Collaborative Content Development

by

Ajazur Rahman DRTC, ISI, B’lore

ajaz@drtc.isibang.ac.in (26th Feb 2009)

Outline of talk

• What is Collaboration & CCD?

• Areas of collaboration on the web Online encyclopedia Learning Management System

• Application of CCD in Libraries

• Issues and Challenges

• Conclusion

What is collaboration?

• People interacting with other individuals, teams, ideas and information to create and deliver value.

• Collaboration requires everyone working together toward a common goal – unified content

• Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the co-operation of many minds. (Alexander Graham Bell)

• Working jointly with others

Contd..

• Collaborative models• Partnership • Outsourcing• Strategic alliance• Skill sharing • Team work• Networks• Digital consortium (Largest & complex

collaboration)

What is CCD?

• CCD is web-based collective action by a group of people for developing a helpful content.

• Collaborative content applications are providing new means for self-expression, individual creativity and development.

• Application of CCD implemented in the field of web-based

information only after the existence of web 2.0

Difference b/w web-based & printed collaboration

Web-based

• Collaborative content• Editable• Availability 24x7• Group thought• Global level• Impartiality • Easy to convey

Printed

• Collaborative discussion• Not editable• Availability (certain time)• Individual thought (some

extent)

• Regional level• Partiality• Difficult to convey

Web 2.0 internet based services

• Social networking sites– YouTube– My space video– Flickr– Orkut– Webshots– Yahoophotos, etc.

• Wikis (Wikipedia, Scholarpedia, Wiktionary, Wikimapia etc.)

• Communication tools ( IM, Conferencing tools, videos etc.)

• Folksonomies

Areas of collaboration on the web

• Online encyclopedia

• Learning Management System

• Collaborative Portals

• Community Information System

• Content Management System

• Project management

Wikipedia

• Wikipedia is a collaborative content initiative that aims to create freely available information resources.

• Anyone can create, modify, enhance, delete and discuss

existing or new content, but only a small number of administrators have higher level management rights for the content and the power to solve disputes and lock pages.

• Supported by Wikimedia Foundation which is free multilingual encyclopedia project.

• Launched in January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger.

Contd..

• June 2008 survey shows that Wikipedia had 253 different language version, of which 236 are active.

• The English Wikipedia is the largest online encyclopedia with over 2,397,000 articles.

• Alexa.com suggests in August 2008 that Wikipedia reached 9.2% of the global internet audience.

• Wikipedias have 9.5 million registered users.

Coverage

Users participation

• US (26%)• Japan (11%)• Germany (8%)• India (5%)• UK (4%)

Language coverage

• English version (52%)• Spanish version (19%)• French version (5%)

Wikipedia article development

Scholarpedia

• Scholarpedia is the free peer reviewed encyclopedia written by scholars from all around the world.

• It is an English-language online wiki-based encyclopedia.

• Only registered users can edit an article, and those edits are subject to approval by the curator of the article, who is typically the author.

• The project was created in February 2006 by Eugene M. Izhikevich, a researcher at the Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, California.

Wiktionary

• Wiktionary is a sister project of wikimedia foundation.

• Wiktionary is a collaborative project to produce a free-content multilingual dictionary.

• Wiktionary includes a thesaurus, a rhyme guide, phrase books, etymologies, pronunciations, sample quotations, synonyms, acronyms, antonyms and translations etc.

• Covers 68 languages, biasness free

• Entries may include text, images, sounds etc

• Regional terms coverage

Learning Management System

• A Learning Management System (LMS) is a set of software tools designed to manage user learning interventions.

• An LMS is usually a database driven, dynamic website that provides students and teachers an environment where testing and reporting can be made.

• An LMS include course catalogs, registration, tracking etc.

• It distribute courses over the Internet and offering features for online collaboration.

ThinkQuest

• ThinkQuest is an international website building competition sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation. Founded by Allan H. Weis in 1996.

• It is a collaboratively learning platform where teachers and students create learning projects and participate in a website competition.

