irgo - Recently Updated Pages

irgo frontpage

erikap — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:44:27 CDT

Internet Research Group Otago

The Internet Research Group of Otago (IRGO) is a multidisciplinary group that facilitates cross-disciplinary inquiry into social, cultural, economic, political, and technological issues relating to the internet. As a network of active researchers, IRGO is also interested in promoting and developing research, scholarship, and understanding in and across these areas.

This is the wiki/archive of the Internet Research Group of Otago. Our main site, including current activities and events is located at irgo.otago.ac.nz . Please update your bookmarks accordingly.

IRGO welcomes new members who are interested in internet issues and digital culture. Members are welcome to participate in the threads and pages on this wiki, and are encouraged to use the RSS system (left-hand menu) to keep track of the various conversations happening here.

Representatives of industry and government are also welcome to join the conversation, meet with our members, and discuss these important internet issues.

If you cannot find what you are looking for, you are welcome to contact the current convener of IRGO, Dr Erika Pearson (erika.pearson@otago.ac.nz).

WIKI MAP

ANNOUNCEMENTS and EVENTS

General Announcements (introductions, shout-outs, notices, the misc file)
- Promotion Kit materials
- Network Status Application (Update page)
- Digital Strategy Submission
Conferences and CfP (Post con, book and journal announcements here)
Otago Events (Discussion for local events and seminars, etc.)
IRGO Events (Announcements for seminars, the potential IRGO Colloquium, and whatever other events we run)
Teaching and Research Positions: TA, RA, internships and other open positions.

DISCUSSIONS
• general discussion (open season!)
• culture, convergence, copyright, and content
• games, virtual reality, and 3D environments
• education and learning
• community, social capital, diaspora and networks
• politics and activism
• Web 2.0
• code, structure, platforms and architecture
• markets, economics and business
• teaching papers on internet issues
• internet postgrads
• fix the wiki (help, comments and review of the platform for irgo)

LISTS
• members
• member publications
• research areas, projects, and centres of research excellence
• resources
• media

John Egenes and Stuart B's wiki

stuartbarson — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:37:57 CDT

Describe the thing
Key benefits, defined broadly eg needed for research, needed for relevant industry skills in students, community service, possible to offset cost via commercial use
Describe the context eg OU Profile, media convergence, high speed networks, student and industry trends
Who will use it and how: staff, students, commercially, public good (four markets)
Facts about size and growth rates of these four markets. Be very realistic.
Any competition? How difficult is it for someone else to replicate NZMIC + SSL + Albany St?
What are the plans to target the four markets? What has been done already? What is to be done?
What are the key milestones?
Any dependencies?
Any partners?
Synergies with others at OU?

IRGO lunchtime seminars, 2008

erikap — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:39:20 CDT

The 2009 seminar series is currently being planned. If you would like to participate as a presenter, or are visiting Otago in 2009 and would like to be involved, please email the committee (irgo@otago.ac.nz).

SEMESTER ONE

May 25th, 12-1pm
John Kaiser, Manager, ICT Strategy and Services, Division of Health Sciences, facilitating a discusson on fostering innovation in ICT in the health sciences.

June 12th, 12-1pm
Andrew Long, Information Science, talking about microblogging

LIST: Member publications

erikap — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:18:19 CDT

Help people keep up to date with your research. List your publications here.

---------------------

Antonie Alm
Alm, A. (2006). CALL for autonomy, competence and relatedness: Motivating language learning environments in Web 2.0. The JALT CALL Journal 2(3): 29-38.

~~~

Russell Butson
Butson, R. (2005). Faculty in the digital education of tomorrow. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 17(1), 3-16.

Butson, R. (2003). Learning Objects: Weapons of mass instruction. British Journal of Educational Technology, 34 (5).

Butson, R. (2003). Transcending the flatland. Teaching in Higher Education, 8 (3).

Butson, R. (2002) The experience of practitioners with technology-enhanced teaching and learning: A response. Educational Technology & Society, 5(3).

~~~

Dallas Knight

Knight, D., Holt, A., and J. Warren. (2009). Search engines: a study of nine search engines in four categories. Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries, 3(1). http://www.jhidc.org/index.php/jhidc/article/view/23

~~~

Erika Pearson
Kreps, D. and Pearson, E. (2009). Community as Commodity. In. Panteli, N. (Ed.), Virtual Social Networks: Mediated, massive, multiplayer. Palgrave: London.
(http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=359523)

⎯. (2009). Forecasts or Fallacies: Two issues for futures research on the internet. Futures. 41(3), 140-146. [doi:10.1016/j.futures.2008.09.011]

⎯. (2009). All The World Wide Web’s A Stage: The performance of identity in online social networks. First Monday, 14(3). http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2162/2127

⎯. (2007). Digital gifts: Participation and gift exchange in LiveJournal communities. First Monday. 12(5), http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_5/pearson/index.html.

Pearson, E. (2005). Trust: Is social capital a precondition for democratic activity online? In. Consalvo, M. & M. Allen (Eds.), Internet Research Annual: 2003, Volume 2. (pp.85-94). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

~~~

Nigel Stanger

Stanger, N. & McGregor, G. (2007) EPrints makes its mark. OCLC Systems & Services: Digital Library Perspectives, 23(2):133–141,

http://eprints.otago.ac.nz/565/ orhttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/10650750710748432.

Paola Voci
Voci, P. (2006) Quasi-Documentary, Cellflix and Web Spoofs: Chinese Movies’ Other Visual Pleasures. SensesofCinema 41(6), http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/06/41/other-chinese-movies-pleasures.html

ANNOUNCE: General

erikap — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:14:23 CDT

Post general announcements, misc. remarks or unclassifiable (or at least unclassified!) material here.

POLL: Help us help you!

