Computer Mediated Communications
Week 9
LBSC 690
Information Technology
Agenda
•	Questions

•	Computer mediated communications

•	Computer-Supported Cooperative Work

•	Educational computing

•	Project presentations
Computer Mediated Communication
•	CMC refers to human communication via computers--including computer network communication on the Internet and the World Wide Web. People interested in CMC study a range of phenomena--from the dynamics of group communication in Usenet news articles to how people use hypertext to shape meaning. 
Describing CMC Applications
•	How many participants? 
–	One or many

•	When?
–	Synchronous or asynchronous

•	Where?
–	Local or remote
Cooperative systems
Asynchronous Remote
•	Email: centralized storage
–	Individual
–	Mailing lists

•	Usenet: distributed storage
–	Hierarchical organization
•	comp.edu.languages.natural
–	Archive: groups.google.com
–	Analysis: research.microsoft.com/~masmith/

•	Threaded discussion lists
–	Example: http://discus.hope.edu/f05
Synchronous Remote
•	Instant Messaging (IM)
–	e.g., AIM, MSN Messenger
•	Chat Rooms
–	Whole lines are sent at a time
–	e.g., chat.yahoo.com
•	NetMeeting
–	IM+audio+video+whiteboard+shared applications
–	MSN Messenger now includes these capabilities
Glass Wall
•	Unplanned interactions

•	Informal communication
Synchronous Local
•	Meeting support systems
–	Brainstorming
–	Online review
–	Annotated minutes
•	Example
–	Teaching theater student tools
Computer Supported
Cooperative Work (CSCW)
•	Work
–	Grounded in the study of work processes
•	Cooperative
–	Assumes a shared objective, task
•	Technology-supported
–	Computers are just one type of tools used
–	“Groupware” 
Key Issues in CSCW
•	Shared information space 
•	Group awareness
•	Coordination
•	Concurrency control
•	Multi-user interfaces
•	Heterogeneous environments
Case Study: Virtual Reference
•	Required functions

•	System architecture

•	Adoption
Case Study 2:
Your Project Team!
•	Face to face meetings
•	Teleconferences
•	Shared workspace on WAM
•	IM-synchronized work sessions
•	NetMeeting?
Educational Computing
•	Computer Assisted Education
–	What most people think of first
•	Computer Managed Instruction
–	What most people really do first!
•	Computer Mediated Communication
–	All that CSCW stuff applied to education
•	Computer-Based Multimedia
–	Just another filmstrip machine?
Rationales
•	Pedagogic
–	Use computers to teach
•	Vocational
–	Computer programming is a skill like typing
•	Social
–	Computers are a part of the fabric of society
•	Catalytic
–	Computers are symbols of progress
Conditions for Success
•	Most prerequisites are not computer-specific
–	Need, know-how, time, commitment, leadership, incentives, expectations

•	The most important barrier is time
–	Teacher time is by far the most important factor
Alternatives
•	Facilities
–	Computer classrooms (e.g., teaching theaters)
–	Computers IN classrooms (e.g., HBK 2119)
•	Objectives
–	“Computer Literacy”
–	Not so in the Maryland teaching theaters
•	Comparatively few technology classes
Discussion Point:
Computers as Educational Media
•	What are the most salient characteristics 
–	Books

–	Video

–	Computers

Distance Education
•	Correspondence courses
–	Focus on dissemination and evaluation

•	Instructional television
–	Dissemination, interaction, and evaluation

•	Computer-Assisted Instruction
–	Same three functions w/ubiquitous technology