Dr. Dan

GPACW

djweinstein — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:41:05 +0000

Hi, GPACW Folks!

Chat Inside Your OPML Outline

djweinstein — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:06:32 +0000

Something else to add to your OPML outline: a Meebo chat widget! Here’s a screenshot.

My Section > Lessons that Worked

djweinstein — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 01:20:08 +0000

This is where we can talk about the section of our article I’m writing.

A Promising Model for a Collaborative Writing Environment

djweinstein — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 03:23:10 +0000

As this screenshot shows, I have cobbled together a browser based environment for research and writing. I’ve combined Grazr (left side), iJot (right side), and the Performancing blog editing extension (bottom).

In the Grazr window one can read the feeds fed to that space through an OPML reading list maintained by a member of the collaboration team.

In the iJot window one can edit text, wiki-like, inside a shared outline.

In the Performancing blog editing extension one can write blog posts that will appear in the Grazr window (providing one’s blog feed is linked to the OPML reading list, of course).

At this time this configuration does not work because a shared iJot outline cannot be edited within a frameset. Replace the iJot outline with a shared Writely file, however, and one is in business.

A third vertical pane, containing a digital chat service such as Meebo, could also be added.

7 More Sources

djweinstein — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 16:20:09 +0000

Collaboration and portals team up for enterprise workplace
Mark Levitt, Kathleen Quirk. KM World. Camden: Jun 2006.Vol.15, Iss. 6; pg. 8, 2 pgs
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1050509981&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=18865&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Comment:

Ever heard the term, “mashup”? As I understand it, in the context of computer programming, a “mashup” is a combination of applications that produces a working environment which leverages certain features of each application in the mash toward the achievement of a certain set of goals.

According to Wikipedia, “A mashup is a website or Web 2.0 application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service.”

In some ways, I think, the “enterprise workplace” described by Levitt, Quirk and World might be considered a kind of mashup on a much larger scale than just one ajax application that pulls information from several sources. It’s a conglomeration of applications within a stardardized, persistent interface. I think my tricked out Firefox browser, with its ScrapBook, Sage, and Performancing extensions, and email and im interfaces operating within browser windows, serves as a kind of “enterprise workplace” in these authors’ sense of the phrase.

Such seems to be the future of collaboration and information management software. The idea is to put all the applications in one place so the information worker only has to work in one environment. No more copy – and – paste across windows. Research, write, chat, email, edit, and publish all from the same place. As I write this I am reading a web page, checking my mail (inadvertently!), and accessing archived web pages, all within Firefox. It feels a bit like WebCT, in which communication and publication tools work side by side, only much more open.

The Implementation of an Asynchronous Web-based Gaming & Simulation Environment and Its Effects on Financial Engineering Education
Hsing-Wen Wang. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge. Hollywood: Sep 2006.Vol.9, Iss. 2; pg. 360, 10 pgs
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1061025081&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=18865&RQT=309&VName=PQD

From the abstract:
“Finally, the findings show that mediating the mechanisms creates effective collaborative learning with extensive self-learning process from group decisions activities.”

INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM TEACHING: NEGOTIATING PEDAGOGICAL DIFFERENCES
Ivan A Shibley Jr. College Teaching. Washington: Summer 2006.Vol.54, Iss. 3; pg. 271, 4 pgs
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1087704391&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=18865&RQT=309&VName=PQD

The author says he had an easy time team teaching with some of his colleagues and a hard time team teaching with others. The difference seemed to be twofold: he worked better with colleagues in the sciences who shared, in general, a scientific point of view, and taught best in situations where he and his collaborators could plan class work and activities down to the second. He did not work well, he says, with a philosopher who favored classroom sponteneity and improvisation.

Collaborating With Documents, Managing With XML — Researchers and managers at this agency work with conventional authoring tools, but they keep componentized content up to date in a central database
Michael P. Voelker and Doug Henschen. Intelligent Enterprise. San Mateo: Jul 1, 2006.Vol.9, Iss. 7; pg. 35
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1072494501&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=18865&RQT=309&VName=PQD

CREATING TRUST IN VIRTUAL TEAMS AT ORANGE
Debbie Lawley. Knowledge Management Review. Chicago: May/Jun 2006.Vol.9, Iss. 2; pg. 12, 6 pgs

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1041102821&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=18865&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration
Andrew P. McAfee. MIT Sloan Management Review. Cambridge: Spring 2006.Vol.47, Iss. 3; pg. 21
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1020961391&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=18865&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Managing instant messaging content at V. Ships
Walter Wilson. Knowledge Management Review. Chicago: Jan/Feb 2006.Vol.8, Iss. 6; pg. 9, 1 pgs
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=968120831&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=18865&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Phase II

djweinstein — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 20:43:23 +0000

For phase two each of us will come to class with a list of seven sources. Most if not all of our sources should describe collaborations that took place among students and that followed some kind of protocol which was documented.

Each of us will post our list of sources (with a link to each source) to our wiki page before class begins on Wednesday.

Our wiki page can be found here: http://djweinstein.pbwiki.com/cscw

Don’t Rush the Post

djweinstein — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 19:49:10 +0000

Here’s a thought: let your blog posts “percolate.” Write them, then sit on them for a while. See if this approach to blogging helps you.

A Procedural Progression

djweinstein — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 19:22:59 +0000

I think it might be useful for the collaborative writing to move from ScrapBook research notes to blogging, and then to both individual and group outlining, with individual outlines included as resources in the group outline. Outlines would have to be carefully annotated so everyone would know who added what when.

The CSCW will consider this and other thoughts about do collaborative writing next week, as it looks forward to the group writing phase of its first article.

Make Way for Wikis by Eric Oatman

djweinstein — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 19:06:27 +0000

My notes on this article can be viewed here.

After many years of watching web based writing and information management tools take shape, I am itching to hear about some “best practices.” This article about web sites called “wikis” that are easy for multiple users to edit together describes the wiki software, but then moves past techno-gazing to ask how people (especially educators and their students) are using wikis and how wikis are changing the way people think about web-based information.

The article mentions the following uses to which wikis are being put:

Classes use wikis to create their own reference materials (knowledge base)
Students in writing classes use wikis to write newspaper articles together
A wiki may be used as a dynamic conference program or community meeting place and/or bulletin board

This article also lists some wiki hosts:

As wikis have become more popular, more people have questioned the value of information that is authored by many hands. The accuracy of information to be found on wiki sites (sites such as Wikipedia) is in dispute. However, many wikis employ responsible editorial policies and oversight and have been shown to provide accurate and up to date information.

I invite the members of the CSCW class to try editing a wiki page to see what it’s like (I’ve emailed you the password in WebCT). Maybe we should use a wiki to write our first article?

Jill Is Thinking . . .

djweinstein — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:43:11 +0000

It looks like Jill already has a few thoughts about how we might progress once we reach our drafting stage.
In a post about her first researched source, she points to an interesting group outlining activity and shares the idea that we might assign individuals to write different sections of our article once our group has arrived at that article’s central message.