Multimedia And Microblogging Through Cirip.eu

MULTIMEDIA AND MICROBLOGGING THROUGH CIRIP.EU Carmen Holotescu „Politehnica” University of Timişoara Gabriela Grosseck University of the West of Timişoara Abstract As specified in Wikipedia1, by multimedia we refer to the media and content that uses a combination of different content forms which, according to the context, may enhance or diminish a person’s experiences. Its main functions are those of informing, socializing, disseminating culture and, of course, educating and instructing (some authors mention also the compensation function related to the inequal access to resources). Through this article we aim first at analysing the multimedia 2 reference skills for microblogging users – by narrowing the scope of discussion to the Cirip.eu microblogging platform, specially created for education: • know the advantages and disadvantages of using multimedia objects on a microblogging platform; • identify the way in which the penetration force of these objects can shape the „personality” of a group3, thus becoming a specific means of social interaction in 140 characters; • identify the (possible / potential) negative effects produced by the use of multimedia resources in microblogs. Introduction. Microblogging Technology Microblogging, considered the Web2.0 technology of 2009, is a new form of blogging, allowing users to publish online brief texts, of 140-200 characters at the most, and sometimes images too. The information can be edited / accessed online or sent as SMS, by e-mail, by instant messages or as third party applications. In addition, the microblog posts can be included as widget on blogs or sites. Microblogging enables a real-time interaction between users, using different devices, technologies and applications. Among the best known microblogging applications are Twitter (the most popular in fact, with more than 160 million registered users), Identi.ca, Tumblr, Plurk, Edmodo. There are also Romanian plarforms: Cirip.eu, Trigwee.com (former Zazazoo.ro), Zumzi.ro and Logoree.ro. The user community on Twitter is called Twittosphere (Twittosfera in Romanian) or Twitterverse, according to the Twitter Fan Wiki Glossary. Analogically, we shall call Ciriposphere (Ciriposfera in Romanian) the user community on Cirip.eu. In November 2009, the Romanian Twittosphere included around 18000 users (according to the Zelist.ro directory), and the Ciriposphere – 7000 (see the Cirip.eu Users page). 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia. In this context, by reference skills we refer to a group of skills/abilities of using multimedia contents/technologies (audio, video, animation etc.) related the users’ actions towards others / the participants to the instruction act in the case of a course. 3 In the case of a course moderator / facilitator, identify the way in which these multimedia resources influence its development, thus making the educational process more efficient. 2

Most people use microblogging in order to share their actions and projects, ask questions, ask for recommendations, validate ideas, interpretations etc. Microblogging combines personal notes with communication, thus resulting a new type of real-time publishing. As for education, Twitter, Edmodo or Cirip.eu platforms are preferred. Features of the Cirip.eu platform In March 2008 the Cirip.eu microblogging platform was launched, being specially designed for education and business. The implementation was done under the coordination of the first author, by Timsoft, a company specilized in eLearning and mobile applications. Besides the facilities of a microblogging platform, Cirip.eu provides the following: • the possibility for users to specify in their profile the domain of their notes; this simplifies the search for microblogs in a specific domain, particularly in the educational one; • creating public or private user groups; collaboration groups can be created between the members of a class or a university year, for a course enhanvement or to run an online course; • the possibility to embed multimedia objects in the notes: images, audio and (live) video files, presentations, files, livestreaming; • the possibility to monitor RSS feeds for sites, blogs, or activities on other social networks or search feeds; • tags, statistics, representations of the users’ interaction networks; • polls and quizzes which can be answered online or by SMS. The interface is in Romanian, English, German, facilitating an international collaboration, around 10% of the users being foreigners. The use of microblogging platforms in learning and practice communities This section reviews some of the uses of microblogging platforms in education. More information can be found in the author’s articles (1), (2) and (3): • Educational communities. Communication on microblogs may accompany and improve traditional courses, by exploring the potential of the microblog in a formal and informal context: it offers students the opportunity to discuss / exercise various types of online discourses (voice, aim, audience), to structure their ideas, reflections, it promotes discovery through serendipity. By incorporating in the instructional environment a social and a group component, we become more human, more polite, more available and visible for social activities. For example, on Cirip.eu there are many groups for formal and informal education hosting learning communities. As facilities we mention: • Groups have an announcements section, where moderators can post notes and materials such as SCORM/LOM objects, for the group activities. • Discussions on suggested topics take place through messages sent by participants in the group space. Messages can be sent / monitored online, through CiripFox, SMS, e-mail, IM, mobile. • Messages may include multimedia objects, which become part of the informational / communicational flux. • Students learn to search / use / create collaboratively educational resources of the networks corresponding to multimedia objects. Digital skills are thus improved and PLEs/PLNs are extended through these networks. • Exploring collaborative writing: Microblogging promotes writing as a pleasant activity, enhances the students’ written expression skills, those for lecture, offers students the chance to pass from personal writing to public writing (evocation,

