS can't be owned, he said it's power is that it creates a level playing field for bloggers and big news corporations alike. Being an open source means everyone can use it and it can be modified to benefit the users of online communities.

References
Curry, Adam. June 2005, Keynote address, Gnomedex 5.0
Daily Source Code, 2009, www.dailysourcecode.com
Curry, 2009, 11 Sept, Curry.com
Webopedia, 2009, podcast, www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/podcasting.html
Winer, David, 2009, David Winer’s personal website http://davewiner.userland.com/outlinersProgramming
Winer, David, September 2005, Interview Nerd TV, Father of RSS & Web Logging, http://cnettv.cnet.com/nerd-tv-episode-6-dave-winer/9742-1_53-13054.html
Winer, David, 2004, DaveNet.com
2009, last modified -4 September, Article - Adam Curry, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curry

Social architects and online games

Jim Channon calls himself a social architect and he sees his role as designing spaces for people to socialise. which helps them develop a bigger sense of life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOYGdnOCimk
This is only relevant when the spaces are considered important to the end users.

My Online Identities

This graphic organiser was created in Mind42

Social Networking Sites

It took some deliberation to place some of these social networking sites into these categories, in the end I decided that while most of the sites had potential the challenges were greater and there were probably better sites to use. I ended up putting Facebook into both categories for Learning, because while I acknowledge the education value of the discussions, I wonder if people would be better off using other forums. I note that Bourgeois, Glaude and Morrow listed sites such as delicious as side dishes, which helps justify their inclusion.

Hosting good conversations: House Rules!

Three ways of providing users with more control in an online community.
1. Ensure the rules are explicit and easily accessible.
2. Fostering a strong connection between participants, e.g. providing a welcome email and encouraging contributions from members in a non-threatening environment.
3. Offering users the opportunity to provide feedback and to contribute easily.

Three interesting Rules written by Howard Rheingold in the Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online 1998.

1. Enable people to make contact with other people. In this course of study we have been visited many online meeting places where we are encouraged to make contact with others, this is especially true in the CSU Interact Forum.
2. Create conditions for ongoing collaboration that return individual effort with a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This course of study encourages people to share what they know and their thoughts about their learning in online meeting places. Ultimately we will all benefit as we are learning from each other.
3. Make newcomers feel welcomed, contributors valued, recreational hasslers ignored. When we first went online we were encouraged to introduce ourselves this is a great ice breaker as we can all see what we have in common and all our contributions are valued or at least it appears that way.

Rules for social enganement and document sharing.
I think that the rules need to be very closely aligned. It is important to not harass people, be offensive, copy people's work without permission and publishing private documents in unintended places. When it comes to stalking and spoofing I think it would be more applicable to online games and forums that in documents.

Blog Design

Blog Design
I think the most important thing to consider in a blog design is usability. It needs to be designed so that the colours and format make it appealing and easy to read. It is also essential that titles are explicit, as this assists a visitor viewing the blog to read entries that they are interested in and they are relevant.

Blogger.com as viewed in relation to the ‘Nine Design Strategies suggested by Kim (2000a, 2000b).
The purpose of the community in which I am using Blogger presently is to record my reflections, opinions, intellectual growth and answer questions posed by my course coordinator. In essence the groupware makes the establishment of our learning community easy, although while I follow some of my ITC peers I have not been able to easily follow those who chose to blog with another blog product. I have found that I have been able to seek assistance from those who have blogged before to sort out small issues I have had with formatting and set up and this has been greatly appreciated. I can't say that in my small connected blog group a leader has been fostered, this may be because we are really only fulfilling the requirements of our study rather than following people out of choice. Community rules have been established in a silent and probably obvious way, because this blog is related to study, all our comments are related to study and there are few personal details shared.

Online mobile games & social network access

I looked at this topic of discussion considering wireless technology: issues and opportunities for improved workflow.

