Discord

The title sounds catchy, but I'm really just here to talk about Discord, the software. It's similar to slack in that you can set up channels to communicate with certain people. The iLRN2020 conference (discussed in the earlier web 2.0 conference post) used Discord as the back channel communication during the conference. It was an effective place to access technical help, find updates, and continue conversations. Subgroups in the channel have carried on since the conference, serving as a space for collaboration and coordination.

Public groups make it potentially an interesting place to get into conversations.My positive experience with iLRN encouraged me to check out another public group. Classical Thinkers seemed like a good option. "This is a server of intellect made for those who enjoy indulging in a complex, yet broad area of various sciences, theories, and humanities such as Mathematics, General Sciences, Psychology, Philosophy, Typology, Linguistics, and more. Don’t hesitate to also delve into the fun aspects of Classical Thinkers such as gaming, nsfw, memes, politics, and debates." Maybe that last sentence should have given me pause. A debate on neural networks and AI devolved into a debate on cocaine and guns....

Web 2.0 Conference

This was a lucky summer to be taking this web 2.0 class because there are more opportunities than ever for exploring this medium for professional development. This week, I have been exploring iLRN 2020, the International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network. It is hosted in a 3D world called VirBELA that functions much like Second Life, not surprisingly for immersive learning people. I don't know what their attendance is normally, but they had about 90-120 people per keynote speech and 1-2 dozen people in the smaller groups. (If anyone has been to one before and knows what the attendance is like normally, please comment and let us know.) I don't know where this conference was going to be held originally, but I know the lack of travel costs and free registration made it very affordable this year!.

There were tech issues, especially the first day and with presenters who were not so comfortable with the technology. The audience was very patient, though, as if they were familiar with these sorts of hiccups....

They did provide the full range of conference experiences in this environment. They've had top notch keynote speakers with presentations, often live streamed on YouTube simultaneously, as well as expert panels who have a conversation on the virtual stage. Groups of presentations by topic were sometimes provided as a website of recordings and app examples, and sometimes as group discussions in small gatherings. Social spaces in the virtual world often had people visiting, as well. The design challenge/brainstorming activities took place in AltspaceVR. This limited participation to people with immersive VR systems, but provided a very engaging experience.

One advantage of the environment is the range of communication options available. It is easy to just speak out loud to people nearby. The chat window still provides a space for the back channel conversations during presentations, and just as an option for people who would rather chat than talk. Another advantage is that the sound from virtual clapping is more satisfying the the Zoom clapping emoji, I think. ;) Also, compared with an in-person conference, the speakers are much more accessible. If someone is in the conference space, I can see the name and zoom straight to them to talk.

The conference staff were very good about providing support, as well. I feel this is one of the big reasons it has been a successful and minimally frustrating experience. Support staff was often nearby, and a Discord channel was staffed with support people throughout the conference.

In the spirit of the concept mapping software we looked at last week, I also wanted to share this artist's rendering of a brainstorming challenge activity I attended. The focus of the activity was to generate ideas for using XR to help solve climate change problems. The artist drew in Tilt Brush throughout the conversation, then provided the link to explore the graphic seen in the snapshot below: https://poly.google.com/view/4Pdn4MdFntD. It is very exciting to see my ideas blended through the conversation! 

Curating

One aspect that comes to mind when I think of managing networked knowledge is resource curation. I have heard from instructional design practitioners that content curation has been increasingly showing up as a required skill in contract solicitations. While I have a general sense of what this means (I think of Pinterest as an easy-to-visualize representative), I thought I'd look into it more. I was surprised to find during a quick Google that it seems to be a very popular term in marketing. The resources I encountered first had some good tips on curating a professional presence online, which seemed doubly useful for this course.

While that wasn't the focus I originally set out to explore, I found some very helpful tips. While marketing research may not be the most 'academic' of research disciplines, it demonstrates its value in a very practical (...financial...) way. All of us who've taken the advanced instructional design and development class recognize that media and communication theories have been fundamental to the field of instructional design. Social media marketing and communication may well be equally valuable.

https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/04/content-curation-strategies/ This site recommends leveraging 'underground' or lesser known content, framing the content to attract attention, and impressing original creators to help build cooperative networks. There are many specific tips throughout the article.

https://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-content-curation/ This site is hosted by a content curation software company. It does tilt toward self-recommendation, but is upfront about that and also shares information on other helpful content curation software packages. This site mentions the "social media rule of thirds" (and I think about it in the context of corporate training needs): 1/3 of the content shared should be personal brand promotion (maybe corporate in-house resources?), 1/3 should be curated content from others (maybe content from outside the corporation?), and 1/3 should be about relevant social media conversations (maybe relevant social media and in-house conversations?).