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realising sense, reflection). Public groups on Cirip.eu Un haiku pe zi (One haiku a day) or Poveşti în 140 de caractere4 (Stories in 140 characters) are such examples. Collaboration between schools, universities, countries: Pupils, students, teachers share ideas, experiences, projects, by social learning. Project management: On Cirip.eu can be created groups for project working; the notes can be received as SMS as well, so it’s not necessary to be online in order to communicate and collaborate with project colleagues/partners. Instrument for evaluating opinions. Used in the academic environment, microblogging applications develop, stimulate interactions on a certain topic, allowing the expression of ideas and feelings related to a situation or real life experience. A viable metacognition platform : a way of thinking about one’s own way of thinking / learning / understanding. Support for conferences or other events (learning sessions, workshops): a very simple way for the participants to a scientific event to share thoughts about a certain session and the activities taking place during it, being thus useful for those who cannot participate, but also for future reflections. For the Cirip.eu groups dedicated to various events, registration is facilitated for the entire event or just for one section; there is also the possibility to post the participants’ presentations, to send questions and/or comments about the speakers, answers to the polls, being able to do all of these online or through SMS. Any event can be also broadcasted by livestreaming. Each registered user is able to build a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) / Personal Learning Network (PLN). These include (see figure 1): − connection / communication with the followed users (followees) − the groups they participate in, according to the topics of interest − the site/blog/network/search feeds − the social networks providing educational objects which can be included in messages. Reference services (in libraries). People can „follow” a microblogging account/group in order to learn about the library events, about new editorial publications, they can reserve books, participate in book launches etc.

10=M2 (where 10 = note; M = multimedia; M = microblogging) One of the features that distinguish Cirip.eu, designed for education, from other microblogging platforms is the inclusion of multimedia objects.

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http://www.cirip.ro/grup/unhaikupezi and http://www.cirip.ro/grup/povesti

Figure 1: Uses of the Cirip.eu platform illustrated in a cognitive map created with MindMeister and integrated in a note as multimedia object source: http://www.cirip.ro/status/1629510

The decalogue below reveals only the most important reasons of including multimedia objects in posted notes: 1. objects become a part of the informational/conversational flux (the presence of a link in a message would mean only a resource to visit optionally) 2. by learning about their use and actually using them, users improve/acquire both new technical skills and better communication abilities (especially in genuine situations) 3. by accessing the social networks the objects which can be included originate from, users learn to search for/validate useful/educational/business resources. In time, these networks are included in one’s personal learning environment/network PLE/PLN – and many users create their own resources or collaborate in order to create new resources on these networks. 4. they facilitate the development of courses/trainings 5. users participate actively to the learning process by gaining information in multiple ways 6. they stimulate the understanding and interpretation capacity 7. they become a part of each user’s portfolio 8. they represent an important means of promoting companies/organisations (a valuable mechanism for transferring information and knowledge) 9. they satisfy an increased information and culture consumption (by enlarging the Web 2.0 specialized culture horizon) 10. people participate also affectively through digital storytelling instruments to knowledge / learning / socialising experiences etc. Objects included in messages were selected by the Cirip.eu implementation team following the results of the experience of using the Web2.0 educational applications by the two authors. The list5 is permanently completed with the newly-appeared types of resources, 5

A remark about this tutorial is necessary. Although we agree that the variety of exemplification is essential, we considered that the exemplification means in concrete situations determine a better understanding of the use of multimedia objects, hence the multimedia format of this tutorial.

