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Tools for Online Communities

Tools for Online Communities. What Has Worked Ann Walker Smalley, Metronet. Choosing the Tool. Why do we need the community What functions does the community need Is there an all-in-one tool Ease of use for us & users Cost of tool Security & privacy concerns.

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Tools for Online Communities

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  1. Tools for Online Communities What Has Worked Ann Walker Smalley, Metronet

  2. Choosing the Tool • Why do we need the community • What functions does the community need • Is there an all-in-one tool • Ease of use for us & users • Cost of tool • Security & privacy concerns

  3. Camp Year 1: How do we…. • Provide the Campers with all the info they need to participate • Collect the participants’ reviews • Make reviews available to all • Avoid a lot of paper(!) • Make our work easy for checking on reviews

  4. PBWiki Easy to build Web site Participants can edit Customizable Security (upgraded version) Easy navigation via sidebar Add hyperlinks to connect pages http://campreadalot.pbworks.com/

  5. All the Pages Easy navigation for Campers

  6. Information Booklists, Guidelines, How-to, FAQs each had a page

  7. Participants Added to Wiki as Writers Edit pages Upload files Create new pages

  8. Every Camper Had a Page Entered reviews here

  9. Linked Their Review to Book Title

  10. A lot of steps: For us as creators and For campers as writers

  11. Pros & Cons of Wiki Pros Flexible within pages Easy to build Page level security Different types of members Unlimited number of participants Cons A lot of work to create Camper pages Add member emails manually Not easy to monitor participation Unfamiliar to many Campers

  12. Year 2: New Issues • Addition of virtual camp • Changes to PBWiki • More Campers! Added Grades 6-12

  13. Ning http://www.campreadalot.org/

  14. Ning Advantages • Unlimited number of Campers • Social Networking Features • Integrated Forums • Integrated Groups • Members join; we don’t add them via email • Broadcast email to members of Ning

  15. More Advantages • No creating individual pages—automatic MyPage for every member • Easy tracking of reviews • More visually appealing • Flexible features • Control over who joins (optional) • Free

  16. Front Page Customizable Easy to add and delete features Add slideshows, recent activity, and other features to front page Control order of posts, what members can do, and other operations

  17. Reviews as Blog Posts One review per post

  18. View all Campers’ Posts

  19. Camper Page All activity in one easy-to-check spot

  20. Easy to Find All Members Members can post comments to others’ walls, add as friend, send message Encouraged to add a picture or avatar and add info to profile

  21. Virtual CamperGroups & Forums Each book has a group Forum Questions for each book

  22. Best of All Very easy to track participation both for Day Campers and Virtual Campers

  23. Disadvantages • Possibility that Ning would be blocked by filters • Some HTML required for admin & posting • Unfamiliar tool to most participants • Still had work to do to create groups and forums and add discussions • Sorting/Display of members & groups

  24. Ning Worked much better than wiki as a learning community But still some problems with organization

  25. Restructuring groups & forums Adding virtual counselors

  26. MILI, the Early Years • How can participants record progress • Where to store MILI content • Can participants interact

  27. Report Progress Blogger

  28. Keep Up with Others RSS Readers

  29. Deliver Content Wiki & Blogs

  30. Complicated & Confusing to Novice Users How to streamline the content delivery and interaction

  31. Wiki as “Textbook” http://metronetmili.pbworks.com/

  32. http://metronetmili.pbworks.com/Month-7

  33. An “Aha!” Moment

  34. Ning is the “Teachers’ Lounge”

  35. Creating aNing Community

  36. Smaller Communities through Groups

  37. Ability to interact across groups

  38. D Comments Discussions

  39. Personalization Aggregation Interaction

  40. Power of Ning • Interaction across school district cohorts • Willingness of novice users to blog in secure environment • Ability to add the personal touches • Encouragement & support

  41. Ease of use • Common ground & interests • Customizable with apps • Focused on the project More

  42. Managing the Community • Need one or more administrators to stay on top of things • Set-up • Permissions • Approvals, if needed • Spam

  43. Moving It Forward • Moderators • Make things happen • Post questions • Comment on blogs/content • Forums

  44. Unmoderated Ning http://23thingsonastick.ning.com/

  45. 23 Things On a Stick Ning • Has 2 administrators • Just watch for spam & respond to questions • No approval of members • Anyone can post/upload http://23thingsonastick.ning.com/

  46. Membership

  47. Content All user-generated

  48. Members Create the Connections • Groups Include: • By library • By region • By interest • By Activity

  49. Join the SCLS Ning http://sclslibraries.ning.com/

  50. Connect Collaborate Communicate

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