LIST: Research areas, schools and CoE

RussellButson — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:50:02 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

iTunes @ Otago

erikap — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:09:42 CDT

As of September 2008
The first iTunes U Editorial board meeting has been held. The board agreed to the following process going ahead:

(i) The author seeks approval in the first instance from the Head of Department
(ii) Technical quality of material will be vetted by ITS
(iii) Items are posted on the site, accessed only by password, where they can be viewed for approval purposes
(iv) Sign off is required from a nominee of the PVC or Dean at a Divisional level.

The nominations of persons to 'sign off' on material for their Division is currently underway. In the meantime, Ruth MacKenzie-White from Marketing & Communication will be filling this role. Further information will be made available here and via the Bulletin as it becomes available.

IRGO lunchtime seminars, 2009

erikap — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:58:56 CDT

Get in early (or dob in a student) for a slot in the 2009 seminar series. The series runs during the teaching semesters.

Online survey

Jordie1 — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:37:05 CDT

I'm in the process of pre testing my thesis survey (title: New Zealand eCommerce Website Success). The responses are not logged in as it is not linked to a database yet. The following link will take you to the survey:

http://info-nts-12.otago.ac.nz/tests/brendon/websitesuccess/

If you do have any suggestion please let me know either through email or through irgo here.

The survey is now active and the responses are logged in to a database, this is the new link

http://www.business.otago.ac.nz/Surveys/eCommerceSuccess/

if you running an online business or know someone does please forward the link for a genuine response

Thankyou

Ahmad Ghandour
PhD candidate
Information Science

LIST: members

jegenes — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:44:28 CDT

This is the current list of members attached to the original email list. If you are new to irgo, or did not list yourself at that time, please do so now.

~~

Russell Butson (HEDC)
Dawn Coburn (IS/ College of Education)
*Stephen Cranefield (Information Science)
*Murray Downes (Upstart Business Incubator (in partnership with Otago U.))
John Egenes (Music)
Lance Elder (Business/IS)
*Graham Hamlyton
Faisal Hasan (Computer Science)
*Ralf Hebecker (Design)
Alec Holt (IS/Health)
Zhiyi Huang (Computer Science)
Innovative Learning (external)
Alistair Knott (Computer Science)
*Andrew Long (Information Science)
*Mark McGuire
Erika Pearson (Media, Film, Communication)
*Chris Paton (Comp Sci)
Lesley Procter (anthropology)
Martin Purvis (Information Science)
Holger Regenbrecht (Information Science, HCI)
Gordon Sanderson (Medicine)
Straylight Studios (External)
Kerry Shephard (HEDC)

Nigel Stanger (Information Science)
Rodney Tamblyn/ Rob Griffiths (OceanBrowser/external)
Paola Voci (Languages and Cultures
*Brendon Woodford (infosci)
Antonie Alm (Languages & Cultures)

[* = no bio received]
~~~~~
Russell Butson
I am involved in exploring learning approaches that have an impact on the learner’s life. I am particularly interested in more engaging, collaborative learning experiences that are consistent with the idealism, imagination and expectations of learners within higher education. The substance of this approach lies with the cultivation of the learner’s personal autonomy. This requires an understanding of the learner’s experiences if we are to situate the learner’s activities within a meaningful event. This is where we move into the unfamiliar, where we have the opportunity to become innovative and creative in our search for alternative and effective ways to change how we think and act in the process of education. This requires scrutiny of the nature of the mechanisms that have formed our educational system, and examination of whether or not there is another point of view.

Areas of Interest 2007
-Networked Learning
-Web 2.0 technologies
-Personalised Learning Environments (PLEs)
-Student engagement
-Student voice
-Student use of Technology
-Extreme Learning
~~~~~
Dawn Coburn
I am doing PH D studies through Information Science. The title of my proposal is "Gone Tomorrow" which reflects concerns I have about the fate of digital photographs being taken by this generation. Expanding on this I am investigating the role of photography in contributing to personal identity and the possible impacts of technological obsolescence which will affect what can be readily accessed by future generations. The internet has relevance as a repository for photographs which allows access from multiple sites and can backup material from other sources which may be lost, damaged, or become inaccessible. Associated with the internet are competing questions relating to metadata, which will enable ready access, and privacy.
~~~~~
Stephen Cranefield
Information Science
Bio online here.
~~~~~
Murray Downes
Upstart Business Incubator
~~~~~
John Egenes
Department of Music:
Music & music technology, internet media (audio/visual, podcasting/webcasting), film scoring, digital rights/copyright issues, creative commons & public domain, folk music, songwriting
~~~~~
Lance Elder (Business/IS)
Principally interesting in the use of the Internet to support learning, including: gaming, user-generated content, and social networking.
~~~~~
Ralf Hebecker
Design
Bio online here.
~~~~~
Faisal Hasan (Computer Science)
I 'm a PhD student working on congestion control for Streaming Media on the Internet. The user experience of streaming is not always satisfactory. This is largely due to the inefficiency of TCP's congestion control algorithm which proactively controls the sending rate of applications to ensure fairness and avoid congestion. When ever there is a packet loss TCP takes it as an indication of congestion and cuts the sending rate by half. I 'm designing a rate control algorithm which will provide early congestion notification to the streaming application for adaptive streaming.

~~~~~
Alec Holt
Director of the Health Informatics Program
I am primarily interested in Health Informatics. Part of that is the Internet and Health care. Part of that is Web 2.0 and on-line communities. For on-line communities I am interested in self-care and well-health type communities and their interactions. I am also interested in how consumers are being empowered by information and on-line communities is one area where information is shared as well understanding the guidelines for providing e-health (eHealth Code of Ethics, Health on the Net Code (HONCode), Health Internet Ethics (Hi-Ethics), American Accreditation Healthcare Commission (URAC))

I also keep an eye on convergence of technologies - this Internet environment gets pushed to Mobile phones etc.
~~~~~
Zhiyi Huang, PhD
Dept of Computer Science
My research interests are computer networks, operating systems, parallel and distributed computing. I am interested in using Internet to create new software systems.
~~~~
Graham A Hambleton
Innovative Learning
Our organisation based in Dunedin provides online education and has a joint venture with a US based organisation. You can see what we have to offer by going to our website.
~~~~
Alistair Knott
Computer Science
My work is in the area of web-based human-computer dialogue systems. One of my research projects is to develop a web-based dialogue system that helps students learn a foreign language. The system 'plays' one or more characters, each with their own knowledge and interests; the student can hold a simple conversation with these characters in the language being learned. The system-played characters can also take teaching actions - for instance, correcting students' errors or asking questions that elicit targeted syntactic constructions. Our current prototype works for Maori, and is used in the introductory Maori course here at Otago (MAOR110). I'm considering extending the system to allow several students to participate in this type of language-learning dialogue - hence my interest in online communities centred around chat forums.
~~~~
Andrew Long
Information Science

Andrew Long is a Lecturer for the Department of Information Science. When he'snot talking to first-years about building software properly, he is thinking about online social space. In particular, he likes the idea of virtual activities as authenticexperiences, playing with identity, cyberculture, art and technology, and ambient intimacy in social networking.

