EDUCAUSE Review Articles and Social Computing

"What challenges remain with this killer app? I suggest three: (1) user education, especially for adolescents and their parents; (2) new features connecting higher education's missions to the popular site; and (3) legal and policy considerations on a global scale."

The following is an excerpt from an interview conducted by Gerry Bayne, EDUCAUSE multimedia
producer, at the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) 2007 Spring Task Force Meeting. The full podcast is available at <http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/
aninterviewwithmarcs/27041>.

Marc Smith's research focuses on computer-mediated collective action: the ways group dynamics change when they take place in and through social cyberspaces. Many “groups” in cyberspace produce public goods and organize themselves in the form of a commons. Smith's goal is to visualize these social cyberspaces, mapping and measuring their structure, dynamics and life cycles.

Although advances in social networking technologies allow for new and perhaps more efficient means of learning and communicating, they also pose some significant challenges in higher education, especially for those campus professionals who provide student and academic services.

Four factors of the Internet—technology, the market, the law, and social norms—offer a means to analyze the legal, policy, and educational considerations associated with the use of social networking technologies by today's college and university students.

The authors discuss online social networking tools such as MySpace and the Facebook and how higher education administrators may want to advise or warn students about the consequences of posting personal information on these sites.

Making knowledge services work in higher education will depend on developments in technology and also on a variety of commitments—academic, institutional, commercial, and public policy—undertaken by a small cadre of innovative institutions and leaders.

Web 1.0 has demonstrated immense powers for connecting learners, teachers, and materials. How much more broadly will this connective matrix grow under the impact of the openness, ease of entry, and social nature of Web 2.0?

With IM playing a large and growing role in the communication, interactivity, and socialization skills of today's younger generation, higher education leaders and faculty must seriously consider its application and inclusion within students' learning activities.

Focusing on "tomorrow," the Evolving Technologies Committee looked at five technologies and trends—wireless, portals, outsourcing, gaming, and student collaboration tools—and dreamed about what may come as the new evolve into the even newer.

New social software technologies can significantly enhance the value and effectiveness of the learning experiences and personal interactions that occur when people gather at face-to-face meetings.