Social Networking, workgroups and workflow
Exercise 1
What I know/dont know about social networking and online communities?
When I think of social networking I guess facebook comes to mind first. I see social networking and online communities as groups of people who can either be intersested in sharing aspects of their lives and/or have a commom interest. They can be both informal and informative. I often go to a forum to get information I need for an IT question.
What I want to achieve?
I want to achieve a greater understanding generally of social networking and online communities. I want to see what makes them work well and how to use them effectively and successfully to improve teaching and learning. I would hope this subject would change and improve my professional practice.
Social Networking
A social networking site is a website that provides a virtual community for people who are either/both interesested in a particular subject or hang out together at the site. People can communicate via posts, chat, blogs and webcam and invite others to join them from the site. They can choose who they want to be friends and as technology advances they can use social networking sites on both computers and mobile devices. Friendstar was the first social site in 2002 followed by myspace. Facebook came out in 2004 and is now used by over 150 million people.
The Free Dictionary Social Networking Site
Retrieved July 2009 from
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Social+networking+site
Online Communities
There are 3 types of online communities
1. Virtual communities of interest
These are groups of people who may never have met but have some interest they wish to share on the internet.
2. Organizational communities
Organizations can set up internal communication systems sometimes called intranets. This helps staff work together more effectively. Exchanges are often based on the core product of the organization eg education,business
3. Local communities online
Places now can have their own online presence. Webpages that mirror the real world. eg Americatowns is a virtual town square plugging into the information and resources related to the city.
There is a connection between social network platforms and the development of online communities. They all involve people who wish to communicate online in a variety of ways both socially and informatively[for information]
What are Online Communities?
Retrieved July 2009 from
http://www.partnerships.org.uk/community/what.htm
AmericaTowns[2008]
Retrieved July 2009 from
http://www.americantowns.com/
Exercise 2
Social Networking Taxonomy
FOAF stands for Friend of a Friend
Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification.
The word Folks means people and onomy means management. It can mean losely management by people.
It is refered to the labelling of lots of things by people in a social context. Eg Tagging is popular in flickr
WiseGeek
What is a Folksonomy?
Retrieved August 11/09 from
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-folksonomy.htm
Ontology of Folksonomy
A mash up of apples and oranges[2007]
Retrieved August 11/09
http://tomgruber.org/writing/ontology-of-folksonomy.htm
My Folksonomy
http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/1042121/Me
Exercise 3
Subject: http://www.stmartins.net.au/: Nielsen's Heuristic EvaluationSender: mhtml:%7B4DB01E21-225A-4DFF-9C3F-9CAAA16A7134%7Dmid://00000004/!x-usc:mailto:axton@impulse.net.auFrom: mhtml:%7B4DB01E21-225A-4DFF-9C3F-9CAAA16A7134%7Dmid://00000004/!x-usc:mailto:axton@impulse.net.au (NHE)system=http://www.stmartins.net.au/date=2009-07-28 07:20:42comment=Site in progress
New page centering looks better
consistency good
Need subjects areas updated
simple navigation
Language suitable for parent audience
loads quickly
enrolement forms loadq1=4q2=4q3=5q4=5q5=5q6=5q7=5q8=4q9=4q10=
Gmail Chat 11/8
Went online with about 10 others tonight using a group gmail chat. Worked well once we were all in the same group. Can only do the video link with one person at a time. Had good conversations with everyone the highlight being a swap fest of our favourite childhood TV programs!
Topic 2
Virtual environments and cognition
Exercise 2.1
I joined the group ITC510/213. ITC213 didnt show up when I searched? I have been using facebook on a daily basis for a few years and I think its great.
Im not sure what is meant by being happy with the ethics. Ethics being standards of conduct, morality what is right and wrong.
I guess people need to be aware firstly that if you post a comment/photo/video on your profile all your friends you have accepted can see it so having a think about who you acceot as a friend is a good idea. I f some one makes a comment on say a photo then all their friends can see this so whatever you put on can go furthur than you think. If you want to send a personal message to someone and dont want everyone to see you go to that persons wall and send a message from you to that person. Only that person will read it.