~~~~
Erika Pearson
Media, Film and Communication
Current Convener, IRGO
I am interested in social networking behaviours on the internet – particularly trust relations in community formation and complexity in social networking. I am currently engaged in a project researching visual literacy in online social groups (such as uses of avatars and icons) and vlogs, with a particular focus on visual codes as linked to identity formation. I have previously conducted research in political activism and hacktivism.
~~~~
Dr. Lesley Procter,
Sociology Programme, Anthropology Department,
I am particularly interested in examining the overlay of
* social capital,
* patterns of interaction between individuals,
* presentation of self(ves), and
* identity
between the "two sides" of the computer screen in virtual reality "games" like Second Life and The Sims. In other words I am fascinated by the ways in and through which "real life" social patterning becomes transferred to, transcended in, or transformed through the creation and manipulation of avatar "selves".
My interest in these phenomena translate into teaching a suite of courses in micro-sociology where case studies used include the sociology of cyberspace (broadly defined).
~~~~
Martin Purvis
Professor of Information Science
Bio online here.
I am one of those people interested in the social aspects of the Internet, and I have some PhD students pursuing research in this area.
I would be interested in participating with others or learning about the interests of others in this area.
~~~~
Holger Regenbrecht
Information Science
Holgeris a Senior Lecturer at the department of Information Science at Otago University and has been working in the fields of Virtual and Augmented Reality for over ten years. He was initiator and manager of the Virtual Reality Laboratory at Bauhaus University Weimar (Germany) and the Mixed Reality Laboratory at DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology (Ulm, Germany).
His research interests include Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), (collaborative) Augmented Reality, 3D teleconferencing, psychological aspects of Mixed Reality, and three-dimensional user interfaces (3DUI).
He is a member of IEEE, ACM, and igroup.org and serves as a reviewer and auditor for several conferences and institutions, including the European Commission.
Further information about his research can be found at www.igroup.org/regenbre and www.hci.otago.ac.nz.
~~~~
Gordon Sanderson
Senior Lecturer
Ophthalmology Section
Otago Medical School
The use of the internet for post graduate medical teaching seems to be an ideal solution for delivering up-to-date information to students who are often geographically dispersed and who work unsociable hours. It can be used to provide access to expertise from throughout the world. Complex concepts can be simplified using animations or RLOs. Rare specimens such as anatomy prosections can be exhibited using 3D technology; thus providing information that may be hard to achieve even in the real environment, on demand.
My research interests lie in further developing this technology and endeavouring to make it as user-friendly and accessible as possible.
~~~~
Straylight Studios
Tim Nixon (CEO)

Straylight Studios are pioneering new efforts into the realm of Interactive Narrative, using Web 2.0 as a basis for audience feedback and interaction with content developers, whether the format be film, tv, television (YouTube), comics, or whatever. Essentially we’re developing a set of tools and methodologies that allow traditional entertainment formats to utilise the power of audience response, giving viewers the opportunity to define the world in which a broadcasted story exists.

One project of ours at the moment is The Vision Quest, in partnership with a Hollywood production firm we are giving readers the opportunity to actually become part of a trilogy of novels. An online website gives readers the tools to establish a character, blog about their characters life in this alternate universe, and develop the skills of their character through mini-games and challenges. The top player/reader at the end of June will actually become a minor character in the second of three novels in the series.

Straylight are also working on multiple game development, animation, web development, and serious game projects, with a current 18 staff and a rapidly growing export contribution.
~~~
Professor Kerry Shephard
Director: HEDC

Kerry Shephard is Professor and Director of the University of Otago’s Higher Education Development Centre. He has long-term research interests in education for sustainability, science communication and in the general area of affective learning. His interests focus around eLearning and educational development. Kerry is currently researching how higher education achieves affective learning outcomes, how online learning-resources and environments can support the broad range of student learning and how best to support staff to make use of these resources. Kerry has a background in the biological sciences.
~~~

Nigel Stanger

Information Science

Bio online here.

