Who put the technology in
my alphabet soup?
Open Source, RSS, Weblogs, Wikis-Swikis….
Victoria Peters, MS, MLS
Acquisitions Coordinator
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Memorial Library ML3097
P.O. Box 8419
Mankato, MN 56002
Ph. 507-389-5050; Fax 507-389-5155
[email protected]
Debra Gohagan, MSW, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Department of Social Work
Mankato, MN 56001
Ph. 507-389-1699; Fax 507-389-6769
[email protected]
Presented at MN Library Association Conference
Sept. 23, 2005
Minneapolis, Minnesota
First, Let’s Wiki?
http://gohagan.jot.com/
The purpose of this presentation and the supporting
handout is:
 Examine current patterns in technology across several
age groups.
 Discuss old and new technologies.
 Identify ways in which these technologies can be used
in our work.
 Discuss the implications for offering technology-based
services for academic users.
Alphabet soup
 IM -- Instant messaging
SPIM versus SPAM---SPIM is to IM as SPAM is to
email
 LTAs or Low Threshold Applications
 Survey/quiz/polling software
 E-Folio -- Electronic Portfolio
 Open Source -- Shared Learning Objects
 RSSs -- Really simple syndication or rich site summary
 Weblogs
 Wikis and Swikis
We will not discuss all technologies during the
presentation, nor in this PowerPoint.
This presentation is a summary of content from
a paper with much more information.
Each section in the paper has a list of resources
for you to explore on your own in the handout.
Research sources that cited as data can be found
in the reference list in the handout.
Website to access the PowerPoint and the
paper: http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/gohagd
go to Technology and Teaching Link.
Patterns of use
General internet access/use/statistics
Adolescents
Adults
Access to the Internet
 44% of U.S. Internet users have contributed their thoughts and their
files to the online world.
 64% of wired Americans have used the Internet for spiritual or
religious purposes.
 55% of adult internet users have broadband at home or work.
Time on the Internet
 Average amount of time per week spent actively using the Internet:
14 hours per person.
 Average amount of time per year: 728 hours (about one month).
 Amount of time devoted to searching: 520 hours (21 days).
 Users frustrated with search engines and site navigation: 44%.
 Users who give up when a search is unproductive: 20% The web
slightly more than doubles in size every year.
 Average duration of time a page is viewed by a U.S. user: 0:00:50.
The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.
Student Use Patterns




60% of America’s children, more than 43 million children under 18,
use the Internet.
About 78% of those between the ages of 12 and 17 use the Internet
(about 18 million pre-teens and teens).
More than one in five households with children (23%) have
broadband connectivity through digital subscriber line (DSL)
technology or cable modems.
Email, once the cutting edge “killer app,” is losing its privileged
place among many teens as they express preferences for instant
messaging (IM) and text messaging as ways to connect with their
friends.
 38% of teens surveyed text-message with friends during school
hours.
 A smaller 30% of students say they play video games on their
phones while at school.
 Parents who look at their kid's calls will realize 26 %of kids
speak with people mom and dad wouldn't approve of.
Adolescents, schoolwork, & the
Internet
One of the most common activities that youth perform online is
schoolwork.

Nearly every online teen (94% of 12 to 17 year olds who report using
the Internet) has used the Internet for school research.

71% used the Internet as the major source for their most recent
school project.

58% have used a Web site set up by school or a class.

34% have downloaded a study aid.

17% have created a Web page for a school project.

However, wired schools are not necessarily ‘computer havens’ for
students, as many only get 1 hour or less per week in the lab.

37% of teens say they believe that “too many” of their peers are
using the internet to cheat.
Other Interesting Facts
 Political bloggers can make an impact on politics, but they often
follow the lead of politicians and journalists.
 97 million adult Americans, or 77% of Internet users, took advantage
of e-gov in 2003, going to government Web sites or emailing
government officials. This represented a growth of 50% from 2002.
 84%t of US Internet users have contacted an online group.
 77 %t of online Americans have used the Net in connection with the
war in Iraq.
 Mothers spend an average of 16 hours and 52 minutes online per
week, approximately four hours and 35 minutes more than American
teenagers. Mothers in Charleston SC spend the most time online
(ave. time online is 21 hours and 8 minutes).
 1 in 6 people use the Internet in North America and Europe.
 The number of women using the Internet worldwide will pass 96
million, or 45 percent of the world's Internet users in 2001.
Instant messaging
Who is using IM?

