Next Generation Environments Conference 2008 - Staff User Panel

Questions to staff during Staff User Experience Panel:

Q: do you see a difference between yourselves and a younger/older user:

A1: I use the same social technology as my son.

A2: Rather general question. was 1 of 2 members of staff invited to after handing in dissertation party via Facebook. But not really part of that group.

Commment:  Even though using the same technology still not part of same social groups.

A3: 85 yr old student who fully uses all social technology as well as 60 yr old so it’s down to experience.

A4: I have colleauges and friends on Facebook and we talk about social stuff not work.  Special interest group created on Facebook which I wanted to join but created a dialemma that do I do this with my current slightly silly photograph?

 Q: your presence on facebook has given you opportunity to engage with students that you wouldn’ normally engage with. your institution would be pleased with that.  so are we saying that all academics should have a facebook account?

A: some attempts to set up a facebook presence would be half-hearted perhaps. although some Uni libraries are setting up facilities in libraries for example.

Q: did you have any problems with engaging with any of the students on the facebook group?

A: I came across it by looking for the alumni group so accidental that I became involved with students online.

A2: I find Facebook good on a more informal level to liaise with some students.

A3:  Some students find it easier to engage with me online than they do face to face.

A4: In my masters module none of them want to go on facebook as they are quite anti.

Q: do you feel joining social networks improves your quality of teaching and if so how?

A: yes. becuase students send me messages that they don’t understand and why.

Q: what is the difference between emails and Facebook?

A: emails created barriers. regarded as disturbing recipient. some staff ignore email for example. students realise that with some academics therefore no point using this method. social networking sites give the social touch.

A; social networking offers whole range of teaching opportunities that other normal methods of teaching wouldn’t.  getting continous stream of feedback is very useful. they discuss their dissertation supervisors on their walls for example. has improved communications with students and in turn some of our teaching.

A2: I haven’t really used it to teach with. used it to bring it to the table to put it there and re-examine it and look at it with an open mind.

A3: staff can come across as a bit more human and so can the students by interacting using social software! gives staff a window into what life is like for a student these days.

How much are staff responsible for supporing students using this software?

All students should have the same experience of VLEs but their experience is not consistent. Always a small group of staff that are using new technologies and a large group that don’t. Need to move things forward and make it consistent for everyone. Consistency is key.

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under nge2 | Leave a Comment 

Dave White, Open Habitat (MUVEs), NGE2 Conf: 29-30 Apr 08

Multimedia social technologies for engagement (MUVEs) - Parallel session at the Next Generation Environments Conference, 29-30 April 2008

Dave White comparing attributes of Second Life to online gaming (World of Warcraft):

World of Warcraft: when you join, the initial thing that happens is that is sets the story and creates a framework/narrative for you to move through. The user just watches at this stage. After 20 minutes, user bumps into a character from the game who gives them a task ( the user also has physical printed manual that can be referred to) and tells them what they will receive when they have completed the task. Feels more rewarding to the user.

Second Life: when you join you are literally just dropped in and you aren’t really given any direction apart from buttons in top corner. You aren’t funneled in the way World of Warcraft does. But you are aware that other users are having the same experience at this stage. You have to move your avatar and make things happen. after 20 minutes in Second Life the user realises there is no point to Second Life and that they have to construct the point. This mainly becomes finding people to talk to.

Second Life environments are like blank World of Warcraft canvases for us to put pedagogical structures in place. There are various options available and we shouldn’t discount the informal or unusual options that seem a little disjointed/messy.

There comes a point in second life when a first time user needs help from someone. World of Warcraft all help is contextual and can do it on your own but only because it’s a structured environment. But Second Life is free and can be more liberating, however could benefit from combination of structured approach that World of Warcraft takes.

What makes Second Life powerful is the freedom. People just need to be told what to do but it has to be relevant.

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under nge2 | Leave a Comment 

Simon Hodson, ticTOCs and Gold Dust (NGE2 Conf, 29-30 April 08)

Session covering RSS feeds, the information overload and the 21st century researcher.

Growth of RSS feeds has meant a rather confusing picture for users with multiple feeds and icons.

ticTOCs:

Deal with tables of contents alerts. It is a Project to develop a freely available current awareness service making easy for academics and researchers to find, display, store, combine and resuse scholarly journal tables of contents.

TOCs by email - some users find alerts are a form of self-inflicted spam.

These are some of the challenges that lie in the path of academics wanting to take advantage of the info available thru RSS feeds.

ticTOC aims to provide solutions to these challenges:

Gold Dust

Commentators are observing that alerting systems are actually contributing to info oveload (email alerts, RSS feeds)

Gold Dust will research technologies which might provide:

Principles of Gold Dust:

Both projects aim to:

Questions:

Q: Any expectation of how much usage data required before Gold Dust starts to filter through RSS feeds?

A: Takes key words and hunts for them which is the finding aspect but there is also filtering out aspect. Not just filtering in and out, trying to find models of information.

Comment: Might need various filters?

Q: any plans for how it would link to other researchers?

A: not in this project but is a good idea. if successful one step towards using intelligently created scholarly profiles.

Comment: use as a collaborative tool - if you form a research group - go through a gateway could then see what each of the group are being alerted on.

Comment: I currently rely on social networks to do filtering for me

Q: what does ticTOC do that zeTOC (?) doesn’t? Is it federated?

A: the federation is an issue, no real answer at the moment. aware that users will click through to the full article and find the institution doesn’t subscribe. re. zeTOC: ticTOC aims to be current awareness, latest issue, about keeping uptodate rather than trawling through whole database of past issues.

Q: any users expressed concern about identity security?

A: no-one has as yet. is something that have spoken to Web2Rights to be sure.

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under nge2 | 1 Comment 

Managing your online identity, NGE2 Conf 29-30 April

Lawrie Phipps and James Farnhill from JISC take about managing your online identity at the JISC Next Generational Environments Conference, 29-30 April, Aston Business School.

James Farnhill

Identity now a big issue in the media. Survey done by Sophos that 41% of users happy to reveal personal details on Facebook.

2 government CDs that were lost. Issues around sensitive data going missing and going into public domain. They in fact turned up on eBay!

A guy had credit card details stolen and those details were used by a paedophile ring that the police were tracking. took months for him to recover because of the repurucssions of this.

So why JISC looking at Identity?

What are JISC doing now?

What are JISC looking to do?

Lawrie Phipps 

Online social identity that employers see of potential candidates significantly sways their decision as to whether they want to employ that person.

Comment: Medical profession are quite flexible about it and don’t seem to mind so much that you can search for your doctor online and might find personal information about them. Gives them a public face.

Comment: Issue of employers raised at a Focus Group that some employees felt that if an employer used the potential candidates online social identity as the final decider as to whether they get the job or not, many potential employees do not want to work for these employers.

What about academically? If you were interviewing for a prestigious research/teaching post. Top ten offs academically?

Top tips for managing your identity online:

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under nge2 | 1 Comment