Transcript http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/eunis-2005/workshop/#technologies Beyond Email: The Potential For Collaborative Tools Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath Email [email protected] URL http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ Summary How can new devices, commercial and user-driven technologies and collaborative Internet technologies be used (a) generally.

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/eunis-2005/workshop/#technologies
Beyond Email:
The Potential For
Collaborative Tools
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
Email
[email protected]
URL
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
Summary
How can new devices, commercial
and user-driven technologies and
collaborative Internet technologies
be used (a) generally in education
and (b) to support events?
Key
or link
Links to further
information
UKOLN is supported by:
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk

Background
What We'll Cover
In this talk I will cover:
• The challenges we face in an environment where
the users are king
• The collaborative tools which:
 Users want to use (and are using)
 We know about (and are ahead of the users)
• The challenges in deploying the tools
• Some thoughts on approaches to deployment
Acceptable Use Policy For Today
• Networked applications can be used to support the aims of the
seminar, provided disruptions to others are kept to a minimum
• Feel free to ask questions
• General
discussions
at themanagement
end
A centre
of expertise
in digital information
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2
Background
Content Is King?
Content is King
• What does this phrase (cliché) mean?
• End users want content – they don't care about
the technology
But in reality Communication is King:
•
•
•
•
3
End users want to communicate
Killer application is email!
Look at popularity of mobile phones
Look at popularity of SMS messaging – despite
the incredibly poor user interface
• Learning is a social activity – so communication is
particularly important in education
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• Ditto for research
Technologies
Let's Kill Email!
Email has been a very useful tool
Mailing lists
Files
…
But:
• Information overload
• Duplication
• Limited developments
• Spam
• Flame wars
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 Poor metadata
 Poor management capabilities
…
 Viruses
…
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in digitalknowledge
information management
"E-mail
is where
goes to die"
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Technologies
Email Versus Web Architecture
Email can be used by a wide range of clients.
But such universality is at the cost of limited functionality
Server
5
Scripts
Integration
Personalisation
Authentication
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…
Client
Scripts
Plugins
Integration
Personalisation
www.ukoln.ac.uk
…
Challenges
Mobile Devices
What are the implications of mobile devices?
What do these devices have in common?
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Consumer devices, networks & digital memory
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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(& can fit in pocket)
Challenges
Uses For Your MP3 Player
http://www.eviews.net/15.6.2000/
Students can:
• Download recordings
of lectures
• Record lectures
Great for:
• Maximising access
• Accessibility
• Complementing
students' notes
But:
• Copyright issues
• Lecturers &
institution's views
•…
Need
fortoan
AUP!
And you can
listen
music
on a
http://www.rsc.org/lap/rsccom/dab/chemistrycassettes.htm
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management
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portable
MP3 player!
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Challenges
Commercial Providers (1)
We are now faced with
increasing numbers of
commercial providers
of IT services
http://www.bathstudent.com/
Bathstudent.com provides:
• Personalised portal
• Diary & calendar
• News alerts by email
& SMS
• Advice
•…
Challenges:
Shouldn't we be doing this? Who owns the company & data (and why do
they want my personal details)? What if ownership changes? Does their
advice onA academic
issues
conflict
withmanagement
the University's?
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information
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Challenges
Commercial Providers (2): GMail
Who needs a organisation's email account when you
can get 1 Gb from a GMail account?
What I’m Doing
• Obtained a GMail ID
• Use it as secondary
source for mailing lists
• Don't divulge ID (no
spam)
• Wait and see what
extras Google provide
(RSS feed would be
nice – now available)
• Gain feel for privacy
issues
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Challenges
WiFi
WiFi technologies make mobile devices even more appealing.
Imagine scenario:
• WiFi access in all lecture rooms, teaching spaces, …
• WiFi access in all halls of residences, flats, etc.
