Exercise 8.3 Data portability, FOAF and the Semantic Web

How does the FOAF tag form part of the Semantic Web and Web services via social networks?

When data goes into a web interface repository, it is either manually or automatically tagged so that it is 'positioned' within the semantic web. While some may see this as an invasion of privacy, the benefit is that the more information the users offer about themselves via forms, polls, profiles etc., the more powerful will be the associations made using the FOAF idiom.

In order for the search engines to make sense of the gigabytes of free data keyed into the web each hour, they must make a call on connections and expected outcomes. If I compare my facebook page of today, I find it is infinately richer than when I created it only a few months ago. This is because the semantic web databases have processed my information stream continuously and as I make choices about which friend to accept and on which to remove, at the same time I'm telling the Semantic web a bit more about myself.

In return, the semantic web is saying 'Oh - I didn't know you cared so much about that person, issue, image,sound file, youtube clip etc. But now that I know that new information, here's a whole lot of new information/multimedia/memberships that (because of your recent choices) should be even more useful to you than last week's.'

If we 'get into the code', the metadata of the discrete webpages (and the server logs that describe our activity) we consume, reveal very accurately what sort of person we are. The FOAF tags not only broadcast our identity through syndicated sites but distill our choices into XML strings - and if we are to truly harness the power of the web - that's the way it should be. I'm not afraid of big brother.

Exercise 8.2 The avalanche of applications self-interview

Has the increased use of social networking tools lessened or increased my communication with people?

My wife tells me that I now spend less time with her than before social network tools became a part of my life but I disagree. I was very aware of this potential relationship buster so I monitored the new situation closely. When she's not home, I spend most of my time online. When she's there, I try to live 'offline' as much as possible. Before we got broadband (only recently) I set up pay television at home to entertain her while I was online. Now she watches more television than ever (because she says she has greater choice) and I watch far less (because I don't enjoy a lot of what she watches). Instead of getting online when she watches TV, I tend to do chores, CSU and school work and practise my music.

What changes have I noticed in my self due to increased exposure to social networking tools?

When I created my Facebook page, I immediately started reconnecting with old friends who also had pages. In some cases this was very liberating. I didn't have to explain why I had not called them in 10 years - I just opened up with 'I saw your name on Facebook'. Without exception they were thrilled to hear from me again and I even subsequently met several of them 'in the real world'. In other cases, after an initial communication, I became irritated with their cybernetic meanderings: mindless polls, boring videos, meaningless links and photos of their partners and pets. It was a strange sensation when I 'removed' them from my friends list. I felt guilty about it - but life's too short to spend precious time sifting through the waffle to find something even mildly amusing.

How useful have social network tools been to my professional life?

So far, they have been useful in 2 ways.

1. Since I achieved some competency at Web 2.0 tools, my web research skills have improved enormously. Now I feel as 'in touch' with developments in my professional environment as I need to be. My lessons (particularly in ICT) are far more informed than they ever have been. I'm now really good at searching, archiving bookmarks and using blogs with tags and RSS feeds.

2. Being able to carry on very useful conversations with other members of my POD group using a plethora of asynchronous and synchronous services has convinced me of the value of these tools. Initially I was very skeptical because most of the time I see kids wasting their lives away with texts and chats. Now I realise its is not the technology that is vapid, its the information that passes through it that is. The same tools that can be used for mindless piffle can also be used to save a life or help 2 people develop a very useful relationship.

Exercise 8.1 The 30-minute walk

It takes me 30 minutes or more to walk around my 2.6 hectares of heaven. It has many features: a cool reflective pool of pure clean water, a forest of maritime pines, several fern filled gullies, some clear ground and a good area of aussie bush -mainly blackwoods, black wattles, manor and stringybark gums and an enormous brooker gum overlooking the beach I've created next to the dam.

As well as breathtaking beauty wherever you look, there are a ghosts of times past. My father, his mother and my first dog all now dead have special places for their ashes here and they still exist for me as if they were still alive.

My family bought the place from timber cutters in 1960. The timber cutters established it in 1915. Before that it was a watering hole for cattle teams on their way to the goldfields. Before that, the Kulin people maintained it for over 40,000 years.

