a del.icio opportunity: bringing tagging inside blackboard
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A del.icio.us opportunity: bringing tagging inside Blackboard. Dr Malcolm Murray Learning Technologies Team Leader Information Technology Service. Overview. Introduction What are tags and tagging? Motivations for tagging Use of Tag clouds Social Aspects of Tagging - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
A del.icio.us opportunity:bringing tagging inside
Blackboard
Dr Malcolm Murray
Learning Technologies Team LeaderInformation Technology Service
2 OverviewIntroduction
• What are tags and tagging?• Motivations for tagging• Use of Tag clouds
Social Aspects of Tagging• Why use it in Blackboard?
Two Implementations• del.icio.us• Bb Scholar
Where might it lead?
3 Caveat/Gag
Durham University is participating as a Product Development Partner in “Project Duckpond” – Scholar v2
As such I have signed a Non Disclosure Agreement about this…
4 Focus
Ask the Audience:• How many people use del.icio.us?• How many use Bb Scholar?
Would you label yourself a:• Teacher• Administrator• Developer • Psychological/Educational Researcher• Lawyer
5
i n t r o d u c t i o n
6 Origin of the Species
Started with:• Bookmarks/Favourites• Word clouds
Then came:• Tags• Tag clouds
7 Bookmarks
Familiar concept• List of URLs• Possibly ordered• May be stored in folders• Tied to a single browser• or PC• Sharing/Export can be tricky
8 Word Clouds
An attempt to help people analyse large volumes of text
• Weighted lists• Textual version of a histogram• Easier to interpret for large numbers of
variables ?
9 Some Crude Examples
10 Temporal Word Cloud
http://chir.ag/phernalia/preztags/
Based on entries in Encyclopedia Britannica:
• e.g. http://www.britannica.com/presidents/article-9116853
• Developed by Chirag Mehta
11 Tags: an age-specific term?
12 Tags sensu del.icio.us
Conventions developing• Short• Single words or rarely camelCase
• Controlled vocabulary• Taxonomy/Folksonomy
13 Tag Clouds
14 Visualising a semantic field
I believe tag clouds are revolutionary in their ability to translate the concepts associated with nearly anything you can think of into a collectively visible and actionable information environment, an environment that carries considerable evidence of the original understandings that precede and inform it.
In a practical information architecture sense, tag clouds can make metadata - one of the more difficult and abstract of the fundamental concepts of the digital universe for the proverbial person on the street - visible in an easily understood fashion.
The genius of tag clouds is to make semantic concepts, the frames of understanding behind those concepts, and their manifestation as applied metadata tangible for many, many people
Joe Lamantiahttp://www.joelamantia.com/blog/archives/ideas/tag_clouds_evolve_understanding_tag_clouds_1.html
The genius of tag clouds is to make semantic concepts, the frames of understanding behind those concepts, and their manifestation as applied metadata tangible for many, many people
15 Ways to use tags & clouds
Searching & Filtering
Navigation aids• http://www.priceline.co.uk/pcln/hotel/re
views/123785• http://83degrees.com/
16 Examples
17
s e r v i c e s
18 del.icio.us
External Web Service• http://del.icio.us
Need to create an account (free)
Optional Browser ToolsTag web pages & add commentsTags can be private or shared
19 Tagging a page
20 del.icio.us – popular tags
21 del.icio.us – recent tags
22 del.icio.us - network
23
i m p l i m e n t a t i o n
24 Integration Drivers at Durham
Three aims of linking del.icio.us and Bb:
• Meet User requests – “can I see my tags in duo?”
