Computer Mediated Communications
Week 10
LBSC 690
Information Technology
Agenda
•	Questions

•	Computer mediated communication

•	Computer-Supported Cooperative Work

•	Online communities

•	Educational computing (if time allows)
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. 
CMC Applications
•	Email
•	Usenet News Groups
–	Google/Yahoo Groups
•	Bulletin Board Service
•	ListServ Discussion List
•	Wiki
•	Blogs
•	Chat room
•	Instant Messenger
•	Blackboard, WebCT
•	Video teleconferencing (Access Grid at HBK2119) ……
CMC Studies
•	Computer Science
•	Communication Studies
•	Social psychology, sociology
•	Information Studies
Plan
•	CMC applications
•	Information services, user tasks
•	Design a process using technologies to support CMC
•	Design systems using CMC to support user tasks
Describing CMC Applications
•	How many participants? 
–	One or many

•	When?
–	Synchronous or asynchronous

•	Where?
–	Local or remote
CMC Applications
•	Email
•	Usenet News Groups
–	Google/Yahoo Groups
•	Bulletin Board Service
•	ListServ Discussion List
•	Wiki
•	Blogs
•	Chat room
•	Instant Messenger
•	Blackboard, WebCT
•	Video teleconferencing (Access Grid at HBK2119) ……
Cooperative systems

Asynchronous Remote
•	Email: centralized storage
–	Individual
–	Mailing lists

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

•	Threaded discussion lists (moderated)
–	JESSE: http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/jesse.html 
–	Example: http://discus.hope.edu/f05

Synchronous Remote
•	Instant Messaging (IM)
–	e.g., AIM, Windows Live Messenger
–	Often with audio and video
–	Sometimes with whiteboard+shared applications

•	Chat Rooms
–	Whole lines are sent at a time
–	e.g., http://messenger.yahoo.com/chat.php

MSN: Sharing Whiteboard/Application
•	Wired Internet Connection

•	Tutorial (for MSN 5.0)
–	http://www.nd.gov/itd/messenger/docs/share-apps.doc

–	http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/8/0/f80a2bb3-10e5-443c-a59c-9d3de865eb0b/WindowsXP201Tutorial.doc

Collaborative Editing
•	Google Docs
–	Docs.google.com
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” 
–	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_software

Key Issues in CSCW
•	Shared information space 
•	Group awareness
•	Coordination
•	Concurrency control
•	Multi-user interfaces
•	Heterogeneous environments
Case Study 1:
 Virtual Reference
•	http://www.askusnow.info/

•	Required functions

•	System architecture

•	Adoption

Virtual Reference Problems
•	Language 
•	Routing (questions to expertise)
•	Collaborative response
•	Low technology requirement
•	Load balancing
•	Transaction tracking
Case Study 2:
Your Project Team!
•	Face to face meetings
•	Teleconferences
•	Shared workspace on WAM
•	IM-synchronized work sessions
–	Shared applications?
Online Communities
•	Any collection of people who communicate online 

•	People
•	Shared purpose
–	Interest, need, goal
•	Policies
–	tacit assumptions, rituals, protocols, rules, laws 
•	Computer systems

    (Preece, 2000)
The Age of Participation

Social Networks
•	User-generated content technologies on the web
–	Blogging, 
–	Photo sharing (like in Flickr), 
–	Tagging (like in delicious), 
–	Social networking (like in facebook), 
–	Video sharing (like YouTube),
•	Incomplete list of social networks: http://trust.mindswap.org/cgi-bin/relationshipTable.cgi  (size and purpose)

People Roles
•	Community Roles
–	Lurkers
–	Dominators
–	Linkers, pollinators
–	Flamers
–	Newbies
–	Polly Annas
Core Attributes
•	Shared goal, interest, need, or activity 
•	Members engage in repeated, active participation
•	Members have access to shared resources, and policies determine the access to those resources.
•	Reciprocity of information, support, and services 
•	Shared context of social conventions, language, and protocols.

