• Dapper.net & Tutorial Video at http://www.dapper.net/dapperDemo/
  

  On Information Design

  • Who are the users?  The users for the tutorial are advanced web authors to provide an brief overview of the dapper tool.  Users must know the definition and uses for terms such as RSS and XML.  Users are also assumed to have a working knowledge of YouTube and how to search for a video using the site.

  • Information chunk (gestalt principle, amount information).  The information is chunked in a roughly 5 minute module.  Because of the short time for instruction, the author has provided information for a fairly specific audience.  Entry knowledge is assumed and the instruction only shows a brief simple example highlighting the main features of the tool.  The video simply familiarizes the user with the dapper interface.

  • Relevance (graphics, content, reading level, text).  The video was a screen capture narrated with a voice over.  The screen was sized down to allow it to be displayed within the content area in the Dapper template.  This made the text hard to read at times but still gave you an idea of how to navigate the site.  The graphics were the exact graphics that a user of the dapper site would encounter.  This  

  • Labeling (visual with text).  The video had standard controls at the top of the video.  It had a distinguishable color contrast from the video so that the controls could easily be located.  The "next Demo" link looked like it could have been part of the screen capture and it did not stand out visually.  I think that the first time I watched this video I actually thought that there were no additional tutorials and was disappointed. 

  • Consistency (visual, text).  The video was a screen capture of the Dapper site so there was no difference from the video example to actually using the site.

  • Detail (too much on one page or one screen).  The short 5 minute module was a tolerable length for new users.  There are more tutu rials available for those users that are interested in more examples.

  On Interactivity

  • Orientation (Can you find the path, and know your way around?)  The introduction tutorial link is located on the homepage right under the search feature.  On the video page the video controls are easy to find.

  • Navigation (Branching)  The navigation for additional videos is not easily distinguishable from the screen capture.

  • Functionality (Does it work?)  The video played with ease and did not require any additional browser plug-ins for me.

  • Information access (Multiple entry and exit? Logical path?)  There are multiple ways to navigate to the video tutorial.  One link is located under the main search feature on the homepage.  There is another link under a heading for "New to Dapper".  Additionally, there is a link in the footer under the "Help" heading.  This tutorial should be easily located for multiple users scanning the homepage for 3 separate logical headings.

  On Screen Design

• Attractive (first impression).  The Dapper site design is simple, clean, and inviting.  I was particularly attracted to the Dapper logo.

Resolution.  The Dapper site does not use an abundance of graphics which helps readability.  So the colored/shaded boxes do not require a high resolution to be viewed as intended.
Color.  I like the blue color theme.  I think that it models after yahoo.com's color theme which is one of the highest volume sites by visitors.
Lay out.  The layout is atypical for me.  I am used to seeing navigation at the top of the screen.  However Dapper utilizes a large logo and search feature as the majority of the top of the homepage.  The navigation is then dispersed in the footer in a light gray.  This makes it harder to find, but i think that this was intentional by the designers.  The search is going to be used primarily by new users and users who are looking to determine what Dapper is.  This layout makes the likelihood of users to search the dapper applications.
Readability.  The dapper pages are very easy to read.  The text background contrast is high enough to make everything very readable.  However, the video tutorial uses a minimized screen and makes the text too small to read at times.  The video also has no way to zoom in on the text if a user can not read the text which can cause frustration and inhibit learning.

Everyday Thing - Toilet Paper Role

Toilet Paper














We all use toilet paper(well at least I hope so) but how well is it designed? Prior to this assignment I do not think that I would have ever pondered this question, however, once I began to think about my countless encounters with this everyday thing, I was thinking yes...and then no...and then yes.

Toilet paper was designed for functionality and I think that it certainly serves its purpose. TP is soft - little irritation, flushable - maintains cleanliness, perforated - able to serve for light and heavy messes, and white - visible displays staining.

Lets get into more specifics:
Affordance - When toilet paper is on a role the white color and light perforations do not clearly signal to the user where the beginning of the role is. Countless times I have reached for a toilet paper role and spun the role in both directions in hopes the starting square would reveal itself. Still with no apparent starting square, I spin harder in my frustration again in both directions only to result in miles of toilet paper on the bathroom floor. And im never thrilled about rolling bathroom floor TP back onto the role, eww.

Though, the perforations afford for ease of tearing. Just a little tug and most times the TP separates near that role.

Constraints:
Toilet paper comes in a role. So the toilet paper wall mount was designed to hold and dispense the toilet paper. The role constrains the design of the wall mount. It must allow for easy spinning of the role to release paper. However, to prevent the role from falling off of the mount it must be constrained on both sides of the role. So far so good, but what happens when you want to remove the empty role?