~~~
Rob Griffiths/OceanBrowser
We teach aviation medicine, occupational medicine and health (the latter non-medical), and aeromedical retrieval & transport through our non-University (Oceanbrowser) software to students worldwide and have 20 years experience in this area of teaching now. We are interested in research methods of teaching and assessment that cross language and cultural distinctions and also to be independent of student numbers, for commercial rather than academic reasons!
~~~
Chris Paton

I'm a lecturer in Health Informatics and owner of New Media Medicine Ltd. I run an online community for medical students and doctors at www.newmediamedicine.com. I teach a paper on Evidence Based Medicine and I am co-ordinating a new summer school paper on Web 2.0 and Online Communities. My interests are about the intersection of Healthcare and the Internet, for increasing learning and communication between doctors and enabling doctors to have knowledge of and access to the current best evidence from the medical literature. This involves technologies such as Social Networks, Web Streaming, Mobile Devices (in particular 'Mobile Clinical Assistants'), VOIP, Wireless Networks (Phone and Wifi) and Search.

Paola Voci
I have been working across two main research areas: contemporary Chinese visual culture and film and media studies. Over the past few years, I have become particularly interested in video-making and video-sharing technology (Internet and cellphone based).
In terms of language teaching/learning, I have used with different degree of success Internet-based activities (gaming, blogging, and wiki-pages) and would like to exchange notes on this topic as well!

Antonie Alm
A lecturer in German, I have been using the Internet for the last 10 years in my language teaching.Websites have always been a fabulous resource for language learning and they bring the foreign culture closer to the classroom. CMC opened the door to communication with native speakers and added a valuable motivational element to language learning. Web 2.0 technologies allow now to involve the learner to become a participatory member of the online community. My students are writing blogs, work with wikis on collaborative writing projects, use and produce audio and video podcasts. Some of their video projects are published on YouTube (If you understand German have a look atSkandale). The integration of Internet tools in the language classroom necessitates fundamental changes to traditional learning paradigms. I am interested in these changes and how they affect language learning. My current Web 2.0 research is embedded in sociocultural and motivational theory.

Steering Group

erikap — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:01:50 CDT

IRGO needs to start planning to make the switch from ad-hoc networking to an organized Network. If you'd like to be involved, please let us know.

ANNOUNCE: Conferences and Calls for Papers

scranefield — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:55:02 CDT

Conferences and calls for papers for books and journals can be posted here. Please keep entries ordered by closing date for submissions (looming deadlines at the top, far-away deadlines at the bottom)

Contents

OZCHI 2008: Designing for Habitat & Habitus - 8 - 12 December 2008. Cairns (Tropical North Queensland) Australia http://www.ozchi.org/
IMPORTANT DATES
27th June 2008: Long Papers/Tutorials/Workshops
1st September 2008: Short Papers/Demos/Doc Consortium

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Electronic Commerce Research and Applications on Social Networks and Web 2.0
http://www.elsevierscitech.com/pdfs/ECRA_CFP_SocialNetworks.pdf
Optional abstracts: April 15, 2008. Initial submission: June 15, 2008

Making Links Melbourne, Aus, 11-13 November, 2008. Submission Deadline 22 July 2008.

Workshop on Web 2.0: Applications, Modeling and Simulation at the International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications and Technologies, 1-4 December 2008, Dunedin
Submission deadline : 3 August, 2008

4th International Conference on Communications and Technologies (C&T 2009), 25-27 June 2009, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
Submission date: 15th December 2008
View poster (.PDF)
~~~~~~

ICCMSN

erikap — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:45:04 CDT

If you have material on the web related to this conference, please link to it here (you may need to register with the site if you're not an IRGO member).

Main Conference Blog - Post your thoughts and reflections there.

General Sites

Twitter Stream @ Summize
ICCMSN2008@Slideshare (please upload your slides - u/n: iccmsn2008; p/w: the conference wifi password made plural! *g*)
The slides have now be organized by the conference schedule at the ICCMSN main site.
The Digital Me (John Eyles keynote site)
Bloglines - ICCMSN

Audio recordings:
The recording equipment started showing its age. However, low quality recordings are available for:
panels 1, 2, and 3.
Malcolm Shore and Quinglan Zhou - Second Life: The future of social networking?
Peta Hopkins and Michael Rees - Towards the Integration of Social Media with Traditional Information Systems
Sophie Nichol - 'This isn't where I parked my car': Virtual communities of Generation Y Games Geeks
Stephanie Broege - Social Networks and the Useof Mobile Phones in NZ, Germany and the US.

Unfortunately, there were major problems with all other sessions (usually along the lines of "Is this thing on? No, press the button!" *click*). If anyone made any recordings or liveblogged any other session, please link to it here. Thanks.

Specific Material
Blogs
LiveBlog of the iTunesU special panel

Off Slideshare
The Use of Digital Photo Frames as Situated Messaging Devices
Using social networking for eMentoring
Social Networks and the Use of Mobile Phones in NZ, Germany, and the US

Towards integration of social media with traditional information systems - Rees, Hopkins (now with audio)

Attendees

Michael Rees, School of IT, Bond University: blog, twitter, facebook, friendfeed
Sarah Stewart -video reflection, giving birth in Second Life and final random thoughts.
Peta Hopkins - blog (link to reflection post)

(problems, queries, questions: erika.pearson@otago.ac.nz)

ANNOUNCE: irgo events

stuartbarson — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:43:01 CDT

Announcements of upcoming IRGO events.

Please feel free to announce and cross-post widely.

Seminar Series: The Social, Cultural & Ethical Impact of ICT Innovation

The Impact ’08 Seminar series explores the Social, Cultural & Ethical Impact of ICT Innovation in a number of fields. The lunch time seminars will run simultaneously through the Access Grid network at Auckland University, Waikato University, Victoria University of Wellington, and Canterbury University. The seminars are organised and funded through a partnership of UNESCO New Zealand, the 2020 Communications Trust and InternetNZ. The series provides and excellent way for ‘town and gown’ to meet and think and exchange ideas. Those from the business, technology and government sectors can stretch their thinking beyond technology and profits to some of the more indirect impacts of their decisions. The academic community can interact with more closely with those in ‘town’ to get a more pragmatic view on their ideas.

Identity July 21	Does the sense of identify and privacy change with innovations in ICT? What is the impact on the rights of the individual when the ease of access to information becomes so easy and fast?
Social Interaction August 18	How are innovations in ICT impacting on how people interact? What is the impact of innovative ICTs eliminating the tyranny of distance and time?
Community Building September 15	What impact does ICT innovation have in building communities? And, has the concept of community changed away from a geographic focus? And what is the impact on the individual’s association with their multiple communities?
Location October 20	What is the impact of innovative ICT on the efficiency of the transport sector? How does ICT impact people’s ways and needs to travel?

