I knew from personal experience that commenting on blogs is a crucial aspect of blogging conversations for achieving the greatest learning. Trouble is factors often limit people’s commenting practices so they don’t experience this learning and fail to appreciate it’s value.
Kim Cofino, Silvia Tolisano, Michele Martin and I hoped a challenge that involved a month of focused commenting would help participants appreciate it’s importance and the benefits of learning as a community.
The behind the scenes tasks have left me little time to write my own reflections so I thought today I would play catch up using Comment Challenge Day 7: Reflect on What You’ve Learned So Far but reflect the three lessons I’ve learned from my experiences so far in terms of being a coordinator of the Challenge.
#1 Commenting & Participation in Online Communities
It didn’t surprise to me that many participants response to “How often do you comment on other blogs during a typical week?” was rarely. Concerns of saying the wrong thing or feeling their comments mightn’t be worthy were the main factors why they rarely commented. This surprised me because I assumed time was the main issue since majority are bloggers and use twitter.
90% of users are lurkers (i.e., read or observe, but don’t contribute)
9% of users contribute from time to time, but other priorities dominate their time
1% of users participate a lot and account for most contributions: it can seem as if they don’t have lives because they often post just minutes after whatever event they’re commenting on occurs
The 4 Cs are an attempt to illustrate the fact that most people appear to operate predominantly in one or other of the phases in their journey to becoming online citizens, and that there is some sort of progression that characterises this growth.
Lots of food for thought with no answers but definitely a greater understanding, after 7 days of observations, of why people do/don’t comment on blogs.
#2 Technorati Continues To Mock Me
With over 100 adult participants and 12 student groups (over 200 students) , combined with the desire to encourage the community aspect, an RSS feed from Technorati was the easiest method for helping participants easily find each other and interact (we have the feed coming into our wiki). Best way to do this is to agree on a common tag term prior to the event.
Mistake #1 - Make sure the tag term is unique!
(DUH Sue!) I should have done a technorati basic search for the tag term comment08 because unfortunately test comments from cocomment’s blog were picked up with this search term.
Mistake #2 - Test Technorati easily picks up the tags prior to starting such a large project
After quite a bit of research over the weekend I discovered that technorati wasn’t picking up posts unless:
Participants had joined and claimed their blog’s at Technorati
Technorati hasn’t been pinging their blog (some of the blogs hadn’t been pinged for 90 days which meant we weren’t seeing any of the posts they were writing)
Also I discovered we had to refine the Technorati tag search to ensure it found all posts.
If we had known all this prior we could have given more detailed instructions to participants on how to tag (for each of the different blogging platforms) and for ensuring their tags were picked up by technorati.
True I did know this but have been pleasantly surprised, with the right circumstances, how rapidly this can develop considering it has only been 8 days. It’s impossible for me to showcase all the examples however I think what happening with video and video commenting — and the increased connections as a results — is pretty cool.
Would love to hear about the connections you are making, and the community learning that is happening, as a result of the Challenge. Also your thoughts on online participation and commenting (and off course how you are going ).
For all those waiting for me to post my true thought on Facebookthis video sums them all up but my words are a bit stronger. Perhaps not a good idea to show it to your kids .
that each sheet should take someone from not knowing what a particular social media tool is, nor how they would use it - to at least having taken the first steps to using it in a sensible and sustainable way. And it should do that in no more than one side of A4.
The Guides can be downloaded as either a PDF for printing or a Word document which you can edit and adapt for your own purpose provided you:
Credit Practical Participation including their URL (www.practicalparticipation.co.uk)
Whether we like it or not, there will always be people that we will need to use text based material with initially. We could use placement of these series of guides, in a various locations within our organisations, to increase the perception and interest in using these technologies. Also they would be ideal for people who are too scared of asking questions because they are worried that they are asking “dumb questions.” (Image from Tim Davies)
Here are the links to the One Page Guides that Tim has produced so far:
Since our dinner I have been reflecting on what James said about online communities like Ning. He said that a Ning community may initially start off well but in the long term will always struggle because for one simple reason — “ownership.”
Firstly I should explain why am I worried about about online communities floundering.
Well I do spend considerable time reflecting how to make online communities work because:
If I want to effectively use social networking and online communities with my students, for educational purposes, I need to understand what will make it thrive and why it will flounder.
I am working with the aquaculture industry in my State looking at ways to use these technologies to support their training needs.
We are planning to implement social networking tools within our College.
So what does James mean?
Well, people are more likely to participate if they feel a sense of ownership – which is what a blog give you. Communities set up by an individual lack this sense of ownership which means members are less likely to feel obligated to participate. They don’t own the space so there is less emotional reason for them to buy in to be involved.