More than 100 million people.

41 million (nearly 40%) of home Internet users.

Instant messaging is predicted to surpass e-mail as the primary
online communication tool.
Teenager phenomenon

74% of online teens use instant messaging.

45% of online teens use Instant Messaging each time they are
online.

69% of online teens use IM at least a few times each week.

37% of online teens have used IM to write something that they
would not have said in person.

41% of online teens say they use email and instant messaging to
contact teachers or classmates about schoolwork.

And these teens are or will become clients.
Adult use

In comparison, 44% of online adults have used IM.

Use growing exponentially in the workplace.
Spim, Spam: Cyberspace invaders
Officials at America Online and Microsoft,
estimate:
the quantity of such solicitations doubled from 2002
to 2003, reaching 500 million.
The volume of so-called "spim" was expected to
triple last year.
The company projects that 1.2 billion spims will be
sent, 70 per cent of which are porn-related.
This is a mere trickle compared to the 35 billion
spams expected.
More Information about SPIM and SPAM
http://www.newbie.org/reference/spam.html
http://www.wordspy.com/words/spim.asp
Low Threshold Applications: Less
can be better
Every LTA should be based on the underlying technology that is
 Almost ubiquitous, or is available commercially at low-cost to
teachers and learners.
 Available from open source/open course collections of instructional
and professional development resources.
 The latter collections require little or no payment but encourage
users to contribute to the development of the resources.
More information about LTAs
 Archives of [email protected]. Teaching, Learning
and Technology Center Listserve. http://listserv.nd.edu/archives/tltswg.html.
 Gilbert, Stephen. Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center. LTA
(Low-Threshold Applications/Activities) Website.
http://www.tltgroup.org/LTAs/Home.htm.
 Low Threshold Applications. Teaching and Learning Center.
http://www.tltgroup.org/TopicsFreeResources.htm
Electronic Portfolios (Efolios):
Portfolio Portability…
 Electronic/digital version of paper portfolios/resumes.
 Useful for Assessment:
 Outcome/evaluation based in most environments.
 Used not only by students for jobs, by agencies/institutions for
recertification/accrediting procedures.
 Useful for Reflection:
 Persons can reflect on activities and personal/professional
development.
 End users’ can see growth or change over time; observe
developer from multiple perspectives.
 Allows for graphic integration of multiple documents, not paper
based, can be seen by many end users and can be cost efficient.
More Resources about Efolios
 Minnesota State Colleges and University System (MnSCU).
http://www.efoliominnesota.com/
 Efolio tutorial examples
http://www.ctl.mnscu.edu/programs/educ_opp/tutorials.html
 Open Source Portfolio http://www.rsmart.com
 Note: Efolio is a free resource for ALL Minnesota residents
Open Source: Access for all
Learning Objects:
 The term, Learning Object, was first popularized by
Wayne Hodgins in 1994 when he named the CedMA
working group "Learning Architectures, APIs and
Learning Objects" ("Use and Abuse of Reusable
Learning Objects," Polsani, Journal of Digital
Information, 2003).
 Are small, independent chunks of knowledge or
interactions stored in a database, which can be
presented as units of instruction or information.
 They are typically self-contained, interactive, and
reusable.
 “Any digital resource that can be reused to support
learning or service delivery."
For more Information
OIT/MnSCU. Learning Object Resources.
http://www.oit.mnscu.edu/pages/learningobjects
.htm
Electronic Hallway
http://www.hallway.org
Merlot
http://www.merlot.org
MIT’s Open Course Ware
http://www.ocw.mit.edu
Creative Commons License
http://creativecommons.org/
RSS, i.e. Live News feeds: News as
you like it, delivered to your desktop
 Rich site summary or Really simple syndication
channel, news items and newspapers, blogs.
 Applications that collect data from RSS-compliant sites are
called ‘RSS readers’ or "aggregators"
Which gather, organize, update, and store information
from any compliant source in a convenient, easy to use
interface.
Can save selected information in various formats for