I grew up here during weekends cutting blackberries, fixing up the old house, planting the orchard and keeping the fire going during the bitter winters. I feel I know the place so well that I could describe every blade of grass, every whispering pine and every fruit tree.

Ten years ago I demolished the old home and built another one just like it on the same spot- only bigger, with running water, electricity, a broadband connection, telephone and heating.

But I took the best timber, fittings and windows and built them into the 'new house'. Now I live here permanently, not just at weekends. Although I sit in a new house, I can still look through the same windows at the same view. It is so peaceful and nurturing, the city slickers who occasionally visit never want to leave - but we let them go anyway.

Exercise 7.2 New devices, aged care and people with disabilities

Spider Pill Walks Through You, Looking for Cancer

October 13th, 2009 by Aaron Saenz

http://singularityhub.com/2009/10/13/spider-pill-walks-through-you-looking-for-cancer/

"Getting your regular colon exam isn’t always popular. Endoscopes don’t come in comfortable sizes. In order to get a better (and less intimidating) view of your GI tract, Italian researchers at the CRIM Lab have developed a new version of a camera in a pill that you can swallow. Unlike previous camera pills, this one comes with remote controlled legs so that doctors can vary the rate at which it travels through you. The ’spider pill’ has been tested in pigs with good results and could be wiggling its way down your intestines in the next year or two."

Having the endured the surgical extraction of a kidney stone the size of 5 cent piece I can relate to micro surgery in a way that people who have not been similarly violated could never know. Small/ microscopic/nanotechnopic is all good to me. No tubes through orifaces! - That's my next billboard. I will join with my brothers and sisters in invasive surgery and together we will raise money to support the diminution of all surgical procedures. And furthermore........

New Cancer Detector Chip Works in About 30 Minutes

http://singularityhub.com/

"So there’s this period of time during a visit to the doctor’s when you’re left alone in the office. You just saw the nurse or PA, and the doctor is playing golf somewhere, so you have to wait in your little paper dress. I was once stranded in that limbo for an hour. Wouldn’t it be nice if that time could be put to good use? Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a microchip that works with nano-materials to detect biomarkers associated with cancer. Bottom line, in about 30 minutes the new biosensor can determine if you’ve got the ‘Big C’. Having already been proven to work with prostate cancer, the device could one day even be adapted to detect HIV, or H1N1 swine flu. Now that’s a good use of my time."

This would be a great way of improving the service in our hospitals. Why are people suffering pain and uncertainty subjected to interminable periods of time waiting for results? Speeding up the diagnosis process must be able to save lives. Earlier treatment and more accurate medication must improve a sick person's chance of recovery.

How is a work-related social network developed and sustained?

Building a successful social network (particularly in Professional Development) means aligning the people with the purpose through clear and mutual aims and objectives, reward and acknowledgment for contribution, clarity and access to information and feedback, leadership, celebration of achievement, technology support and training.

This post points to two websites that illuminate how social networks can be developed and sustained.

Connectivism

Firstly, George Siemans in 'Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age' retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm says

"The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today. A real challenge for any learning theory is to actuate known knowledge at the point of application. When knowledge, however, is needed, but not known, the ability to plug into sources to meet the requirements becomes a vital skill. As knowledge continues to grow and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the learner currently possesses."

What he means is that the quality of the connection (ie number of connections, the number of different connections, the timeliness of the knowledge) is more important than the knowledge itself.

Getting members active and addicted

Secondly, in 'Community building: Getting members active and addicted | Community Building retrieved from http://www.communityspark.com/community-building-getting-members-active-and-addicted/ Martin Reed presents several practical strategies for sustaining an online community. Some of these that I believe are most valuable in a closed system dedicated to the professional development of its members are:

Engage at every opportunity

All members should post, chat, complain, email, emote, ask, refer etc. as much as possible. Every interaction affects the quality, flexibility and integrity of the network.

Delegate community building tasks

The manager of the network need to find things for users to do. It might mean sharing experience, voting in polls, online questionnaires, contributing to blogs - anything to move users from being lurkers to being participants.

Earn and retain trust

Ensure you have strong, clear community guidelines that you enforce professionally and impartially. It’s hard to earn trust, but very easy to lose.

