Cloudworks Intro

An introduction to cloudworks: a social networking site for sharing & discussing learning and teaching Gráinne Conole, Open University, UK November 2009 http://cloudworks.ac.uk

Harnessing web 2.0 practices Teachers/designers want examples , want to share/discuss ! Many repositories of good practice , but little impact Can we change practices through use of web 2.0 ideas? Blogging Facebook Twitter Slideshare Flckr Youtube Commenting Live commentary Tagging RSS feeds Embedding Following

Open design: Social and collective

Key concepts: Clouds Clouds: Ideas Design or case studies Tools or resources Questions or problems

Key concepts: Cloudscapes Cloudscapes: Conferences Workshops Course team Student cohort Research theme Project

Filtering and serendipity
Filtering – personalisation and tailoring
RSS feeds for people and cloudscapes
Different levels of email alert
Activity streams
Public activity stream (all activities on the site), Cloudscape activity streams, User activity streams
Tabbed views – all, clouds, cloudscapes, comments links, references, extra content
Serendipity
Active clouds on home page
Featured cloudscapes on home page
Browse clouds, cloudscape, tags, people
Search for keywords

Key concepts: Activity streams Clouds

Key concepts: Activity streams Clouds Cloudscapes

Key concepts: Activity streams Clouds Cloudscapes Comments

Key concepts: Activity streams Clouds Cloudscapes Comments Links

Key concepts: Activity streams Clouds Cloudscapes Comments Links References

Key concepts: Activity streams Clouds Cloudscapes Comments Links References Extra content

Theoretical perspectives “ Social objects” Social networking makes little sense if we leave out the objects that mediate the ties between people Engeström Design framework for sociality Enabling practice Mimicking reality Building identity Actualising self Bouman et al .

Approach
Agile development : initially build in Drupal, now Codeigniter
Series of phases: design decisions, development, evaluation
Empirical evidence
Web stats including google analytics
Interviews
“ Cloudfests” and focus groups
Workshops and conferences
Observation and reflective diaries
Critical friends group and design summits

Principles
Open , drawing on web 2.0 practices
Clouds as core objects – social, cummulative, intelligent
Intentionally both built around “communities”/’clusters of interest”
Cross-boundary , both filtering/personalisable and serendipitous
Dynamic and evolving through use alongside real events as well as virtual ones
Variety of types of activities and uses, but focus always on sharing, finding and discussing educational ideas and designs

Design decisions: Phase 1
Based on cloud metaphor
Seeded the site
Limited social features
Tagging by pedagogy, tool, discipline
No private content
User profiles
Five cloud types
Data from: workshops, focus groups, surveys, “cloudfests”
Findings
“ What’s in it for me”?
Privacy and provenance
Sustainability
Barriers to sharing
Lack of spontaneous use
Phase 1
Evaluation

Amalgamated cloud types
Increased social features
Fostered communities – cloudscapes
Added follow functionality
Set up “My cloudstream”
Data from range of source plus a usability report
Findings
Lack of spontaneous use
Navigation
Quality control
Phase 2
Evaluation

Added RSS feeds
Integrated streams from other web 2.0 sites
Merged tag categories
Improved homepage
Findings
New patterns of behaviour
Divided views about “open”
Cognitive barrier to getting use to the tool and then using it
Significant increase in use of the site as a result of tools
Phase 3
Evaluation

Some stats…. 1360 registered users Aspect Everyone Team Non-team Cloudscapes 117 49 68 Clouds 1386 935 451 Comments 1882 613 1269 Links 1581 1165 416 Added Sept.

Emergent patterns of use
Events: conferences and workshops
ALT-C conference , 8-11 th September 2009
http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/1870
Discussions: Flash debates
Is Twitter killing blogging?
http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloud/view/2266
Eliciting expertise and open reviews
Literature review of educational technologist
Aggregating resources
En Rumbo Spanish course

An introduction to cloudworks: a social networking site for sharing & discussing learning and teaching Gráinne Conole, Open University, UK November 2009 http://cloudworks.ac.uk

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http://techtrees.blogspot.com	8
http://www.slideshare.net	5
http://www-acct.olnet.org	5
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Cloudworks Intro

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