Weaving a Dynamic Web: Web v. 2.0 Applications in Education,

Social Networking and Virtual Conferencing

American Medical Informatics Association: Annual Meeting 2006

Ray Schroeder

Peter Murray

Margaret Maag

Blogs, RSS, and Ajax

Ray Schroeder

Director, Technology-Enhanced Learning, U of Illinois at Springfield

Web 2.0

• Term originated in 2004 with O’Reilly• Second generation of the Web• Collaboration, interaction, customization• Wikipedia takes on the challenge of trying to

define and explain Web 2.0• “Web 2.0 doesn't have a hard boundary, but

rather, a gravitational core”

Ajax

• Ajax = Asynchronous JavaScript and XML• Not a single technology – rather a group of

technologies working together • Truly interactive 2.0 applications• Uses

– XHTML and CSS for markup applications– JavaScript or Jscript to interact with display– XHR (xmlhttprequest) as API

Ajax

• Term first emerged about 18 months ago• Many examples are emerging:

– http://www.ajaxprojects.com/ajax/viewcategory.php?categoryid=8

– http://aln-preconference.blogspot.com • Still challenges ahead:

– ADA accessibility– Browser compatibility issues (back button)

• Many advantages in engaging the user and enabling interactivity

Blogs

• Web + Logs = Blogs• Web pages with updates in chronological (or reverse

chronological) order• 1997 term first emerged• Now 55 million blogs and growing by one a every

second!• Opportunity to enable responses from readers and

RSS dissemination make blogs 2.0 technologies

Blogs

• RSS is the key to disseminating blogs and many other Web 2.0 applications

• Many ways to capture blog feeds via RSS– http://newsisfree.com

• IE 7 and Firefox browsers along with a plethora of other services such as email programs, Yahoo, etc. support RSS aggregation

A Blog Example

• Online Learning Update– http://onlinelearningupdate.com

• Blogs enjoy high search engine ratings– Enter online learning into Google

• Blogosphere connections and popularity result in dynamic (Web 2.0) sites that include aggregations of blogs

– http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/oluinfo.htm

Some Informatics Blogs

• http://www.rodspace.co.uk/blog/blogger.html Informaticopia - Rod Ward

 • http://www.healthcareguy.com/ Healthcare IT Guy - Shahid N.

Shah • http://blogs.bsti.com/healthcare/ Healthcare IT Blog  • http://www.medicalinformaticsinsider.com/  Medical Informatics

Insider (still some good info - "retired" August 10, 2006)  • http://biologicalinformatics.blogspot.com/ Biological Informatics

Blog - a subject tracer information blog

Peter J. MurrayFounding Fellow, CHIRAD, UK

IMIA VP for WG/SIG

Exploring blogs as a collaborative tool

1. Use of blogs for virtual conference participation - theory and practice

2. Some lessons learned

Blogs for virtual conference participation

At approx. 10 health/nursing informatics events since medinfo2004

Why?

- to provide virtual interaction for those unable to attend

- to promote the event

- to play with explore the technology

- to explore/research a collaborative model of blogging

Blogs for virtual conference participation

What we hoped for:

lots of people wanting to post items

lots of comments

lots of readers

demonstration of the collaborative model working.

Blogs for virtual conference participation

What we found:

many promised but few delivered

the principal providers were the main bloggers

levels of use were lower than hoped

reminders to people help in readership levels

interaction is lower than hoped for

Blogs, interaction and participation – some evaluation data

● Generally felt to be a useful adjunct to events● Most felt was easy to use● Should be available post-event (archive)

'...personal anecdotes give a sense of voyeurism...being there without actually being physically there.'

'I like the first person 'conversation' style - as though speaking directly to me. Informal, easy to follow and relate to. If I disagreed or had comments, I knew I could add the blog to benefit other readers.'

Blogs, interaction and participation – some lessons learned

Must be as easy as possible to access and participate- eg wireless – or people won't post during the event

Reminders boost readership

RSS feeds to email/browser

Further information and contact

www.hi-blogs.info

Wikis and related beasts

Wikis

-are dynamic, group-developed web pages that can be easily created and accessed via a browser

-the content may be updated or changed by anyone visiting the website.

Wikis allow for asynchronous group socialisation, communication and collaboration and a tool for archiving documents, brainstorming, and collaborative writing.

Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page), Wikinews (www.wikinews.org/wiki/Health).

Writely (now part of Google docs and spreadsheets), was 'one of the top 10 technology applications affecting education in 2005

-allows anyone to compose online and collaborate (write and edit) with others in real time.

Podcasting

Margaret MaagAssistant Professor

School of Nursing

University of San Francisco

Podcasting

• A portmanteau of “broadcasting” and “iPod”

• Audio event, conversation, lecture, song, speech, group presentation

• Delivered via RSS• Mobile device synchronized with a

computer• “Push” “Pull” technology

Image credit: University of Missouri School of Journalism

Podcasting

• Strengths– Instructor’s desire to assist students’ meta-

cognitive skills– Keep up with the reality of the students’ lives and

use of media– Academic podcasts easy to use: faculty and

students– Easy to access via iTunes or desktop– Students report being more engaged in lecture

Podcasting

• Concerns– Slackers will skip class!– Visual images not captured as in F2F

• Remedy may be podcasts with video

• Future?– Empirical research needed– N340 Principles and Methods Fall 06– An increase in number of faculty using MP3

technology in the classroom

Podcasting

• ExamplesOsiriX Imaginghttp://homepage.mac.com/rossetantoine/osirix/Index2.htmlMaagnursing: Podcasts.

http://www.maagnursing.com/podcast/Instant Anatomy– http://www.instantanatomy.net/

podcasts.html

Podcasting

• Medical podcasts– http://www.ahsl.arizona.edu/weblinks/

Medical_podcasts.cfm

• Access Medicine– http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/podcast/acm/

ProfCast

www.profcast.com

Further Information

Contact M. Maag

maag@usfca.edu