Diane-Michel.com

Think New Ideas: A Collaborative Research Community

ThinkNewIdeas.com is a community of forward thinking individuals interested in learning how to facilitate global collaboration. The group will explore and share how Web 2.0 technologies can be successfully used to create and enhance collaborative intelligence.

Mission
We plan to create efficient systems that facilitate knowledge sharing. Our ultimate goal is to enable faster discoveries within mankind’s critical areas of concern. Those areas including medical research, and other fundamental domains. It is our hope by creating more useful knowledge sharing systems, key research data and patterns can be more quickly identified and put to good use.

Research Focus

Our first research phase will focus on the most respected and influential thinkers within the fields of collective intelligence and the semantic Web. We will carefully select and review the highest levels of research possible. Our mission is to discover and distill the essential essence of ideas being worked on at present. We will then provide that information in a clear and highly usable state, and identify those elements of a successful collaborative system. Once the information is distilled we will begin a system prototype for our knowledge sharing environment.

About ThinkNewIdeas.com

Think New Ideas will be powered entirely by Web 2.0 technologies. In order to provide a comfortable and efficient working environment, we will always opt for those applications that are mainstream, and familiar to the majority of users.

Wikis: Wikis are evolving into the perfect collaborative tool for business and education. By now, nearly everyone has heard of, or used the famous “Wikipedia” that was launchedin 2001. But what you might not realize is that the open source power behind Wikipedia,is available toanyone. Forward thinkingbusinesses and schools are increasinglyutilizing wikis to create theirvery own collaborative resource sites.

Why usewikis?

1. Wikis are adaptable, searchable and easy to use.
2. They handle and organize a growing base of knowledge in a veryefficient and usablemanner.
3. Wikis allow for individuals to rapidlyco-construct knowledge in a free-form manner.
4. Wikis remove the chronological sortingbarriers that blogs have. (Latest postings always being postedfirst might not always be ideal.)
5. They can be password protected.
6. Information is set free and “democratized.”
7. Open source wikis are free for your use.
8. Depending on the type of wiki, they can be easily installed without programming experience.
9. Wikis can be installed on your own computer as an organizational tool.
10. Wikis can even be installed on thumbUSB drives and passed amongst the collaborators.

Here are some creative ideas for using Wikis that may help you in your business or educational environment.

Ideas for usinga Wiki in Business
(Wiki.com, 2007)

1. Project collaboration and brainstorming
2. Building a community of practice
3. Creating knowledge bases on specific topics
4. Writing documentation or FAQ’s
5. Creating specifications and architecture documents for software or other projects
6. Creating “How to Step by Step Explanations”
7. Planning and documenting events
8. Real time reports of conferences
9. Information and policies about a project
10. Developing best practices or patterns
11. Software testing and development
12. Meeting agendas and notes for organizations
13. Developing software features and other inventions
14. Solidifying an existing community through collaboration and increased connections
15. Discussing theories
16. Creating an easily searched Website with hyperlinks.

Ideas for Using Wikis in Education

1. Websites can easily be created and maintained by students separated by distance.
2. Provides a sense of community and central meeting groundfor online students to collaborate ideas.
3. Collaboratively constructing knowledgein a way that isengaging and motivating.
4. Assignments can be peer reviewed, and critiqued. Particularly writing assignments.
5. Group assignments can be easily organized, andbe a central point for documents, photos, media, etc.
6. Information is searchable.
7. Encouraging Parent – Teacher – Child communication.

History of Wikis

According to Wikipedia.org (2007), the first wiki was called the WikiWikiWeb. It was produced by Ward Cunningham in 1995. It was first only open to invited programmers, and its original intent was “to facilitate communication between software developers, and also to experiment with the new hypertext capabilities”.

According to Darryl Taft in his article written for e-Week.com(2006), Mr. Cunninghamhas said: “The power of collaborative development has only just begun to be realized, and open-source software will continue to spur more collaboration and more innovation.”