The double bound wall mount calls for a spring held rod to hold the role. To remove the role you must push in one side of the rod to push in the spring and then pull out the empty role. This was extremely challenging for me as a child. In fact, I have had several roommates who must be so frustrated with this design that they never replace a tp role!

Mapping/Visibility
The wall mount rod does not have any visual cues to let the user know how to remove a role. Due to the design constraints the spring loaded rod is concealed by the tp role that it holds which limits the space able to provide visual cues. This hurts the mapping of the design as well. With a concealed part that must be manipulated to remove the role it is hard for a first time user to determine the relationship between the role and the rod.

Ok I could write about this incredibly useful everyday thing all night but alas it is time for class.

Is this design good or bad for you? Or is the real question, is the design flawed enough to go back to diapers?

Empathy Presentation - Blog Version

Well the blog version is exactly the same. Last night I tried walking in a 2 year olds shoes to try to feel what it was like to be a baby. Well let me tell you it is confining and painful. I only lasted about 2 minutes before my feet turned purple and gangreny!

Eugene Lee's & SocialText - Forgotten Post

Oops, I guess that I forgot to publish this one and instead saved it as a draft.

Eugene is a very enthusiastic and dynamic presenter. I really enjoyed how he incorporated story into his talk. It made him more personal and also provided examples of the statements that he was making. Eugene had asked us how we could use a tool like SocialText to promote learning in the workplace. During the presentation, I found myself envisioning each aspect of SocialText proving very beneficial at my work. For almost a year, my academy has been going through a process of strategic planning and reorganization. One of the goals is to include all staff in the process which is problematic with staff working all over the Bay Area.  I am excited to test out SocialText for myself and get in and play with the tool to see exactly what it is capable of.  This truly was one of the best speakers that I have encountered during my time in this program!

5 Frame Story

Mashups: Web Application Hybrid

Mashups:Web Application Hybrid

Here is my Slide Show


Or... you can see the text version of the presentation.

What is a Mashup?

• A web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source.

How to Make a Mashup

• Mashed content is typically gathered from other sites through an API(application programming interface)

• API’s make it possible to use programs from within programs

• Ex. iGoogle, iGoogle gadgets, Google Docs, Windows Live, Yahoo Mail (think multi function programs on a webpage with out needing to re fresh the page)

APIs You Use













APIs = Computer Science

• APIs require coding like:

• .NET
• Java
• JavaScript
• PHP
• Python

• An API can require knowledge of all of these coding languages

But I don’t know code?

• Content can also be gathered by Web Feeds(RSS, ATOM) and Screen Scraping

Mashup Editors

• Mashup Editors: are WYSIWYGs for mashups. They provide a visual interface to build a mashup, often allowing the user to drag and drop data points into a web application.

n

Mashup Editors

• Orchestr8 AlchemyPoint
• WSO2 Mashup Server
• Microsoft Popfly
• Yahoo! Pipes
• QEDWiki by IBM
• Google Mashup Editor
• Serena Business Mashups
• Dapper
• Openkapow
• JackBe
• LiquidApps
• Open Mashups
• WaveMaker Ajax Studio

Yahoo Pipes

• Video

Dapper

• Video

Popfly

• Video

Ubiquity for Firefox

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Mashups in Education

• Stop New Nukes
  An education/advocacy project to make folks aware of the impact of nuclear weapons. Combines Google Maps with Flickr photos of various nuclear hazards.

• The Globe is Warming
  If you’ve ever wondered what m ight happen to the coastal areas given the future impact of climate induced sea level rise (and who hasn’t?), then this apocalyptic before & after mashup is for you.

• CampusExplorer
  Search through 6,000 US universities by location, field of study or degree type. Results include a Google Maps view with plotted locations for each campus.

How Would You Use Mashups?

Could allow you access to our class Ning site from iLearn!

Reflections - Oct 3 - Eluminate

Every semester I have a class that is conducted through Eluminate. I appreciate each Eluminate class for the experience, but I really do not like them. I find them very hard to maintain focused on the class lecture/discussion. There always seem to be many audio/video problems that come up and really disrupt the flow of the class. I have not participated in a class via Eluminate as the sole online participant but it seems that Josh has an easier time moderating single users to 10+. I just do not see myself opting to participate on Eluminate unless I had no option but to miss class. Also, as an instructor I would not choose to use Eluminate unless I had a TA who could dedicate their time to managing it. It would be impossible for Kim to facilitate the students in class as well as on Eluminate. Really, Eluminate has a long way to come in usability for me to see it as a truely usefull tool. It is a great start though.

