Implementing Elgg in HE :: Blog :: Archives
http://community.brighton.ac.uk/pedagog/weblog/14959.html Well, Web 1.0 was the domain of techies, whilst Web 2.0 is supposed to be the domain of the people. The reality is it has rapidly become the domain of the social silos - whilst social services like MySpace, Facebook and the rest encourage participation within their networks, they actually do very little to encourage participation ACROSS networks. Yes, you can use RSS in some cases and in others you can grab bits of content from one service and display it in another using widgets but none (as far as I'm aware) allow trusted authentication (i.e. users from one network being trusted as users of another) or cross-searching. So Web 2.0, whilst deeply lovely, isn't actually the WORLD wide web yet although it's clearly wider than Web 1.0.
And now there is Explode ( http://ex.plode.us) - which has now been around for a few months - originally as a simple means for people to meet from disparate networks and communicate with each other. However it's just undergone a major change and this change has the potential to vastly extend communication and collaboration via the web. The change has seen two key enhancements. First, Explode further embeds the use of openID - a mechanism of different networks trusting their respective users. So, for example, two universities in Austria have, using OpenID, been able to let students from either institution participate in their respective networks without needing an account at each university. As OpenID is adopted, it has the potental to allow separate networks to determine which other networks to trust and collaboarte with. Second, and perhaps far more importantly, Explode has provided a facility to search ACROSS social networks. Now you can search for people with similar interests on Livejournal, Vox, Flickr, YouTube, Eduspaces and a whole bunch of other networks all from one place - it's fascinating to browse your interests and see who shares them, what network they're on, see their profiles, read their blogs - just think of the potential for bringing people together, whether for learning or research!
Could this be the start of Web 3.0? How does this change the model here at Brighton? Well, for the sake of a pretty picture, this is what I think it's beginning to mean - note traditional institutional barriers are now dotted lines and maybe the stronger lines will be far closer to Jon Dron and Terry Anderson's thoughts on collectives in the future:
http://community.brighton.ac.uk/pedagog/weblog/14959.html Well, Web 1.0 was the domain of techies, whilst Web 2.0 is supposed to be the domain of the people. The reality is it has rapidly become the domain of the social silos - whilst social services like MySpace, Facebook and the rest encourage participation within their networks, they actually do very little to encourage participation ACROSS networks. Yes, you can use RSS in some cases and in others you can grab bits of content from one service and display it in another using widgets but none (as far as I'm aware) allow trusted authentication (i.e. users from one network being trusted as users of another) or cross-searching. So Web 2.0, whilst deeply lovely, isn't actually the WORLD wide web yet although it's clearly wider than Web 1.0.
And now there is Explode ( http://ex.plode.us) - which has now been around for a few months - originally as a simple means for people to meet from disparate networks and communicate with each other. However it's just undergone a major change and this change has the potential to vastly extend communication and collaboration via the web. The change has seen two key enhancements. First, Explode further embeds the use of openID - a mechanism of different networks trusting their respective users. So, for example, two universities in Austria have, using OpenID, been able to let students from either institution participate in their respective networks without needing an account at each university. As OpenID is adopted, it has the potental to allow separate networks to determine which other networks to trust and collaboarte with. Second, and perhaps far more importantly, Explode has provided a facility to search ACROSS social networks. Now you can search for people with similar interests on Livejournal, Vox, Flickr, YouTube, Eduspaces and a whole bunch of other networks all from one place - it's fascinating to browse your interests and see who shares them, what network they're on, see their profiles, read their blogs - just think of the potential for bringing people together, whether for learning or research!
Could this be the start of Web 3.0? How does this change the model here at Brighton? Well, for the sake of a pretty picture, this is what I think it's beginning to mean - note traditional institutional barriers are now dotted lines and maybe the stronger lines will be far closer to Jon Dron and Terry Anderson's thoughts on collectives in the future:
I've been thinking (stop laughing!) about the potential impact of Explode - particularly on the future eLearning models we might consider at Brighton. If you've not yet had a play with Explode then head over to http://ex.plode.us and check it out. Initially, I suspect many people struggle to get Explode - me amongst them, and I can't still guarantee I've thought it completely through. However, I think it's fair to say that, at its heart, Explode is the glue that joins many of the current social silos together. Under the hood, Explode has two technologies that have the potential of building the bridges between these silos - OpenID for trusted access across services and a social search tool that lets you find people who share your interests across social networks. Try it - it's incredible. Just type something in and search - all these people appear from all these different networks and you make make them your friends, post to comment walls or send 'nudges' to collections of mutual friends. None of these things sound particularly spectacular until you start to use it and start to see the breadth of people you can find out about.
The signficance of this for learning is potentially huge. Just think of the communities of interest that could develop, the ability for collaborative research, for ad hoc research (folksonomies for research????) for communal learning across institutions, for life long learning etc etc etc.
And then I stated thinking about the practicalities of this vision. First step, should we start using OpenID? Second step, should we allow Explode to crawl the Brighton community? And then the barriers begin to appear. Potentially, this is the stuff that gives institutions nightmares - the melding of communities and the loss of corporate identity, trusting of others and the implications for security and corporate responsibility in the face of illegal activities, sharing learning and value for money in the top-up fee era etc etc etc.
So will insitutions let the draw-bridges down and embrace the potential?
We live in interesting times and it's going to be exciting to participate in the debates that will no doubt arise....
Posted by Implementing Elgg in HE - Stan Stanier
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I agree that institutions will be wary of social networking and linking to multiple communities - the introduction of openIds and explode's networking compromises a lot of concerns the universities have about security and control. I'm actually surprised that Stan has been able to drive Elgg into the institution as far as he has - in my efforts to introduce Elgg (as an incident of social networking) into the U of Alberta has resulted in some interesting responses. I introduced it to a communications class, hoping it would eveolve into a cohort level social networking tool - the group decided to move to other incidents of social software - now using Google Docs and basecamp. While these tools are more project based they have been able to use the functionality to work together, plan face to face meetings and conferencing, and socialize. I introduced Elgg to another communications class - a more savvy group, already posting to other social networking spaces - the Elgg install I had was too slow, so they moved to their existing accounts in Facebook. I introduced Elgg as an Eportfolio tool to the educational support group at the University - the uptake is slow but they are discussing the possibility of linking into WebCT and working with Elgg through WebCT - NOT an optimal solution to my liking - students will not take kindly to working with two systems and will be confused by "similar:" functionality. I am also trying to stimulate interest in Elgg as a social networking/marketing tool for the faculty - to maintain contact and community after a student leaves course/program. But the maintenance responsibilities and security issues this entails are great - I still have a lot of thinking to do - I often feel I am proposing a solution(s) to as yet unformulated needs - and as a result my solutions are not framed for ready acceptance and adoption. What I see with Elgg is what it can potentially do to change the mind set of higher ed - others in the university community want to know what it can do within the mind set they now have.
Posted by Implementing Elgg in HE - Michael Hotrum
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