The Access Grid node in the ISB is booked. More details at http://www.2020.org.nz/impact/

From Stuart x8907

IRGO Lunch Seminars 2008

IRGO Lunch Seminars
Will be resuming in semester two. The current speaker schedule is available here.

IRGO 2009 Steering Group
We're currently in the process of forming a small steering group to decide how IRGO will continue to proceed and grow in the next few years. Representatives from Health and from Science are still required. If you are interested in being involved, please email erika.pearson@otago.ac.nz.

IRGO LAUNCH
An invitation to all researchers working in the area of Internet Studies for a casual gathering on Thursday, the 14th of June, at 4pm in the seminar room at the Centre for Innovation, St David Street, University of Otago (Dunedin). This is an opportunity to meet others working on Internet issues beyond your school or division, and to discuss future directions for collaboration and networking.

ANNOUNCE: Otago Events

erikap — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:21:08 CDT

Is your department, school or centre hosting an event that may be of interest to irgo members? Post it here.

Upcoming departmental seminars that may be of interest to IRGO members (know of a seminar? feel free to add it here!)

New (June 2008): University of Otago has become an iTunesU. In early July, IRGO will be hosting a meeting with the team running iTunesUoO to discuss how to use the site, and what we might want to use it for. Watch this space for more details.

CSIS Seminar Series

Media Film and Communication Seminar Series

Digital Strategy - IRGO Response

erikap — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:59:03 CDT

The draft Digital Strategy is now available, and responses to this document are being solicited. It is anticipated that IRGO will take a leadership role in drafting a response on behalf of the University. Below are the six categories for comment. Please enter in your comments under the appropriate heading/question by CoB Thursday, May 8th. The comments will then be collated and drafted for comment before the final deadline of May 12. Thanks -erika

UPDATE: The consultation period on the Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 has been extended to 5.00pm Friday 23 May, 2008. So please have your edits in by Wed 21 so we have time to write up the report. Thanks.

UPDATE #2: The response has been drafted and sent in. Thankyou to everyone who took the time to jot down some comments. Any responses or comments back will be posted to this page. Thanks again.

On Connection

What do you think of the new connection goal ⎯ is it ambitious enough?

What other key priorities in this focus area (if any) would you like to see considered?

How well do the identified challenges and actions contribute to achieving the priorities?

What other specific challenges and actions (if any) do you think should be considered? By whom and when?

Holger's humble hints (HHH*):
Reliable, widespread and fast broadband access is a must for a new economy sketched in this and other papers. But, this should rather been taken for granted and is rather a process of continuation than part of a strategy. Just continue to do it and talk less about it.
To date, this entire chapter is about catching up with the developed world instaed of defining a leading edge approach ("NZ as a world leader in using ICT"). What is missing:
a) while broadband is a neccessary pre-requisite for today's businesses, mobile connectivity will probably be the next big thing. How is mobile access to networked information and communication supported? There was a local loop unbundling with the landline network, but nothing happened with the mobile infrastructure. Still, mainly two companies are controlling the market and the content (example: VoIP over 3G)
b) NZ's geography makes it uneconomical to bring broadband via ADSL.x+/FTTH to every place. This is correct. What other possibilities are/will be explored. Is there any funding for research into launching a satellite w/ bi-directional Internet provision, low orbit or other near earth technologies, DSL over power line, ...?
c) If FTTH is too exepnsive, why not implementing FTTB (business) in combination with last mile services for homes? Is there any research funded/encouraged on alternatives?
d) Was there any research or will there be any research on a tax-payer paid model for internet infrastructure (like streets etc.)? Or split models: public-private systems, business-only fees, ...

[update HHH, 08-MAY] Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are about to create a WiMax network potentially reaching half of the US citizens. Wireless briodband speed for big cities and rural areas! See Sprint press release

*this is not more silly than Connection, Confidence, Content, Collaboration ;| (I think it's catchy - e.)

[Andrew]
The emphasis of this section seems to be on users doing more things rather than what the Government are prepared to do to actually enable this. I agree with Holger in that they seem to harping on about broadband (still) and making up for lost time, etc. but no inspirational or aspirational goals or clear ideas of how to achieve them. Wishy-washy and happy to stick with the status-quo overall.

I also agree that mobile connectivity will be critical as broadband was yesterday and where's the free country wide Wi-fi (imagine the potential productivity as a result).

[Alec] Not sure if the new connection goals are ambitious enough. It seems the bitrate is never enough for all national programmes to operate. The key becomes priority setting etc. This is the real detail that the "Draft Digital Strategy 2.0" needs to indicate, so we can participate in the discussion. Is the bitrate of 1Gbps connections by 2012 for health and education sectors too much or too little? Should it be 2Gbps or tera bitrates?

Mobile connectivity is going to be increasingly sought after. I am interested if they have thought about making some mobile services free, for example, emergency health, etc. I think the challenges and actions are not detailed enough.

[Alec] No mention of standards and Interoperability (other than in the subgrounds such as HIS-NZ). Connectivity (broadband or Wireless) will be hindered if standards and Interoperability are not addressed.

[Alec] As internet protocol television (IPTV) is being pushed how about testing the whitespace of the "Low VHF Band Channels" for wireless applications (research - security, tele, agents, health)
http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/digital_tv/2006.07.26-f_CharlesRhodes.shtml

On Confidence

What do you think of the new confidence goal ⎯ is it ambitious enough?

What other key priorities in this focus area (if any) would you like to see considered?

How well do the identified challenges and actions contribute to achieving the priorities?

What other specific challenges and actions (if any) do you think should be considered? By whom and when?