One of my favorite peer blog phrases from this class was, "although I got a flavor for the lecture, I really did miss out on being a participant." I think that really captures my experience with Eluminate as an online user.

Dr. Curt Bonk's Lecture

I really enjoyed Dr. Bonk's lecture. The real-time lecture at a distance really kept me interested. In other ITEC courses I have had distant guest lecturers but this experience was by far the best. I really appreciate that I could see Dr. Bonk. I guess that a talking box or talking powerpoint just does not capture that visual element in my learning process. It also helped that Dr. Bonk was very familiar with the video streaming software/hardware that he was using. I had watch some of his video lectures prior to class and they were all similar to what we all saw in class(with the exception of the interaction with us). He was able to vary what was displayed to his audience to keep people both interested and to remind us that he was able to see/hear us. This really allowed me to feel like he was actively participating in the role of facilitator/lecturer. Though there were a few minor challenges with the audio this presentation was really a refreshing experience for me.

I really liked hearing Dr. Bonk's perspective on scholarship in academics. I had never thought of this concept but once introduced to me it seemed like a very important and relevant point. We have been reading and discussing how technology has changed and will dramatically change education in the students learn and are taught. However, academics are not mentioned in this shift even though they are students as well simply learning by pulling information from many sources to develop an idea that may be unique in their field. This peer-based learning seems to me to be very constructivist. So why would they not be moving towards a change in what is considered scholarship? Well, like Dr. Bonk said, I agree that the academic field has been conducted in a similar fashion for centuries and because of the intense time and mental commitment needed for success there is a sense of superiority in the field. Therefore, those scholars want to maintain their well defined structure for gaging their success (# of reputable published peer-reviewed articles) as opposed to opening the flood gates of scholarly work. I mean who would be hurt by making current research readily available/accessible to the masses? I only see that most will benefit and a few will have bruised egos.

USF EdD - Learning and Instruction

Last Saturday I went to the School of Education Graduate Open House. I had seen the Learning & Instruction Doctoral program and I wanted to see if it was something that I would want to pursue. The most interesting information that I found was that their will be a new Faculty member as of Fa 2009 who's background is in ID. Additionally, there is a faculty member with a background in Educational Multimedia. This made me think more about it, but really I just wanted to put this info out there for all of you. If you would like to look at the program a little more: I & D Program.
I think that the program would be a good fit for anyone thinking about continuing their education in ID.

Growing Up Google

I am kinda at a lose for why we are writing up a summary of this reading because the majority of it was in previous readings. I actually found that reading the bios of the authors to be more interesting than the first 10 pages. This book was written by a fairly diverse group with backgrounds that were surprising to me. PhDs, EdDs, and a doctoral student from fields outside of ITEC. I know that Dr. Beatty has a PhD in Inst. Systems Design and I assumed that many if not most respected faculty members in the ID field would have similar degrees; however this was not the case amongst the authors of this text. A few were in the Human Systems Interaction field which I never really thought related to the field of education outside of aeronautics(i had contemplated getting a doctorate in HSI at one time). After, seeing their backgrounds I really drew a connection in my mind about how HSI and ID really compliment each other very well. As we have been learning the tools that can be used to design curriculm HSI really focuses on how people interact with these technical tools. Research and SMIs in the HSI field will be extremely valueable when when teaching/training with new or advanced technology.

Ok now into the reading. I really liked the example of the augmented reality learning method. Where the student who missed a outdoor field trip could recreate the learning experience on her own with a PDA. I really find the use of mobile technology to be a great resource. Prior to this course I thought that the mobile education was primarily podcast/vodcasts that were able to be heard/viewed on mobile devices. But this example combines all of them with tagging, mapmashups, and GPS. Using a PDA device could be so beneficial for the students and the teacher. As long as the students were able to use the technology with ease, I could see them being more interested in the field trip especially because they could add their experience to that of all of their classmates(via tagging with notes).

One note: how does one use their laptop as a backpack or locker? can laptops now conceal coats, lipstick, and sweaty gym shoes?

The last point that interested me was the redesign of learning spaces. It makes makes sense when reading it but I had never thought about augmenting the learning space. During my education I have seen computers increase in my schools, from a computer room to classrooms with computers everywhere, but changing a library into a socialization arena...WOW! I do think that this will be important as the size of peoples social networks increase over the web. Students and faculty alike will require human contact and a place to share what they have been learning.

