Social Networking

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Elgg 1.0: User perspective

July 5, 2008 in open source, Social Networking, Technology | 1 comment

Several months ago, I installed and played around with elgg verion 0.9.1. I kicked it around a bit and liked what I saw. Once I discovered that a new drastically changed version was in the works as elgg 1.0, I decided to pursue other interests until it came out. While it is not quite out yet, the new version seems imminent and I volunteered to help them beta test as a user.

I’ve been busy checking out the nooks and crannies of the user interface helping them locate glitches along with a few other people. Now that I have started to use it as one of a handful of users, I’m starting to “get” elgg. Whereas much software starts with the group and works down to the user, elgg starts with the users and works up to the group. As one makes connections, an increasing rich web of interactions begins to emerge.

One of the main things that distinguishes elgg 1.0 from the earlier versions is Open Data Definition, a new format for importing and exporting data from within social applications. I don’t know who else has adopted this standard, but making an array of applications talk to each other is an intriguing concept.

The developers have been working diligently and hope to have the code out within a couple weeks. I’m sure that it will still be beta by then, but a public beta as opposed to a closed one. You can check on their blogs where they are keeping everyone posted on their progress. Ben Werdmuller, Marcus Povey, and Dave Tosh are the main developers.

I’m exciting and I look forward to getting my hands on the code so I can test install elgg on my own server and get a look at the admin interface. I’ll continue to blog about elgg as I learn more.

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Elgg: Installation and First Impressions

December 23, 2007 in Uncategorized | No comments

I just installed Elgg, the open source social networking platform, on our school’s shared server space. I really cannot speak to the feature set as of yet. This pertains to the nuts and bolts of installing, configuring, and customizing the site.

To begin with, automatic installation is not available through cpanel/fantastico, so a manual installation is required. This is no big deal. One begins by creating a mySQL database for Elgg on the server. Next, you need to download the software and unzip on your computer. Next, upload the Elgg folder to your server via ftp and change the permissions on a file and a directory. Point your browser to the Elgg directory and the installer appears. Fill in your database settings, passwords and email information.

With luck, you’ll have no errors and you can get to the configuration page. That wasn’t the case for me because the school web site is on a server with register_globals on. Once that was rectified, I was able to access the configuration.

I installed version 0.9 RC2, so there were a few bugs to be ironed out. It wasn’t any real big deal, but sticking to version 0.8.2 would make things simpler. That being said, most RC2 releases have been more reliable in my experience.

The configuration pages allows you to name the site and change the tagline among other settings. Of particular interest for use by schools are settings to allow or disallow public registration and invitations. Additionally, the setting Walled Garden allows you to restrict access to outsiders. You can also set it to force log-in to make comments.

If you want to customize the theme, you have a couple of options. First, you can upload a theme to the server and over-write the default theme. You can also access the theme files through “default template editor” to edit the page shell and css. This requires willingness and ability to work with some code.

The front page content is edited using the “frontpage template editor” which also involves playing with some basic html code. You don’t have to be an expert, but having a knowledge of html and css is certainly helpful. Alternatively a handy code reference book should give you enough guidance to make the modifications.

Overall, the installation and configuration is more difficult than many other scripts, in which switching themes involves a click of a button and front page content can be edited with a wysiwyg editor. It certainly is much more difficult to set up than a ning site. Support and documentation on the elgg.org site are also somewhat sparse. I wouldn’t recommend elgg to someone new to setting up websites using open source software. On the other hand, if you have some experience and are not averse to some basic troubleshooting, it’s worth a look.

The ability to install the software on our own server offers compelling reasons to look further into elgg. I’ll explore the software features in the near future and posting more information here.

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Ning in Education

December 10, 2007 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

NYSCATE created a social networking space on Ning for the 2007 conference. About 140 conference attendees have signed up and there has been some discussion of the conference and educational technology.

I did a little poking around the Ning site in general and I have found some other social networks that I have since joined. The first was Ning in Education. Ning in Education is a network dedicated to issues pertaining to using ning for educational applications. Issues such as Ning configuration, safety and privacy. It also appears to serve as a conduit for educators to express their concerns and needs to the folks that run Ning. A case in point, is that through the efforts of participants in the network, Ning will take the ads off Ning communities that serve grades 7-12. There are COPPA issues that they are working to resolve for students under 13. Ning in Education also pointed toward other great educational resources on Ning.

Classroom 2.0 is a very active community with over 4000 members. There’s really a lot of good information from other educators integrating technology in education–Web 2.o Technologies in particular. I recommend that you join this particular network.

I also set up a Ning social network so that I could get a sense of what can be done with the administrative controls. I was looking for reassurances that would help placate the fears of our tech committee. I discovered that you could make the site visible only to members and that membership could be on an invite only basis. Furthermore, it permits you to moderate and approve video and image uploads before they are displayed (although not text postings). Finally, as mentioned above, there is a procedure for getting rid of the advertising on school networks.

I will continue to explore the social networks on Ning, examples of school uses of Ning, and the ins and outs of administrating such a site. I will also be installing the open-source alternative Elgg soon and blogging on that soon too.

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Post NYSCATE 07 Tech Committee Meeting: Social Networking Software

December 8, 2007 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

When I brought up the idea of using Social Networking Software for our school, the first reaction was, “Huh?” After I described it as being related to MySpace, one committee member shot me a disdainful look and said, “Why would you want to do THAT?”

I explained that it is a tool for collaboration and interaction that our students already know and understand. Further, if we want he kids to use these tools that they are already using in a responsible and hopefully productive way, we need to demonstrate appropriate and safe use of these tools. I told them that we could set it up initially so that only our students and teachers have access to such a site through Ning or Elgg.

This allayed some concerns, but another brought up the idea that we cannot supervise what goes on in real time. I agreed that we would have to carefully monitor activities. I mentioned that my students already have the ability to message each other through one of my Moodle courses. This is monitored regularly as the teacher has full access to a transcripts and the same could be done with Ning or Elgg. Furthermore, we cannot monitor all student behaviors in the school itself and problems arise because of this. Just because there are problems from time to time, we do not prohibit movement through the halls. If there is a problem, we have to look into it and try to find the facts. Online, we have logs and transcripts that tell us exactly who said what and when they said it.

Finally, our superintendent came to my support, and the others gave reluctant assent. I have permission to investigate the use and try social networking on a limited and restricted basis.

I will probably install Elgg on our school’s webhosting account over the next few weeks. I like the fact that unlike  Ning, it will not have advertising.  After I get the feel of the environment, I’ll probably set up something with my fifth graders and those of one or two local districts for some kind of an on-line collaboration.

Here an interesting link to Wired Magazine’s website discussing the use of Elgg in education. I’m sending it to the other members of your tech committee to help answer the question, “Why would you want to do that?”

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