• ThinkQuest is a medium of development of collaboratively creative and innovative websites.

• For creating a websites it select a Student teams, consisting of 3 to 6 students and a Coach.

Process of website creation

1. Enroll: - Only a librarian, teacher or school administrator can enroll as a coach through online application.

- After submission the application ThinkQuest team review the application and verify that the school is accredited

or not.

- Finally the school contact is now ready to create projects and join the competition.

2. Assemble a team: - All teams need a Coach (teacher), assistant coach (additional) and 3-6 students.

- There should be 3 age groups: 19 & Under, 15 & Under, and 12 & Under.

Contd..

- Extra points will be awarded to teams that have members from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds.

3. Build a website:

- Coaches choose a topic, assemble a team, and build a website.

- These websites are published in the ThinkQuest Library, a public presentation of competing websites.

4. Win prize:

- Prizes for ThinkQuest competition winners may include a trip to ThinkQuest Live in San Francisco, laptop computers, digital cameras, and school monetary grants.

Areas of subjects

• ThinQuest has categorized into 12 different fields to develop a website. These are…

1. Arts & Entertainment2. Books & Literature3. Business & Industry4. Computers & the Internet5. Geography & Travel6. Health & Safety7. History & Government8. Math9. Philosophy, Religion & Mythology10. Science & Technology11. Social Science & Culture12. Sports and recreation

Evaluation criteria of ThinkQuest websites

• Content: Website expertly explores the chosen topic, evidenced by depth of information, supporting details and a variety of sources. All content should be accurate and current.

• Writing & Organization: Content should be written in English using correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. Writing should be concise and easy to understand.

• Originality: Website should be creative and original in its approach to presenting the topic. The majority of written content should not be paraphrased or copied from outside sources.

• Educational Relevance: All content (written, media elements) should be educational and informative and should be written and organized for a student audience.

Contd..

• Global Impact:- Website should intentionally raise awareness, presents action steps, and effectively engages others in addressing the issue and making a difference.

• Collaboration:- Site Profile and website should include a candid narrative on how the team worked together to create the website, divide tasks, share responsibilities, and overcome challenges.

• Team Diversity:- Student team members come from multiple socioeconomic backgrounds, cultural groups, or have overcome other challenges to participate so Site Profile and website should explain how the team is diverse.

• Website Structure, Appearance, and Function:- The site’s design and layout make it easy to use. Every page should be visually well organized. Colors, fonts, and overall layout should be creative, artistic and consistent across the website.

Sakai

• Sakai is a community of academic institutions, commercial organizations and individuals who work together to develop a common Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE).

• CLE is a free and open source product that is built and maintained by the Sakai community.

• It is a powerful and flexible solution that supports teaching and learning along with research and administrative collaboration.

• It is an active community of educational institutions working together to solve common problems and share best practices.

CCD as library perspective

• Summary creation or abstract

• Review or critical notes

• Tagging (subject Indexing) Through a digital library Online web opac

• Glossary (using wiki tools to index a technical terms or jargons)

• Weblogs and wiki

• User rating

• Library consortium

Issues & challenges of CCD

1. Quality of content: -- Information accuracy and reliability -- Production quality

-- Legal and personal misuse(infringements of copyrights and moral rights)

-- Infringing usage of content

Contd..

2. Risk of Digital Divide:-- Internet usage divide

-- Internet skills divide

-- Advanced digital competence

3. Privacy & security

4. Internet security threats

5. Challenges for organizations (question of productivity)

Conclusion

• The key feature of collaborative content is that it is created, reviewed, refined, enhanced and shared by interactions and contributions by a number of people.

• Collaborative content, created with web2.0 technologies, is part of the social computing phenomenon .

• Finally, CCD is completely based on web only after the existence of web 2.0

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkQuest

• http://www.thinkquest.org/en/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_software

• http://sakaiproject.org/portal

• http://www.ohloh.net/p/3551

• JRC Scientific and Technical Reports by Kirsti Ala-Mukta, (pdf)