TAD4794Discussion Forum/Blog

The Machine is Us/ing Us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

The Possibilities of Text• Text on paper = unilinear• Digital text = more flexible, moveable• Hypertext = link outside the square– Brings together form and content

• XML = frees things up even more– Ability to arrange content as elements– Context changes with arrangement– Understanding enriched or manipulated

Producing Knowledge and Meaning • Knowledge and meaning is produced by the

consumers– ‘prosumers’

• Collaboration like no time in history– Wikis, discussion boards, blogs

Issues

Copyright Aesthetics

Rhetorics

Governance

Privacy Commerce

Authorship

Ethics

What is a Discussion Forum (Blog)• An asynchronous communication tool • Allows one individual to post a comment or

question online • Members of the same discussion board may

read that comment/question, and respond with their own remarks over time

http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/ocs/discuss.html

TERMINOLOGY• Posts– A question or comment by an individual

• Thread– A group of connected posts (responses to original

post)• Also known as – Discussion boards, discussion forums, bulletin

boards, message boards, and (in certain applications) blogs

Why use for this assignment?• Allows reflection• Requires you to state your thoughts• Allows all students in the group to participate

and join-in the conversation• Allows you to reference and bring external

sources of information into the conversation (e.g., "according to this web site...")

• Creates a record or archive of conversations

http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/ocs/discussp2.html

Assessment Task• Use your discussion board (blog) to

demonstrate collaboration– Read each others posts– Comment on them

• Add hyperlinked material• Language less formal, however attention to

spelling and grammar still necessary• Be mindful of citing