Investigating design features of a computer-mediated communication system

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is increasingly used in higher education, but it is not without problems. The effectiveness of CMC depends on many factors, including the characteristics of CMC systems themselves. The research reported here therefore aimed to investigate how an educational CMC system might be improved, in order to support learning more effectively. The main context for the research was distance learning at the UK Open University (OU). A two-stage, mixed methods research approach was adopted. In the first stage, interviews and observations were carried out to explore the benefits and problems experienced by users. This revealed two major issues: information overload and lack of social presence. Information overload relates to users’ problems dealing with large numbers of messages. Social presence relates to the need for users to feel connected with each other. The second stage investigated system features aimed at addressing these issues, implemented in a prototype computer conferencing system. Features to address overload included branched message threading and user recommendations. Features to address social presence were ‘résumés’ and instant messaging. These features were evaluated using questionnaires, with several cohorts of students in an OU course. Students expressed approval of the features, although some features were not widely used. Students preferred branched threading to chronological threading because branching helped them to follow ‘conversations’. Students were uncomfortable recommending messages, feeling that the value of a message would vary between people. They were also uncomfortable using instant messaging to contact others whom they did not know. However, the awareness aspect of instant messaging provided a sense of solidarity. The research demonstrated that the problems of overload and lack of social presence are significant, and each has social aspects which must be addressed. Students’ relationships with each other affect whether and how they use the features of CMC systems. We can conclude that particular attention must be paid to the social aspects of online communication, both when designing educational CMC systems and when considering how they are used. To maximise the benefits for learning, students need to feel comfortable with each other online, and there are few short cuts to achieving this

Observations of expert communicators in immersive virtual worlds: implications for synchronous discussion

With the increased interest in using Immersive Virtual Worlds (IVWs) such as Second Life to augment and amplify teaching or to develop communities of practice, the author engaged graduate students, all current K‐12 teachers, in a qualitative study to examine their attitudes about communicating for the first time in a virtual setting represented by an interactive avatar. This study sought to determine if students were able to discern degrees of expertise in other avatars by providing encounters with guests who had a significant amount of experience navigating in a virtual world. The study examined Second Life as a synchronous discussion tool for a higher education setting and finds it lacking in some respects, but is able to make recommendations about training instructors to exhibit behaviours that may inspire confidence while leading a class in such a setting

Entertaining situated messaging at home

Leisure and entertainment-based computing has been traditionally associated with interactive entertainment media and game playing, yet the forms of engagement offered by these technologies only support a small part of how we act when we are at leisure. In this paper, we move away from the paradigm of leisure technology as computer-based entertainment consumption, and towards a broader view of leisure computing. This perspective is more in line with our everyday experience of leisure as an embodied, everyday accomplishment in which people artfully employ the everyday resources in the world around them in carrying out their daily lives outside of work. We develop this extended notion of leisure using data from a field study of domestic communication focusing on asynchronous and situated messaging to explore some of these issues, and develop these findings towards design implications for leisure technologies. Central to our discussion on the normal, everyday and occasioned conduct of leisure lie the notions of playfulness and creativity, the interweaving of the worlds of work and leisure, and in the creation of embodied displays of affect, all of which may be seen manifested in the use of messaging artefacts. This view of technology in support of leisure-in-the-broad is strongly divergent from traditional entertainment computing models in its coupling of the mechanics of the organisation of everyday life to the ways that we make entertainment for ourselves. This recognition allows us to draw specific implications for domestic situated messaging technologies, but also more generally for technology design by tying activities that we tend to regard as purely functional to other multifaceted and leisure-related purposes

Maintaining connectivity and enhancing communication through the use of text messaging in an undergraduate nursing programme

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a study that examined the use of a Short Message Service (SMS) (or ‘Text Messaging’) to enhance communication and participation with students on an undergraduate nursing programme. The ideology behind the study is based on an awareness that technology is not always recognised by nursing students as a useful aspect of their education and practice. Therefore it was considered that integrating this ubiquitous from of technology use might help them to recognise the usefulness of technology as an aid to enhance and develop more effective ways of learning and working. Short Message Service (SMS) is a communications protocol allowing the interchange of short text messages between mobile phones. It is the most widely available data application on the planet with over 2.4 billion users (Wikipedia 2008). The advantages in using SMS messaging include ‘always-on’ communication, connectivity to real world learning contexts, ‘top of mind’ direct access and ‘just for me’ personal communication (Jones & Bunting 2008). The widespread availability of mobile phones provides an opportunity to establish and maintain a sense of connectedness in helping learners to engage with their programme of study as almost everyone can participate in synchronous and asynchronous communication. Laurillard (2008) suggests that we should ‘harness technology to meet the needs of education rather than simply search for problems to which technology is the solution’. This concept has particular relevance for the learners in this study who undertake clinical learning experiences throughout their programme of study that are geographically dispersed over a large area for periods of time ranging from two to eight weeks. Text messaging was used to develop and maintain strong links between the tutor/programme director and the students throughout the duration of the programme

How blockchain impacts cloud-based system performance: a case study for a groupware communication application

