Monitoring the transformation of a domain-specific portal into a social information hub Ramón Ovelar Virtual Campus – University of the Basque Country GIEL – ELIT Research Group SIRTEL 08 – Maastricht Pecha Kutcha talk

What is a domain-specific portal? Domain-specific portals are gateways to an integrated collection of electronic resources where complementary services such as internal search, personalization, communication tools and push-technology information services are frequently provided (Martínez, Palacios 2004) Horizontal portal (Yahoo, Excite) vs vertical (domain-specific)

Domain-specific portals are gateways to an integrated collection of electronic resources where complementary services such as internal search, personalization, communication tools and push-technology information services are frequently provided (Martínez, Palacios 2004)

Horizontal portal (Yahoo, Excite) vs vertical (domain-specific)

Domain-specific portals and dissemination Domain-specific portals have adequate features for displaying and disseminating the outcomes of a systematic surveillance of a domain area They are widespread used for fostering R+D and innovation 3 aspects are relevant: Technology , that enables new environments for collaborative work and communication Information , critical in a context of permanent change Online community , based on participation, affinity

Domain-specific portals have adequate features for displaying and disseminating the outcomes of a systematic surveillance of a domain area

They are widespread used for fostering R+D and innovation

3 aspects are relevant:

Technology , that enables new environments for collaborative work and communication

Information , critical in a context of permanent change

Online community , based on participation, affinity

THEMATIC PORTALS 1.0 TECHNOLOGY ONLINE COMMUNITY INFORMATION CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ZOPE / PLONE PHP NUKE MAMBO / JOOMLA DRUPAL RESOURCES REPORTS POLITICS BEST PRACTICES E-LEARNING LEVERAGING INFORMATION FILTERING FORESCASTING USERS PARTICIPATION FORUMS AFFINITY SUGGESTIONS 3 main elements: community, technology and information A SENSE OF BELONGING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES EXPERTS ARE GATEKEEPERS

¿are domain-specific portal, based on experts gatekeepers, adequate tools for managing information overload in a Web 2.0 context?

WEB 2.0, API MICROCONTENT, SYNDICATION, BARRIERS FOR PARTICIPATION ARE LOWERING A NEW ATTITUDE: DIGITAL NATIVES SOCIAL NETWORKS EMERGE IN THE WEB ARENA ONLINE IDENTITY COMMUNITY: A SOCIAL GATEKEEPER SOCIAL NETWORKS BLOGS, WIKIS, BROADBAND… SOCIAL MEDIA USER GENERATED CONTENT (UGC) WEB 2.0 SOCIAL NETWORKS SOCIAL MEDIA UGC TRANSFORMING THEMATIC PORTALS INTO SOCIAL INFORMATION HUBS A CLOUD OF WEB SERVICES TOOLS THAT USERS SHOULD FIND IN A 2.0 PORTAL RSS FEEDS AGGREGATION APIs PROFILES OPEN SOCIAL TAGS RATINGS COMMENTS ¿MODERATION? LIFESTREAM

RSS FEEDS

AGGREGATION

APIs

PROFILES

OPEN SOCIAL

TAGS

RATINGS

COMMENTS

¿MODERATION?

LIFESTREAM

Features of the Púlsar CMS

Calendar SEP 8 OCT 8 NOV 8 DIC 8 JAN 9 FEB 9 MAR 9 ABR 9 MAY 9 JUN 9 JUL 9 AUG 9 SEP 9 OCT 9 NOV 9 DIC 9 DRUPAL DEVELOPMENT PHASE 1 PHASE 2 AUG8 JUL8 Only admins contribute content Authors can tag content Users can rate and comment most of the sections Features phase 1

Only admins contribute content

Authors can tag content

Users can rate and comment most of the sections

Calendar SEP 8 OCT 8 NOV 8 DIC 8 JAN 9 FEB 9 MAR 9 ABR 9 MAY 9 JUN 9 JUL 9 AUG 9 SEP 9 OCT 9 NOV 9 DIC 9 DRUPAL DEVELOPMENT FASE 1 FASE 2 AUG8 JUL8 Features phase 2 Users have a profile and can make connections Users can contribute to some sections Users can aggregate feeds where every post can be managed by the social information retrieval features

Users have a profile and can make connections

Users can contribute to some sections

Users can aggregate feeds where every post can be managed by the social information retrieval features

Objetive To study and evaluate the performance of the set features added to the portal for building a social information management system in the domain of e-learning Data retrieval Data processing Evaluation of the outcomes Recommendations for designing a set of features

Evaluation of the outcomes

Recommendations for designing a set of features

Questions ¿What are the outcomes of adding to our portal features allowing users to contribute, organize and use social information retrieval tools? ¿Is user generated content improving the portal performance for systematic forecasting and dissemination? ¿Which are the motivations for contributing content? ¿Do the social information retrieval features help users to manage information overload? ¿Which features are more used? ¿Could we appreciate differences between users profiles, motivations…? According to the outcomes, what kind of reccomendations can be made to draw a model of SIR features for a domain-specific portal? Complementary questions ¿Which are the social networks that we can draw analysing the nodes (users, content…) of the portal?

¿What are the outcomes of adding to our portal features allowing users to contribute, organize and use social information retrieval tools?

¿Is user generated content improving the portal performance for systematic forecasting and dissemination?

¿Which are the motivations for contributing content?

¿Do the social information retrieval features help users to manage information overload?

¿Which features are more used? ¿Could we appreciate differences between users profiles, motivations…?

According to the outcomes, what kind of reccomendations can be made to draw a model of SIR features for a domain-specific portal?

Complementary questions

¿Which are the social networks that we can draw analysing the nodes (users, content…) of the portal?

Available data sources Not interesting in first and second phase and difficult External applications, using APIs or web scrapers Not interesting in first and second phase and difficult External applications, data provided by administrators of these applications (raw data in dumps) Interesting but difficult Social network analysis Relevant and affordable Logs / Google Analytics Relevant and affordable Questionnaires and interviews

thanks Ramón Ovelar Virtual Campus – University of the Basque Country GIEL – ELIT Research Group