Get involved. Be contactable and approachable

You need to get involved in the community. Why should you expect members to get involved if you can’t be bothered to do so yourself? You need to be visible. Don’t be anonymous – be sure to share information about yourself.

The subject matter of your community and your aims and goals should determine how involved you are in your community. Regardless of how involved you are, you should always be approachable and contactable.

Be aware and follow up. Show concern.

It is not much use if you are on the fastest network in the world if you take eons to reply to anything. If a person needs to know something they usually need to know it yesterday. Understand and respond to their urgency and they'll hopefully do the same for you. The pipe will get bigger as a result.

Create a ‘dummies’ guide

No matter how easy you think your community is to use, some people will still be confused. You need to cater to these people. Ensure you have guides on how to use the community and make them easy to find! Have a section for frequently asked questions. Even better, create videos so people can see how to use the community.

Conclusion

Its interesting that all of the above discussion does not refer to the 'magic bullet' a system of piece of software that will 'build a community in a day'. All of the points raised above are just about quality professional interaction in a 21st century connected world.

How do Web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, podcasts and video lectures) complement such social networks?

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009 - Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html

Twitter, Delicious, Google Reader, Google Docs and Youtube were voted (in order) as the top five 'Tools for Learning ' in 2009. It is interesting to note that all are open source products, all are products that search and compile knowledge according to the direction of the user rather than purport to be static 'Walled Cities' of information such as Encyclopedia Britannica or even Microsoft Expedia which is updated periodically. Even Wiki only made 17 on this list.

My point here is that the choice of tools for a network needs to be based on 'services' rather than software. It doesn't matter what the software is, it just needs to respond easily, efficiently to the needs of the network. It needs to be scalable, cross platform, cheap enough for many users and it must be able to be configured completely by the IT departments of the companies that use it.

Information

One of the most important function is establishing the project network is to compile and present the key project documents. As well as including purpose, goals, roles and timelines more supporting documents will be created and discovered as the process rolls out. A project wiki would be an important platform in order to compile and co-ordinate the key information. Wiki rules require that all information is annotated and the sources documented. The project moderator should also monitor the evolution of the wiki.

Discussion

In addition to key information, an important project process is discussion. This can occur asynchronously as blogs and forums or synchronously as video conferencing, skype sessions or chat rooms. Each technology has pros and cons. Blogs and forums ensure that the information is presented so that it can be evaluated and debated and that people can add comments and further pieces of information in the form of links, posts, images, video files etc that enrich the initial posts.

Synchronous communication is especially useful for multi location 'brainstorming'. Disadvantages are that these platforms are that not all systems allow archiving, the conversations (even if they are moderated/lead and that users agree to use 'threads' during the session) need to be 'digested' or processed in order to distill all the good interaction and eliminate lots of typos. This requires more project time (and therefore money).

Documentation

In question 1, I suggested that the CIO and IT manager need to be supported by other senior level management. One crucial manager should be the Knowledge Manager (KM). The KM's project responsibility would be to propose the information architecture for the project and then update this container with fresh information from all project sources so that all stakeholders could access the 'freshest' information.

In many cases this can be an automated process through Web 2.0 tools including Delicious (for archiving urls), log stats and other dynamic database data presented using graphical user interfaces (GUI) and Twitter (to keep users updated on the locations and activities of key project stakeholders. In other cases, the KM will need to filter and compile all project information into project knowledge that can be accessed and acted upon.

Project management

There are many project management software products and the company might have several products on its network. However, in order to manage the project well, the information needs to be available in one place on the network. The information needs to be updated and acted upon often by people who are spread all over the world. Webex is one tool that is suitable for allowing access to project management information by several stakeholders simultaneously across networks. Webex allows stakeholders to take turns in 'driving' the software in order to ensure their role is understood and documented at a very 'deep' level.

Testing and authentication

A crucial part of project management is the testing and authentication of products and systems that the company is responsible for either to support its own operations or that of their clients. Network tools to facilitate this process include polls, data analysis tools, video files depicting user experience and podcasts presenting voice interview of product testing. The results of this testing will affect the progress of the project through the milestones in the project management cycle. The presentation of testing and evaluation materials on the network can motivate company employees, ensure that project decisions are transparent and provide the opportunity for easy and repeated analysis in solving problems as part of the 'extreme programming' method of product development.

