Spark Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration David Grogan Manager, Curricular Technology Group UIT Academic Technology Tufts University What is Spark? What do we hope it will be? How is it used? What’s under the hood? What’s next? Questions

What is Spark? An extensible suite of highly flexible, web-based tools for communication and collaboration that support teaching, learning, research, and other co- curricular activities. A little history … APT Grants Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is Spark? Freely available to entire community. Tool set currently includes: –Wikis (Confluence) –Blogs (MovableType) –Podcast Publisher (homegrown) –Forums (JForum) –Maps (Google Maps/homegrown) –Media Annotator (homegrown) –Coming Fall ‘09: SparkMeeting Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is Spark? Launched in August Continues to grow in features and use. Won a Campus Technology Innovators Award in Core project team includes: –Project manager –Lead developer –Interactive media designer –All sharing support roles Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is Spark? Baseline features of the commercial/opensource products we use: –Must allow for LDAP integration. –Must allow for customization of interface. –Must have robust API. –Must have access to source code and database. Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is Spark? Common features across tools as implemented in Spark: –Single sign on using Tufts LDAP directory. –Easy one-click creation of new items. –Tufts directory integrated for setting individual permissions. –World, Tufts-wide, and private permissioning. –Tagging Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is Spark? Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What do we hope Spark will be? A Tufts-based localized network of people and ideas. (getting there slowly) Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Wikis As of 6/13/08 –688 Wikis –9787 Pages –3945 Users –19.31 gigs of attachments. Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Wikis Rate of New Wiki Creation Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Wikis Wiki Page Edits Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Wikis # of Unique Users Making Edits Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Blogs As of 6/13/08 –352 Blogs –3568 Entries –2061 Authors Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Blogs # of new blogs Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Blogs # of new entries Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Blogs # of new authors Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Podcasts As of 6/13/08 –53 Channels –226 Episodes –47 Authors Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Podcasts # of new channels and episodes Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

How is Spark being used? Forums use is negligible. Maps and MediaMarkups are new tools with little data as yet. Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is under the hood? Evolution of our systems infrastructure –We started small, using VMWare for 3 development systems and 3 production systems (wikis, blogs, spark) –We expanded incrementally, adding development and production VMs for new services (forums, pod/vodcasts, maps, media- markup) as needed –We've used central resources whenever viable (network storage, authentication) –We've upgraded cautiously (creating just-in-time staging clones for upgrades) with end-user involvement and careful consideration of tradeoffs Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is under the hood? Virtualization is one of our keys to staying agile, keeping costs low, and maximizing scalability within our constraints. Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is under the hood? Next generation infrastructure: –Greater utilization of central resources –Better support for dev-test-staging-production workflow and automation –Explore opportunities for improvements in performance, load balancing, availability, change management using advanced VMWare functionality Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is under the hood? Typical Tool Development Effort: –5 Pages, 3500 Lines of Code Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is under the hood? Development Approach –1.5 Programmers, Designer, Manager, Sys. Admin Support. –2 Calendar Months –Dev server, Test server –JSP, Tomcat, MySQL, YUI, JIRA, SVN, etc. –Secret release Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is under the hood? Development Challenge: Always Something New! –MediaMarkup uses Adobe Flex –SparkMaps uses Google Map API. –Always incorporating JavaScript libraries. Drag and drop, Ajax tables, etc. –Impacts: Schedule, Plan, Design, Staff Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What is under the hood? Future Directions –Ajax is good For the user and the code. –Focus on reducing LOC for tools. Shared Java database layer. Shared JSP files. –Stick with existing technology suite. –Automated testing? Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What’s difficult? Supporting people beyond the basics. Finding ways to market the site to students. Competition from freely available 3 rd party sites (e.g. Google, Wordpress etc.) Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What’s Next for Spark? A new user interface. Bring activity to the front. Start connecting people and content. Better communication and outreach. Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

What’s Next for Spark? Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration

Any Questions? Contact: David Grogan Some of my own –What are you doing with these tools? –How have you been successful in marketing tools to your students? –How have you been successful in scaling support? Spark: Web 2.0 Tools for Communication and Collaboration