The usability of open source software: analysis and prospects

Open source communities have successfully developed many pieces of software although most computer users only use proprietary applications. The usability of open source software is often regarded as one reason for this limited distribution. In this paper we review the existing evidence of the usability of open source software and discuss how the characteristics of open-source development influence usability. We describe how existing human-computer interaction techniques can be used to leverage distributed networked communities, of developers and users, to address issues of usability

Usability and open source software.

Open source communities have successfully developed many pieces of software although most computer users only use proprietary applications. The usability of open source software is often regarded as one reason for this limited distribution. In this paper we review the existing evidence of the usability of open source software and discuss how the characteristics of open-source development influence usability. We describe how existing human-computer interaction techniques can be used to leverage distributed networked communities, of developers and users, to address issues of usability

Bank-firm credit network in Japan. An analysis of a bipartite network

We present an analysis of the credit market of Japan. The analysis is performed by investigating the bipartite network of banks and firms which is obtained by setting a link between a bank and a firm when a credit relationship is present in a given time window. In our investigation we focus on a community detection algorithm which is identifying communities composed by both banks and firms. We show that the clusters obtained by directly working on the bipartite network carry information about the networked nature of the Japanese credit market. Our analysis is performed for each calendar year during the time period from 1980 to 2011. Specifically, we obtain communities of banks and networks for each of the 32 investigated years, and we introduce a method to track the time evolution of these communities on a statistical basis. We then characterize communities by detecting the simultaneous over-expression of attributes of firms and banks. Specifically, we consider as attributes the economic sector and the geographical location of firms and the type of banks. In our 32 year long analysis we detect a persistence of the over-expression of attributes of clusters of banks and firms together with a slow dynamics of changes from some specific attributes to new ones. Our empirical observations show that the credit market in Japan is a networked market where the type of banks, geographical location of firms and banks and economic sector of the firm play a role in shaping the credit relationships between banks and firms.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 2 Table

What did the Romans ever do for us? ‘Next generation’ networks and hybrid learning resources

Networked learning is fundamentally concerned with the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to link people to people and resources, to support the process of learning. This paper explores some current and forthcoming changes in ICT and some potential implications of these developments for networked learning. Whilst we aim to avoid taking a technologically determinist stance, we explore the potential for future practice and how some educational and pedagogic practices are evolving to exploit and shape the digital environment. We argue that we can change both the ways in which connections between people (learners and other learners; learners and tutors) are made and the nature of the resources that learning communities (particularly distributed communities) can engage with. In doing this we draw on two strands of work. Firstly, we draw on the ‘IBZL Education’ a UK Open University initiative to develop new scholarship in the context of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) through which educators are encouraged to think about technological change in the next five to ten years and ways in which we can intervene and shape these developments. We use problem-based learning as an example of a learning experience that can be difficult to implement in a networked learning environment. IBZL identified two broad strands of significant technological development. 'Superfast' broadband networks that are capable of supporting novel applications are being rolled in the UK (and elsewhere). Also, boundaries between the real and virtual worlds are becoming blurred as in the ‘internet of things’ where, for example, RFID tags enable information about the real world to be brought into the virtual one. We use the term ‘artefact’ to describe designed components, whether entirely digital, such as a computer forum, or material, such as a tablet PC. Networked ‘hybrid’ technologies of virtual and material components have may great potential for use in education. Secondly, we illustrate how these changes may be beginning to happen in distance education using the example of TU100 My Digital Life, a new introductory Open University. . TU100 Students use an electronics board in their own homes to work on a programming problem in collaboration other students through a tutor-led tutorial in a web conferencing system. We also note some of the evident complexity that establishing such resources as part of wider infrastructures of networked learning would be likely to involve

Communities of Practice: Perspectives from Pre-service Teachers

This paper will report on the conduct of an undergraduate course where pre-service teachers participate in and develop or modify an online learning environment. The course has as its main focus, the notion of online virtual communities, and explores students’ current trends and practices with communication tools and networked communities with those currently being offered in a variety of educational contexts. During the course participants implement their new or modified online learning environment while undertaking professional experience in a school of their choice. The paper further describes the students’ experiences throughout the course and presents recommendations, for educators wishing to espouse a sense of community within online learning environments

Virtual Geodemographics: Repositioning Area Classification for Online and Offline Spaces

Computer mediated communication and the Internet has fundamentally changed how consumers and producers connect and interact across both real space, and has also opened up new opportunities in virtual spaces. This paper describes how technologies capable of locating and sorting networked communities of geographically disparate individuals within virtual communities present a sea change in the conception, representation and analysis of socioeconomic distributions through geodemographic analysis. We argue that through virtual communities, social networks between individuals may subsume the role of neighbourhood areas as the most appropriate units of analysis, and as such, geodemographics needs to be repositioned in order to accommodate social similarities in virtual, as well as geographical, space. We end the paper by proposing a new model for geodemographics which spans both real and virtual geographies

Networked Field Studies: Comparative Inquiry and Online Communities

In this article, I articulate a methodology for comparative qualitative analysis of online communities, which I refer to as networked field studies. I describe networked field studies as an approach that allows for looking across multiple communities and field sites to build a coherent set of analytical claims about the role of technology and everyday life, drawing on my own research investigating relationships to digital technologies among three countercultural communities. The major aim of this article is to contribute to methodological discussions on comparative qualitative analysis within Internet studies, foregrounding how research on digital technologies can both benefit from and complicate a comparative approach. After a brief summary of the communities studied in the research that has given rise to this methodological approach, I outline key methodological concepts and address the strengths and limitations of networked field studies as a method for analyzing socio-technical practices in everyday life

INNOVATIVE MODELS OF WEB‐SUPPORTED UNIVERSITY‐SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS

This study explored how the Internet bridges theory and practice. Teacher educators, teachers, and prospective teachers used collaborative technologies to design networked communities embedded in three distinct perspectives: the networked learning community, the networked community of practice, and the knowledge building community. Networked communities prompted the development of solutions for integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the elementary, secondary, and post‐secondary levels. These communities provide opportunities for sustained theory‐practice dialogue between teachers at different stages of their professional development and opportunities for ‘boundary spanning’ between courses, practica, pre‐ and in‐service education, graduate seminars, and collaborative research activities. Key words: teacher education, professional development, collaborative reflective practice, networked communitiesCette étude explore les possibilités d’Internet, entre autres, le Web et certains de ses outils pour soutenir des échanges propices à l’établissement de liens théorie‐pratique au sein de communautés en réseau. Trois modèles sont présentés, chacun ayant conduit à la mise à l’avant de solutions novatrices pour l’intégration réussie des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) aux niveaux primaire, secondaire et postsecondaire. Les communautés en réseau ont fourni des occasions de réflexion et de mise en relation d’activités de cours et de stages, de formation initiale et continue ainsi que de recherches réalisées en collaboration. Mots clés: formation des enseignants, développement professionnel, pratique réflexive, communautés en réseau