September 18 Reflections

I really had a hard time finding much benefit to our guest speaker until today when writing my previous post. During class I kept waiting to hear the speaker tell us why she was using iGoogle for her class management system. Why didn't she use a CMS? Wouldn't the students be able to change some fundamental course resources if they wanted to? Did the students actually benefit from this course design? Was iGoogle used because it is the only thing that she knew? Like last weeks wiki assignment, I could not get past the fact that I saw using a CMS/LMS as a better tool for her course. However, after I reflected on last weeks reading I began to find answers to all of my questions. I could see that CMS/LMS have many disadvantages to more Web 2.0 friendly sites. Comparing my personal iGoogle site to iLearn, I could see how much more useful iLearn could be if students were able to customize the information that comes to them or to chat with classmates. My iGoogle homepage is probably one of the most fascinating things that has been introduced to me this semester and I can not keep thinking about. It brings to me a sense of personalization simply because all of the information is relevant to my interests and likes. My political news is right next to my classmates blogs and the link for my MySpace is millimeters from my class Ning site. Having my personal interests intertwined with my learning surely will make the information that I am learning connect to more personal nodes in my mind than using a LMS like iLearn where I would set aside "homework time" and then return to my daily life. And really if the guest speaker felt comfortable managing her learners on iGoogle, good for her! She is leaps and bounds ahead of the majority of teachers in the education system today.

Emerging Technologies in Education

Besides this chapter doing a beautiful job of introducing emerging Web 2.0 technologies, I was really impressed that there were some Web 2.0 technologies that I had not heard about. All of the ITEC classes that I have taken since ITEC 800 have highlighted these technologies. Many of the classes have had students present overviews of them; however, I had not heard any discussion of Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing as a Web 2.0 technology. Once I read the description I could see that it was not simply file sharing that I was familiar with like Napster or LimeWire, but chatting and Skype. I guess that I had not considered direct sharing of small pieces of information that had not yet been fully created and only in full files that were created and then shared piece by piece to another individual. Other technologies that I had not heard of were the Context-aware environments/devices and smart mobs. Both of these technologies utilize pieces of Web 2.0 technology that I have heard of but the authors do an excellent job of giving the combined big picture view of them.

Other notable points: The discussion on Learning Management Systems being behind the times for Web 2.0 technology. I was under the assumption that LMS/CMS's were considered Web 2.0. The authors describe how the management systems, " are designed for Web 1.0, with minimal capability for fully functioning interactive environment." Recently, I have been really struggling with conceptualizing how to utilize all of the Web 2.0 tools within an LMS and this section really gave me validation that I was rightfully confused. Just thinking about iLearn and our 830 class, I could see how we have to utilize so many sources outside of iLearn to take advantage of Web 2.0 technology.

Finally, hearing that traditional teaching methods will not go away, really eased my concerns that conectivist's theorized that learning could happen within a group without any kind of traditional teaching methods(the television did not kill the radio!). The authors really clarified this by saying, "The new technologies discussed in this chapter will be used primarily for extending the ability to create, communicate, and collaborate."

Google Isnt Perfect - My Woes with Google Reader & iGoogle

I have really enjoyed using my customized iGoogle homepage. It aggregates all of the information and entertainment that I visit on a daily basis. However, I was irritated with the functionality of some of the Google gadgets.

1. The Google Reader Gadget for iGoogle does not allow you to select a specific folder of RSS subscriptions to display on your page. This was problematic because I was getting 100s more feeds from my news sites than I was from my ITEC classmates. Most times I would miss the posts that my peers had made because of the frequency that new news articles were posted. I would have liked to see an option that allowed multiple gadgets on your site and a field to specify what feed you would like to view. Eventually, I figured out that Google Reader would add a folder specific feed to your iGoogle homepage, but you lose the scroll function available in the Google Reader Gadget. Nothing is perfect, so I am currently using the Google Reader gadget for my "News"(which includes all of my Google Reader subscriptions) and one Google Reader provided gadget for my ITEC 830 class(excluding the scroll feature - limit of 9 feed display) :(

2. The Gadgets in Google Sites appear to be quite similar to those available in iGoogle; however this is not the case. You can not add most iGoogle gadgets to your Google Site. I have found some instances where a gadget was developed for both iGoogle and Google Sites (ie. Google search, weather, clock). But I was surprised to see how much less developed the Google Sites gadgets are, especially within the Google family (ie, Google Reader). I think that a reader function for a site is really important. Especially, with all of the information available on the web that could be related to a site.

