Now this is something that I have personally found very useful in my studies thus far - a way to collaborate online with multiple editors / reviewers in the one document / web page. AKA the Wiki.
The features of a wiki are that it is driven by a simple text editor which allows for easy creation and editing of the page, provides intuitive linking between pages with hypertext links and keeps a track of changes made to the document over time. Its main benefit is the easy access to the document which is through the browser and doesn't require any specific editing tools or direct network access. Basically anyone with internet access can collaborate on a document providing access has been granted by the creator.
The most well known wiki of the all is Wikipedia. To try and illustrate the scope of wikipedia, a quote from co-founder Jimmy Wales (as cited in Lih, 2009) describes the potential of wikipedia as "Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing."
There is insurmountable controversy surrounding the creditability and reliance on information contained in the wikipedia pages. It is controversial in nature mainly because of its connotations of being an online encyclopaedia whilst being written entirely collaboratively by a legion of volunteers, none of whom are subjected to credibility checks. Wikipedia themselves acknowledge this by proclaiming "In most academic institutions, Wikipedia, along with most encyclopaedias, is unacceptable as a major source for a research paper" on their page about researching using wikipedia (Wikipedia, 2010). However, Wikipedia does have virtues beyond its limitation as a reliable academic source of information in that it has been recognised as a valuable source of up to date news, a point very succinctly illustrated in the youtube video showing the evolving entries about the London bombings as they happen (travelinlibrarian, 2006).
Again, ties nicely into Berners-Lees idea of a interactive and collaborative web 2.0 technology.....
Next week, we delve into social networking.....
References:
Lih, A. (2009). The Wikipedia Revolution: How a bunch of nobodies created the world's greatest encyclopedia. London: Aurum Press.
Travelinlibrarian. (2006, November 22). Wikipedia: London Bombings. [video file] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8O-hv3w-MU&feature=player_embedded
Wikipedia (2010). Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Researching_with_Wikipedia
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Week 5 - Blogging...
Ok, so ironically the topic of this weeks blog is ...well, um, blogging! :)
So why all the fuss about blogging? Surely keeping a diary is nothing new - the practice of keeping diaries went out with letter writing and penmanship, didnt it? Or did it? Maybe what's new is that those secret thoughts and reflections are now in cyberspace for the whole world to see? Or maybe there is more to it.....
It seems blogging is so much more. There are different types of blogs. Personal blogs are probably most similar to the traditional diary format, although thankfully most (not all) focus on a particular are of interest, rather than the stereotypical 'Dear diary' entries commonly associated with love-struck teenagers. There are microblogs, which as you expect from the 'micro' precursor are very small blocks, restricted in length, the most well known of which is twitter, which answers the question "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less (tweeternet, 2011). And then there are corporate blogs, photo blogs...even podcasts can be considered an "audio" blog (Leaver, 2010). You get the picture.... :)
What is interesting about blogging is the new context in which it has taken journal writing. Rebecca Blood cited in her article about the history of weblogging that a community of bloggers started to spring up after introduction of blogger in 1999, resulting in conversations and debates about topics of interest between blogs "Full-blown conversations were carried on between three or five blogs, each referencing the other in their agreement or rebuttal of the other's positions" (Blood, 2000). Now that is something you would not get in a tradition pen & paper diary! :)
Although probably the most exciting concept to come of our blogging is the idea of participatory / citizen journalism. This fit in perfectly with Tim Burners-Lee's idea of a social interactive internet and one of the key elements of a web 2.0 technology. People could report on what was happening the minute it happened, giving real life personal accounts, not jaded by any corporate media loyalties or commercial arrangements. Nowhere is this more evident than in the blogs which sprang up during and after recent natural disasters such as the Asian tsunami and, even more recently, the Queensland floods. James Surowiecki describes the Asian Tsunami of 2005 as "the turning point for social media" (Surowiecki, 2008 as cited in Leaver, 2010) and goes on to describe how blogging provided a whole new dimension to the knowledge and information made available compared to what we had come to expect from traditional media sources. "We also now could get a complete and powerful picture of what had happened in a way that we had never been able to get before" (TedTalks Director, 2008). Surowieki also advocates the power and knowledge that can be shared when a group of people collaborate, i.e what he terms ""the wisdom of the crowds", the idea that diverse groups of individuals can, in some cases, make better decisions and/or predictions than can individual experts" (Surowiecki, 2008 as cited in Leaver, 2010).
So the potential and tools are there - we just need to tap into this wealth of knowledge that exists in the "blogosphere" and share some of our own...well, hopefully this blog is a start!
Next week ...wikis!
