Web 2.0 Online Collaboration

Collaborative Virtual EnvironmentsDaniel Livingstone

Web 2.0 Online Collaboration

Web 2.0?

Term coined by Tim O'Reilly (of O'Reilly books) in 2004Not a new technology

But may use new technlogies or solutions (c.f. AJAX)

Cover all term for wide range of 'new' ways of using the web focussing on collaboration, sharing, creativity

Blogs - Review

You have all been asked to create a blog. Why?

* Reflective practice. What do you think of things... opinions and reasons * Progress reporting * Record links and 'found' things that you might want to revisit - or other people might want to see

How much should you write?

* I would suggest 1-3 entries per week. From 50 to 500 words per entry.

Blogs and RSS

Reading 15 blogs time consumingEven just checking for updates when there are none!

Aggregate all new updates with RSS readersRSS presents simplified content of web page without the formattingEg: BBC News front page vs. BBC News front page RSS

Reading BlogsKeep up with all your colleagues using Google Reader / Bloglines

One page to lookup for all updates - instead of dozens!

Some Tools for Online Collaborative Groupwork

VLE / LMS - e.g. Blackboard or MoodleUsing this already - forums etc.Want to look at other tech

Blogs - Limited amounts of collaborationWiki'sGoogle Groups / Yahoo GroupsGoogle Docs / Zoho Ning / ELGG

Also see: WikiSpaces - Free online wiki hostingNo need to have your own server or install wiki softwareSupports WYSIWYG style editing - No need to learn peculiar WIKI markup languages

Project homepageCan control access

Who is able to read, who is able to editAllow multiple contributorsTalk pages allow discussion on content without changing itHistory stored - allowing all versions of a page to be viewedHistory also allows individual contributions to be seen

Wiki's For Collaborative Working

Google Groups / Yahoo Groups / etc.Google Groups / Yahoo Groups / etc.

Some functionality based on previous generations of intranet/internet groupwareLimited compared to 'true' groupware solutions

c.f. Lotus Notes of over 10 years agoGoogle Groups features:

Discussion forum (can use via email)Member lists/profilesFile sharing'Pages' - Online documents with collaborative editing and revision history

Office ToolsOffice Software is also often used for collaborative workTypical workflow:

Someone edits document, enables change trackingEmail to 2nd contributorContributor makes edits, email backOriginal author checks edits, makes further revisions, emails back againetc., etc., ...

Possibly replace email with online file storeStill convoluted workflow

The End of Microsoft Office?Can Office be replaced by a suite of web-based applications? Google thinks so... Google Docs gives you web based word-processing, spread sheets and presentations. Add Google Calendar and Gmail against Microsoft Outlook, a web-page creator and blogs against Frontpage...

And Google are not the only ones...

zoho.com

The Google OfficeGoogle Docs - http://docs.google.com

Word processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation softwareAll very limited functionality compared to MS OfficeBut do somethings MS Office can't do! Print pdf files, ...

Easy to share documents with others for collaborative editing - or to give an online presentationMultiple users can edit the one document at the same time!

Google Calendar - http://www.google.com/calendar/Allow you to publish your calendar (or only parts of it!) making your diary/availabilty checkable online EXAMPLECan view multiple calendars in one view

e.g. Personal, work, colleagues, public eventsOne member of staff uses this to show football fixtures alongside his own diary!

Social NetworksSocial Networks also have interesting features for collaboration... can go beyond lists of friends!

Messaging, updates, content sharingInformation about group membersCan add custom applications

e.g. Updates from Blogs, Calendars etcFacebook, MySpace, Bebo, Orkut, etc...

Only useful when information can sensibly be made public

Downsides of Social Networking?Many studies show people are unware of how public information really is... and act as if they are sharing with only their friends.What are the risks?

Custom Social NetworksCan Social Networks be put to more purposeful use?NING

Create your own social network onlineTheme, brand a social network and invite people in

Can control membership (optional)No costs, but adverts placed on pagesE.g. Commercial: Dub Magazine Education: ICT in Education

ELGGOpen source social networking softwareTheme, brand and customise social network

Host on own servers, free softwareCould add adverts for own revenueE.g. Commun-IT - Social network for Ontario Educators

And there's more...Twitter

Online status updatesCan update from mobile phoneReported value: Instant contacts, updates, meetings

PodcastsiTunes U

YouTubeYouTube University!http://webcast.berkeley.edu/MIT OpenCourseware gave large boost to open education resources trendOpenLearn in the UK

Behind the ScenesAJAX

Asynchronous Javascript and XMLWeb development technique for web appsMake web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with server behind the scenes, so the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user requests a change.

Increase the web page interactivity, speed, and usability.

Not a technology in itself, but a term that refers to the use of a group of technologies, See e.g.:

Script.aluco.usRuby on Rails

And there's more...SlideshareScribdflickrdiggand on and on and on...

As in this portentious video

What to do with all of this?This lecture has listed a range of web-based collaborative software applications

You should use some of these for your group projectWhich ones? And why?One not on this list?

Group should make sensible use of these technologies...What information be public? Private workspaces? Ease of use vs. richness of applications

Creation of web-based resources as part of & in support of your class project (more on this later!) will be graded