offline viewing and sharing.
Reads, sorts, stores information from hundreds of web
based news and radio sources. Many let you select the
news sources and topics by keywords.
RSS’s software can be
 downloaded to your desktop as a news feed/email
program with tabs, etc, integrated into your current
email, uses popup or tickers.
 Embedded in your webpage.
For More Information
 American Librarian Associaton page with RSS. Most at
this writing werer about Katrina.
http://www.ala.org/al_onlineTemplate.cfm?Section=alo
nline&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm
&TPLID=14&ContentID=12155
 Minnesota State University, Mankato, MSUMyPortal
Webpage https://portal.mnsu.edu/Default.aspx
 Librarian website with blogs using RSS to alert to other
blogs. http://freerangelibrarian.com/
 US Government List of RSS feeds by topic. Amazing!
http://www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Librari
es/RSS_Library.shtml
Weblogs: Now everyone’s story can
be told!
A blog is
 A webpage containing brief, chronologically arranged
items of information.
 A web authoring tool that does NOT require the user to
install software and does NOT require the user to
develop webmaster skills.
 It is a webpage that can be updated quickly via the web,
email and, for some, through their cell phones
(moblog).
 Blog users can post, modify, or delete their own content
on a Website using a browser interface.
 It often reads as a web journal, or a page in which
content is posted frequently and chronologically as in:
Diary, news service, weblinks, book reviews, project
update, opinion pieces.
 Individual or collaborative effort.
Usefulness of blogs
 Interactivity: users post messages or other information,
write stories, readers respond to the postings.
 Forming of online communities: participants are
provided access to a set of tools that enable a group to
get organized, share knowledge, and communicate.
 Team, department, company, and family
communication tools
 Help small groups communicate in a way that is simpler and
easier to follow than email or discussion forums.
 Used for private exchange of information requiring security or
for public access.
 Used to keep everyone in the loop, promote cohesiveness and
group culture, and provide an informal "voice" to outsiders.
 Can send blog postings to news aggregator on users’
own computer.
 Many websites host weblog software. Most have a basic
access charge, but many offer free trial access.
For more information
 An education example from U of M -- Into the Blogosphere
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere
 Redwood County Public Library
http://www.rcpl.info/services/liblog.html
 Redwood County Public Library’s listing interesting eblogs
http://www.rcpl.info/services/liblog.html#blogs
 MnScu’s webpage for blogging information
http://www.oit.mnscu.edu/pages/weblogs.htm
 The Free Range Librarian blog. Just in Time Librarian.
http://freerangelibrarian.com/archives/021405/for_sandy_on_valen
ti.php
 http://freerangelibrarian.com/archives/021505/geoffrey_nunberg_h
ea.php
 The Shifted Librarian: Transforming Libraries at the Speed of byte.
And introducing Moblogs. http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/
 And on a personal note:
http://dgdgdgtravel.blogspot.com
http://msumsowkexchangeprogram.blogspot.com/
Wikis and Swikis: Not what you
think..I think?
A website that allows users to add content
Controlled access possible
Threads based on WikiWords
Wikipedia
Wikis
 Initially developed by developers to facilitate the discovery and
documentation of software patterns
 Has expanded to include a web-based collaborative writing tool that
provides an environment where users link together each other's
experiences.
 Cunningham wanted to enhance the ‘story-telling nature’ in all of
us.
Current versions of wikis and swikis
 Allow users to post information in multiple formats and allows
others to edit the text or other information that has been posted.
 Thus, wikis and swikis function as a collaborative websites, often
referred to as a CoWeb, in which any page or application can be
edited by anyone.
 There is no formalized structure, no protocols, no standards, but
enormous flexibility. Just edit and write.
Examples:
 http://wiki.brainnoodles.com/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
 http://gohagan.jot.com/