The use of online mobile games and mobile social networks as a tool in education is in its infancy. With the advent of the Smartphones and improved 3G networks the possibilities of using mobile media have been greatly enhanced. The potential of new pedagogies are apparent and with easier access to the Internet using mobile phones will influence a new paradigm in education.
Mobile online games are/will be developed to assist students to be active learners across all key learning areas and social networks will provide forums for discussions and collaborative work in the creation of products they care share with other students anywhere in the world.
ComScore Inc. reports that in the US, for the 3 month period to January, o9, 35% of mobile phone consumers use mobile media (this figure excludes those who only use texts), that is they use their phone to browse, download or use an application. They also report that users are steadily growing, with nearly 50% of US users who have a mobile device that is 6 months old or less now use mobile media.
Speed is an important factor and 3G networks have gone a long way in addressing this. Also as the networks grow more people will have access to it. I live in a rural community and we have had great problems with mobile reception, but the 3G network has started to turn this around. A big advantage I can see in using online mobile media is that as unlimited usage costs become cheaper they will become an affordable option.
Logistically I can see that schools, especially those who are in low socio economic areas will be able to provide each student with a Smartphone and access to the mobile wireless network at a far cheaper cost than buying a laptop and connecting through a traditional network. Our school is currently planning to upgrade cabling in our school and the projected costs are looking like we will be spending $20,000 dollars.
Like with all new technologies being integrated into the school curriculum online mobile games and social networks need to be substantive and encourage higher order thinking to be a valuable tool in education.

Google Wave

Over the last couple of days I have watched the video about Google Wave, all I can say is, "WOW, it looks great, I can't wait!" I also noted that they said that it only took 5% extra engineering for it to be able to be used on mobiles. It is fabulous that they have made it an open source so it can be used with other wave networks. It won't be long and we won't know how we managed without this form of communicating and collaborating. I love the extension APIs, e.g. spell checker, translator, games.

The Battle for Wesnoth

I'm heading down to a friend's place on the weekend to learn all about this game as he is an avid player and has been for a long time. I thought I might get a better perspective of it from someone who dedicates a lot of his time to this game.

Update: I visited my friend today and I saw how involved he was with this online game he has made friends with many people and he plays regularly with them. I kept thinking it was all too time consuming for me. He plays most days. His set up is amazing he has his large screen situated up high with a reclining chair. Being a player in this game is a real part of his life. All I can ask myself is, "will I ever have time to get involved?"

My online persona

Currently my online persona is the real me. I like to be me on Facebook as it is a great way to keep in contact with friends and family. These days I am in touch with a whole lot more people than I was in the olden days when we mostly wrote letters or talked on the phone. The comments are brief and informal, which is a social way to keep in touch. I do lie about my birthday as I worry about identity fraud, but my made up date is close to my real age.

Online Identity & my State of Presence

Sarah introduced me to bubbl.us. I like it,above is a map of my online presence.


phishing - is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to capture information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. (http://en.wikipedia.org). My bank regularly sends emails and lists on its website that that they will never ask for passwords or pin numbers to be verified online, this is because customers have given this info out to criminals.

pharming - redirects users to false websites without them even knowing it. It is done by interfering with a webpage IP address which means people are redirected to a false page. Hence they can collect personal information from them.

privacy invasion - is the intrusion into the personal by someone/s, without just cause. It includes Internet privacy, data collection, and other means of disseminating private information.

identity theft - is when someone uses a persons personal information to pretend to be them in order to steal or commit a crime.
for a better look at my State of Presence online.

Second Life

My Avatar is Ruby Bestijl and I am very trendy. I enjoyed creating my character, but I can tell this virtual environment will not suit my real life personality, but I will give it the designated hour and report back.

I had no trouble downloading Second Life, bandwidth was fine. I had to change my display settings, but that is easily done.

Now that I have had time to think about Second Life, I will make a few comments about why this type of online community is not for me at the moment. For starters just like in the real world you need time to establish relationship in a virtual world and at the moment I don't have time to make new friends in any world. I just like keeping in touch with people I know with brief text messages, commenting on my wall or some friends wall in Facebook or twitter. Maybe one day I will have time to jump into a different me and play in an imaginary place doing things that are only possible in a virtual place.

I know when my children were teenagers they enjoyed being part of virtual games both online and offline. The thing they had in their favour was time to immerse themselves into learning how to get along in these worlds.

Learning all new aspects of technology takes time and as a busy person I have to choose to immerse myself into learning the things that will directly assist me with my life and work, other things have to wait.