References:
Blood, R. (2000). Weblogs: A history and perspective. Retrieved from http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
Leaver, T. (2010). Module Topic 2.1 – Blogging. [Course notes]. Retrieved from http://lms.curtin.edu.au
Tedtalks Director. (2008, November 5). James Surowiecki:the moment when social media became an equal player in the world of news-gathering. [video file] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Xm4ufnoxY&feature=player_embedded
Tweeternet (2011). What is Twitter? Retrieved from http://tweeternet.com/
So why all the fuss about blogging? Surely keeping a diary is nothing new - the practice of keeping diaries went out with letter writing and penmanship, didnt it? Or did it? Maybe what's new is that those secret thoughts and reflections are now in cyberspace for the whole world to see? Or maybe there is more to it.....
It seems blogging is so much more. There are different types of blogs. Personal blogs are probably most similar to the traditional diary format, although thankfully most (not all) focus on a particular are of interest, rather than the stereotypical 'Dear diary' entries commonly associated with love-struck teenagers. There are microblogs, which as you expect from the 'micro' precursor are very small blocks, restricted in length, the most well known of which is twitter, which answers the question "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less (tweeternet, 2011). And then there are corporate blogs, photo blogs...even podcasts can be considered an "audio" blog (Leaver, 2010). You get the picture.... :)
What is interesting about blogging is the new context in which it has taken journal writing. Rebecca Blood cited in her article about the history of weblogging that a community of bloggers started to spring up after introduction of blogger in 1999, resulting in conversations and debates about topics of interest between blogs "Full-blown conversations were carried on between three or five blogs, each referencing the other in their agreement or rebuttal of the other's positions" (Blood, 2000). Now that is something you would not get in a tradition pen & paper diary! :)
Although probably the most exciting concept to come of our blogging is the idea of participatory / citizen journalism. This fit in perfectly with Tim Burners-Lee's idea of a social interactive internet and one of the key elements of a web 2.0 technology. People could report on what was happening the minute it happened, giving real life personal accounts, not jaded by any corporate media loyalties or commercial arrangements. Nowhere is this more evident than in the blogs which sprang up during and after recent natural disasters such as the Asian tsunami and, even more recently, the Queensland floods. James Surowiecki describes the Asian Tsunami of 2005 as "the turning point for social media" (Surowiecki, 2008 as cited in Leaver, 2010) and goes on to describe how blogging provided a whole new dimension to the knowledge and information made available compared to what we had come to expect from traditional media sources. "We also now could get a complete and powerful picture of what had happened in a way that we had never been able to get before" (TedTalks Director, 2008). Surowieki also advocates the power and knowledge that can be shared when a group of people collaborate, i.e what he terms ""the wisdom of the crowds", the idea that diverse groups of individuals can, in some cases, make better decisions and/or predictions than can individual experts" (Surowiecki, 2008 as cited in Leaver, 2010).
So the potential and tools are there - we just need to tap into this wealth of knowledge that exists in the "blogosphere" and share some of our own...well, hopefully this blog is a start!
Next week ...wikis!
References:
Blood, R. (2000). Weblogs: A history and perspective. Retrieved from http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
Leaver, T. (2010). Module Topic 2.1 – Blogging. [Course notes]. Retrieved from http://lms.curtin.edu.au
Tedtalks Director. (2008, November 5). James Surowiecki:the moment when social media became an equal player in the world of news-gathering. [video file] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Xm4ufnoxY&feature=player_embedded
Tweeternet (2011). What is Twitter? Retrieved from http://tweeternet.com/
Friday, January 21, 2011
Week 4 - All about Web 2.0
Web 2.0 - it's all about the conversation! (Leaver, 2010).
Web 2.0 saw the transition from personal web sites to blogging / interactive social networking applications. The main difference was the ability to author or create a web presence without the need for technical skills, opening the web up as a more interactive user driven experience.
The driver for web 2.0 was the separation of data content from the formatting aspects of the web site. This was facilitated through RSS - Really Simple Syndication - which enable users to pull the content data from a site and subscribe or integrate that data into their own presentation format.
The publication tools which are synonymous with web 2.0 made the web available for everyone to generate and share knowledge, to join in the conversation so to speak and interact with each other, much more in line with Tim Burners-Lee's vision.
In particular, wikis provide a way for people to jointly collaborate and share knowledge , the most famous of which is wikipedia. Wikipedia in itself is a community collaboration of ideas that anyone can update or edit with the positives being the sharing of previously inaccessible information and links through to associated knowledge, much like what was envisioned by Vannevar Bush way back in 1945. The most obvious negative associated with this type of sharing is the validity of the information, however the interactivity aspect of the web2.0 means that the currency and accuracy of the information being share is constantly and frequently being reviewed.
