Technology Brown Bag: Web 2.0

Transcription

1 Technology Brown Bag: Web 2.0 Schedule information Event Technology Brown Bag: Web 2.0 When Thursday, May 4, 2006 from 12:00pm to 1:30pm Where Harris 1300 Event details Details Access Contact What is Web 2.0? Why do we care? In this session we ll discuss the meaning of the contested term Web 2.0 and its potential implications for web communications, software development, and teaching and learning. We ll look at concepts (syndication; social networking; tagging; software as a service; collective intelligence) as well as examples of next generation Internet applications (blogs, wikis, del.icio.us, technorati, flickr) and suggest implications for our work in higher education.» This event has not been marked as open to the public. Piet Niederhausen niederhp@georgetown.edu Sponsors University Information Services 9 May 2006 From events.georgetown.edu/events/index.cfm?action=view&calendarid=421&eventid=41632

2 Web 2.0: Concepts and Directions UIS Brown Bag Lunch Eddie Maloney, Director of Research & Learning Technologies Piet Niederhausen, University Webmaster May 4, 2006

3 Overview I. What s Web 2.0, and why do we care? II. Web 2.0 by example III. Web 2.0 in the university

4 I. What s Web 2.0, and why do we care?

5 So what was Web 1.0? The static web Web applications that are: Typically limited to transactions between a user and a business Typically web front ends for existing services (ecommerce, online banking, course registration) Utilizing the web as a thin client Rarely integrated with each other; used one at a time and exclusively Traditional software development life cycle

6 Ok, then what s Web 2.0? The read-write web Web applications that: Harness user activity; promote transactions between users; promote user contributions; track user activity; use collective intelligence and network effects; provide rich user interfaces Take control of unique content; focus on content as re-usable data; software is just a commodity Use the web as a platform; design for loose coupling with other services; design for syndication; challenge traditional desktop applications (GMail, Writely) Develop software continually; rapid development, constant maintenance Serve the long tail; design simple services that integrate Deliver content across devices Adapted from Tim O Reilly, What is Web 2.0?

7 A definition Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an architecture of participation, and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences. Tim O Reilly 10/1/05

8 And why do we care? For IT providers New concepts in planning services New tools for application developers Different infrastructure demands Policy challenges For IT consumers New ways of using the web professionally and personally New modes of collaboration, networking, sharing, publishing New modes of teaching and learning

9 Problems with the term Web 2.0 Anything new that we like gets called Web 2.0 Too much hype around a new paradigm obscures its real value Implies discarding Web 1.0, which we re not Implies a simple chronology that never happened Gets applied to Internet applications that aren t web-based (and what do we mean by web, anyway?)

10 Web 2.0 by example Read Britannica Online Ofoto Personal web sites Formal taxonomies Stickiness Application silos Software releases Read-Write Wikipedia Flickr Blogger, Technorati Folksonomy Syndication Mashups Feature releases Adapted from Tim O Reilly, What is Web 2.0?

11 Web 2.0 stuff Blogs Wikis Tagging Social networking AJAX, rich interfaces RSS, syndication Podcasts Google flickr blogger, technorati del.icio.us backpack, basecamp Ruby on Rails

12 Some Web 2.0 development tools Ruby Ruby is a reflective, object-oriented programming language. It combines syntax inspired by Ada and Perl with Smalltalk-like object-oriented features, and also shares some features with Python, Lisp, Dylan and CLU. Ruby is a single-pass interpreted language. Its main implementation is Free software distributed under an open-source license (from Wikipedia) AJAX Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, or its acronym, AJAX (Pronounced A-jacks), is a Web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire Web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. This is meant to increase the Web page's interactivity, speed, and usability (from Wikipedia).

13 Ruby on Rails Developed by 37Signals Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern (from 37Signals.com) RAD environment Screencasts With Caffeine Without Caffeine

14 II. Web 2.0 by example

15 Google (1) Founded on unique databases of content Search, gmail, bloggr Systematically occupying content areas Online content (search, gmail, bloggr) Offline content (books) Location-based content (maps, local) Leverages the (in)voluntary contributions of millions of users Page ranking based on links Tracking user choices Content of s, blogs, databases

16 Google (2) Frequently adds new services, typically in beta and constantly revised Extended through APIs, with many mashups, as well as RSS syndication Provides rich web-based functionality, poised to challenge desktop applications gmail, writely