“I’m betting on open source being a big trend,” Cunningham said, chuckling at his understatement. “And it’s not just because of cost, but because of end-user innovation. No end user wants to be a programmer; they just want to get their jobs done,” he said. But more and more people with powerful tools and powerful languages will be able to work together to build better systems, he said.

“I think of software being a work €”very much like a wiki being a work €”where people see an area that’s weak and they make it stronger.”

Mary Joe Foley (2004) also interviewed Cunningham in 2004 for e-Week.com. In the interview she reports: “Cunningham emphasized the need for programmers to abandon the lone-wolf approach and instead work more collaboratively. He said the WikiWikiWeb is all about nurturing collaboration by allowing developers to elaborate when writing patterns or other pieces of software.”

Interested in reading more about WardCunningham’s work in his own words? Here is an interesting page written by him about the history of his wiki development.

Features of Corporate Wikis
Features of wikis specifically helpful to a corporation include: (Wikipedia.org, 2007)

1. Allow to glue information via quick-and-easy-to-create pages containing links to other corporate information systems, like people directories, CMS, applications, and thus build up knowledge bases.




2. Avoiding e-mail overload. Wikis allow all relevant information to be shared by people working on a given project. Conversely, only the wiki users interested in a given project need look at its associated wiki pages, in contrast to high-traffic mailing lists which may burden many subscribers with many messages, regardless of relevance to particular subscribers.




3. Access rights, roles. Users can be forbidden from viewing and/or editing given pages, depending on their department or role within the organization.




4. Building consensus. Wikis provide a framework for collaborative writing. Particularly, they allow the structured expression of views disagreed upon by authors on a same page.




5. Organizing information. Wikis allow users to structure new and existing information. As with content, the structure of data is sometimes also editable by users; see structured wiki.




6. Saving time by: Making ideas available; Sharing Knowledge, Having a common glossary, and Managing Related Information. Sometimes used is “If you do not know where to put the information, put it in the wiki”.




7. Convert informational “noise” into corporate wisdom.

Corporate Wiki Solutions
Wikipedia.org (2007):

A large set of corporate wiki solutions are available; see list of wiki software and comparison of wiki software. Wikis with the required feature set include TWiki, MoinMoin, XWiki, TikiWiki, Confluence and Socialtext. Their aim is to provide all ranges of companies with ready-made wiki solutions that can be adapted to SMEs as well as multinational corporations. Amongst those companies, the competition lies as much in corporate philosophy as in what the products look like. For example, MoinMoin and Socialtext value simplicity, where TWiki puts an emphasis on structured wikis where users can create wiki applications. Most of them have adopted an Open-Source mindset and allow developers or even users to create purposed applications.

Wiki software packages not specifically built for corporations are also used at the workplace, such as MediaWiki or DokuWiki. Although they can be used to build simple knowledgebases and internal websites, they often lack enterprise features such as fine grained access control, per page name space for attachments, or integration with other enterprise tools.

Let’s finish this posting with a sort of “campy” video on wikis vs blogs. Kennedy taking the position of wikis, and Nixon on blogs. (Be patient, the beginning skips a bit, but then the film runs smoothly.

2. Another Wiki Comparison Guide.

3. List of wiki software.

4. List of wikis written in a variety of languages.

5. Download MediaWiki: The Free open source software that powers Wikipedia.

6. Open Source Collaborative Software

7. Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful tools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

8. Educause: Use of wikis in education – Podcast

Wiki Tools: One Page

• JotSpot Live
• Writeboard
• Writely
• RallyPoint
• Zoho Writer
• StikiPad

Full Web Site

• Helping Students Education 501(c)(3)
• Wetpaint
• JotSpot
• Atlassian Confluence
• MediaWiki
• SocialText
• JotBox Wiki appliance for large enterprises
• EditMe
• Trac Project tracking wiki
• Wikispaces aimed at social groups
• PBwiki
• SeedWiki
• Schtuff
• Instiki
• Wetpaint
• LauLima
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References

Wikia.com. (2007). Uses of a Wiki. Retrieved December 12, 2007, from http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Uses_of_a_wiki.