• WiFi access in all social spaces, such as bars, fields, etc
• WiFi access in town centre, pubs, Starbucks, …
and with Zeroconf you can walk into a room & it's all available
•
•
•
•
How will this change the dynamics of teaching & learning?
How will this affect purchasing patterns?
How will this affect social activities?
How will this affect the role of IT Services?
Thought Experiment
Let's imagine you all have networked mobile devices
and
communicate
with
everyone in the room.
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centrecan
of expertise
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management
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Technologies
Instant Messaging
See IM
briefing paper
Instant Messaging:
• Nothing new – Unix talk anyone?
• New user communities driving its use:
• Young people
 Overseas students
• Comments from recent UCISA poll:
"IM ... is 'here to stay' – an 'unstoppable tide'. Seen as
part of youth culture, along with … SMS" Liverpool JMU
"Students will arrive familiar with, and expecting to .. use
such tools. Email seen by younger people to be 'boring',
'full of spam', IM and SMS immediacy preferred" Bath
But:
"Complaints raised regarding students hogging PCs ..
Also case with email some time ago" Liverpool JMU
"APIs are known and therefore targets for hackers"
London Met
"Some challenges in interoperability …" Bathwww.ukoln.ac.uk
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Technologies
IM - Tools
Popular IM tools include:
• MSN Messenger
• Yahoo Messenger
• AOL Instant Messenger ("it's
not owned by Microsoft")
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Typically choosing a
supported application
involved looking at
functionality, cost,
support, security,
..
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Technologies
MSN Messenger Functionality
MSN Messenger provides
groupware & IM functionality:
• Sharing desktop
applications
• File transfer
• Webcams
• Games
Has potential in user support &
collaborative working
Note audio doesn’t
seem to work
across OSs
MSN Messenger is probably most
widely used, but interoperability
Warning – this could be a virus
problems (even across Windows
OSs)
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13
Technologies
Interoperability
Lack of interoperability:
• Mainstream IM world is closed
• Multi-protocol clients exist (e.g.
GAIM, Trillian, ..) NB lack of
support for MSN extensions  
• Jabber provides open source
clients & servers which support
XMPP (open IM protocol)
• Value-added services being
developed e.g. BuddySpace at
OU (note interesting movie)
NB: only play video if you have
headset (and adequate bandwidth)
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GAIM showing
chats to 2 IM servers
(and a chat room)
X
Jabber
MSN
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Policies
Policy Issues
For IM the additional functionality isn't the main issue.
IM exists to facilitate communications the users' peers
Should we:
• Provide national IM IDs (cf Athens IDs –
j.smith%[email protected])
• Provide managed environment of clients and IDs
(e.g. Jabber database from staff/student records)
• Provide multiple clients to support users' requests
(user-driven approach at Liverpool & Edinburgh)?
• Provide clients but support separate IM facility
(e.g. as part of portal, VLE, …)?
• Provide in in VLE, portal, … (if & when available)
• Think about these issues at a later date
• Have no formal policy and turn blind eye to usage
• Ban it – it's disruptive to our core mission
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Technologies
Integrating Environments (1)
Services such as
YahooGroups
integrate:
• Mailing lists
• IM
• Voting
• Calendars
• …
Very
effective
Useful
to get way of
reaching
a decision
committee
together –
at
avoids
long–discursive
same time
buts ads
discussions
are disliked
Rather than dedicated IM clients
we could provide Web services
which users have to “go” to
Strangely, perhaps, YahooGroups is used by
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
open standards developers (e.g. RSS & RDF)
Technologies
Integrating Environments (2)
JISCMail is
extending its facilities
to include a voting
system and a chat
room (currently being
tested)
Being part of our
community it doesn’t
have adverts and is
responsive to needs
of the community
But there are issues about the memorability of URIs, their application
dependency,
of URIs
andmanagement
long-term retention of the
archives
A centrepersistency
of expertise in digital
information
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17
Technologies
Let's Kill E-Mail! – RSS
See RSS
briefing paper
E-mail has its role but:
• Why send messages which time-out when many users will
read them too late?