which assist the didactic and educational process. It is a gladdening thing that a useful feedback related to these facilities as well is coming from platform users. Moreover, we mention that both the Cirip.eu platform and a part of the integrated networks / applications, appear in „Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009”, published by Jane Hart, from the Centre for Learning & Performing Technologies in Great Britain6. At present, the Multimedia submenu of each account becomes a playlist with the eok.ro tracks included in messages. In the near future, we intend this section to include the multimedia objects created by the user for different networks and which appeared in his/her messages – this will represent an important part of the portfolio (underlining thus that the formation/instruction on/through the cirip microblogging platform is/can be „open” to anybody, irrespective of his/her demographic caractheristics: age, level of education/formation, socioprofessional category etc.). In Cuib/Setari (Nest/Settings) one can activate/deactivate the posting of multimedia objects (for the visible part of the microblog / the same aspect being aimed as well in the export of notes), in case of deactivation only the text will be posted. For all of the included objects it is important, of course, to respect the licence and mention the source. Advantages and limits of using integrated multimedia objects The multimedia objects which can be integrated on cirip.eu and which are used especially for courses running on the platform: • incorporate audio fluxes (for example vocaroo) and video fluxes (seesmic), even in real-time (livestreaming) • present a high degree of interactivity, thus allowing both students and instructors to send and receive multimedia materials • offer consistency, visual expressiveness and personality to the created microblogs (increasing the degree of user participation to the activities occurring on the platform, according to personal preferences) • are student-focused – see the microlectures-explanations realised with ScreenJelly, Screenr or ScreenCastle, for example those offered as answers to students’ questions7) • drive the access to a qualitative educational digital content (see the Announcements in the group, for example) • are useful also for persons with visual or auditive deficiencies. • • •

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The types of multimedia objects which can be integrated in messages are: livestreaming – the broadcast of a course, theatre play, event, concert, interview etc. live video – may clarify concepts which cannot be discovered only by text; useful for personalized communication, interviews, recordings/interventions for various events video: youtube, dotsub, seesmic, vimeo, myvideo.ro, 220.ro – offer visual dynamics and relevance to the learning unit (or the real world), grab attention, intensify the students’ imagination; for example, at dotsub collaborative translations can be done, either directly on the site, or using a collaborative document, such as the writeboard audio: eok, trilulilu, deezer, blip.fm, mp3 file, vocaroo (live audio) – audio recordings offer a touch of realism to practical exercices, they replace (and/or complete) the absence of verbal explanations, they also represent a student-student or group communication channel, accessible and easy to use; besides personal communications, the videos included can be recordings from events/communications

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009, http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/ http://www.Cirip.ro/status/1796361

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images: flickr, tinypic, any image by URL – can illustrate a concept, state, event; they can be diagrams, graphics, personal photos presentations: slideshare, voicethread, flowgram8, capzles, picassa, photopeach, notaland, authorstream, glogster, prezi, screencastle, screenjelly, screenr – useful in digital storytelling (see the tape), a high degree of liberty in exercising creativity and/or imagination; each can constitute a micro-lecture; they can be created individually or collaboratively files: pdf, doc, xls, ppt, txt, rtf, odf – for example, learning resources can be available (tfor downloading too) to students in classical format as well; thus, students are also able to prepare case studies, essays in these formats polls and quizzes – the utility of polls is multiple : − they can have a personal character or aim at social, cultural, economic, educational, political aspects − students can initiate polls, their way of thinking can be found out, feedback, testing − they can be active for a long period − they can be created in real-time at a f2f course, conference, event, workshop – participants or those watching from a distance will be able to vote online or through SMS, the results being projected in real-time − at courses/trainings there’s the possibility of answering through SMS to questions with multiple choices – courses/trainings will have an associated group for development in blended rapproach − within the groups, the moderator or any other member can create polls in order to find out the opinions or decide on a certain variant. hyperlinks – ensure the transfer to other media fragments (the button Shorten helps to introduce very long links) Mental maps - mindmeister, diagrammr – for concept classifications and clarifications.

Multimedia objects for digital storytelling From a pedagogical point of view, it is considered that the extremely generous range of online tools for creating digital stories offers countless possibilities of expressing creativity. Moreover, this technique can be applied to almost any discipline / topic. The choice of storytelling tools was determined firstly by the fact that „everyone has a story to tell” and through a multimedia-flavoured content attention is drawn on spectacular storytelling. Secondly, photopeach, notaland, capzles and the more recent glogster or prezi are tools that correspond to the actual educational needs9, being easy to use, requiring minimum technical knowledge. Thirdly, another fact that matters is the way in which these applications address different learning styles of pupils/students and the fact that they allow for collaboration and sharing (annotation and comments included) and not only individual study. Last but not least, through the emotional connections with the content one may succeed in developing really sophisticated multimedia digital stories, both from the point of view of realisation10 and of the affective sense / signification of the digitally incorporated content of ideas.

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Unfortunately, this service is no longer functional. Let’s not forget that they are both social networks and storytelling and even timeline sites, some of them being available for use even by avoiding the registration process – such as capzles, for example. 10 They favour also the acquirement of new skills, not only technical but also of research, communication, collaboration, sharing etc. 9

Figure 2 Inserting multimedia objects in the What are you doing? form.