Geek Squad Story
This reminds me of the story about the Geek Squad and how Robert Stephens spent considerable time and effort creating an internal wiki for his employees to use for communicating, collaborating and sharing resources — only to find slow uptake of it use. When he investigated the matter he found that they had formed their own community, for exactly this purpose, but were using the online game Battlefield 2.
The Geek Squad story is my favourite because it keeps me focused on the fact that you can spend a lot of time building what you think is a site that is “a goer to ensure community interaction” but that does not mean people will use it.
Answers?
Would love to have all the answers but community interactions are really complex.
Think about how people interact in f2f situations like within a kids sport community — what makes individual donate so much of their time when others won’t (you know the individuals who coordinate the canteen, cook all the food while others sit on the sideline)? What drives people away from these communities?
So what are some strategies that might help Ning type communities? Well I have written some of my thoughts previously in my post on creating thriving online communities. I agree with James — ownership will always be an issue and will not be easy to overcome.
I am more willing to become involved if I feel a sense of obligation to the individual who set up the community or a very strong bond to the group involved. For example of the individual or group has willingly helped me, as I have helped them, off course I will go out of my way to participate. But if everything has felt like a one way street — where I am always expected to give with nothing in return — forget it - not interested.
Also don’t expect people who have not been involved in online social networking to suddenly understand or want to social network. This is not how it works.
And don’t use the whole digital natives/digital immigrants myth to justify why you should be using social networking tools with our youth. Or that because our youth already know how to social network they will help you out. Pleeeease they social network totally differently from how we need them to network. Most youth social network with mainly their f2f friends and are very good at using the tools they like to use. Whereas we need to learn to mass collaborate with a global audience with a wider range of tools.
So what are your tips? Have you found some online tools better than others for social networking? And if so, which ones? How have you managed to get encourage the development of an online community?
“People’s interpretations of policy is causing lack of consistency (between States, Territories and organisations) on accessibility to tools for e-practitioners”
Early this week I flew across to Melbourne to participate in a workshop for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework’s VET Network and Firewall Access Research Project to discuss collaborative national solutions to ‘Computer Network and Firewall Access’ issues that are impeding e-learning implementation with IT support and e-practitioners from around Australia.
The idea of the workshop was to:
Look at the issues and solutions for computer network access
Identify common activities and types desired by e-practitioners to provide documentation to support network people to help applications of these in networks. e.g. information on the functionality of each tools such as Web 2.0, virtual classrooms, browser plugins and VOIP
The first activity of the day was for:
IT support to identify their priorities, constraints, managment requirement
Practioners to list their desired tools and applications for elearning including why chose, why important and any frustrations with being able to access
As a practitioner I was expected to write each tool/application on a separate piece of paper. For me this required only one sheet because I wanted access to “EVERYTHING” which, in typical practitioner fashion, created excessive work for the IT support on our table who had to write each reason why not on lots of separate pieces of paper.
I have issues with listing desired tools and applications because rapid technology development, especially Web 2.0 applications, means our choices of tools is evolving. For example, a list prepared early 2006 might have excluded Second Life, Twitter, Facebook, Google Talk which we now know have e-learning applications. My concerns are IT support and future e-practitioners may use this list as being “THE LIST.” A document with recommended tools and applications is being prepared for support network people - I hope they include several paragraphs at the beginning of it to highlight the changing and evolving nature of elearning. I would also like where possible the document to link to specific examples of the tools being used.
During the workshop representatives from:
IT support (Wayne Kufer) provided us with a snapshot of the role of computer networks and firewalls
AARnet (Guido Aben) discussed broadband access issues and the need for our sector to build our own networks
E-practioners provided a snapshot of the VET elearning landscape (myself and Michael Coghlan) - I will talk about my own presentation in a different post.
Through out the presentations and activities there was plenty of humorous banter, with individuals expressing their differing view points. Notably opposing view points were often between the practictioners. Those that “advocated the need to use controlled environments, back out of using Web 2.0 tools due to intellectual properties issues and risk of being sued” to those that held the opposite view point. A practitioner did say that issues relating to Web 2.0 use with students needed to be debated more. I managed to hold my tongue but wanted to say issues and concerns of Web 2.0 use is a heavily debated on the blogsphere, make time to reading blog and maybe start voicing your own opinion using a blog.
While there were many at the workshop with a high understanding of the use of the tools and applications, there was many present with minimal exposure to their use. Possibly time should have been taken to showcase the educational use of some of the tools so everyone present had a good understanding of their value.