Social Cognition & Visual Cognition

This is how I understand Social & Visual Cognition

Social cognition can be described as the thinking behind the way people understand and deal with each other. This varies considerably between cultures, as educators we are consistently being reminded of respecting these differences. Understanding the social rules of engagement is critical in establishing social relationships with people and this is why people with autism are often misunderstood as they can’t pick up on the nuances of social engagement, e.g. facial expressions, body language and personal space.
Online communities such as Facebook require social cognition as people are involved in activities that require a set of rules. People will block those who become an online nuisance.
Visual Cognition can be described as the thinking behind the way people see each other or the environment. We recognise these people or things through memories, which allows us to make inferences between what we know and what we see. For example If I meet a new person and I see they are in their early 20s I will relate to them in a different manner than I would if they were in their 80s.
As we know people can easily create an avatar online, so what you see may or may not be reality.

Facebook

I have been a member of Facebook for a few months. I really enjoy the brief comments and chats people have and it is a quick way to keep up-to-date on what people are doing. I have been able to get in contact with old school, uni and social friends.

I must say that some of my kids friends, who are in their 20s are at times a bit doggie and I don't like the language they often use, but I mostly ignore it. I have ignored requests from people who have (in my eyes) inappropriate homepages and I tell them if I run into them in the real world why I ignored them. As I live and work in a small community I have friends who are parents of the kids at school, so I need to be very mindful of the content and contacts on my page, but so far all is going well.

I am not into all the quizzes and game stuff people play on Facebook and I mostly ignore them. Even though I do chat with people I tend to avoid chats if I can.

Just a bit more to add, I actually would not want my school kids to access Facebook at school and I'm glad it is blocked. There is often inappropriate language and pictures being posted.

While I think there is value in learning how to communicate online with each other and learn about online social etiquette and we do need to cover these things as part of a values framework in school. But we don't have time to do this comprehensively in school and I actually think the teenagers learn these skills by participating in their own time outside of school. My kids have managed to make many friends through online games and social networks with very little guidance from us. We only guided them in understanding about giving out personal information that might put them in a risky situation.

I think the best thing about learning how to get along online is that if you get it wrong you can reinvent yourself and start a fresh. This is not so easy in the real world.

LC Moo

I had a go at LC Moo,
I didn't know just what to do.
The dialogue grew and grew,
All I said was "how-do-you-do".
I didn't get the clue
about who drew
the place to store the brew.
I now read I can't say, "whew,
What's next, whereto?"
As we have to do
more work in LC Moo.
It's a challenge I will pursue,
With the view
to know it through & through.
I will now say adieu,
I have lots of work to do.
Toodle-oo!

LC_MOO Who?

I have had a look in the Casurina Conference Room, I don't understand where we get our password from or even where we use it to log on? I have copied the how to pages and will read them sometime in the next 24hrs. I hope we don't have to program to speak as I had a look at how to program and my head is spinning.

Heuristic Evaluation

I chose to evaluate the NSW Department of Education's Curriculum Support Website


Effectiveness: This site is well set out and can be navigated effectively. Areas of curriculum are set out using easy to follow tabs and links.
Efficiency:Downloads are fast, all links work as long as you are connected through the det portal.
Satisfaction:High satisfaction was experienced. The site is easy to manoeuvre, intuitive and learning objects and information were quickly downloaded when required.

Subject: http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/index.htm: Computer System Usability Questionnaire
Sender: peta.robinson@gmail.com
From: peta.robinson@gmail.com (CSUQ)

system=http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/index.htm
date=2009-08-29 10:01:45
comment=
q1=6
c1=The drop down menus and links are clear.
q2=6
c2=The site is well planned and there are lots of links
q3=6
c3=I am able to download proformas, information and learning objects
q4=6
c4=all pages download quickly
q5=6
c5=The speed of the downloads means I can quick open a learning object
q6=6
c6=It is easy to read and to manouvre from page to page
q7=6
c7=Including the learning objects I had a go at.
q8=0
q9=0
q10=0
q11=6
q12=6
c12=information was set out into Key Learning Areas, policies and initiatives.
q13=6
q14=0
q15=6
q16=7
q17=7
q18=6
q19=6
negative1=sometime unable to download DET intranet only file from home even when logged onto the Intranet,
positive1=easy to navigate
positive2=provides relevant and current information