LIBR 246-04/13 Web 2.0 (Spring 2010)

April 13 - 19

• Learning Objectives
• Readings
• Examples
• Things to Do
  

 

Lecture

No formal lecture this week -- just watch Nancy White's WebJunction webcast (linked in the weekly readings).

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of the week, you should:

1. Identify technologies that can be used for building online communities
2. Identify the pros and cons of each technology for community-building
3. Know what to consider before choosing a specific technology for your community

 

Readings

Farkas, Chapter 6

Reed, M. (2008). "Can You Afford not to Offer Community Features?" CommunitySpark.

Hinchliffe, D. (2008). "Ten Leading Platforms for creating Online Communities." Enterprise Web 2.0.

Hulsenbosch, J. (2009). "I want to facilitate online discussions, but how do I choose the right platform?" Lasagne and chips.

Turner, R. (2009). "Straw Horse: An Enterprise Social Media Platform Feature List." Web Social Architecture.

White, N. (2009). "Technology Stewardship and Unexpected Uses." Full Circle Associates.

Johnston, B. (2009). "Online Community Platform and Services Satisfaction." Online Community Report.

Goldstein, R. (2009). "Best Software to Create a Social Networking Community with CMS Software." All Web Design Blog.

O'Neill, N. (2007). "Buddy Press Turns Wordpress into Social Network." Social Times.

de Rossi, L. (2009). "Online Community Building Strategy: Nancy White on Networks, Groups and Technology Choices." Robin Good. (take a look at the videos of Nancy)

White, N. (2009). "Technology Stewardship @ Your Library." (video or audio - you'll need to find it in the WJ Webinar archives). WebJunction. (I would suggest watching this on the Wimba platform so you can see the visuals)

 

Examples of Online Community Platforms

Hosted and Free
Ning (example: English Companion)
Crowdvine (example: Web 2.0 Expo)
Yahoo! Groups (example: Freecycle)
Google Groups (example: Nexgenlib)
SocialGo (example: The Word Cloud)

Open Source and/or Free
Drupal (example: Drupal in Education)
Joomla (example: DVDCorner)
PHPBB (example: The Simplest)
Slashcode (example: Slashdot)
Simple Machines Forum (SMF) (example: Piano Forum)
ELGG (example: University of Brighton)
Yet Another Forum (example: LISJobs)

For-Pay
vBulletin (example: WinAmp)
Invision Power (example: Television Without Pity)
GroupSite (example: Motor City Connect)
KickApps (example: Rachel Ray Show)
Expression Engine (example: Adoptive Families Circle)
Lithium (example: AT&T Wireless Forums)
Jive (example: VMWare Community)

 

Things to Do

1. View the examples listed above.
2. Write at least one blog post on one (or more) of the following topics (due April 17):

1. Which technology did you like best for building community and why? Do you think it's a good technology to use when building a community for patrons? (Tag = blogpostwk11n1)

2. What do you think is important to consider before you choose the technology you're going to use for an online community? (Tag = blogpostwk11n2)

3. What do you think are the pros and cons of using forums vs. blogs as your community engine? Do you think they can co-exist well? (Tag = blogpostwk11n3)

4. If you were building an online community, what features would the ideal piece of software offer? (Tag = blogpostwk11n4)

5. What do you think of how Nancy White defined the difference between networks and communities? Where do you think the overlap is between the two? Can a network be a community as well? By her definition, can things like blog networks, Twitter and FriendFeed be communities? Do you think they can be considered communities? (Tag = blogpostwk11n5)

5. Write your own reflections on what you learned this week. (Tag = blogpostwk11n6)

3. Write a blog post that includes a brief description of an article, technology, blog post, or other interesting resource outside of the classwork you've found that's related to that week's topic. Be sure to include a link to the resource (due April 17). (Tag = resourcewk11)

4. Comment on at least two other people's blog posts (due April 19).