Foley, M. (2004). Father of the wiki talks programming practices. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1684470,00.asp

Taft, D. (2006). Father of wiki speaks out on community and collaborative development. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1939982,00.asp

Wikipedia.org (2007). Corporatewiki. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_wiki

What is Podcasting?
Podcasts are essentially episodes of programming delivered via the Internet. They can useaudio, video or PDFs or a combination of all three. Content publishers utilize RSS feeds which contain metadata, allowing for the broadcast to be catalogued and searched.The term “podcasting” according to Laurie Patterson of the IEEE, (2006) is essentially a combination of words referring to Apple’s portable MP3 player, theiPod and broadcasting. (However it is reallynot necessary to utilize an iPod to listen to podcasts. Any computer or MP3 player can play a podcast.)

When did Podcasting Begin?
The term “podcasting” is believed to have firstbeen coined by Ben Hammersley. On February 12, 2004, Mr. Hammersley wrote an article entitled “Audible Revolution“for the San Francisco Guardian:

With the benefit of hindsight, it all seems quite obvious. MP3 players, like Apple’s iPod, in many pockets, audio production software cheap or free, and weblogging an established part of the internet; all the ingredients are there for a new boom in amateur radio. But what to call it? Audioblogging? Podcasting? GuerillaMedia?

According to the IEEE’s Computer.org, in an article entitled: “The technology underlying podcasts“:

Tristan Louis, who was involved in developing W3C standards for the merger of TV with the WWW, first proposed the idea of podcasts in 2000. Dave Winer, a developer of XML dialects, along with other individuals, further developed RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary)

The idea of downloading audio files to listen to at their convenience struck a chord with many computer users. Instead of downloading a podcast to an MP3 player or iPod, users could listen to the downloaded audio files on their PCs.

Interest in podcasts has increased exponentially. On 28 September 2004, there were 24 Google hits for “podcast.” Two days later, there were 526 hits, and three days after that, 2,750 hits were recorded. The number of hits reached 100,000 by mid-October of that year, and Google recorded more than 100 million hits a year later. At the end of May 2006, Google had more than 319 million hits.

Why use Podcasts?
Podcasts provide an entirely new and exciting path to reach your students.Barriers for learning such as distance, and time are erased; asteaching is nolonger constrained toa pureclassroom activity.Podcasts are a highly convenient medium, which is compatible across numerous hardware platforms. Podcasts can be downloaded from the Internet and listened to whenever students need to review or study. They provide flexible opportunities for study in a highlyportable format.Many learning styles are accomodated through podcasting, as the mediumcan include audio, video, powerpoints as video, or written PDFs. Podcasts can help students practice and review new knowledge, orand as a result improvetheir overall academic performance.

How are podcasts delivered?
Podcasts are first downloaded to a computer via the Internet. Podcasts can be delivered by a simple click of a hyperlink, or automatically deliveredby the studentsubscribing to a RSS feed.The user can listen to the content immediately, or choose to copy it onto an MP3 player. Podcasts can also be automatically downloaded with Wifi connectivity for Palm handhelds and pocket PCs. In addition, podcasts can also be easily distributed through networking sites such as Podcastalley.

What formats are podcasts in?
The standard format for podcasts is usuallyMP3, which allows for easy transfer to a variety of equipment. Your audience already has all the tools necessary to hear, see and experience your message beyond the classroom. These days all school campuses are bustling with students carrying MP3 players, iPods and of course laptop computers.Podcasts can be played on PC’s, Mcintosh computers, palm computers.

Podcasting is Economical
There is good news for budget conscious teachers, podcasting is an extremely economical medium. First of all students can download your broadcast for free.Secondly, serving up podcastscan be accomplished with minimal costs.The reason being, MP3 recordings and the XML used to identify the recording can be placed on any Web server. As for the end user, it is possible to get a 1GB MP3 player for about $50.00. (It isn’t necessary to always go top dollar and purchase the latest Zune or Apple IPod, despite the cool blitz of advertising. For a review of MP3 players you might try checking out these PC Magazine’s reviews.)

