A colleague of mine from the NW Center for Emerging Technologies recently reviewed my outline for a Web 2.0 communications course I’m developing for Spring Quarter 2009, and asked a series of questions about various aspects of the course. Answering her questions helped clarify my own ideas regarding the class. Thanks Michele!
What is a cloud computing site? I know what cloud computing is but not sure what you mean in this context. Also I think of cloud computing as a technology but not necessarily a collaborative one. Maybe I am missing something here.
My understanding of the “cloud” goes something like this: As described this months Wired magazine article on Microsoft’s CEO Ray Ozzie, part of meaning of the cloud is that applications are moving out of the desktop and onto the Internet. (article: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-12/ff_ozzie) This change has challenged Microsoft to rethink its whole business model – it’s survival may depend on it. Google seems to be the rising star in this domain, especially with the introduction of the new Chrome browser, which just came out of beta. The Chrome browser has been built from the ground up for speed, stability, integration, and adaptability to web apps. Sun Microsystems came out with a mantra several years ago which describes this use of the Internet as an applications delivery platform – namely, the network is the computer.
To me the “cloud” also implies social networking, or some kind of social participation. This is made possible because of the ultrafast and accessible database infrastructure that provides a foundation for the cloud. For example, Del.icio.us (www.delicious.com) is a social bookmarking site where you can transfer your favorite web links online where they can be organized, and indexed for rapid keyword access. Instead of having your bookmarks confined to a single computer, you can access them from anywhere. This webapp is also a social networking site, because you can share bookmarks with others who have a common interest – a form of collaborative knowledge building. A entertaining overview of this site can be found at Social Bookmarking in Plain English.
Adobe Photoshop Express (http://www.photoshop.com/express) is another good example of a cloud site that’s both a free online image editing tool as well as a social network for sharing photos with others. Google docs, Pandora, Flikr, Facebook, Kickapps, and YouTube, among numerous others, share these characteristics.
I noticed you do not mention immersive environments like Second Life. Any reason for that?
I didn’t include Second Life yet in the Web 2.0 proposal, because I’m somewhat concerned about liability issues in an educational setting. Some of those concerns are described in the following article which mentions issues of harassment, bullying, etc.: http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/09/2007091401c.htm
I think it’s more than I can take on the first time around. On the other hand, an online colleague of Jennifer Jones named Fleep Tuque sent me the link to a website dedicated to online educational communities called SimTeach (http://simteach.com) where some schools have been successfully experimenting with teaching-based multiparticipant 3D world sites. Also, I was recently told that some Washington State program had purchased an island in Second Life for educational purposes, and may be available to schools and colleges. This may be associated with John Bransford’s work at the UW, but I need to find out more details.
I would probably mention webconferencing as opposed to “teleconferencing” and here again I think of this as a technology (indeed a collaborative technology which definitely belongs in this class) but not sure what the word site attached to it means.
That sounds like a good idea. Webconferencing sounds great – I’m onboard! I’m currently taking the orientation programs for Elluminate, which seems like a good choice for teaching webconferencing – since it’s available through Washington State. A friend and colleague of mine, Bruce Campbell, who teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design recently told me about another webconferencing application called EVO – which is a collaborative project between MIT, Cal-Tech, and Carnegie Mellon. It includes video conferencing, realtime chat,
shared white board, threaded discussions, and file sharing. It’s free, and seems to work pretty well. This may provide a good second alternative to Elluminate. EVO can be found at: http://evo.vrvs.org/evoGate/index.jsp
Are you going to show LinkedIn?
There are several of these kind of social network services out there, which seem to be like flavors of ice cream at Baskin and Robbins. I was thinking about using Facebook, since some students may either be familiar with this territory, or can use it as a good point of departure for this concept. Plaxo and LinkedIn seem to be more like professional career-based networking sites, but that’s based on my initial impressions of these. Plaxo and LinkedIn seem to be more like professional career-based networking sites, but that’s based on my initial impressions of these. MySpace seems more oriented to a younger crowd than Facebook. I’m still not sure which one(s) of these I’m going to focus on for the class. I may have student teams sign up for a number of these, and report back their findings.
Which tools are you going to show for mashups? Just curious.
The combination of Windows MovieMaker, Flikr, PhotoShop Express, Audacity (sound editor), and YouTube sound like a beginning exposure for this. In my Media 109 class, I had students create their own 30 second videos using a combination of online and desktop apps. I’m thinking about doing something similar for this class.
Never heard of SuperStruct before. Sounds really interesting. Will have to check it out.
SuperStruct may or may not work for this class, but I’d like to find an online, collaborative, game-based activity or website that blends social networking, problem solving, and fun. If you run across anything along these lines that looks interesting, please let me know.
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