A Taxonomy of Web 2.0 Technologies
(and the role of Twitter in Higher Education)
ALT-C 2010
Guy Saward, University of Hertfordshire
What’s the point of Twitter?
Why a wiki?
Why not a blog?
How do I podcast my lectures?
Who Cares?
Participation
Engagement Enhancement
WikisBlogs
Audio Video
RSS
Social Software
Microblog
TumblelogIM
Bookmarks
SMS
Forums
Digital Literacy ≠ ICT skills
“Staff capability with ICT is a further dimension of the digital divide … and effective use of technology to enhance learning is as much of an issue as getting it to work” [JISC 2009]
Knowledge: explicitand tacit
ContentCommunication
Information:
transmission/decodeencoding/
Contentweb (1.0)
Which is “King”?
Communication
Contentbooks
What do we need?
people
Communication
Content
What have we got?
Communication
Contentreferenc
e
Communication
narrative
message
presence
Content
Communicationreference
narrative
message
presence
Online Reference materialWiki(pedia) as definitive web 2.0 reference
– large item size (lots of content on a page)– large collection size (lots of pages)
Delicious provide references – links other online content– smaller item size (1024 char in notes)
RSS provide references to updates– small items in themselves– non-persistant => no structure / search
wiki
social book marks
newsfeed
References – How much content?Can construct an order based on how much content each technology can / typically support
Debatable what is web 2.0, e.g. RSS (yes?), ebooks (no?), annotations (yes?) => work to do
wikisocial book marks
RSSmore structure/ persistence
bigger itemsmore items
blog tumblelog
microblog
mixed mediabigger itemsmore structure
Narrative
forum email SMSbigger item
mixed mediamore structure
/ context
Messaging
e-confer-ence
virtual world
online chat
mixed mediaeasier access
Presence
Reference material – Comms OrderCan order technology by how much communication each can / typically supports
Note: focus on primary purpose of each tech, e.g.wiki’s can have forums to support comms… but not defining character
wikisocial book marks
RSShigher freq.
& pushhigher push in change indicators
Classification of Web 2.0 Technologiescommunication
content
freq+sync
size+struct
wiki
blog forum
SMStwitter
online chat
tumblelog
social book marks
RSS
2Life
eConfer-ence
Who Cares?
What’s the point of Twitter?
Why a wiki?
Why not a blog?
How do I podcast my lectures?
How do I podcast my lectures?
Content: audio vs video vs slideshow
Comms: nothingnotification enclosure vs url stream vs
download auto vs
manual(New Oxford American Dictionary no help)
tumblelog
microblog
mixed mediabigger itemsmore structure
tumblelog
microblogblog
wiki
blog
forum email SMSbigger item
mixed mediamore structure
/ context
e-confer-ence
virtual world
online chat
mixed mediaeasier access
wikisocial book marks
RSSmore structure/ persistence
bigger itemsmore items
bigger itemsmore items
bigger itemsmixed media more structure
/ persistence
more structure/ persistence
bigger itemsbetter structure?
bigger itemsmixed media
more structure/ persistence
more structure/ persistence
more items / structure
more structure/ persistence
more structure/ persistence
more persistence
blog tumblelog
microblog
higher freq. / intensity
higher freq.
forum email SMS
e-confer-ence
virtual world
online chat
wikisocial book marks
RSS
comms classification
Does it help?
blog tumblelog
microblog
forum email SMS
e-confer-ence
virtual world
online chat
wikisocial book marks
RSS
content
rankingby
CPD learners
blog tumblelog
microblog
forum email SMS
e-confer-ence
virtual world
online chat
wikisocial book marks
RSS
comms
rankingby
CPD learners
Conclusions for CPD
Taxonomy answers basic questions provides structure for reflection identifies areas for development => content=ref, comms=msgs => student plans content focussedCreating content/comms
work in progress
Conclusions for Practice
Invest more time in fewer things
Design learning, select technologies
Convergence will blur the picture
Does it work for you?
Links with theory >
Application to Learning Theories
Objectivism• objective knowledge => content (creation of true
models of reality/knowledge by authorities)• transmission => comms (teacher-learner interact)
Constructivism• constructed knowledge => content (creation of
personal/shared knowledge by learner)• collaborative => comms ("effective", high content)• active => content (engage with/apply to)
Application to Learning Theories
Community of Inquiry• social presence => comms (low content)• teaching presence => content (structure)• cognitive presence => high content needed to
"construct meaning through sustained comms"
Community of Practice• domain of practice => content• community to share/discuss/challenge => comms
communication
content
freq+sync
size+struct
wikiblog
2Life
forum
SMStwitter
eConference
online chat
tumblelog
social bookmark
RSS
features•multimedia blog•tumblr/facebook
content•video, images•low text content
comms•comments/forum•track back
Technology Classification tumblelog
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