(e's 2c - not as catchy as HHH, I admit!)
* firstly, confidence and content goals are all well and good, but there needs to be an awareness that the internet is not a single layer -- digital content requires infrastructure (that can then feed back and justify maintenance and development of further infrastructure). "If you build it they will come" is the path to failure.
* "Being digital" should become unremarkable, just part of "being" in the 21stC. Therefore, content (specifically user-created content) cannot be considered in isolation but as part of a wider context. The confidence to use and engage must be fostered within wider society, not put in a box labelled "The Net."
* People need a reason to invest time, money, effort into getting connected and learning how to use digital tools: they need a payoff that justifies the outlay. They also need help developing the multiliteracies they need (and that help must be shaped to their needs - one size does not fit all). And finally, they need to feel safe -- this includes things like copyright issues ('Will I get in trouble for doing this?' may stop some people from accessing and engaging)

[Andrew]
How do we make the Internet generation smarter users? might be a good question. As the strategy says, they are the future leaders, creators, etc.

[Alec]
1) New Zealand Legislation needs to bring in more protection for users in the digital age. This will increase user confidence.
This "Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 " needs to have a "New Zealand Legislation" section, which lists all relevant regulations and Acts and identifies which need updating and moves to cover areas that are currently not covered. We probably need more in this space
http://www.legislation.co.nz/all/results.aspx?search=ts_all%40act%40bill%40regulation_electronic

Copyright and intellectual properties in the digital domain are new and complex issues. New revenue models for online distribution in order to reduce illegal downloading must be continually updated. A good example which is mentioned is the the Creative Commons licences concept.

2) "Reduce shortages of skilled ICT practitioners, Equipping managers with ICT, increasing digital literacy" easy to say difficult to enact.
I am eagerly anticipating the "Capability actions the government is responding to the capability challenges" p22 and note some discussion documents are to be released soon.
The "Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 " mentions understanding
what the industry want
Developing a unified skills strategy
Building firms’ capability to help managers and workers to increase their understanding of the benefits of ICT
Implementing the National ICT Skills Collaboration (NISC) initiative
A national brand for ICT careers.
Sourcing talent for New Zealand’s ICT sector
Developing well qualified ICT professionals
Reforming tertiary education
HOWEVER we have most of this already (except national brands etc) and all the “capability actions” will cost money. Easier option might be to subsidise ICT courses, one course per company? Or give companies reimbursements for sending their staff on courses. Similar to internships maybe ?
I have seen this before – University offers the courses, industry want more graduates in those courses, money spent on marketing and understanding what the Universities offer and what the industry want etc = status quo, yet money spent. Why not get active, Industry could send their current employees on courses and also focus on new graduates.

On Content

What do you think of the new confidence goal ⎯ is it ambitious enough?

What other key priorities in this focus area (if any) would you like to see considered?

How well do the identified challenges and actions contribute to achieving the priorities?

What other specific challenges and actions (if any) do you think should be considered? By whom and when?

(erika)
* NZ is, in many regards, a blank slate -- new ideas and practices can be built from scratch without having to negotiate pesky legacy issues
* this is a gap which can be forced open, and which can show the rest of the world that there is more than one way to surf the net
* particularly in regards to user-generated content, people always have things to say -- but they don't always feel they have a voice to say it with. Content creation needs to become naturalized, just another tool, so that people will of their own volition engage and create.
* to distribute this content, it needs to be easy and risk-free, and 'worth it.' This links back to having confidence...

[Andrew]
I'm not sure the IP issues are resolved, particularly with all the talk about preservation and access. Why do New Zealanders have to make NZ specific content? (seems a little parochial)

[Paola] 5.2 Digital culture priority and challenges Content actions on digital culture will be coordinated around this priority: · Improving the creation, discovery and use of New Zealand-grown content. [...] I agree with the emphasis on NZ-grown content, but it doe snot have to be NZ-specific. It is an important distinction here. What follows though (5.3 Digital culture actions) is a plan that shows that government still identifies culture with what is produced by the traditional media (TV broadcast) and only to a lesser extent, some other community services such as Kiwi Research Centre (Zealand’s publicly funded research results are available online) and the Digital Sustainability Strategy (electronic public records are appropriately maintained by government agencies and are accessible as public archives) . There is no mention of how other locally-based communities or individual contribution is equally valuable (see my point below in the other comments section)
On Collaboration

How important do you think collaboration across sectors is to achieving our digital potential?

Apart from the ones already identified, what other collaboration partners or sectors (if any) are vital to achieving our digital potential?

What unique contribution do you see for Mãori, for communities, for business groups, for local government, for researchers or for other contributors you identify as having a key role?

What would you like to see the overarching sector forum focus its work programme on?

[Andrew]
Collaboration is a good thing and ICT typically makes it easier (even possible) to do. However, simply connecting groups over the wires is unlikely to result in productive collaboration by itself. Fruitful collaboration will rely on many different factors where it's the people involved that might be the most important determinant of success.

[Alec] Under collaboration we need greater updates from the relevant key government strategies under the Digital Strategy, for example, e-Government Strategy, New Zealand’s Digital Content Strategy and The Health Information Strategy for NZ (HIS-NZ) etc. The section on HIS-NZ in the Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 has no content, although it is full of words. However we do know that the HIS-NZ is making great progress. HISAC identified 12 Action Zones as areas where effort should be focused over the next three to five years. For each Action Zone a detailed ‘Preliminary Scope and Approach’ (PS&A) document has been prepared. http://www.hisac.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagescm/7437 Maybe other groups would benefit from knowing this. We need to have a holistic approach and know what each sector is planning; otherwise expensive mistakes will be made. We need to share approaches (wisdom of the crowd) and also with a thought to balance the resources. Each sector will want high capacity and high speed Internet. This Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 document needs to be the place that brings it all together. pg40

[Alec] I see a bit for Mãori communities but not much for Pacific Island communites (only mentioned once I think under the Canterbury group) pg44

On Achieving Our Digital Potential

Using digital technology, what contribution will you make to improving our productivity (achieving a creative, knowledge-based, high-income economy)?