So many apps

When thinking back on all the software we've explored in class so far, I realize it's a lot! I also realize there aren't very many that are unique. It's more like staring at the laundry detergent aisle. I can see several main categories or brands, each with a vast array of subtleties giving the illusion of true variety.

LMS software is a good example. Moodle, Canvas, and Blackboard all have basically the same functionality. This week in class we're exploring more software in this general class management category: Edmodo, Google Classrooms, and Piazza. Luckily, skills learned in one of these software packages can transfer to the others fairly easily. The question then becomes, how to pick which one to use?

Going back to the detergent analogy, if you have an allergy, you may not care what brand you pick as long as it doesn't have added dyes or fragrances. In the context of an LMS, if there is a certain feature you need, like real-time chat, you might choose whichever brand is cheapest and easiest to install as long as it has that desired feature. On the other hand, going back to the detergent, if you do not have an allergy, you might base your decision on whichever is cheapest or smells the best to you. For software, the aesthetics and bells-and-whistles can be the deciding factor between options with similar functionality.

What is the most important characteristic to you when choosing software?

Gephi

When I think of networks of any kind (social, knowledge, transportation,...) I think of a picture of nodes and connections. A tool that I like for generating network graphics is Gephi, https://gephi.org/.

You may ask, "how do I even pronounce that?" Gee-fee? Gef-fie? Jef-fee? It would be a fair question. The logo is the letter "G" and the Greek letter "Φ.". The software was developed in France. They pronounce the letter "g" much like English speakers pronounce the letter "j." The Greek letter is pronounced "fee" by Greeks. Mathematicians and American fraternities and sororities often pronounce it "fie." Good luck.

No matter what you call it, it is a handy tool for making network graphics. The important thing is to set your data up in a spreadsheet the way the software expects it to be set up. After that, be prepared to spend some time playing with all the visualization options. Some of the options are quite entertaining, as they make the nodes and connections wiggle around all over the screen. The website has a lot of tutorials available at https://gephi.org/users/ to help you learn to make graphics like this example from their website:

The Impact of Emotion

Last year, I spent some time learning about connectivism. I kept track of the network of resources I used to build this knowledge: articles, books, people, web search, etc. The colored dots in the month 4 and month 8 circles represent these different types of sources. While I was neutral toward most of the sources, one really stood out as a source I did not like, and one really stood out as a source I enjoyed very much. When I source generated a strong emotion, the line connecting it is highlighted with red for bad feelings and green for good feelings. It is hard to see the colored lines when this isn't printed poster-sized, so I put a red circle around the red line and a green circle around the green line. Notice that the part of the graph near the red circle did not grow between months 4 and 8, while the part around the green circle did. The only reason I didn't like the red-circled reference is because the book author's use of superlatives, something along the lines of "problem-based learning is the only viable method for teaching." The negative reaction I had seems to be one of the main reasons my dissertation will focus on mathematical modeling rather than problem-solving.

What impacts do your emotions have on what you study?

Chit-chat

I'm not someone who much likes to chit-chat. When I talk with someone, I prefer a more thorough and nuanced discussion. Nowadays, I'm wondering if this may help explain why I'm not partial to social media. I feel like the communication pattern is a short burst into oblivion or a stuttering back-and-forth, all devoid of any intimate personal connection. Even when I know the people on the other end of my web 2.0 communications, I don't communicate with them the same way I do face-to-face or by email, phone call, or letter.

So far, I can see the value for social media in making announcements sometimes, or in sharing content that doesn't need any context. But I feel like, in general, it sacrifices quality for quantity. What do you think? Are some types of messages best suited for web 2.0 technologies?

Reddit Graphics Trends

I reviewed 3 subreddits for the community norms assignment the last couple of weeks: r/dataisbeautiful, r/educationalgifs, and r/infographics. When I started, the communities had some COVID-19 related graphics, but otherwise, the topics were highly variable. The day I started watching closely and recording what I found for the assignment, the Minneapolis protests over George Floyd's killing began. It took a couple of days for police violence posts to become prominent; prominent in all of the communities except r/educationalgifs. This community is specific to explanatory, how-to gifs for educational purposes. The complexity of the type of graphic may have limited the ability for people to respond quickly, though it seems that an education-focused forum could benefit most from content addressing this topic. Within less than a week, COVID-19 graphics and a variety of other topics began to fill the top 3 lists again.

For the time frame that I captured the top 3 hot posts in each community, you can see the distribution of protest posts, highlighted in green, and pandemic posts, highlighted in orange, below.

The Space X launch shows up in the middle. In a year without so many major events, I wonder if that topic would have had more attention. Maybe not, though, as the topics seems to be all over the place except for the protests and pandemic.