Online Communities: From BBSes to Blogs and Beyond

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Online CommunitiesFrom BBSes to Blogsand Beyond

• Andy Carvin
• EDC Center for Media Community
• acarvin_at_edc.org
• www.digitaldivide.net
• www.andycarvin.com

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Overview

• Whats an online community?
• History of online communities
• BBSes, USENET and Email Lists
• MUDs and Webcasting
• Blogging, Phlogging, Podcasting, Video Blogging
• Current trends
• RSS
• Participatory Media
• Tagging and Folksonomy
• Wikis
• Final Thoughts

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Whats an Online Community?

• Virtual gathering places for like-minded people
• Based on topic, geography or both
• Real-time or asynchronous
• Text, images, audio, video - or all of the above
• Makes the tyranny of distance irrelevant

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BBS Bulletin Board System

• Most popular online meeting spaces of the 1980s
• Dialup, stand-alone network
• Not usually connected to the Internet
• Run by a "sysop" - a system operator - often as
  hobby
• Simple chat-rooms, internal email
• Early examples of MUDs - Multi-User Dungeons

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USENET

• Connecting people over Internet from different
  networks
• Text-based bulletin board, or newsgroups
• Strict naming structure alt.fan.tolkien,
  sci.math, k12.chat.teacher, k12.ed.science
• Red tape Was hard to establish your own group
• Popular among university educators

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Email Lists

• Late 80s/early 90s development Listserv
• Post to central email address, sent to members
• Less bureaucracy to establish a list
• Early lists hosted by universities
• Growing number of educational groups,
• not just higher ed
• Examples EDTECH, LM_NET, EDNET, K12ADMIN,
  COMMUNET, WWWEDU

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Multi-User Environments

• Outgrowth of early BBS MUDs
• Some still dialup, but many Web-based by mid/late
  90s
• Combined text elements with graphics
• Some recorded audio and video not live
• Example Tapped In (www.tappedin.org), launched
  in 1997 and still going strong

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Webcasting

• Live streaming of audio or video
• Usually combined with chat tools, polling
  software
• Host-directed Web tours
• Examples ICTliteracy.info, LearningTimes.net

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Blogging

• Began in late 90s as personal journal publishing
• Automated tools for posting diaries
• Reverse chronological order newest entry at top
• Community blogging collaborative group
  publishing
• Examples YouthLearn, weblogg-ed, Virtual
  Cultures class

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Photo Blogging (Phlogging)

• Simple idea Blogging with images
• Early blogs posted photos manually
• Recent trend photo blogging services
• Examples Phlog.net, Flickr.com

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Podcasting

• Blogging with audio
• Users post audio clips for automatic download
• Started in early 2004 now thousands of podcasts
• Free tool David Warlick's EPNweb
• Forum podcasting-education_at_yahoogroups.com
• Coming Soon Mobcasting

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Video Blogging

• Blogging with video
• Users post video, automatic downloads
• Origins in early 90s, took off in late 2004
• Very few educators doing it - yet
• Examples acroughcuts.com, TILT TV, my blog
• Want to try it? Free hosting at ourmedia.org

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Current Trends

• RSS
• Participatory Media
• Tagging and Folksonomy
• Wikis

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RSS

• Really Simple Syndication
• Usually seen as an XML button on a website
• Converts blogs/podcasts/vlogs into
  machine-readable code
• Allows users to subscribe to sites
• Allows publishers to aggregate content

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Participatory Media

• Democratizes technology, empowers individuals
• "Don't hate the media. Become the media!
• - Jello Biafra
• Free tools for creating your own content and
  communities

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Participatory Media Tools

• Email Yahoogroups
• USENET Google Groups
• Blogging Blogger.com
• Photo Blogging Flickr.com, Phlog.net
• Podcasting and vlogging EPNweb, Ourmedia
• Mobcasting Audioblogger.com, but needs
  improvements
• Comprehensive tools Digital Divide Network

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Tagging and Folksonomy

• Tagging lets you label content with keywords
• Tagging Flickr photos as "SETT"
• Tagging blog entries as "Scottish Learning
  Festival"
• Folksonomy Users determine the taxonomy, not
  "experts"
• Tagging lets you aggregate content from across
  the Net
• Distributed communities RSS feeds aggregate
  content based on tags
• Examples Flickr photo pools, Technorati tags

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Wiki Tools

• Websites that allow all users to create and edit
  all content
• Hawai'ian for "quick"
• Most famous example Wikipedia.org
• Pro's Allows anyone to be a contributor or
  editor
• Con's Allows anyone to be a contributor or
  editor
• Debate Should students use Wikipedia?

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Final Thoughts

• New tools give teachers control over content
  creation
• Growing opportunities for international online
  collaboration, especially professional dev
• Constructivist teaching through student
  publishing/networking
• Increases need for strong ICT skills, media
  literacy- for learners and educators

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For More Information

• Andy Carvin
• Program Director, Digital Divide Network
• EDC Center for Media Community
• acarvin_at_edc.org
• www.digitaldivide.net
• www.andycarvin.com