"Social cognition is the study of how people process social information, especially its encoding, storage, retrieval, and application to social situations. Social cognition’s focus on information processing has many affinities with its sister discipline, cognitive psychology. Social cognitive neuroscience is the investigation of the biological basis of social cognition, that is to say, processes which involve interaction with members of the same species."
Wikipedia Social cognition
Retrieved 15/8/09 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cognition
Im thinking Social cognition is the way we see things as we get along with others while visual cognition is more the way we see objects, facial expressions, body language as cognition is the process of how we think.
Exercise 2.2
Well I got set up on secondlife and what an interesting experience it is. I have transformed myself to a character mini yarrowroot. The program loaded ok but a window came up about my computer maybe not being able to run all the medis[laptop is new? could be video card specs] so Im figuring a high end type of machine is needed to play this. Within seconds of arriving in secondlife land I was told to get lost! Good intoduction hey! I met a girl from Brazil who has used second life for 4 and a half years . When I asked her what it was like she said "it is what it is" and didnt seem to keen on contributing more. She said 1 hour was a waste of time and then told me it is addictive. I then spoke to a girl from the UK who lives in Cambridge which is the name of the street I live in. I teleported to the beach but was told I need to be in second life for two weeks before I can explore there so then I ended up in an airport with people running around me. I ended up at a video screen and had a look at the help tutorial. Im looking for people but they seem to move around a lot quicker than me.....am logging of to get on with real life! Might visit again later!
Exercise 2.3
Second Life
I created one of the standard avatars in the set up of second life. I choose a female younger than what I am with a pink dress. I noticed in the program there were all sorts. Someone was even a dog! I met another person in the program who had the same avatar and she [or he] was new too.
I was a bit uncomfortable with this avatar especially when thisbig guy came up to me and another player and made a remark I didnt like. Perhaps I shouls have gone with the dog option or thought more about it before making my character. Maybe there is a lesson in this for us teachers to have some discussion with the students on this topic and the implications/messages that are sent out by choices of characters/avatars. Would be interesting.
My facebook profile avatar is a photo of myself. I only have in facebook terms a small group of friends and they know me. I would use different avatars for different sites though. It depends on the purpose of what Im doing. If I was to make another avatar for secondLife I would be more inventive and imaginative. Facebook is an extension of my real world so I show myself as I am.
Exercise 2.4
The talk by Dick was very entertaining. I like especially the first five minutes but I lost concentration in the middle. A lot of names and titles were talked about very quickly. I got his the general gist of his vision to create a simple, secure and open identity 2.0 world. He created sxore a site in which you wfill out all the info on yourself then it can be sent to who you want.
Phishing
The process of trying to steal username. passwords and credit card details by prestending to be a trustworthy source. An example of this would be bogus email I get from westpac asking me to go to my online banking site. Westpac do not send these emails. They are sent to people to get them to log onto a copycat site and then steal their details.
Pharming
No not cows or sheep! Its redirecting a websites traffic to a bogus site. Anit virus and spyware software cant protect against it[yet]. An example would be if the PayPal server had some sort of wekness or vulnerability and someone was able to reirect a user to a bogus site and take their money.
Privacy Invasion
Privacy invasion is when your information is taken without your consent. Some search engines are able to take information away about what you are searching for. Is this privacy invasion?
Dick Hardt is working on providing simple ans secure identity security through sxore.
Identity Theft
This is when your identity is stolen and used. Bourne Identity the movie is one example of this. Someone gets your information and pretends to be you and communicates and transacts online using your identity.
Topic 3
Augmented reality, gaming and mobile computing
Exercise 3.1
The Battle for Wesnoth
I have The Battle of Wesnoth downloaded and had a little look at it. I liked the music. My son[11 years old] played it for awhile and he said it was boring. However I read on the forum how some are addicted to it!
Exercise 3.2
Mobile computing research
What is the educational value of online mobile games and mobile social network access?
Topic 1
Wireless technology: issues and opportunities for improved workflow
As digital technologies advances there arises more questions than answers. Is there an educational value of online mobile games and social networking? Are some games of more value than others? Does wireless technology rely on a well maintained system/ In an educational system are there filters in place to protect students using this technology? How do we define improved workflow?