What are the issues involved with using social networks for professional development in the workplace?

Purpose, timeline and goals

It is essential that the purpose of the network be clear and understood by all members. The purpose should translate to a timeline, a set of milestones leading to goals and how each member is expected to contribute.

Management and Moderation

The network needs to be effectively managed and moderated so that the network purpose remains central to member activity. The CIO and IT manager are nominally the personalities who drive the network but a network is as only as valuable as the contributions of its users so these leaders should be supported by other management especially the company directors and board, a realistic budget that is flexible enough to respond to the challenges of the project. Additionally the network leaders should be supported by parallel levels of management especially Human Resources and Workflow architects to ensure that the time required by users to contribute to the network is acknowledged either through financial or promotional opportunities.

Membership experience needs to be monitored continuously to ensure users are satisfied and inspired to deliver the outcomes. This would be a key role for both the CIO and the IT Manager. The CIO could focus on the quality of the user interaction with the network while the IT Manager could provide quantative data (through application server logs) to measure the direction and scale of interaction. As users become more focussed and efficient with the process, they should be given more ambitious tasks and encouragement. This can be done in association with the moderator. A moderator needs to be appointed and given the time and resources to actively drive the network through a continuous monitoring, evaluation and recommendation cycle. The CIO and IT Manager should not necessarily be the moderator. Maybe a specially appointed project manager needs to do this.

Technical ability of the users

Depending on whether the company is in the business of ICT, the technology ability of users needs to be addressed. If the technical challenges of contributing to the network are onerous or unrealistic, users will be less likely to contribute and the quality of their interactions will be seriously compromised. In order to prevent this, resources should be committed to user education through training materials, coaching, mentoring and 'buddy' systems. The network software should be evaluated for usability as a key adoption requirement.

Budget

Finally, the cost of the system and its maintenance need to be considered. Some systems are so cost prohibitive that only large multinational companies can afford them. Fortunately there are also many open source systems that can be configured to deliver much the same service - even if several systems need to be cobbled together to provide a network page that is really a mashup.

privacy, technology level of members, expense, incentives

Keyword definitions

Social network

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

A social network is a social structure made of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.

Social network analysis views social relationships in terms of network theory about nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors. The resulting graph-based structures are often very complex. There can be many kinds of ties between the nodes. Research in a number of academic fields has shown that social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals.

In its simplest form, a social network is a map of all of the relevant nodes between all the nodes being studied. The network can also be used to measure social capital -- the value that an individual gets from the social network. These concepts are often displayed in a social network diagram, where nodes are the points and ties are the lines.

Professional development

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_development

Professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement. Professional development encompasses all types of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging from college degrees to formal coursework, conferences and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described as intensive and collaborative, ideally incorporating an evaluative stage There are a variety of approaches to professional development, including consultation, coaching, communities of practice, lesson study, mentoring, reflective supervision and technical assistance

Web 2.0

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

"Web 2.0" is commonly associated with web development and web design that facilitates interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design[1] and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.

Blog

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

A blog (a contraction of the term "weblog") is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

Microblogging

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microblogging

Microblogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, digital audio or the web.

The content of a microblog differs from a traditional blog in that it is typically smaller in actual size and aggregate file size. A single entry could consist of a single sentence or fragment or an image or a brief, ten second video. But, still, its purpose is similar to that of a traditional blog. Users microblog about particular topics that can range from the simple, such as "what one is doing at a given moment," to the thematic, such as "sports cars," to business topics, such as particular products. Many microblogs provide short commentary on a person-to-person level, share news about a company's products and services, or provide logs of the events of one's life.

Wiki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki.

A wiki is a website that uses wiki software, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages, using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor, within the browser. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management systems.

Most wikis serve a specific purpose, and off topic material is promptly removed by the user community. Such is the case of the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia. In contrast, open purpose wikis accept all sorts of content without rigid rules as to how the content should be organized.

Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." "Wiki" (pronounced [ˈwiki] or [ˈviki]) is a Hawaiian word for "fast". "Wiki" can be expanded as "What I Know Is," but this is a backronym.