• Why not use delivery channels which are spam-free?
• Why not use delivery channels which are more suited to
receiving information (as opposed to discussions)?
• Why not allow users to select their preferred channels?
RSS:
• Syndication of content
• A light-weight standard
used in the JISC IE
• View on Web, using one of
many dedicated RSS viewers,
Opera or Pluck IE plugin
Shouldn't RSS viewers be standard on desktops?
Google for "rss is opt-in
Shouldn't we be creating RSS feed for news
authenticated email"
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
alerts
–
and
not
just
adding
to
email
overload?
18
Technologies
Let's Kill The Telephone!
See Audio
briefing paper
The telephone still has its place but:
• It can be expensive
• Conference calls are expensive
• Overseas calls are expensive
Skype:
• Exploits high-speed network
connectivity and powerful PCs
• Conference calls with up to 5
• Use instant messaging
• Ring land lines (paid-for option)
• Available on (hi-spec PocketPC)
Scenarios
Skype used (a) on laptops for (i) ringing home/work
(ii) when
abroad
and
(b)information
desktop
PCs for conference
calls
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management
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Technologies
Let's Kill The Telephone!
VRVS provides
sound, video, IM,
virtual rooms, etc
See Ariadne review
If we intend to kill off the
phone, shouldn't we use
video conferencing tools
rather than simply
Video comes for free
replicating a phone
with MSN Messenger
system?
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Technologies
21
Blogging (1)
Blogging: cult fashion or significant developing in
publishing / communications?
A
more
Student's
sustainable
learning diary.
approach
is
Created by
likely
when
student
and
used
ason
part of
hosted
aremote
course.
This
Blogger
example
Web site.also
No
provides
longer
shared
maintained?
experiences
Blog software can also be regarded as a CMS used to create a particular
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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type of standards-based Web site
Technologies
Blogging (2)
But:
• I want new information
to be pushed to me
• I want to create
information using
tools other than a
Web browser
• I prefer an
email interface
(fewer
images, …)
• I want to do
everything in IE
A centre of expertise in digital information management
22
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Emerging Technologies
Wikis (1)
Wiki:
An open shared space for collaborative editing
http://itsoc.mgt.qub.ac.uk/ITandSociety
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See Wikis
briefing paper
QUB
provide
Wikipedia
– aan
environment
for IT
example of shared
&
Society students
encyclopaedia.
to
collectively
Yes,
trust is anedit
Web
issue!pages.
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Technologies
Wikis (2)
Your organisation may already be in the Wikipedia!
Comments:
• You can't stop
people doing this
• This can be good
publicity
• This can be effort
for free
• If you create the
page to start with
you can set the
tone
Issue: Which Wiki software to choose – Tiki, TikiWiki, QwikiWiki,
WakkaWiki,
WikkiTikkiTavi,
a silly name)
APukiWiki,
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in digital information
management… (or one with www.ukoln.ac.uk
24
Wikis For Note-Taking At Events
The Wikalong Wiki has
been used for notetaking by discussions
groups at an event
This allows:
• Everyone in
discussion group to
contribute (not just
reporter with pen)
• Access to the other
groups' notes
• Access to all
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Technologies
Wikis: Strengths and Weaknesses
Wikis are good for:
• Collaborative working on documents by small
numbers with sharing objectives & understanding
• Use when broad agreement is in place
• Use in a trusted environment
• Enthusiasts
Wikis can be poor for:
• Collaborative working on documents by large
numbers with diverse objectives & understanding
• Use when there is a need to establish areas of
agreement
• Use in a untrusted environment
• Use by sceptics
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Technologies
The Potential For SMS
SMS:
• Over 100 million SMS txts sent over New Year 2004
– why don't we send exam results, library alerts, …?