In addition, teachers/ tutors learn how to integrate efficiently Web 2.0 resources in the educational process while pupils / students ACTUALLY learn how to use technology in a funny, relaxing way and the fact that they know they can use (almost) any digital storytelling tool (for example animoto through youtube export, or autorstream, or animation through screencastle) for personal experimenting contributes to professional development, and respectively to enhance self-esteem. Comparison with other microblogging platforms/social networks Below appear objects integrated by other microblogging platforms/social networks: o Twitter - youtube, twitpic, qik, blip.fm associated links o Power Twitter - embed youtube, flickr, twitpic, Google Maps, song.ly o Yammer – attachment of links, images, files o Edmodo - embed youtube/google video, flickr, slideshare, wikipedia, txt/ppt/doc files, etc o Shoutem – attachment of links, images, location o Present.ly – attachment of text in various formats (text, HTML, cod, etc), images, audio/video files o Communote – attachment of files o Blellow – messages have a maximum of 300 characters, attachment of files o Yonkly – attachment of images o Jaiku – adding icons to messages (info) o FriendFeed – attachment of links, images, embed youtube, flickr, twitpic o Facebook – attachment of links/images/albums/video, video live. Presentations, part of audio/video objects, live video, video streaming, polls, quizzes appear only on Cirip.eu. •

Barriers: The use of the cirip platform implies (sometimes even requires) a prior instruction of the students for using the platform and the implementation of multimedia technologies/objects (for example the notion of RSS is not known to all students), in order to obtain a real efficiency of the educational act. For example, students in the I st year, from a social-human profile, do not access the content with a minimum of effort

as is the case with those in the IIIrd year, Computer Science profile. Many of them end up making an objective out of learning how to use the platform and not the suggested learning units. This is why it may be useful to notify students before registering on the platform about the basic Internet knowledge and skills required: administer an email account and simple search on the Web. • Fighting the resistance to change / accepting a different virtual learning environment, even in the context of the proliferation and use of other Web 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis, social networks etc.) • The use of only some of the multimedia objects and of the object ID detected in the embed code11 may limit the types of learning experiences which can be developed and provided. However, since cirip.eu is a dynamic platform, these barriers are limitedly reduced by technical improvements / technological developments which are permanently brought to the system. • For some students, the „editing” option of posts raises worries related to the integrity of evaluation. Students often voiced the opinion that the repeated editing of a post, without the modification of the initial date of the posted message, offers easier chances to „cheat” the evaluator’s vigilence, by subsequently completing messages. • The server connection – the waiting time for downloading a page or updating after having posted on the microblog, can sometimes increase very much, especially from educational networks. Reactions are different, there are students who, although they appreciate the platform and engage in actions, get bored while waiting and give up using it except for the course. The results obtained during the more than 20 courses developed so far on the cirip platform, from initial formation and continuous formation (within MA programs or the formation of teachers – IAC), for different years and different study specializations, allow us to state that cirip has proved both its efficiency and effectiveness from a didactical and pedagogical point of view, compared to other e-learning models/methods/systems. The relation object types – community type Some interesting remarks can be made on the interdependances between: o the types/the complexity of objects integrated in messages o the types of communication – public/private group, learning/hobby/business/socializing – example personal audio/video interventions appear mostly in private groups o the coagulation degree of the community o the moderation of the group facilitator or/and of the Cirip.eu team. The Network section of a microblog offers information about the community developed around that user, by posting: • the persons followed ; • the groups followed; • the users who follow the current one, without being followed. For each user in the network appears the last message written and the number of direct messages exchanged with the central user. In the Network section of microblogs on the Cirip.eu platform appear also a series of statistics, which facilitate the realisation of analyses on various research directions. Thus, 11

For example, on the Edmodo microblogging platform, by using the Embed code one can integrate any type of digital content. Some students claimed they found it hard to include slideshare presentations, capzles or glogster for example, because they had to look for the object ID themselves, while they would have preferred to copy the code altogether and include it.

