Collaborative trails in e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas – experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future

A New Way to Reflect the IS Identity? Uncovering the Intellectual Core of Podcasts

The information systems (IS) discipline has long been critically questioning its identity to determine its central research avenues, its distinction from other disciplines, and the future directions for the field. Although this question is central to all stakeholders of the IS field, so far the debates have been conducted primarily in research papers, editorial commentaries, and opinion pieces published by influential IS scholars. Our study explores how the broader IS community engages in the discourse about IS identity by examining podcasts as an increasingly popular means of communicating IS viewpoints. We apply a podcast ethnography to study the IS podcast universe, consisting of 51 shows with 660 episodes. Our preliminary findings offer insights about the stakeholders, podcast topics, and intellectual core of the audio tracks that shed light on the role of podcasts in constructing and reflecting on IS identity

Understanding Engagement and Willingness to Speak Up in Social Television: A Full-Season, Cross-Genre Analysis of TV Audience Participation on Twitter

The widespread use of digital platforms has changed the way people watch television. Despite an abundance of empirical studies, full-season, cross-genre analyses of different TV formats are rare. Based on a data set of 1,383,414 tweets, this study aims to close this gap by comparing Twitter commentaries around the 2012–2013 seasons of the Italian edition of The X Factor and the political talk show Servizio Pubblico. For each episode, we identify peaks of Twitter engagement and analyze the corresponding TV scene, revealing the role played by suspense and surprise in catalyzing the engagement of online audiences. A content analysis of 12,640 tweets created during peaks of engagement reveals how willingness to speak up varies when the topic is politics rather than entertainment

'Scraping' Reddit posts for academic research? Addressing some blurred lines of consent in growing internet-based research trend during the time of COVID-19.

The global scale of COVID-19 has constrained academics from conducting much person-facing research. Reactively, trend is increasing for digital-based methodologies capturing already existing online data. Scholars often "scrape" user-postings from internet forums using coding algorithms and text capture tools, before analysing data, drawing conclusions and publishing findings. The online social news aggregation and discussion website Reddit is a particularly rich source of data for researchers. The public nature of Reddit materials may suggest rationale for user-data to be replicated, analysed and archived; indefinitely and in multiple locations, for scholarly research. However, this position overlooks several key ethical considerations. This paper presents an overview and explanation of Reddit, followed by an exploration of studies that use Reddit-acquired data. Arising ethical issues are discussed, and solutions to salient dilemmas presented. This is to enhance awareness of potential problems and improve protections for those whose data is unknowingly used for research

Radicalising the marketing of higher education: learning from student-generated social media data

The social media landscape creates opportunities for higher education institutions (HEIs) to amplify psychological engagement with students and to increase influence impressions by following student(s)-to-student(s) conversations and stories. Evidence of understanding how HEIs can utilise student-generated social media data for HE marketing and branding purposes is underexplored. This paper adopts a netnographic research method to illustrate how social media artefacts, such as the ‘This Is Where I Study’ (TIWIS) Facebook page, created by students in the form of dialogues and content, can be analysed by HEIs to listen, engage further and influence students’ impressions. TIWIS illustrates that students’ engagement with social media platforms such as Facebook is dynamic in nature. It comprises behavioural expressions (manifestations and actions such as likes and shares as well opinion comments) and individuals’ experiences (subjective in nature stories and comments of personal experiences and views). Hence, netnographic analysis allows capturing actual behaviours via longitudinal ‘big data’ sets and support HEIs in proactive branding. Analysis of social media data demonstrates the value of encouraging and making accessible authentic conversations in order to create student-centred content

Representing Trust in Digital Journalism

This article examines how journalists at two prominent news organizations have aimed to portray trustworthy digital reporting of marginalized communities. The case study draws on the concepts of engagement and trust as a resource to evaluate journalists' articles and the related audience comments on The New York Times and The Washington Post digital sites. This study analyzed the digital news articles and audience comments in 2012 and the latter half of 2022 during the rapid expansion of mobile audiences and American readers' declining trust in newspapers. As this study discovered, journalists at the two legacy organizations have portrayed novel forms of reporting relating to fresh notions of enhancing readers' trust as well as elements of transparency and interactivity in the news. They have represented trustworthy journalism based on an inclusive approach and personalized depictions of marginalized communities' experiences to appeal to readers increasingly using mobile devices. Although the journalists' stories attracted some toxic tweets, their articles also encouraged digital subscribers' loyalty and enthusiasm to help solve the reported problems affecting marginalized communities. This study indicates the possibilities of fostering trustworthy interactions among journalists and engaged subscribers in digital news spaces