• A small number of institutions are using SMS :
"SHU used SMS during clearing - potential students texted in
UCAS code of course of interest. The system sent back text
saying whether places were still available - alleviating
pressure on our call centre."
"I believe Edinburgh student union uses SMS for their
elections."
"I believe there are plans afoot in our university at a high level
to develop a method of 'bulk sending' SMS messages out to
students."
Birkbeck are "hoping to pilot an SMS alert system soon for
one of our Schools that they can use (via a simple Web
interface) to send lecture cancellation messages etc to their
students"
A centre of expertise in digital information management
27
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Technologies
From SMS -> 3G
http://www.three.co.uk/
WAP failed to take off
music/
3G:
• The SMS or the WAP of the future?
• Will the killer app be:
• Publishing information  Communications
• Network connectivity using 3G/WiFi/4G
• Comms for executives (cf Blackberry)
• PDA for executive - note the NEC 3G phone
supports XHTML & IMAP – but not in UK 
• Nothing
• Does this have any relevance to us?
• Or will the mobile be a ubiquitous data capture,
browsing and communications device?
Note in July 2004
NEC e303 Pay-as-You-Go 3G phone for £30 from Argos
T-Mobile
launches
3G/Wi-Fi
card £199 plus £70/month
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Technologies
Returning To Mobile Devices
New Terminology
Moblogging: Blog from
your mobile device (PDA,
phone, …)
Audioblog: voice Blogs
from your phone, …
Podcasting: synch your
IPod so it automatically
gets your favourite
Audioblogs (using RSS)
Note that your IPod can be used
as an RSS reader, email reader,
… (software is free!)
IM clients, Blogging software, Wikis, RSS readers, etc. are
available for Palms, Pocket PCs, mobile phones, ...
Encouraging their use could (a) transfer demand from your PC
clusters; (b) reduce demands on transport; (c) increase
(d)
enhance
team
working; …
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Technologies
Podcasting
RSS:
• Lightweight news syndication standard(s)
Podcasts:
• "Transmitters? We don't need no stinkin' transmitters"
• RSS 2 app. invented by Adam Curry & Dave Winer
• Simple way of getting MP3 files on your iPod, …
• Distribution mechanism, creation tool, cultural
phenomena, ..
• Growth helped by Creative Commons licences
Crazy Ideas?
Applications:
Wikicasting: phone no. and
• Recoding talks at
voice added to Podcast
conferences
Podcast+GPS: location• Learning on the bus, train,
based recording & listening.
… on society be when
"What will the effect
Cultural or social
networking, digital recording, storage &
commentary on your location
access are
pervasive"
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Deployment
Where Does This Leave Us?
Can we afford not to have:
• An Institutional IM Facilities
IM software and managed directory facilities
• An Institutional Blog Service
A managing and interoperable Blog environment
(cf Warwick)
• Institutional Wiki Service
A managed, easy-to-use collaborative workspace
• Recording And Access Services
Software to enable talks to be recorded and
accessed
Before the environments, we should have a policy in
these areas! The policy could, for example, leave
of insuch
services
to the market place.
Aprovision
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Deployment
Strategic Challenges
Challenges we face:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Choosing whether to do any of this stuff
AUPs
Accessibility
Charging Issues
Open Source vs Commercial Solutions
Departmental & Individual Autonomy
Interoperability, Preservation, etc.
People Issues
Privacy, Data Protection, …
Sustainable Communities
Deployment Strategies
…
Note that I don't have answers to all of thesewww.ukoln.ac.uk
issues!
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Conclusions
Internet and Web collaborative technologies:
• Provide a range of interesting new application
areas of use in a many areas
• End users (esp. young people) will increasingly
be familiar with such technologies and expect to
continue to use them
• Many technologies are free/open source
• Issues of ongoing, security, interoperability, etc.
will need to be addressed by IT services
• Many challenges – but also great potential
So how can these technologies – and these
challenges – be addressed at an event?
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