17 Google mail

18 Google maps

19 The Google maps API

20 A mashup example (Google maps and Craigslist)

21 A mashup example (Google maps in New Orleans after Katrina)

22 A mashup example (Google maps and campaign contributions)

23 Writely (web-based collaborative word processing, recently acquired by Google)

24 Flickr (1) Unique database of content all provided (in)voluntarily by users Photos, comments, metadata Continually evolving tag folksonomy Social networking around user-generated content Contacts, friends, family, groups RSS syndication Software frequently updated (allegedly every half hour) Extended through APIs with several mashups

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30 Collaboration using Web 2.0 Group space Backpack Collaborative writing Wikis; Writely Project management Basecamp

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34 III. Web 2.0 in the university

35 Overview Goals Examples Web content; ExploreGeorgetown Learning and teaching; Digital Notebook Policy issues

36 Goals Manage content as re-usable data Metadata, syndication Provide new spaces for content creation to support learning and teaching Blogs, wikis, podcasts Provide users with more advanced ways to manage their own content Personal portfolio, digital notebook and more as we explore.

37 Example: ExploreGeorgetown

38 ExploreGeorgetown Database of Georgetown web content News, events, faculty, courses, maps Provides tools for developers to syndicate content on the web and in other media Custom views RSS feeds JavaScript includes

39 Multiple web sites Georgetown University New book! Georgetown College New book! English Department New book! Literature and cultural studies New book! Content management system s RSS feeds Text messaging Archive Future uses

40 University web sites www RSS feeds Syndication layer Podcasts SMS Department web sites

41 A few examples of content 1. Mortara Center Blog, events, news syndication 2. Department of History Events, courses, faculty 3. my.georgetown.edu News, events, weather; student organization announcements, events, and photos; FAQ blog 4. University news pages News, podcasts, RSS, faculty publications, more

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49 Example: Digital Notebook

50 Educational GU Blackboard [& building blocks] Digital library Blogs, [wikis, & RSS feeds] [eportfolios] Commercial or commodity applications Office applications General web Video and multimedia Digital video streaming [& podcasting] Cable TV Angelica Image Database Research tools Grid computing Statistical and information mapping software (SAS, GIS) Internet2

51 Some Problems with Educational GU Inflexible Commercial applications with fixed functionality or expensive customization Individual, unique applications developed in limited time frames and on limited budgets for singular purposes Isolated Lack any substantial integration within Educational technology systems Expensive Out of date Use of 5-10 year old technologies

52 Some Problems with Educational GU Blackboard Focused on the course, not the individual student or faculty member Requires building blocks to extend functionality Generic interface is not extensively customizable [eportfolios] Designed to represent a individual s resume rather a space for teaching and learning Requires certification model and complex DRM to license materials Necessitates immense overhead, architecture, and policy decisions for long-term hosting, maintenance, access, and archival

53 GU We have: No flexible content or media storage and management for all members of the GU community No collaborative writing tools No collaborative online work spaces No teaching and learning space focused on the individual rather than the course

54 Digital Notebook What if we could leverage tools built in the Web 2.0 for teaching and learning? What if a student could have a personal digital notebook for keeping all the materials she creates and accesses while at Georgetown? What if a faculty member could have personal digital notebook for teaching and research that would allow her to organize class content and discussions, research notes and materials? What if an academic department could have a digital notebook for tenure review, curriculum discussions, committee reports, etc.? And, what if all the content in these notebooks was easily added tagged, searched, organized, displayed, and shared?

55 Digital Notebook Federated Content Internet Scholarly Information Architecture Digital Georgetown Digital Notebook eportfolio Course Management System Student Information Systems Content Management System

56 Digital Notebook A student s digital notebook would allow her to: Keep an online notebook and journal in an easy, editable format. Work collaboratively with other students in shared writing spaces for notes, project planning, group projects, peer editing, etc. Store all the content she creates and accesses while she is at Georgetown, including: Web pages she s found relevant to her studies and avocations s she s sent or received that relate to her studies Electronic texts (syllabi, articles, reports, images, media files) she s received as part of a course or individual research Papers, proposals, and research reports she s written for classes or theses Artwork and media files she s created or accessed (images, podcasts, etc.) Comments on her work from her faculty members

57 Digital Notebook Organize the content in her notebook by: Tagging Timeline (readings by course and date) Type External metadata (Amazon.com, Library of Congress, etc.) Access all the content in her notebook to while a student through: Sophisticated search tools Tagged categories By date on a timeline Give others access to the content in her notebook by: Joining her content to a group space Giving tickets to others to access content she s stored Making notes or journals public Archive or export the notebook at any time into PDF or XML format

58 Policy issues Appropriate use Blogging, facebook Control over university content Security, preservation, copyright Risks to individuals Privacy, safety, future employment