The World Made Meme: Discourse and Identity in Participatory Media

This project explores internet memes as public discourse. `Meme' is a term coined by biologist Richard Dawkins to describe the flow, flux, mutation, and evolution of culture, a cultural counter to the gene. But the term has evolved within many online collectives, and is shifting in public discourse. In this emerging sense, `memes' are amateur media artifacts, extensively remixed and recirculated by different participants on social media networks. But there is reason to doubt how broad and inclusive this amateur participation is. If the networks producing memes are truly participatory, they will definitionally facilitate diverse discourses and represent diverse identities. Therefore, we need detailed empirical work on specific participatory sites in order to clarify questions of mediated cultural participation. My goal was a better understanding of discourse and identity in participatory media through an investigation of memes and the collectives producing them. To answer this question of mediated cultural participation, I used a critical discourse analytic method and focused on three criteria indicative of cultural participation: processes, identities, and politics. The results were mixed. First, while the formal processes necessary for making memes were open, they required literacy to engage. Second, while meme collectives were readily and broadly accessible by diverse identities and perspectives, they were gatekept by subcultural insiders who privileged some and marginalized others. Third, while diverse political commentary did occur, it happened in a relatively narrow frame of perspectives. However, these inequalities did not mean polyvocal public participation was absent in meme collectives. Memes were a means to transform established cultural texts into new ones, to negotiate the worth of diverse identities, and to engage in unconventional arguments about public policy and current events. Memes were a mix of old inequalities and new participation

e-Learning in the corporate sector: A case study in the oil and gas industry

This research examined the implementation of an e-learning tool at Apache Energy, an oil and gas company operating in Western Australia. The e-learning tool was developed to help facilitate an understanding of site safety at an oil and gas facility characterised by an increasingly contracted workforce. The study’s research questions were formulated to describe and explain the implementation, looking particularly at relationships between the design of the e-learning tool, the way in which it was implemented, and the outcomes that emerged. The study adopted an interpretive-case study approach focusing on 256 contractors who engaged with the e-learning tool at a dedicated e-learning centre in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. Interviewing and detailed observation were the primary data collection methods used in the study. In describing and explaining the implementation of the e-learning tool, the research found evidence to suggest that it achieved its desired outcomes. Further, the study noted widespread acceptance of the e-learning model. Contractors appreciated the self-paced and multimedia attributes of the e-learning experience, finding it a refreshing and empowering change to what they saw as the repetitive treadmill of safety inductions that characterises the oil and gas industry. However, there were some discrepancies between the design of the e-learning tool and its implementation, particularly in relation to the quality and level of social resources that were provided to support the tool. Tailoring the e-learning experience for individualised learning (e.g. scaffolding contractors with limited computer skills) is one of the key challenges for future implementations. This study will interest training professionals and managers in VET and corporate settings who are considering adopting e-learning as an alternative or integrated education and training solution

The Practice of Neogeography in Community-Based Organizations

Neogeography and Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) are two terms that have emerged recently to describe the practice of geography by those not formally trained in it as a discipline and spatial data provided by individuals through social media and other Web-based tools. Both neogeography and VGI can be directly linked to the growth of various online mapping websites and applications that allow for the creation of electronic maps that are interactive, adaptable, and easily shared via the Internet and Web. As recent phenomena, the practice of neogeography and VGI is not well understood, nor are the links these new fields have to previously established knowledge on Geographic Information Systems and its associated practices. This thesis attempts to fill this knowledge gap through a participatory study of neogeographic practice. Using a participatory workshop format, I observed and documented representatives of community-based organizations in Syracuse, NY as they encountered online mapping tools for the first time. I followed up with two of those organizations in longer case studies to better understand how organizations with no obvious geographic focus come to see geography as a way of communicating complex ideas about space. This study revealed that while the technical complexity of the online mapping software continues to prove to be a hindrance to its use, there remains space for professional geographers to interact with laypeople who make maps. Furthermore, such engagement is necessary to begin to understand the issues involved with location-based information and privacy, access to data, and ability to use and communicate geographic concepts and knowledge