Mashup (web application hybrid)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup

In web development, a mashup is a web page or application that combines data or functionality from two or more external sources to create a new service. The term mashup implies easy, fast integration, frequently using open APIs and data sources to produce results that were not the original reason for producing the raw source data. An example of a mashup is the use of cartographic data to add location information to real estate data, thereby creating a new and distinct web API that was not originally provided by either source.

Assignment 2 Timeline

Last Wednesday fellow bluey Sarah and I did a Skype session and mapped out how to approach the onerous Assignment 2. Because of the time constraint, we did not see the value in creating three locations (Facebook, Twitter and Second Life) for collating our findings for Assignment 2. Instead we agreed to confine the online venues to the blue ning (http://itc501blue.ning.com/main/authorization/signIn?target=http%3A%2F%2Fitc501blue.ning.com%2F) to collect our bookmarks, and host our forum and chat. In addition, we committed to continue our weekly Skype session to provide synchronous communication. We have contacted Andrew Wight (in London) and he has agreed to meet us in the chat sessions and to contribute to the BluePod site.

We do not know each other well enough to be able to designate particular roles according to our individual abilities. We plan to make the Pod information accessible to all Pod members and to trust that each person will contribute to the best of their abilities.

Briefly, our timetable for the approximately three weeks remaining is:

Week 1. Do all the research and bookmark culling to address all aspects of the assignment. These bookmarks are posted to the BluePod forum with annotations and tagging to make access to key information quick and easy. The bookmarks are tagged according to the research question they address and the keywords most mentioned in the information.

Week 2. Focus on the evaluation of the forum posts by encouraging pod members to comment, discuss and offer contrary or further information. The comments become the agenda for the Skype and Chat sessions that week. If recommendations suggest themselves they are recorded in a new recommendations forum string.

Week 3. Draft the list of recommendations and post to the site forum for further comment and crafting. Towards the end of the final week, set a date when the final agreed recommendations are published.

Assignment 2 Introduction

Way back at the start of this unit, I introduced myself as a social networking sceptic. I could have just cut and pasted that entry into this one but it is no longer accurate.

Yes - I know I've had to be dragged kicking and screaming into Web 2.0, Classroom 2.0, Skype, MOO, Moodle, Facebook, Delicious, Ning, Twitter and a whole bookmark folder of others but NOW I don't think these 2.0 things are ALL bad.

The good bits are that you can access the latest information and conversation in just about anything via RSS, Delicious and others but the bad thing is that you can very easily let your life slip away as you burrow still deeper in the blogosphere for that last morsel of information that even your most gung ho pod mate has given up on.

The other good bit is that through the conjuring of sites like Facebook, I've been able to connect to people I've lost contact with for 30 years. I've even met some of them in the real world.

Another bad bit is that when the conjuring gets too random (as in Second Life) its made me feel like a cross dresser at a bucks' party.

Exercise 7.1 Smart screen interface case study

There are a number of types of touchscreen technology.

Resistive touchscreen

A resistive touchscreen panel is composed of several layers, the most important of which are two thin, metallic, electrically conductive layers separated by a narrow gap. When an object, such as a finger, presses down on a point on the panel's outer surface the two metallic layers become connected at that point: the panel then behaves as a pair of voltage dividers with connected outputs. This causes a change in the electrical current which is registered as a touch event and sent to the controller for processing. Resistive touchscreens can also support Multitouch.

Surface acoustic wave

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the touchscreen panel. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This change in the ultrasonic waves registers the position of the touch event and sends this information to the controller for processing. Surface wave touchscreen panels can be damaged by outside elements. Contaminants on the surface can also interfere with the functionality of the touchscreen.

Capacitive

Capacitive sensing

A capacitive touchscreen panel consists of an insulator such as glass, coated with a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide (ITO). As the human body is also a conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the local electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance. Different technologies may be used to determine the location of the touch. The location can be passed to a computer running a software application which will calculate how the user's touch relates to the computer software.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen

The example I use is electronic banking. You can either interact with your account using the internet or an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). While the internet account means you can manage your account from any web connect computer including your home or an internet cafe anywhere in the world, you cannot get cash from the internet account. ATMs are well distributed across major world cities and can provide cash very conveniently. However, their dedicated functionality means managing account details (other than getting balances) is very clumsy and not user friendly.