Week 12

LBSC 690

Information Technology

Computer Mediated Communications

Agenda

• Questions

• Computer mediated communications

• Computer-supported cooperative work

• Educational computing

• Project testing

Computer Mediated Communication

• CMC refers to human communication via computers--including computer network communication on the Internet and the World Wide Web. People interested in CMC study a range of phenomena--from the dynamics of group communication in Usenet news articles to how people use hypertext to shape meaning.

from http://www.ibiblio.org/cmc/center.html

Describing CMC Applications

• How many participants? – One or many

• When?– Synchronous or asynchronous

• Where?– Local or remote

Cooperative systems

Same Time

(synchronous)

Different Times

(asynchronous)

Same

place

face to face

(classroom tools)

asynchronous interaction

(bulletin board)

Different

places

(distributed)

synchronous distributed

(IM, IRC, Netmeeting)

asynchronous distributed

(email, USENET news, BBS)

Inspired by the table in Shneiderman’s “Designing user interfaces”

Electronic Mail (email)

• Asynchronous and distributed

• A great start for Internet communication– Available even beyond the Internet

• Many email providers– AOL, MSN, Yahoo, universities

• Mailing lists provide simple way to talk to many people at once– listservs

USENET News and BBS• Asynchronous and distributed• USENET are similar to a large set of mailing

lists– Hierarchical organization

• Most general appears first (comp., soc., alt. …)• Most specific appears last (comp.edu.languages.natural)

• Google groups keeps all the news• Bulletin Board Systems are Web extension

– Not through emails, but web pages– More popular than USENET now– An example: http://www.bianca.com/

Hands on point: try online BBS

• Go to http://discus.hope.edu/f03/

• Pick up a board to read

• Describe how it is organized

• Powered by discusware at http://www.discusware.com/

Threads in emails and news

• Many ways to organize messages – Chronologically– Same sender– Same receiver

• Threads provides another way– under the same subject, in the same topic– Easy to retrieve a set of topic related messages

Instant Messenger (IM)• Synchronous and distributed• “talk” on UNIX in old days• Popular for similarity to human talking• A common space shows dialogue history

– Both people can type at the same time

• Must has a screen name– e.g., atouchofwind– both sides have to use the same provider

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

• Synchronous and distributed• Like IM, but with lots more people

– Same thing as a chat room on AOL

• Whole lines are sent at a time– Each line is labeled with the sender’s screenname

• Still not allowed in open labs at UMD?– Was simply too popular!

• Yahoo chat: http://chat.yahoo.com/

Netmeeting

• The idea of real-time communication between pairs or groups over the internet or intranet using audio, video and data communication.

• Also refers to Microsoft software

• Popular in corporations– Especially in economic downturns

Successful Story: Glass wall

• Glass wall at PARC– Facilitates unplanned interactions

– Supports informal communications

Hands on Point: Shared White Board

• Open a browser

• Go to http://products.figleaf.com/

• Login with a screen name

• Click “draw” if it is available

• Draw a circle or add things

• Click “release” once you are down

• Another example: Coccinella: http://hem.fyristorg.com/matben/

Tools inside class/meeting room

• Synchronous and Local • Support face to face communication• Meeting support systems

– Brainstorming

– Online review

– Annotated minutes

• Example– Multichat, one minute paper

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)

• Also known as “groupware”

• Work– Grounded in the study of work processes

• Cooperative– Assumes a shared objective, task

• Information technology supported– Computers are just one type of tools used

Key factors in CSCW

• Combined, integrated technologies

• Communication and coordination within the group,

• Main challenges are from social, not technical or economic

Key Issues in CSCW• group awareness,

• multi-user interfaces,

• concurrency control,

• communication and coordination within the group,

• shared information space and

• the support of a heterogenous, open environment

Case Study: Virtual Reference

• Reference and virtual reference

• Is virtual reference CSCW?

• What are the required functions of virtual reference systems?

Case Study: Virtual Reference and CMC tools

• Pros and cons of using each CMC techniques in virtual reference?

The Real Example

• What about your project team coordination?– Face to face meetings

– What about other means of CMC?

Educational Computing

• Computer Assisted Education– What most people think of first

• Computer Managed Instruction– What most people really do first!

• Computer Mediated Communication– All that CSCW stuff applied to education

• Computer-Based Multimedia– Just another filmstrip machine?

Rationales

• Pedagogic– Use computers to teach

• Vocational– Computer programming is a skill like typing

• Social– Computers are a part of the fabric of society

• Catalytic– Computers are symbols of progress

Conditions for Success

• Most prerequisites are not computer-specific– Need, know-how, time, commitment, leadership,

incentives, expectations– In one study, only one addressed resources

• The most important barrier isn’t either– Teacher time is by far the most important factor

Alternatives

• Facilities– Computer classrooms (e.g., teaching theaters)– Computers IN classrooms (e.g., HBK 3108)

• Objectives– “Computer Literacy” is the most common class– Not so in the Maryland teaching theaters

• Comparatively few technology classes

Discussion Point: Computers as Educational Media

• What are the most salient characteristics – Books

– Video

– Computers

Distance Education

• Correspondence courses came first– Focus on dissemination and evaluation

• Instructional television was next– Dissemination, interaction, and evaluation

• Ordinary television supports only dissemination

• Computer Assisted Instruction– Same three functions– Goal is to be better, cheaper, or both

Discussion Point: distance education vs face-to-face teaching• What we gain from distance education?

• What we lose from distance education?

Case Study: How WebCT was selected

• Course Management System– CT stands for Course Tools

• Integrated set of education tools for – Facilitating learning, communications– Organizing course and admin materials

• Face-to-face to online distance learning

Evaluating a Web course management tool

• FeaturesBack-endOtherFeatures Backend Others

Annotation, Browser support

Bulletin Board, Calendar,

Chat, E-mail, File uploads

Graded Assessment, HTML Links

Import/Export Capabilities,

Instructor Customization,

Listserv support, Login Security

Multimedia, Multiple Security Levels, Online grading, Online help,Progress Tracking , Self Assessment, Setup wizards, Student Groups, User Interface, Whiteboarding

CGI Scripts

Course Archive/Backup

Database Access

Development Platform (OS, Web)

EXE file support

Java

Logging

Security

Server Type (Unix, NT)

SSL Compliance

Student data batch input

Cost

IMS Compliance

Site License

Training

Upgrades

Vendor Partnerships

From Sunil Hazari http://www.sunilhazari.com/education/webct/oldstuff/default.htm

Project Evaluation

• Review:– Informal colleague review– Formal expert review

• Usability testing– Study the usefulness of the system– Informal or formal

• Survey – Clear goal first, then focused items next

Usability Testing

• Two key issues– Test types– Sampling strategies

• Black box tests– Assumes no knowledge of the design

• For example, test every link on every page

• Glass box tests– Use design knowledge to test likely failures

• For example, run queries that exercise joins

Sampling Strategies

• Systematic tests– Broad tests

• Web page example: test every link from the top page• Database example: Run each query once

– Deep tests• Web page example: follow a full sequence of links• Database example: Run a query with different data

• Ad hoc tests– Specify how users are selected, give them a task

Golden rules

• Test often– During the development stage– After completion

• Select the right tester– Anyone but the developer