Webheads in Action announces their WiAOC 2009: Webheads in Action Online unConvergence, May 22-24, 2009. I’m not sure what an unConvergence is… I was kind of hopeing we’d have moments of convergence, but divergence is also good, eh?
I’ll be on (via Elluminate) tomorrow, Friday, May 22 at 15:00 GMT (that’s 8am PDT) talking about technology stewardship. (slides below.) You can find all the details on the organizational Wiki: http://wiaoc09.pbwiki.com.
Participation is FREE, but they encourage people to register on their Ning site. http://webheadsinaction.ning.com. All organizers and presenters are volunteers.
Edited: Audio and chat log can be found here.
Tools for Catalyzing Collaboration
Eugene Eric Kim of Blue Oxen Associates pinged me today about an offering coming up that looks really juicy. It resonates a bit with some of the workshops I’ve been doing with clients. I love that he is mixing tools with process and fundamental views about participation. I’m really interested in learning more about the “conceptual framework.” Sounds like technology stewardship!!
The workshop starts next week, and the application deadline is Monday, so if this looks interesting, jump in! And tell us how it was. (I am facilitating a bit too intensely the next three weeks to fully commit to another workshop – but I was sorely tempted!)
Blue Oxen Associates » Tools for Catalyzing Collaboration: June 2009
There are an overwhelming number of online tools that promise to help you collaborate more effectively. How do you know which ones are right for you? How do you tailor those tools for your organization? And most importantly, how do you use these tools most effectively?Blue Oxen Associates principal, Eugene Eric Kim, will be leading an intensive, four week online workshop that explores these questions. In this workshop, you will:
* Develop a conceptual framework for how to think about, evaluate, and apply online tools and social media to your work.
* Get real, hands-on experience with several of these tools.You will be working with your fellow participants in a Blue Oxen Collaboratory, where you will have the opportunity to play with tools such as microblogs and Wikis for real learning and collaboration. At the end of this workshop, you will understand how to think strategically about online tools, even as they continually and rapidly evolve.
Topics
* Patterns of high-performance collaboration
* Identity, trust, and reputation
* Strategies for effective communication and knowledge sharing
* Specific tools include:
o Email, mailing lists, and online forums
o Teleconferences and shared screens
o Social Media / Web 2.0
o Wikis
o Blogs
o MicroblogsThere are a number of other online tools available for catalyzing collaboration, and we will not even attempt to cover all of them. However, this course will help you develop fundamental skills that will apply to all online collaborative tools.
What is also interesting is that Eugene is doing “pay what you feel it is worth.” I’ve been very interested in this model, but a bit timid to try it.
Digital Identity Workbook for NPO/NGO Folks
My friend and colleague, Shirley Williams, pointed me to a great resource on digital identity (DI) that she and her colleagues created for their students at Reading University in the UK. It is called “This Is Me.”
As I saw that lovely Creative Commons license on it, I thought I’d whip up a version for folks interested in social media and the digital identity implications in the non profit and NGO sectors. I thought it would be handy in an upcoming workshop I’m facilitating for the CGIAR starting next week.
Pat Parslow and Shirley uploaded a version to a Google doc. We edited, I did some rewrites and trims, and here is the first draft. I’d love feedback!
(updated to latest version on Thursday, May 21)
(Edited September 7 – there is now a version in Arabic here via the Social Media Exchange)
(Edited August 21, 2012 – file link has been repaired and there is a new Student version coming out in September!)
Sam Rose on the Social Media Classroom
Last week I shared a podcast with Howard Rheingold on the Social Media Classroom as part of CPSquare’s “Connected Futures” workshop. This week we have a podcast with Sam Rose, one of the key developers of the Drupal based Social Media Classroom.
Listen! A Conversation With Sam Rose on the Social Media Classroom
Some of the many fabulous observations from Sam that caught my ear include:
- Sam’s observations about the iteration between the deployment of a tool, the community’s creative use of the tool and the subsequent develop and iteration of the tool echoes what we found in our work for Digital Habitats.
- The thinking around the differences of a platform designed for delivery of a curriculum (i.e a Learning Management System or LMS) and a platform designed to support inquiry based learning.
- The importance of an integrated starting place and then as social media literacy grows, the exploration outward to other tools.
- How SMC thinks about forums as discussion starting places, blogs as individual reflection/note taking spaces and wikis as a place for crafting joint learning.
- The role of affordances to make use easier. (For example, the little color coded toolbars in SMC). And how some of those affordances are subtle and benefit from some “showing” — but once you learn them how useful they are.
- The trajectory of SMC towards becoming a place to integrate with other tools and content through APIs. (Lots of exciting things to come!)
photo credit: EnergyTomorrow
Howard Rheingold on the Social Media Classroom
As part of CPSquare’s “Connected Futures” workshop exploring the use of web technologies in the service of communities of practice, we (John Smith and I!) asked Howard Rheingold to share a little bit about the Social Media Classroom (SMC) he developed as part of a MacArthur Foundation Award (A HASTAC award specifically).
We were interested to hear about the development both because we are using a hosted version of the SMC as our “home base” this iteration of the workshop, and because Howard’s project is a nice example of community technology stewardship. Every platform has its lineage, the experiences of the designers that inform design choices during development. What needs is it trying to meet? How can it do this in the simplest and elegant manner?
SMC is created on a Drupal base but customized to reflect what Howard thought would be useful for educators. But it is not just a technology platform. There is also a rich library of new media literacy resources and a community of practitioners. From the SMC website:
The Social Media Classroom (we’ll call it SMC) includes a free and open-source (Drupal-based) web service that provides teachers and learners with an integrated set of social media that each course can use for its own purposes—integrated forum, blog, comment, wiki, chat, social bookmarking, RSS, microblogging, widgets , and video commenting are the first set of tools. The Classroom also includes curricular material: syllabi, lesson plans, resource repositories, screencasts and videos.
For communities picking or even building platforms for themselves, there are some nice pearls from Howard.
Click here to listen in: 30 Minutes with Howard Rheingold on the Social Media Classroom… and other stuff!
Some of the things Howard talked about included:
- the importance of an on-ramp to new media – with integration of tools being an important early experience that helps us be more confident when we start using tools in a more “free range” manner.
- the need for a new media literacy – just because we are all online doesn’t mean we understand and know how to use it. What are the essentials that make a difference?
- the origins and inspirations of some of the tools in the SMC
- Howard’s exploration of teaching at this phase in his career and the importance of a constructivist, participatory approach.
If you are interested in SMC for your learning context, you can download the software to your server, or if you don’t have access to a server or IT help, the project is offering a limited amount of hosted space. If you want to learn more and engage in the SMC c ommunity, join the community of practice.