This paper examines the performance trade-off when implementing a blockchain architecture for a cloud-based groupware communication application. We measure the additional cloud-based resources and performance costs of the overhead required to implement a groupware collaboration system over a blockchain architecture. To evaluate our groupware application, we develop measuring instruments for testing scalability and performance of computer systems deployed as cloud computing applications. While some details of our groupware collaboration application have been published in earlier work, in this paper we reflect on a generalized measuring method for blockchain-enabled applications which may in turn lead to a general methodology for testing cloud-based system performance and scalability using blockchain. Response time and transaction throughput metrics are collected for the blockchain implementation against the non-blockchain implementation and some conclusions are drawn about the additional resources that a blockchain architecture for a groupware collaboration application impose

Beyond the Web: integrated digital communities

This paper details two case studies exploring integration within digital communities. Three types of integration are introduced – information, technological and online-offline integration. These concepts are explored through two online fan communities and through a mobile web based system. This paper addresses the idea of balance between offline and online spaces; a key research interest of Sillence’s. It tackles the issue of how design can affect the social use of a system and focuses upon the natural use of multiple communication media. The way in which people use and adapt technology to suit their needs is of interest to Sillence in all her work. She was asked to write this paper by the chair of the Web-based Communities Conference: Sillence, E. (2004a). Media Integration within Web Based Communities. In Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference Web Based Communities 2004. Lisbon, Portugal 24-26 March 2004, p175-182. Several papers have argued that involvement in online environments is having a negative social impact. However, her research argues that methodological flaws have encouraged these findings and overlooked the fact that natural settings provide opportunities for the integration of media across an online-offline boundary. Other related publications by her include: Kostakos, V. O’Neill, E., Little, L. & Sillence, E. (2005). The social implications of emerging technologies. Interacting with Computers, 17 (5) 475-483. Sillence, E. & Baber, C. (2004). Integrated Digital Communities: Combining Web-based Interaction with Text Messaging to Develop a System for Encouraging Group Communication and Competition. Interacting with Computers, 16 (1) 93-113 Also edited: Special edition of Interacting with Computers. “The social impact of emerging technologies” 17, 5 (2005

A reappraisal of online mathematics teaching using LaTeX

The mathematics language LaTeX is often seen outside of academic circles as a legacy technology that is awkward to use. MathML - a verbose language designed for data-exchange, and to be written and understood by machines - is sometimes by contrast seen as something that will aid online mathematics and lack of browser support for it bemoaned. However LaTeX can already do many of the things that MathML might promise. LaTeX is here proposed as a language from which small fragments, with concise syntax, can be used by people to easily create and share mathematical expressions online. The capability to embed fragments of LaTeX code in online discussions is described here and its impact on a group of educators and learners evaluated. Here LaTeX is posited as a useful tool for facilitating asynchronous, online, collaborative learning of mathematics

On Secure Workflow Decentralisation on the Internet

Decentralised workflow management systems are a new research area, where most work to-date has focused on the system's overall architecture. As little attention has been given to the security aspects in such systems, we follow a security driven approach, and consider, from the perspective of available security building blocks, how security can be implemented and what new opportunities are presented when empowering the decentralised environment with modern distributed security protocols. Our research is motivated by a more general question of how to combine the positive enablers that email exchange enjoys, with the general benefits of workflow systems, and more specifically with the benefits that can be introduced in a decentralised environment. This aims to equip email users with a set of tools to manage the semantics of a message exchange, contents, participants and their roles in the exchange in an environment that provides inherent assurances of security and privacy. This work is based on a survey of contemporary distributed security protocols, and considers how these protocols could be used in implementing a distributed workflow management system with decentralised control . We review a set of these protocols, focusing on the required message sequences in reviewing the protocols, and discuss how these security protocols provide the foundations for implementing core control-flow, data, and resource patterns in a distributed workflow environment

Electronic Social Networks as Supporting Means of Educational Process in Higher Education Institutions

Given research describes experience of electronic social networks use in educational practices. It was determined that electronic social networks can be a powerful tool for support of educational process in higher education institutions, namely to support study of different disciplines. There are main advantages of electronic social networks use for education: universal accessibility and free of charge; possibility of instant messaging and multimedia data; user-friendly intuitive interface; ability to search data and information; availability of event scheduling, invitations, reminder settings; support for synchronous and asynchronous communication between network members; access from different devices. It is emphasized that one of the main advantages of electronic social networks is receipt of quick feedback and convenience of their tools and services. Nowadays, it is important to include network educational interaction in existing models of study organization. It is advisable to use electronic social networks to manage educational process in higher education institution. Efficiency of electronic social networks use depends on intensity and need for their use in educational system management for implementation of organizational, educational, psychological and pedagogical functions and ensuring universal communication with subjects of educational process. Expediency of electronic social networks use to carry out research work at university is described. Electronic social networks are convenient tool to conduct surveys and questionnaires, to create thematic groups for specific issue discussion. Also it is possible to interact with researchers from different countries, share experiences and disseminate research findings, invite those who wish to participate in various scientific activities using these networks