Week 9

1
Computer Mediated Communications

• Week 9
• LBSC 690
• Information Technology

2
Agenda

• Questions
• Computer mediated communications
• Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
• Educational computing
• Project presentations

3
Computer Mediated Communication

• CMC refers to human communication via
  computers--including computer network
  communication on the Internet and the World Wide
  Web. People interested in CMC study a range of
  phenomena--from the dynamics of group
  communication in Usenet news articles to how
  people use hypertext to shape meaning.

from http//www.ibiblio.org/cmc/center.html
4
Describing CMC Applications

• How many participants?
• One or many
• When?
• Synchronous or asynchronous
• Where?
• Local or remote

5
Cooperative systems
Inspired by the table in Shneidermans Designing
user interfaces
6
Asynchronous Remote

• Email centralized storage
• Individual
• Mailing lists
• Usenet distributed storage
• Hierarchical organization
• comp.edu.languages.natural
• Archive groups.google.com
• Analysis research.microsoft.com/masmith/
• Threaded discussion lists
• Example http//discus.hope.edu/f05

7
Synchronous Remote

• Instant Messaging (IM)
• e.g., AIM, MSN Messenger
• Chat Rooms
• Whole lines are sent at a time
• e.g., chat.yahoo.com
• NetMeeting
• IMaudiovideowhiteboardshared applications
• MSN Messenger now includes these capabilities

8
Glass Wall

• Unplanned interactions
• Informal communication

9
Synchronous Local

• Meeting support systems
• Brainstorming
• Online review
• Annotated minutes
• Example
• Teaching theater student tools

10
Computer SupportedCooperative Work (CSCW)

• Work
• Grounded in the study of work processes
• Cooperative
• Assumes a shared objective, task
• Technology-supported
• Computers are just one type of tools used
• Groupware

11
Key Issues in CSCW

• Shared information space
• Group awareness
• Coordination
• Concurrency control
• Multi-user interfaces
• Heterogeneous environments

12
Case Study Virtual Reference

• Required functions
• System architecture
• Adoption

13
Case Study 2Your Project Team!

• Face to face meetings
• Teleconferences
• Shared workspace on WAM
• IM-synchronized work sessions
• NetMeeting?

14
Educational Computing

• Computer Assisted Education
• What most people think of first
• Computer Managed Instruction
• What most people really do first!
• Computer Mediated Communication
• All that CSCW stuff applied to education
• Computer-Based Multimedia
• Just another filmstrip machine?

15
Rationales

• Pedagogic
• Use computers to teach
• Vocational
• Computer programming is a skill like typing
• Social
• Computers are a part of the fabric of society
• Catalytic
• Computers are symbols of progress

16
Conditions for Success

• Most prerequisites are not computer-specific
• Need, know-how, time, commitment, leadership,
  incentives, expectations
• The most important barrier is time
• Teacher time is by far the most important factor

17
Alternatives

• Facilities
• Computer classrooms (e.g., teaching theaters)
• Computers IN classrooms (e.g., HBK 2119)
• Objectives
• Computer Literacy
• Not so in the Maryland teaching theaters
• Comparatively few technology classes

18
Discussion PointComputers as Educational Media

• What are the most salient characteristics
• Books
• Video
• Computers

19
Distance Education

• Correspondence courses
• Focus on dissemination and evaluation
• Instructional television
• Dissemination, interaction, and evaluation
• Computer-Assisted Instruction
• Same three functions w/ubiquitous technology