Value is defined as “A principle, standard, or quality considered worthwhile or desirable” There is an educational value , a worthwhile pursuit in the use of mobiles for games and social networking. On a mobile a student can learn how to drive a car with theory based questions and learn a language as well as multi player platform games .Applications once that were only on computers are now available on mobiles Eg Word, Excel This can mean for students improved learning outcomes in literacy and maths. M learning is a viable option. In a social networking site on a mobile students can stay connected socially and learn from each other.
In the use of Wireless technologies my example would be Mc Donald’s Restaurants. They supply free wireless access. Students flock to these places to hang out and access the web. Our network at home went down for one night and two of my children went to Mc Donald’s to go online and chat with friends.
One of the main issues with wireless technology is accessibility and cost. For M learning to take place educational institutions need to supply good access at no cost. This in itself would show the value placed on the use of mobile technologies.
Overall using a mobile with wireless technologies allows students to learn and connect with others anywhere they can log on [hopefully for free]. The mobile has become a mini computer and can be used to improve learning outcomes for students.
1. The Free Dictionary
Retrieved on 19/8/09 from
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/value
M Encyclopedia Mobile Phones –Education
Retrieved on 19/8/09 from
http://wiki.media-culture.org.au/index.php/Mobile_Phones_-_Education
University of the Pacific Online Social Networking dangers and Benefits
Retrieved on 19/8/09 from
http://web.pacific.edu/x4989.xml
Topic 4
Human Centered computing:human interfaces
Exercise 4.1
Blog design
How would you design and manage content in a blog?
The first thing I would do is define the purpose of the Blog and then make a plan of how I want it to look. I would create posts using the headings I have planned. I would plan and introduction with an image. I think images/photos add to the visual appeal of a Blog. If it is a blog for students it needs to be engaging.
Blogger 100 word summary
It is very easy to set up a Blog with Blogger.There is plenty of assistance on the site as well as externally through videos on utube and forums to help with the establishment and ongoing use of Blogger. The templates allow for clear headings so others know the purpose of the blog. In regards to the three underlying principles it is designed to grow and change as much as you want it to. Feedback can be maintained and users can take more control as they use and gain confidence in the world of blogging.
Exercise 4.2
a]Three ways of providing users with more control in an online community are the inclusion of a chat function [users help each other], good online help attached to the site and a range of choice of applications that can be used on the site Eg photo albums that are easy to load to. As users use applications that are user friendly they gain more confidence in the site and are willing to take more control.
b]Interesting rules/tips ..... One is treating each other decently. Two is a shared committment to work together towards better communications and conversations and three is learning from each other. I have found this to be the case in our Wednesday group POD chats. We are learning how to converse and then each person adds a bit to the topic which helps everyone. As the old saying goes "Two heads are better than one"
c]The guidelines at digg are very user friendly, simple and easy to understand with visual cues to compliment. The MOO doc was a bit longwinded.Collaborative social software systems need to develop a set of rules of engagement as it deals with people interacting. It is the same as a school that needs rules or a workplace that needs guidelines on how people treat each other. The fact that people are not in the same room physically doesnt mean rules dont apply. The social software system needs to be a safe place and experience free from racism,sexism and spam. This is the ideal! Sites like Habbo are to be commended for blocking users who behave inappropriately.
The need would be less with document sharing as its not people relating in applications like chat[real time] however there would need to be rules about the content of the documents[or a disclaimer from the author of the site!]
Exercise 4.3
a]Potential and challenges for learning and Professional development in the workplace.
I am thinking most of the sites in the list have some potential for learning and professional development. I guess it comes down to how they are presented, how easy they are to use and what people want. Some of the sites have more potential. My list is:
Facebook, You Tube. Delicious, Teacher Tube, Twitter and Flickr. I choose these because I use them and have confidence in teaching others about them.
b]I have a social profile at facebook and set one up in Twitter. Watched twitter in plain english http://www.commoncraft.com/twitter
c]Personal Learning Network. I am making a master list and adding username and passwords to this list so I dont forget them!
My PLN
Facebbook, Twitter, Flickr, Delicious, Etherpad, You Tube, Teacher Tube and Ning.
d]I created a social network at ning. Its titles education09.
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