Wired’s August 2007 Jargon Watch has minted a term many will find too delicious to pass on. The term Social Operating System is defined as
“n. A social network site like Facebook or MySpace that seamlessly integrates activities, including entertainment and shopping, to become a platform for online living” (p. 50).
Seamless integration. Now there’s two words the IT industry has bussed around for years (seriously, what piece of Web 2.0 software isn’t defined by its designer/marketers as easily and seamlessly integrateable?).
As a follower of Personal Learning Environment (PLE) and shared learning environment (SLE) development including fabled EduGlu visions, I wonder if Facebook or MySpace could possibly be the stuff many have been dreaming of?
Two recent posts (here and here) positing the possibilities of Facebook triggered this imagining.
Perhaps it is only a matter of time before learning management systems such as Blackboard and Moodle develop APIs to plug directly into Facebook. What will that mean in terms of a PLE vision? Can a social operating system like Facebook seamlessly integrate “formal and informal learning episodes into a single experience” across institutional boundaries, and use “networking protocols (Peer-to-Peer, web services, syndication) to connect a range of resources and systems within a personally-managed space”?
Hmmm…
Comments are clearly warranted.
July 26, 2007
Posted by Christopher D. Sessums
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Comments
Hi Christopher,
My company is also looking at harnessing the 'social operating system'. We're in the process of developing a tool for Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition. Facebook seems like an ideal tool for learners to build their e-portofolios in. I made a post about my thoughts on the strengths and limitation sof this platform in my blog at http://mycatshq.com/wordpress/?p=12 .
Jody
http://www.mycatshq.com
.
I am really excited by the concept of PLEs, but I think schools need a more structured alternative to teach online responsibility and other skills that will hopefully carry over to places like MySpace. For us, I am going to try to use Pageflakes as a SLE (hopefully.) It will work because they will provide tools to structure their service for education.
.
Any good teacher will tell you that there is freedom inside of well designed structure. ELGG, Moodle, WordPressMU, and Drupal are examples of tools that have administrative options for schools but still allow for student self-expression. Then tie these resources together using a start page service like Pageflakes, Netvibes, or iGoogle. I think this is a better alternative for k-12 schools to safely teach responsible behavior and model online community problem solving and learning.
.
Our k-12 students should be taught online safety and etiquette. They need to learn how to harness the power of the web effectively and efficiently. They also need to be taught the consequences for irresponsible web behavior. I don't think MySpace or Facebook is the tool to do it, and they weren't designed to be. There are more powerful alternatives to suite a school's purpose (ELGG, Moodle, Drupal, etc.) That is how I see it. Please let me know if you disagree, I would love to hear another side.
You will probably be interested to know that there is already an LMS/CMS with a secure, built-in Social Network. It's called Scholar360.
Scholar360 combines the academic features of an LMS/CMS with a secure Social Network environment. Go to http://www.scholar360.com to check it out.
K-12 students find it easy to use - and so do professors at colleges and universities! And, it's about a third the price of Blackboard.
I think Facebook is very exciting but there is objectional stuff out there. I have to agree with John (thanks for Skitch by the way) that there needs to be some checks and balances. There are a couple of 'chaperoned' networking sites out there such as Imbee which is designed for kids from the ages of 8 to 14. It still looks 'fun' but can be checked by adults. If there could be a kind of 'gated' Facebook where you could set up a micro-community, then that would be wonderful. Not sure how you'd do that though :)