besides the information on the network developed around the user/group, there will be published, on the basis of the analysis indicators, a statistics on: • the activity • the relations formed of a user • the interests • the means of participation • • •

the activity the means of participation the content of sent

within a group messages

Table 1 presents the statistics published on the Network page of the user @Gabriela. Conclusions The use of Web 2.0 technologies in education shifted considerably the focus from acquiring knowledge towards reaching the intended aim in education. And the use of microblogs in education observes the principles of the constructivist theory12. In order for the use of microblogs in didactical approaches to actually reach the previously mentioned results, a closely planned development of digital contents is necessary (the description of educational objectives, the orientation of education according to certain concrete landmarks, the construction of efficient learning situations, the planning of adequate evaluation tools). On the other side, the creation of the various learning units within the educational activities developed on the cirip platform by means of multimedia objects (especially the courses in private groups) enabled us to notice the following aspects related to students (5): 1. Development of written communication skills and especially multimedia skills (in a variety of forms and contexts). 2. Creativity and intellectual curiosity – openness and receptivity to the new, communicating ideas after viewing jogtheweb, different perspectives on current teachnological reality (and not only). 3. Information and media skills – creating information in various forms and environments (slideshare and photopeach for CVs, for example, capzles for digital stories with timeline) 4. Since students are offered managerial attributions in connection to their own learning, the degree of their personal and social responsibility is thus improved. 5. Capacity to adapt. 6. Development of critical and systemic thinking. 7. Demonstration of interpersonal and collaboration skills – through team-work, adapting to various roles and responsibilities. 8. Identifying, creating and solving issues. 9. Auto-formation – during courses we noticed the maintenance of a competitive spirit among participants. 10. Entertainment (as a function of sensory stimulation). It is known that every learning process offered on the Internet must include an entertaining component (see the tags #muzica, #piesazilei, #jocurile de week-end – which facilitates also learning in the realworld context).

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Constructivism is the theory with the biggest impact on teaching practices with the help of Web technologies. Based on observation and scientific study of a person’s learning method, the constructivist theory underlines the fact that we are the active creators of our own knowledge, through experience and reflections.

A good proportion between the number of followees (170) and followers (225), sub-unitary, but close to 1. A large number of followers indicates the utility of messages and interaction with @Gabriela, while a large number of followees the interest to learn, to collaborate. Around half of the followees follow her in their turn, which indicates the development of longterm collaboration relations. The statistics of the section Messages lead to the conclusion that there is an active participation and interaction within the Cirip.eu community. The same situation is shown by the data in the section Followed Groups: collaboration across a large group area. The one with the densest participation of the private collaboration group between the two authors. The large number of resources posted in messages (2730) indicates a considerable quantity of information shared with the other users and many information sources (35 monitored fluxes – the user @gabriela has not integrated these feeds in the favorite RSS aggregator). The more than 50 audio files, around 300 images of all types, 400 video files and more than 200 files (mostly pdf) and SlideShare, VoiceThread or prezi presentations show the fact that the user @gabriela uses the entire range of multimedia object types provided by the cirip microblogging platform. The interaction with the other participants was realized by using all technologies and applications for interaction with the platform.

Table 1 Statistics for the user @gabriela (source: www.cirip.ro/u/gabriela) Consequently, in a society where most of the people suffer from lack of time, the authors encourage the use of microblogs in educational activities, because a microblog-based learning has as immediate consequences an unprecedented flexibility in comparison to classical education, a real participation, an interactive collaboration (it may continue after the course end). Contrary to all apparences, the teacher’s role enhances. Moreover, the capacity of transforming the traditional learning structure (the students’ learning performances improve) by using multimedia objects observes pedagogical principles. Bibliography •

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Holotescu, C., Grosseck, G. (2009), „Using Microblogging To Deliver Online Courses”, World Conference on Educational Sciences, Nicosia, North Cyprus, 4-7 February 2009 - New Trends and Issues in Educational Sciences, Edited by Huseyin Uzunboylu and Nadire Cavus, vol. I, Editura Elsevier, 2009, pag.495-591. Holotescu, C., Grosseck, G. (2009), „Using Microblogging For Collaborative Learning”, în volumul „New Technology Platforms for Learning – Revisited. LOGOS Open Conference on strengthening the integration of ICTresearch effort”, 19-20 ian. 2009 Budapesta,Ungaria, ISBN 978-963-87914-1-2, EDEN – European Distance and E-learning Network, pag. 71-80. Grosseck, G., Holotescu, C. (2009), “Indicators for the analysis of learning and practice communities from the perspective of microblogging as a provocative sociolect in virtual space,” in 5th International Scientific Conference eLSE - eLearning and Software for Education, Bucharest, 9-10 April 2009. Proiectarea obiectelor educaționale pentru sistemele e-learning – recomandări metodologice, Raport de cercetare în cadrul proiectului CEEX, iunie 2006. Cziprok, Claudia, Integrarea tehnologiei Web 2.0 în procesul de predare-învațare-evaluare centrată pe elev, Revista de Informatică Socială nr. 8 / decembrie 2007, pag. 85-97.