In the next topic, we will delve further into the world of blogging!
References:
Leaver, T. (2010c). Module 2 Introduction - What is Web 2.0? [Course notes]. Retrieved from http://lms.curtin.edu.au
Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody – Clay Shirky Web 2.0 Lecture. [video file] Retrieved from http://lms.curtin.edu.au
Week 3 - What is the WWW
Wow, been a while since I updated this! Time to go back through the hand written scrawl and put something in the outer bloggersphere ;)
Ok, week three, hmm, that's right - what is the world wide web? To understand what is the world wide web, we need to look at how it evolved. This week's lecture went back to where it started and looked at some visionary people who were instrumental in making the web what it is today.
Firstly Vannevar Bush and his article written in 1945 entitled "As we may think" talked about how people discovered new knowledge and that the human brain uses nodes to remember relationships. He used this idea to design a machine known as a "Memex" who he envisaged would lead to people being able to follow their own trail of information through associations.
Fast forwarding through time and another innovator, popularly known as the father of the world wide web, is Tim Burners-Lee. His proposal in 1990 envisioned a system of networked computers that could converse in a common protocol and allow a hypertext system to develop upon which users could have access to and share information. The proposal introduced the http protocol, the html langauage which provided a common link to other langauges and the concept of a web server which was the backbone of the web in that it was always on. He devised a browser editor which had both writing and editing functions.
Tim Burners-Lee's vision for the web correlated more to the web 2.0 applications which are around today in that all users were able to access and share information, unlike the web1.0 environment which was largely a "read only" experience unless the user had coding skills.
But more on web 2.0 in the next post....
Ok, week three, hmm, that's right - what is the world wide web? To understand what is the world wide web, we need to look at how it evolved. This week's lecture went back to where it started and looked at some visionary people who were instrumental in making the web what it is today.
Firstly Vannevar Bush and his article written in 1945 entitled "As we may think" talked about how people discovered new knowledge and that the human brain uses nodes to remember relationships. He used this idea to design a machine known as a "Memex" who he envisaged would lead to people being able to follow their own trail of information through associations.
Fast forwarding through time and another innovator, popularly known as the father of the world wide web, is Tim Burners-Lee. His proposal in 1990 envisioned a system of networked computers that could converse in a common protocol and allow a hypertext system to develop upon which users could have access to and share information. The proposal introduced the http protocol, the html langauage which provided a common link to other langauges and the concept of a web server which was the backbone of the web in that it was always on. He devised a browser editor which had both writing and editing functions.
Tim Burners-Lee's vision for the web correlated more to the web 2.0 applications which are around today in that all users were able to access and share information, unlike the web1.0 environment which was largely a "read only" experience unless the user had coding skills.
But more on web 2.0 in the next post....
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Week 1 & 2
Well this week the journey commenced.
Started out re-acquainting myself with some old friends;- network topologies and protocols and its reassuring to see that the basic fundamentals haven't changed.
Having a look at all the new technological friends I am yet to meet is a bit overwhelming. Feel as though I am about to be sucked into a great precipice of web services, half of which I wont have the time to do any proper justice, all the while trying to ignore that niggling feeling that another obsession is looming.
So what is the internet?
Apart from being like a giant library hidden inside your computer and to cite week 2's notes "a very big computer network!", it seems to be more about connections - lots of individual networks connecting and communicating with each other in a common language. And those connections are not just limited to what we see on the surface - it is the hidden pathways our little packets of data traipse through to get to their final destination which is enlightening. Proxy trace showed us that it isn't just a matter of getting from A to B but there can be many stops and diversions along the way! Guess that is all part of the journey - the important thing that is that we arrive at the right destination!
next week: what is the world wide web....
Started out re-acquainting myself with some old friends;- network topologies and protocols and its reassuring to see that the basic fundamentals haven't changed.
Having a look at all the new technological friends I am yet to meet is a bit overwhelming. Feel as though I am about to be sucked into a great precipice of web services, half of which I wont have the time to do any proper justice, all the while trying to ignore that niggling feeling that another obsession is looming.
So what is the internet?
Apart from being like a giant library hidden inside your computer and to cite week 2's notes "a very big computer network!", it seems to be more about connections - lots of individual networks connecting and communicating with each other in a common language. And those connections are not just limited to what we see on the surface - it is the hidden pathways our little packets of data traipse through to get to their final destination which is enlightening. Proxy trace showed us that it isn't just a matter of getting from A to B but there can be many stops and diversions along the way! Guess that is all part of the journey - the important thing that is that we arrive at the right destination!
next week: what is the world wide web....
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