Social software

About: Social software is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1666 publications have been published within this topic receiving 40341 citations.

Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage

Abstract: We -- the users turned creators and distributors of content -- are TIME's Person of the Year 2006, and AdAge's Advertising Agency of the Year 2007. We form a new Generation C. We have MySpace, YouTube, and OurMedia; we run social software, and drive the development of Web 2.0. But beyond the hype, what's really going on? In this groundbreaking exploration of our developing participatory online culture, Axel Bruns establishes the core principles which drive the rise of collaborative content creation in environments, from open source through blogs and Wikipedia to Second Life. This book shows that what's emerging here is no longer just a new form of content production, but a new process for the continuous creation and extension of knowledge and art by collaborative communities: produsage. The implications of the gradual shift from production to produsage are profound, and will affect the very core of our culture, economy, society, and democracy.

HT06, tagging paper, taxonomy, Flickr, academic article, to read

Abstract: In recent years, tagging systems have become increasingly popular. These systems enable users to add keywords (i.e., "tags") to Internet resources (e.g., web pages, images, videos) without relying on a controlled vocabulary. Tagging systems have the potential to improve search, spam detection, reputation systems, and personal organization while introducing new modalities of social communication and opportunities for data mining. This potential is largely due to the social structure that underlies many of the current systems.Despite the rapid expansion of applications that support tagging of resources, tagging systems are still not well studied or understood. In this paper, we provide a short description of the academic related work to date. We offer a model of tagging systems, specifically in the context of web-based systems, to help us illustrate the possible benefits of these tools. Since many such systems already exist, we provide a taxonomy of tagging systems to help inform their analysis and design, and thus enable researchers to frame and compare evidence for the sustainability of such systems. We also provide a simple taxonomy of incentives and contribution models to inform potential evaluative frameworks. While this work does not present comprehensive empirical results, we present a preliminary study of the photo-sharing and tagging system Flickr to demonstrate our model and explore some of the issues in one sample system. This analysis helps us outline and motivate possible future directions of research in tagging systems.

The Theory and Practice of Online Learning

Abstract: Neither an academic tome nor a prescriptive 'how to' guide, "The Theory and Practice of Online Learning" is an illuminating collection of essays by practitioners and scholars active in the complex field of distance education.Distance education has evolved significantly in its 150 years of existence. For most of this time, it was an individual pursuit defined by infrequent postal communication. But recently, three more developmental generations have emerged, supported by television and radio, teleconferencing, and computer conferencing. The early 21st century has produced a fifth generation, based on autonomous agents and intelligent, database-assisted learning, that has been referred to as Web 2.0.The second edition of "The Theory and Practice of Online Learning" features updates in each chapter, plus four new chapters on current distance education issues such as connectivism and social software innovations.

Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning?

Abstract: © 2 0 0 6 B r y a n A l e x a n d e r chronological structure implies a different rhetorical purpose than a Web page, which has no inherent timeliness That altered rhetoric helped shape a different audience, the blogging public, with its emergent social practices of blogrolling, extensive hyperlinking, and discussion threads attached not to pages but to content chunks within them Reading and searching this world is significantly different from searching the entire Web world Still, social software does not indicate a sharp break with the old but, rather, the gradual emergence of a new type of practice These sections of the Web break away from the page metaphor Rather than following the notion of the Web as book, they are predicated on microcontent Blogs are about posts, not pages Wikis are streams of conversation, revision, amendment, and truncation Podcasts are shuttled between Web sites, RSS feeds, and diverse players These content blocks can be saved, summarized, addressed, copied, quoted, and built into new projects Browsers respond to this boom in

Distance Education Trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration

Abstract: Current trends in the field of distance education indicate a shift in pedagogical perspectives and theoretical frameworks, with student interaction at the heart of learner‐centered constructivist environments. The purpose of this article is to explore the benefits of using emerging technology tools such as wikis, blogs, and podcasts to foster student interaction in online learning. It also reviews social software applications such as Writeboard™, InstaColl™, and Imeem™. Although emerging technologies offer a vast range of opportunities for promoting collaboration in both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments, distance education programs around the globe face challenges that may limit or deter implementation of these technologies. This article probes the influence of technology on theory and the possible implications this influence affords.