     (Preece 2001)

Sociability
•	Community’s purpose
•	People
–	Moderators and Mediators 
–	Participants
–	Lurkers
–	Community size
•	Policies guiding social behavior
Policies
•	Requirements for joining a community, 
•	Style of communication among participants, 
•	Accepted conduct (netiquette)
•	Repercussions for nonconformance.  

Usability
•	Software supporting user tasks

•	Tasks
•	Users
•	Software
Usability – Tasks
•	Exchange information
•	Provide support 
•	Enable people to chat or socialize informally 
•	Discuss ideas 

Example User Tasks
•	Compose message
•	Edit messages
•	Send messages to the whole community
•	Read messages
•	Send replies to individuals, discussion groups
•	Access the Web to research the URLs
•	Find and search community archives
•	Read the profile of a participant
Usability - Users
•	Physical differences
–	Console or standalone kiosk
•	Cognitive and perceptual differences
–	Menu design
•	Gender
•	Age
•	Cultural diversity  
•	Educational training
•	Experience with computers and online communities 
•	Disabilities
•	Social and economic differences
–	Equipment, bandwidth

Usability - Software
•	Consistent terms and procedures
•	Controllable
•	Predictable behavior
Design Principles of Successful Communities 
Design Strategies of Successful Communities
Underlying Principles - 1
Underlying Principles - 2
Underlying Principles - 3
Case Study: Online Health Communities
Gtube Mailing List
Online Patient Support Groups
    Online support group participants include 28% of adult Internet users (34 million) in 2001

Who Participates?
•	Better educated
•	Younger
•	Caregivers
•	Patients with
–	Chronic conditions
–	Rare conditions
–	Limited access to professional care
Advantages
•	Available 24-7
•	Free
•	Accessible from home
•	Empathetic
•	Semi-Anonymous
•	Holistic approach
Concerns
•	Quality of information
•	Privacy
•	Deception / Spam
•	Poor medium (text-only)

Gtube Mailing List 
Primary Activities
•	Share gtube related information via Q&As
•	“Vent” & support
•	Other
–	Share info believed to be of general interest
–	Introductions & welcomes
–	Exchange gtube supplies
–	Provide updates on “kiddos”
–	‘Thank you’s
Roles, Identities, & Expertise
Personal Experiences  Expertise  Role & Identity

   
Variables that influence an individual’s role and identity within community
–	Identity in other settings (e.g., mother, nurse)
–	Participation within community (activity level and duration)
–	Personal characteristics (e.g., location, medical condition, age)
–	Personal experiences (e.g., eStim participant)
Major Roles in Gtube List
•	Caretaker (e.g., mother)
•	“Adult gtuber”
•	Medical practitioner
•	Support provider
Factors Influencing Behavior Change
Credibility
•	Consistent with personal experience
•	Discuss with medical practitioner
•	Consensus among multiple sources/members
•	Trust author of message
–	Credentials of sender (or referenced source)
–	Author has “experience to back it up”
–	Tone of author & style of writing (e.g., rational, defiant, “closed-minded”)
Applicability
•	Similar experience (e.g., diagnosis)
•	From “friend” who knows patients situation & treatment philosophy best
•	Discuss with medical practitioner

   “I trust it all…I don’t doubt their experience for a minute…I certainly don’t assume they were right because they couldn’t see his condition”
   
	“I also look at their experience (adult or child, same diagnosis, other similar issues etc.)”
Risk Assessment
•	When low risk, use trial and error
•	When high risk, research more and      consult doctor

	“I wouldn’t change any med dosage based on someone else’s opinion, but I’ve tried methods to keep the tube site from leaking…”

A Look Ahead
•	Must learn to cultivate communities, not simply present information or prescriptions
•	Integrating patient content with professional content
•	Including e-patients in disease research
•	Patient records

Discussion
•	How would you design an online community for people who have moved, or are interested in moving (permanently) from Estonia to the United States of America?
Course on Online Communities 
•	LBSC690 Gateway

•	LBSC708P Communities of Practice 
–	Ning: http://www.ning.com/

•	Online Communities Toolkit:
–	http://www.fullcirc.com/community/communitymanual.htm

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
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 
Before You Go!
•	On a sheet of paper (no names), answer the following question:

	What was the muddiest point in today’s class?