Wiki Site Using Google Sites + LINK

I have created the basic site for my ITEC 830 Wiki. I am not entirely jumping out of my seat in excitement of Google Sites, but I think that with any site management system it will take some time to get used to.

To add to a long list of angry discussion board posters, I think that it was an extreme oversite for Google not to have the functionality for outgoing RSS feeds. So I am unable to feed my site changes into the classes NetVibes account. Here is the link to my wiki site for anyone who is ever interested.

http://sites.google.com/site/cj830work/

Learning in the Digital Age - Class #3

During our blogging activity, Kim demonstrated how she would like us to use the blogging technology in class. We replicated, in class, the blogging activities that she wants us to do at home. What I got out of this activity was mostly just doing the peer blog reviews. I have suprisingly changed my views on this activity from my previous blog. I think that my new view developed because the blogs were actually my peers whos knowledge, though vastly different, is more similar to my own. Whereas the blog lecture that we were assigned to read was new information to me. I think the notable conclusion that I drew was that laying a content groundwork for the blog assignment was extremely helpful and prevented the frustration that I felt while reading the blog lecture. I realized that my mind has been conditioned to a specific learning protocol: knowledgeable expert shares their knowledge of a subject, I am allowed to personally examine the material, and then my classmates and I share our perspectives on the topic with the expert as a facilitator, and finally I take away from the discussion the information that I find most notable. This was not the case in the blog/lecture where I was thrown into step three which caused me such discomfort. I think that connectivism theory should acknowledge the benefits of step 1 & 2 in learning.

Additionally, I was surprised with many of my classmates views on connectivism. There seemed to be an overwhelming opposition to the theory. From the comments that were made in class, I think that it is very hard to conceptualize connectivism theory in practice when traditional classrooms are not structured in this fashion. But with each criticism of the theory I was able to think of a way that technology tools could be used to emulate the traditional methods. Though using technology would initially be a lot of work to setup, implement and manage, I think that if carefully structured it could be just as effective as traditional methods and possibly more engaging!

An Online Blog Class?

I remember Kim talking about his online class that she was taking. I think that it was free for all unless credits were given after completion. I found the structure of this article/blog class to be very frustrating. It was structured in a very connectivist way in that it is an abundant source of diverse information that I (the learner) has to filter through to form my knowledge from. It was frustrating because it was hard and took much longer to read and process than a typical paper. Filtering through the information from the instructor and the students was really time consuming and required a lot of analysis to determine which points i agreed with and which i did not. I think that if I had more time I would read the article links that were posted within the dialoge in support of their opinions. That is just too much for me right now.

A New Way of Learning:

A Learning Theory for the Digital Age:

This article was directly related to a conversation that I had in my 797 class. One of my classmates was talking about an article about how Google is making us stupid. I completely disagreed with her arguments and this article would have been a great source of information to help me clarify my views in the conversation. The article does a great job of describing how learning is utilizing technology in the storage and retrieval of information. Though this may seem like it strengthens the argument for Google making us dumb, but the article addresses the fact that learners have to use technology as a tool for their learning. The learner has a new challenge of managing the technology. I saw this as being able to organize and recall where and what technology tool has the relevant information stored for retrieval. Additionally, I found the networking/node theory to be really accurate for the tech generation. This theory put a survival of the fittest spin on learning. Each node in a learning network is interconnected with varying amounts of connections. Those nodes with more connections are more likely to gain more connections and those nodes with the most connections are the most likely to be recalled. Good article.

Web 2.0 and the Birth of Connectivism

Today we discussed some of the main elements of some web 2.0 technology. Within our small groups we brainstormed on Ning, iLearn, Blogs, and NetVibes. Here is what our group came up with:
Ning: Social Networking
-Building relationships
-Chatting
-Customized niche groups
-Photo/music sharing
-Variable user access

iLearn: Learning Management System
-Course management
-Student peer interaction
-Data management
-Grading
-Assessment
-Collaboration
-Wikis
-Forums
-Virtual classroom
-Private closed group

NetVibes: RSS Aggregator
-Feed aggregator
-Puts multiple site information in one spot

Blog
-Open or closed environment
-Online journal
-1 main contributor
-Outside commenting

This exercise segued us into the discussion of connectivism theory. The individuals' knowledge within a learning group or classroom

Netvibes

My last blog is not visible in NetVibes. I did see where my blogs section was added to the page however the title of the page is incorrect and my post was not available. Trial blog post #2.

My first Blog

Ok this is not really my first blog but my first one for this particular blog. And I want to keep this short to ensure that I have properly added this blog feed to the netvibes aggrigator.