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
Blogs, RSS, and Ajax
Ray Schroeder
Director, Technology-Enhanced
Learning, U of Illinois at Springfield
Web 2.0
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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”
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
Ajax
• Term first emerged about 18 months ago
• Many examples are emerging:
– http://www.ajaxprojects.com/ajax/viewcateg
ory.php?categoryid=8
– http://aln-preconference.blogspot.com
• Still challenges ahead:
– ADA accessibility
– Browser compatibility issues (back button)
• Many advantages in engaging the user and
enabling interactivity
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
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
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
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
Peter J. Murray
Founding Fellow, CHIRAD, UK
IMIA VP for WG/SIG
Exploring blogs as a collaborative tool
1. Use of blogs for virtual conference participation
- theory and practice
2. Some lessons learned
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
Blogs for virtual conference participation
What we hoped for:
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lots of people wanting to post items
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lots of comments
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lots of readers
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demonstration of the collaborative model working.
Blogs for virtual conference participation
What we found:
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many promised but few delivered
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the principal providers were the main bloggers
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levels of use were lower than hoped
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reminders to people help in readership levels
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interaction is lower than hoped for
Blogs, interaction and participation
– some evaluation data
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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.'
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
Further information and contact
www.hi-blogs.info
Wikis and related beasts
Wikis
are dynamic, group-developed web pages that can be
easily created and accessed via a browser
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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).
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.
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Podcasting
Margaret Maag
Assistant Professor
School of Nursing
University of San Francisco
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
Image credit: University of Missouri School of Journalism
Podcasting
• Strengths
– Instructor’s desire to assist students’ metacognitive 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
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
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
Podcasting
• Medical podcasts
– http://www.ahsl.arizona.edu/weblinks/Medi
cal_podcasts.cfm
• Access Medicine
– http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/podcast/acm/
ProfCast
www.profcast.com
Further Information
Contact M. Maag
maag@usfca.edu