• Lure staff to resources – via our tag cloud
• Supporting collaborative learning in courses
25 Blackboard Implementation - 1
26 Breaks out
27 Technical Comments - 1
My del.icio.us Tags Module• Simple • Not JavaScript!• Passwords managed by the User but stored in
Blackboard• Initial data fetch using del.icio.us APIs is saved
on server to reduce the reload/redraw overhead• Module uses standard customisation route• Access can be restricted by institutional role• Still provides the familiar del.icio.us interface• Hard for Service Desk to support
28 Blackboard Implementation - 2
Pass in the request (using JavaScript):
tagName = news
numberOfTags = 4
caller = view
module_id = _853_1
29 Technical Comments - 2
System del.icio.us Tags Module• More complex, uses a Servlet and JavaScript• Passwords managed by the SysAdmin but stored
in Blackboard• Each initial data fetch using del.icio.us APIs is
saved on server to reduce the reload/redraw overhead
• Module uses standard customisation route• Access can be restricted by institutional role• Mimics the familiar del.icio.us interface• Easier for Service Desk to support• Loggable => Learning possible
30 Data Tracking
Added extra tables in separate tablespace on our Bb ORACLE serverLogs:
31 Why log their use?
Although there are lots of tag clouds about, we’ve not seen much research about how people use them.
Do people• Go for the big words?• Go for the new entries?• Browse repeatedly, or grab & go?• Browse alphabetically, or by frequency?• Keep using it?
32 Patterns Found
Still a work in progress…The logging broke after a recent upgrade and wasn’t spotted until late last month
33 Sharing
Course integration found to be tricky• del.icio.us not really designed for this
purpose• Can share links by tagging them as ‘for:’
someone e.g. for:duoteam but these need approved before they are seen by others.
• Some staff were unwilling to have to sign up to a new service and remember this username and password.
• Concerns about another dot.com bubble bursting…
34 Enter Bb Scholar
Also an external web serviceHosted by BlackboardSSO with existing systemGreat Course ToolAdditional Networking Options: Social Bookmarking
Missing a Portal Module?Catch 22: no users = no content = no users
35 Scholar
36 Scholar in a Course
37
r e f l e c t i o n
38 Why do we tag? - 1
• Bring your bookmarks with you• Share them• Manage them• Taxonomy/folksonomy - controlled
vocabulary• Learn with them• Connect with others
39 How do we tag?
• Lack of cultural consensus in digital domain• Optimising the chance of finding it again in the future• Less effort required in maintaining the taxonomy
Rashmi Sinha (September 27, 2005) A cognitive analysis of tagging (or how the lower cognitive cost of tagging makes it popular)http://www.rashmisinha.com/archives/05_09/tagging-cognitive.html
40 Why do we tag? - 2
For many, tagging is for sharing their own information and watching others. Even if you tag mostly to remember your own stuff, it is difficult to remain untouched by the presence of others
• Community hum• Reinforcement• Trendsetter/MavenRashmi Sinha (January 18, 2006) A social analysis of tagging (or how tagging transforms the solitary
browsing experience into a social one) http://www.rashmisinha.com/archives/06_01/social-tagging.html
41 The Wisdom of Crowds
Diversity of opinion • Some tags only used by a few (long tail)
Independence• Large body of taggers from different
places
Decentralisation • User-led• c.f. adding a document to a course• But may be influenced by “key taggers”
Aggregating opinions • Tag clouds and lists
42 Social Bookmarking
Knowing the taggers
http://www.twoantennas.com/projects/delicious-network-explorer/
43 BbWorldBoston
44 Dangers of Tagging
What about the words omitted?• E.g. negative modifiers
Meaning in phrases and pairings• e.g. “collective wisdom”
Anglocentric
45
n e x t
46 Where next – not Scholar v2!
Tagging of content items in Bb?• Private or shared?
Content System • tagging = the new meta data?
47 Where next
Word Cloud tools• to help students analyse documents• staff to interpret free text survey
responses
48 Where next
Word Cloud tools• Help staff interpret free text survey
responses
49 Where next
Picking up temporal trends from tagging
• what’s new to students• what’s popular• what’s no longer accessed?
• Making their connections visible
50 Any more ideas/questions?