1. Weaving a Dynamic Web: Web v. 2.0 Applications in Education, Social Networking and Virtual Conferencing American Medical Informatics Association: Annual Meeting 2006 Ray Schroeder Peter Murray Margaret Maag

2. Blogs, RSS, and Ajax Ray Schroeder Director, Technology-Enhanced Learning, U of Illinois at Springfield

3. Web 2.0 Term originated in 2004 with O’Reilly Second generation of the Web Collaboration, interaction, customization Wikipedia takes on the challenge of trying to define and explain Web 2.0 “Web 2.0 doesn't have a hard boundary, but rather, a gravitational core”

4. Ajax Ajax = Asynchronous JavaScript and XML Not a single technology – rather a group of technologies working together Truly interactive 2.0 applications Uses –XHTML and CSS for markup applications –JavaScript or Jscript to interact with display –XHR (xmlhttprequest) as API

5. Ajax Term first emerged about 18 months ago Many examples are emerging: –http://www.ajaxprojects.com/ajax/viewcate gory.php?categoryid=8http://www.ajaxprojects.com/ajax/viewcate gory.php?categoryid=8 –http://aln-preconference.blogspot.comhttp://aln-preconference.blogspot.com Still challenges ahead: –ADA accessibility –Browser compatibility issues (back button) Many advantages in engaging the user and enabling interactivity

6. Blogs Web + Logs = Blogs Web pages with updates in chronological (or reverse chronological) order 1997 term first emerged Now 55 million blogs and growing by one a every second! Opportunity to enable responses from readers and RSS dissemination make blogs 2.0 technologies

7. Blogs RSS is the key to disseminating blogs and many other Web 2.0 applications Many ways to capture blog feeds via RSS –http://newsisfree.com IE 7 and Firefox browsers along with a plethora of other services such as email programs, Yahoo, etc. support RSS aggregation

8. A Blog Example Online Learning Update –http://onlinelearningupdate.com Blogs enjoy high search engine ratings –Enter online learning into Google Blogosphere connections and popularity result in dynamic (Web 2.0) sites that include aggregations of blogs –http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/oluinfo.htm

9. Some Informatics Blogs http://www.rodspace.co.uk/blog/blogger.html Informaticopia - Rod Ward http://www.healthcareguy.com/ Healthcare IT Guy - Shahid N. Shah http://blogs.bsti.com/healthcare/ Healthcare IT Blog http://www.medicalinformaticsinsider.com/ Medical Informatics Insider (still some good info - "retired" August 10, 2006) http://biologicalinformatics.blogspot.com/ Biological Informatics Blog - a subject tracer information blog

10. Peter J. Murray Founding Fellow, CHIRAD, UK IMIA VP for WG/SIG

11. Exploring blogs as a collaborative tool

12. 1. Use of blogs for virtual conference participation - theory and practice 2. Some lessons learned

13. Blogs for virtual conference participation At approx. 10 health/nursing informatics events since medinfo2004 Why? - to provide virtual interaction for those unable to attend - to promote the event - to play with explore the technology - to explore/research a collaborative model of blogging

14. Blogs for virtual conference participation What we hoped for:  lots of people wanting to post items  lots of comments  lots of readers  demonstration of the collaborative model working.

15. Blogs for virtual conference participation What we found:  many promised but few delivered  the principal providers were the main bloggers  levels of use were lower than hoped  reminders to people help in readership levels  interaction is lower than hoped for

16. Blogs, interaction and participation – some evaluation data ● Generally felt to be a useful adjunct to events ● Most felt was easy to use ● Should be available post-event (archive) '...personal anecdotes give a sense of voyeurism...being there without actually being physically there.' 'I like the first person 'conversation' style - as though speaking directly to me. Informal, easy to follow and relate to. If I disagreed or had comments, I knew I could add the blog to benefit other readers.'

17. Blogs, interaction and participation – some lessons learned Must be as easy as possible to access and participate - eg wireless – or people won't post during the event Reminders boost readership RSS feeds to email/browser

18. Further information and contact www.hi-blogs.info

19. Wikis and related beasts

20. Wikis - are dynamic, group-developed web pages that can be easily created and accessed via a browser - the content may be updated or changed by anyone visiting the website. Wikis allow for asynchronous group socialisation, communication and collaboration and a tool for archiving documents, brainstorming, and collaborative writing. Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page), Wikinews (www.wikinews.org/wiki/Health).

21. Writely (now part of Google docs and spreadsheets), was 'one of the top 10 technology applications affecting education in 2005 - allows anyone to compose online and collaborate (write and edit) with others in real time.

22. Podcasting Margaret Maag Assistant Professor School of Nursing University of San Francisco

23. Podcasting A portmanteau of “broadcasting” and “iPod” Audio event, conversation, lecture, song, speech, group presentation Delivered via RSS Mobile device synchronized with a computer “Push” “Pull” technology

24. Image credit: University of Missouri School of Journalism

25. Podcasting Strengths –Instructor’s desire to assist students’ meta- cognitive skills –Keep up with the reality of the students’ lives and use of media –Academic podcasts easy to use: faculty and students –Easy to access via iTunes or desktop –Students report being more engaged in lecture

26. Podcasting Concerns –Slackers will skip class! –Visual images not captured as in F2F Remedy may be podcasts with video Future? –Empirical research needed –N340 Principles and Methods Fall 06 –An increase in number of faculty using MP3 technology in the classroom

27. Podcasting Examples OsiriX Imaging http://homepage.mac.com/rossetantoine/osiri x/Index2.html Maagnursing: Podcasts. http://www.maagnursing.com/podcast/ Instant Anatomy –http://www.instantanatomy.net/podcasts.ht ml

28. Podcasting Medical podcasts –http://www.ahsl.arizona.edu/weblinks/Medi cal_podcasts.cfm Access Medicine –http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/podcast/acm/

29. ProfCast www.profcast.com

30. Further Information Contact M. Maag maag@usfca.edu