Using digital technology, what contribution will you make to enriching and valuing New Zealand communities and cultures, and promoting our unique national identity?

Using digital technology, what contribution will you make to achieving sustainable growth as a nation?

What contribution do you think others need to make to achieve our digital potential?

HHH:
Obviously this entire strategy is all about using. Fair enough. But, what about driving ICT? That would mean, that we do not just rely on existing technologies and best practices (deveoped in L.A./California to be applied in Invercagill/SI ;) but instead doing active research in all areas and competencies to come up with new solution suitable for our country as well as perhaps for others. The primary driver for innovation should be the industry, the primary driver for sustainable knowledge development and conservation should be society. In particular:
- prescribed (or very strongly encouraged) partnerships with certain industries or certain technologies by the Strategy are counter-productive. Bottom-Up instead of Top-Down
- research (not deveopment!) into ICT should be funded along with funding for using ICT

(erika)
I'd add to this that there also has to be coherent and shared goals, that are supported -- this doesn't just mean funding, but also things like fostering talent (reversing the brain drain). There should also be an acknowledgement that doing business in these areas is a high-risk proposition. In SNS-as-business, there is an understanding that for every Facebook there are tens if not hundreds of failures. But learning from these 'failures' leads to the successes.

[Andrew]
And, making the emerging generations of users, consumers, creators etc. smarter at doing things with media and technologies.

Other Comments

Do you have any further suggestions or comments?

HHH:
The stratgy paper in this current draft form appears to me
- backwards-orientated (what the government achieved in the past is too much emphasised, could be deleted almost entirely),
- chasing current technology and/or buzzword trends instaed of defining unique, future-driven, on the advantages and specifics of NZ focussing approaches,
- way too long in writing (policymaker style, very vague, lots of prose) [I haven't even had the time to filter out the content out of 50 pages, sorry]

[Andrew]
This is a fairly dull, ponderous and underwhelming read. Holger is right - it is backwards looking and full of hyperbolic, verbose prose. But then again, it is a Government paper so it probably does it's job. It's nice that there's a real focus and apparent drive to improve the current digital poverty we live in but how are they going to do this? What is there to get in behind and commit effort to? Hard to say at this stage.

What is the point of the document again?

[Paola]

I have read the document and i found it both very energizing and depressing (but definitely too long and unnecesserily heavy and repetitive). some very good points (the basic catchy principles) are obviously to be supported and it is comforting to see that NZ government is trying to implement strategies geared to achieve a broader and better connectivity.

i am a little uncompfrotable with the luck of emphasis on digital culture as a people-generated pratice (within but alos without the institutions and structures that regulate our society) . Certain statements (such as the "rhetorical" point about the need of promoting cultural identity followed by the assumption that "performing arts and creative industries are the major local content creators and providers" - are they really??) reflect an understanding (in my mind, a misunderstanding) of digital culture as generated by corporations (big or small) rather than individuals.

if this document is to be a statement of the "vision" for what a digital NZ should look like, than it should somewhere acknowledge that any action that is reducing (rather than expanding) such individual (rather than institutional) contribution is potentially undermining the growth of NZ-born content.

[HHH, 12-May]
your (erika, andrew, paola) comments are very encouraging in terms of supporting a view, that the current draft should be more forward-directed (letting aside the question, what the point of the document actually is, andrew ;)) What about future headlines like this (no order):

"NZ announced their OLPS (one laptop per senior) program, reinforcing the 2008 Act on Equal Access to Information Resources"

"Pupils teaching teachers in culture of computer gaming"

"Plan for deprivatisation of Internet in NZ: Free access for all"

"Emission-free IT infrastructure: all IT runs on sustainable, renewable energy"

"New Zealand Spam-free by 2011"

"Te Papa runs within Ars Electronica, Ars Electronica runs within Te Papa"

"Gartner: NZ is leading testbed for secure, safe and trustworthy information exchange"

"Identity thief charged with 10 months of limited info access"

"The New Truth: journalists have to provide an electronic references record with every article published"

"NZ's eVoting system exported to EU and US"

"TEC announces Four-Generations-College on former Second Life land"

"New IPR law allows for boost in digital content creation"

"Air New Zealand Catastrophe: temporary re-introduction of business flights due to breakdown of their teleconferencing network!"

[... add your headlines]

[Alec]
I found it difficult to read as it is so full of govt. speak. It seems that everything is covered, but I suspect that it is not the case, for example, WiMAX is mentioned in glossary but not in report! WHY?.

The pdf is way better than the clunky web version!

Even the title bugs me "Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 " too close to Web 2.0 and Health 2.0, etc In keeping with the nomenclature it should be "2008 Digital Strategy"

[Alec] This Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 " should aim to make NZ world leaders and try be much more ambitious and competitive on the world stage. This approach will benefit the Business and other sectors, which will put money back in the economy. Time to move on from or significantly add to agriculture and tourism.
If you look at the list of countries by number of broadband Internet users and look at the Total population penetration, NZ is not high on the rank. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_broadband_users.

Digital Strategy Submissions

mpurvis — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:24:08 CDT

for more information, please follow the links or contact Stuart Barson at the Centre for Innovation. If you are interested in submitting a response to the strategy, please post your submission here for comment. It is hoped that we as a research group will be able to put forward statements which can be read cohesively as a group. [Note: there is a new document posted below for your reference: a discussion paper concerning the Australian National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. The ICT material is on pages 41-51.]

The Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 was released for public comment today. It is a key step in the refresh of the 2005 Digital Strategy, with a final updated Digital Strategy 2.0 expected to be released mid year.

This is an opportunity for all interested New Zealanders to have their say, and inform priorities and actions shaping New Zealand's digital future.

The Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 is about taking the next step into New Zealand's digital future. The digital environment is rapidly changing, and it is now timely to review where we have come from and where we are going as a nation, so that New Zealand can achieve its digital potential.

It is now time to think differently and collectively about the kinds of community, environmental and economic outcomes New Zealand wants from the use of digital technology in the future, and how they can be achieved.

So have your say - we need your ideas and want to hear about how you can contribute to New Zealand achieving its digital potential.

Please note that submissions close at 5.00pm, Monday 12 May 2008.

If you have any queries please email comments@digitalstrategy.govt.nz.

Related links

* Minister's media statement <http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/public+feedback+called+digital+strategy>
* Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 document <http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/digital-strategy-2/>
* Information on how to have your say on the Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 <http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/digital-strategy-2/Have-your-say/>
* Digital Strategy website <http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/>
* Digital Strategy wiki <http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/>
* Australian NCRIS Roadmap Discussion Paper (see attachment below, particularly pp 41-51)

Ministry of Economic Development <http://www.med.govt.nz/> newzealand.govt.nz <http://www.newzealand.govt.nz/> business.govt.nz <http://www.business.govt.nz/>
Companies Office <http://www.companies.govt.nz> PPSR <http://www.ppsr.govt.nz> MVTR <http://www.motortraders.med.govt.nz> RSM <http://www.rsm.govt.nz> ES <http://www.energysafety.govt.nz/> IPONZ <http://www.iponz.govt.nz> ITS <http://www.insolvency.govt.nz>

DISCUSS: teaching internet papers

AntonieAlm — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:17:31 CDT

From: Annemaree Senior <annemaree.senior@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Subject: Elearning Mailing List/Discussion Board

Please pass this on to any members of staff using any elearning/online tools to support teaching & learning - not just Blackboard,
but a wiki, blog, podcast, website, discussion forum, etc.

During recent discussions with various colleagues, it has becomeapparent that there's currently no way for users of elearning tools
& technologies at Otago (whether that's Moodle, WebCrossing,podcasting, streaming, Blackboard, clickers, a website, or
something else!) to easily contact each other, share information &new ideas, or ask for guidance from peers. As a response to this,
I would like to gauge interest in setting up either an "eLearningDiscussion" email list or discussion board (the latter could easily
be done in a Blackboard paper).

If you would be interested in either of these options, could youplease let me know which one you prefer:
1. An email list;
or
2. A discussion forum in a Blackboard paper.

Either would be opt-in. If I receive enough interest, I'll set upwhichever option receives the most "votes".

Regards,

Annemaree

--
Annemaree Senior
elearning Support
Teaching & Learning Facilities
ITS, University of Otago
PO Box 56, Dunedin, NZ
Ph: +64 3 479 7580

~~~

A possible useful resource, especially at the introductory levels: CommonCraft Plain English Explanations of Online Phenomena.

~~~

Since course advising is happening soon, here is the current collated list of internet and cyberculture papers. Please feel free to edit or add.

MUSI133: Sight and Sound (Musi/MFCO) Summer School

COMP113: Web 2.0 and Online Communities (InfoSci) Summer School

COMS205: Cybersocieties (MFCO) S1

RELI2xx/3xx: Religion and the Internet (Religious Studies) s2/distance

EDUX317 Information and Communication Technology in Education
This paper is an introduction to the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in schools

SCOM407: Digital Design for Factual Communication (Science Communication) 24 points, Full Year

This paper is taught by Design Studies together with

DESI436: Design Collaboration,24 points, Full Year

The combined course deals with communication design using blogs, Podcasts, videocasts, and other new media.

EDUX413 Advanced Internet-based Learning
This paper addresses pertinent theoretical and practical issues in computer-mediated communication

EDUX423 Learning with Computers
This paper introduces various theoretical perspectives on learning with computers. Includes a review of social and cognitive interactions and implications of computer-based learning environments.

EDUX432 Special Topic: Distance Learning Environments
This paper is an introduction to different types of distance education and learning environments, including correspondence, audio- and video-conferencing, and online environments.

EDUX435 Introduction to Internet-based Learning
This paper focuses on the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web as tools for teaching, learning and research.

GERM331 Intermediate German
This language paper is based on Web 2.0 materials (wikis, blogs, podcasts, video-sharing websites).

HEIX707 Health Ethics and the Internet (InfoSci/HeathSci)

LING 421 Computer Assisted Language Learning
This paper is an introduction to the use of computers in language education.

Teaching Online Content

erikap — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:51:26 CDT

As yet, there is no set of standards or guidelines to help teachers and course developers work with and integrate internet and web-based tools into their papers. It is anticipated that this discussion will formulate the basis for such a set of guidelines that staff (particularly those who do not have a strong background in using or researching the internet) can access to help incorporate the internet into their teaching practice.

You are particularly encouraged to respond if you have experimented already with using the internet in teaching and assessment (such as maintaining a class blog, for example) in your own papers.

This issue was raised in one of the 2007 lunchtime meetings and since then, several papers have either come on-stream or been reconfigured to involve the use of online content and social networking platforms for either classroom support, or as part of the assessable activities of the paper.

My question is two-fold. Firstly, who is currently involved in running courses with online content, and secondly, do members who are involved with such courses or who would like to involve such online content in future papers feel there needs to be some sort of statement, guide or other written material in order to facilitate this? Reply care of the comments, thanks.

Website usability research

stuartbarson — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:24:30 CST

Hi there.
This might be of interest to someone. Let me know via email if you are keen to know more.
Cheerio!
Stuart

New Zealand Post needs to understand whether it is meeting customers’ needs in the Online Channel and what changes are required to have a website that is easy to follow and use, meeting all possible aspects of best practice.

This is to identify Research Suppliers who may have relevant capabilities to supply Online Usability Research Services providing independent, actionable insights and recommendations to improve the user experience of the New Zealand Post website.