A Brief History of the Web

The Web is now so ingrained in our lives that it is easy to forget that it is less than twenty years old. But the History of Web goes back much further, to the pioneering technologists who built the first hypertext systems and the men and women before them who imagined great libraries of interconnected information that would augment human intellect and drive civilization forward. In this lecture we will explore the pre-digital origins of the Web, look at how it developed into the mass communication system we have today, and speculate on the next stages of its evolution in the context of Web Science and Social Media.

Social Networking Technologies: Project Launch

Students taking the 20 credit version of the course (COMP6052) will work in groups of 6 to develop and design a new social networking tool/application/website. The teams will work on their design throughout the semester, and keep a design and development blog that will act as a digital portfolio of their work. At the end of the semester they will also be asked to submit an individual reflective summary that will outline their teams objectives and progress, their part in its progress, and a critical analysis of whether or not they were successful. At the end of the course teams will be asked to pitch their ideas to an interdisciplinary Dragon's Den style panel who will expect them to not only have created something that is technical viable, but will also want to see other economic, social, legal and ethical factors taken into consideration. In this presentation we explain the structure of the group project, what is expected in the blog, and explore some potential ideas to help students understand the scope of the work required. The outcome of the group project does not have to be a fully working piece of software, instead we are looking for a well developed idea that contains enough detail to be convincing to the panel.

The New Web Literacy

Web 2.0 is sometimes described as the read/write web, giving everyday users the chance to create and share information as well as to consume information created by others. Social media systems are built on this foundation of participation and sharing, but what is the mindset of these users, and are they quite so everyday as we might suppose? The skills and attitudes held by users can be described as their literacy, and there has been a lot of debate over the last few years about how to describe these literacies, and design for them. One field that has been changed radically by this notion is Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) where a fierce debate has raged about the potential of a new generation of highly literate digital natives, and Edupunks have argued for open and personal systems that challenge traditional models of institutional control. In this session we look at the arguments surrounding digital literacy and examine TEL as an example of how social media can change an application domain.

Power and Influence

Like any form of human interaction and communication it is possible to view Social Media as a means for the powerful to influence and control the less powerful. But what is power on social media, how might we measure or affect it, and does it translate to the real world? In this lecture we will look at the philosophical definitions of power, and explore how it has been analysed in social networks and social media systems. We will also look at the characteristics of social networks that impact on power, including Homophily, Heterophily, CyberBalkanization and Thresholds of Collective Action. Finally we will ask what evidence there is that power in social media can affect what goes on in the real world, and explore some real and fictional examples of protest to see what the consequences of social media actually are on sometimes violent political debate.

BSc Audiology session 1, 2010

Introduction to the library for first year BSc Audiologists

The Webcat and other library resources

This presentation was used early in semester 1 2010-11 to introduce History first year student to the library catalogue (Webcat) and a range of other library resources

BSc Audiology Session 2, 2010

This is a second session in a series of three given to audiology freshers. This session covers finding items on reading lists and finding journal articles.

BSc Acoustics Library Induction, 2010

This lecture was given to new first year BSc Acoustic students in October 2010. It is an introduction to library resources including finding items from reading lists and online searching for journal articles.

MSc Audiology library induction, 2010

Library induction given to the postgraduate audiology students in October 2010. Session covers an introduction to the Hartley library including Library of Congress classification, finding items from reading lists, print journals, e-journals, search strategies including boolean operators and truncation and using online databases, in particular Web of Science.

MSc Sound & Vibration Library Induction, October 2010

Library induction and information skills for MSc Sound and Vibration, given in October 2010. As well as an introduction to the hartley Library and the LoC classification scheme, it covers finding material from reading lists, e-journals, making up search strategies and searching online databases using boolean operators.

Open Source Licenses in Academia

A Seminar about the advantages of using open source licenses as a complimentary strategy to the academic publish process.

Trust

Trust is a complex philosophical, social and technical notion, but it underlies many of our digital interactions including e-commerce and collective intelligence. In this lecture we will look at how different disciplines, including Psychology, Sociology and Economics have come to understand Trust through the lens of their own studies, aims and goals, and will explore how computer scientists and software engineers have implemented trust models based on policy, provenance and reputation. We will take a closer look at both Global and Local reputation-based trust, and see how assumptions of transitivity and asymmetry are useful. Finally we will explore trust issues around the largest known store of human knowledge: the Wikipedia