Engaging students on their turf
Listening to a podcast isa natural for today’s technologically saavy student.Podcasts provide a way to enliven lessons using a medium that students are completely familiar and comfortable with.The small portable MP3 players are particularly useful for students with tight time constraints. Lessons can be listened to whenever and wherever the student sees fit. For example, time pressured adults will truly appreciate the opportunity to squeeze in some quality study time in rather unconventional ways. Clever multi-taskers can review the week’s lessons while at the gym, during the morning commute, cleaning up the house, or sipping coffee at the local coffee shop. One is only limited by their imagination thanks to the small, highly portable, and inexpensivequalities of MP3 players.

How do Podcasts work?
Podcasts utilize an XML protocol called RSS €“ which help to identify the author, title and content of the broadcast in metadata. The metadata helps people to understand if they want to subscribe to the broadcast or not. Podcasts are posted to a Web server along with the XML document.

How do I make XML for a Podcast?
The W3C provides clear specifications for RSS (real simple syndication). RSS is an XML application.

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Resources for Teachers

1. How Stuff Works: All about Podcasting
2. O’Reilly: What is Podcasting?
3. Podbean.com: Create a podcast and have it hosted in just a few minutes for free.
4. Podcasting Toolbox: 70+ Podcasting Tools and Resources
5. The Ultimate RSS Toolbox: 120+ RSS Resources
6. Apple.com: iPods in education -profiles of universities using the medium
7. PDF: Getting started with iPods in the classroom
8. Apple workshops on Podcasting in education
9. Apple’s distinguished educators’ series using iPods
10. Audacity: Free cross platform audio editor
11. Levilator: A free program that helps keep audio levels constant between speakers on your podcast.

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Universities Who Utilize Podcasts
The best way to learn is to be inspired by others. Perhaps listening to these free podcasts from some major universities can help start you on the right path!

1. Stanford University
2. John Hopkins University
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4. University of California, Los Angeles
5. Yale University
6. UC Berkley
7. UC San Diego
8. Vanderbilt
9. Caltech
10. University of Edinburgh
11. Oxford
12. Columbia University

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References
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Apple.com. (2007). iPod in Education: Learning to Go. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcastsfaq.html

Apple.com. (2007). Making a podcast. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcaststechspecs.html#metadata

FeedForAll.com. (n.d.). FeedForAll & FeedForAll Mac software. Retrieved December 11, 2007, from Feedforall.com: http://www.feedforall.com/

GigaVox Media. (n.d.). The Levelator. Retrieved December 11, 2007, from Conversationsnetwork.org: http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator

Patterson, L. (2006, October). How things work: The technology underlying podcasts. Retrieved December 11, 2007, from IEEE.org: http://www.computer.org/portal/site/computer/
menuitem.5d61c1d591162e4b0ef1bd108bcd45f3/
index.jsp?&pName=computer_level1_article&The
Cat=1055&path=computer/homepage/
1006&file=howthings.xml&xsl=article.xsl

PCMag.com. (n.d.). MP3 players. Retrieved December 11, 2007, from PCMag.com: http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2705,2359,00.asp

RSSBoard.org. (n.d.). Really Simple Syndication best practices profile. Retrieved December 11, 2007, from RSSBoard.org: http://www.rssboard.org/rss-profile-1

RSSBoard.org. (n.d.). RSS Validator: Really simple syndication specifications, tutorials, and discussion. Retrieved December 11, 2007, from RSSBoard.org: http://www.rssboard.org/rss-validator

Watson, S. (n.d.). How podcasting works. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from HowStuffWorks.com: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/podcasting.htm

Podcastalley.com. (n.d.). What is a podcast? Retrieved December 11, 2007, from Podcastalley.com: http://www.podcastalley.com/what_is_a_podcast.php