Definitely I think that my view points that where possible we should be educating our learners about the appropriate use of technology, rather than preventing access, was contrary to most present. In fact I think that the IT support staff were happy that I am not in their State/Territory. As I said, organisations have to make the decision whether they support e-learning OR NOT - you either want us to INNOVATE or NOT - put too many barriers in the way of people like myself and you might as well forget innovation because it all becomes JUST TOO HARD. Saying that, I agree there needs to be boundaries and the key as was mentioned during the day is “two way dialogue required” - all groups need to understand issues from both points of view
Ok…..then how do we make this happen within our own organizations? Most of us involved with Web 2.0 tools have focused on their use with students while disregarding how powerful and important these same tools are for our organisations. As A.G.Lafley CEO of Proctor & Gamble points out on the front cover of Wikinomics mass collaboration is important because “No company today, no matter how large or how global, can innovate fast enough or big enough by itself”
WITHIN OUR ORGANISATIONS
Exchanging ideas, gaining/retaining knowledge and tapping into collective intelligence for innovation using f2f is not efficient and is an impossible task for larger, geographically dispersed workforces. Blogs, wikis, online forums etc located on the Intranet are a way of harassing the organisation’s collective intelligence (check out how they did this at the BBC).
OUTSIDE OUR ORGANISATIONS
Within our organsiation is really important…outside our organisation is even more important. Read the following 2 examples summarised from Wikinomics (Read the book!!)
Gold Mining using the Internet
Goldcorp, Toronto gold mining firm, took all their geology, data back to 1948, and shared it with the world . Why - their mine was facing closure and their in-house geologists were unable to provide accurate estimates of the location and value of gold deposits. They needed an innovative solution to provide the answers - the idea was to tap the collective intelligence of the global geologist community (more people=greater innovation) by releasing all their proprietary information and offering prize money ($575,000) to people who identified locations gold deposits in their mine. The process shaved years off their exploration time; and transformed Goldcorp into $9 billion company.
R & D on the Internet
Werner Mueller, retired chemist, stumbled on a scientific challenges on the InnoCentive’s web site, one of which was for a pharmaceutical. He came up with a solution to their problem, that the company had not considered. The company was now able to economically produce the pharmaceutical and he won $25,000.
PROBLEM
Most of our staff, especially our managers, would probably think we were aliens or speaking a foreign language…so how do we sell the concept? Any ideas?
The number one rule I was told when I first started working (21 year ago - which is amazing as I am 21) was “don’t tell anyone anything about how we do what we do.” This rule was enforced by every biotechnology and aquaculture company I have worked for. The principle - what we are doing is unique, secret and if we share then others will know how to do it.
I have always struggled with this philosophy for many reasons including:
There is a big difference in knowing information and transferring the knowledge into doing the skill
I have always realised that more people I exchange my thoughts and ideas with the greater my knowledge gain (limiting collaboration limits innovation and knowledge gain)
The trouble is most of the organisations we work for still have this guarded philosophy. I think we should get all our managers to read “Wikinomics - How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything” If you have not checked out this book or “The World is Flat” take the time to do so. Both are excellent and important books for anyone into Web 2.0 to read.
I think that statement by A.G. Lafley (CEO, Proctor and Gamble) on the front cover of Wikinomics says it all
“No company today, no matter how large or how global, can innovate fast enough or big enough itself…..Wikinomics reveals the next historic step - the art and science of mass collaboration where companies open up to the world”
Unfortunately reality is this change in people’s beliefs will take time - realising that mass collaboration increases knowledge gain and helps both individuals and organisations won’t happen overnight.
Marc Prensky believes that key literacy for the 21st Century is computer programming. I actually think Vicki Davis, Julie Lindsay and the groups of teachers they collaborates with have the key - teaching our kids the values and skills to effectively mass collaborate (check out the Horizon project to learn more about their work).
Online communities not only exchange their ideas to innovate they share their feelings. Where once, as a consumer we would praise the good or bad about a product/service to our immediate friends and family - we now have a global community of friends. You are now dealing with customers who are part of the global community and who will express their feelings. If your product/service has let a customer down as badly as T-Mobile; it is time to make important changes.
What got me thinking was that here I am, using a range of social computing tools (e.g. online forums, blogs and wikis) and yet I never even stopped to realise that these tools not only benefit our students but can add real value to organisations when used effectively. If you want to read more about how these tools were implemented at the BBC check out Euan’s article on Social Computing for the Business World.
Within organisation’s social computing tools such as:
Online forums are excellent for creating interaction and spontaneity between staff. Staff can pose questions on a range of topics such as “how do I”, “where do I”, “what is the policy on” as well as discuss their feelings on a range of larger issues affecting staff.
Blogs are excellent for providing a space for staff to express themselves and their ideas. They also provide a mechanism for letting other staff know more about the person as an individual.
Wikis are excellent tool for staff to work collaboratively to complete projects. For example: collaborative document creation and project management.
To me the question is it is so obvious, why don’t myself and others that work with these tools, encourage their use within our organisations. Maybe it is a case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
What an amazing week! Last month working with Kim Cofino, Silvia Tolisano and Michele Martin we created the concept of the Comment Challenge which started this month.
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