SocialXYZ

I just wanted to follow up on my original post about e-readers versus tablets (here: http://blog.socialxyz.com/?p=87).

It has been a little under a month since my Kindle Touch 3G (above) arrived. And so far, so good. I am just wrapping up my first e-book and have enjoyed the experience so far.

A couple of great features…

When I read books, I often write down vocabulary I don’t know and electronically look them up at a later point. With the Kindle, I can directly access the dictionary, which is a great feature.

The size of the device is just about perfect. While I can see the size and weight a problem for some folks, for me it works really well. My hand gets no more exhausted holding this device than any 300-page paper-back book and it fits nice and snug into my back pocket (on most pants anyway). The cover does add some bulk, but I figure it is worth it for some layer of protection. And the light is critical. Whether I am reading in a dimly-lit bar, or in bed, the LED is critical for preventing eyestrain. I will say, though, that the bottom-right corner of pages is not as bright as other parts of the screen.

The experimental browser is also interesting, but I rarely use it. I was able to check my Gmail and browse Wikipedia, so that was nice, but not optimal. Wikipedia is available using the free 3G, so that was nice, at least for me, since I sometimes go to Wikipedia to read some background on current events.

Minor Design Flaws…

I have heard some complaints about the slow page turning of the Kindle Touch. Personally, I like just a little bit of lag. After all, when reading print books there is a lot of lag as we turn the page and refocus our eyes back to the top.

Additionally, I have heard complaints about the temperament of the touch interface. I definitely experienced this frustration early on. However, I was able to correct for this annoyance by adapting my behavior page-turn behavior. Now, I adopt a swipe motion.

The one thing I am very disappointed about is the incompatibility of the kindle with other e-books, including many books from Project Gutenberg . While I understand completely why Amazon does not play nice with third-party e-book formats, I wish they would. There may come a time when Google Books can compete with Amazon’s library, providing lower costs in the process. I just think it is only fair that all e-readers are capable of playing the popular epub format. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. So far I have noticed a few books marginally (5%) cheaper on Google than Amazon, which is kind of annoying.

If you read this and plan to get a Kindle, my recommendations are,

1) Get the subsidized version. The only time ads would appear are when the device is off. And, if you are like me, you have a cover so you’ll never see the ads anyway.

2) Unless you read a book a week and need access to the Kindle Store on demand, don’t bother with free 3G. In some respects, I was hoping for my reading pace to pick up, which it might after I finish a couple print books, so maybe my feelings on this will change.

Hmmm. After leaving yet another unfinished book somewhere on the wild streets of Manhattan (specifically, in between Carnegie Hall and the Port Authority), I have decided to invest in a more sophisticated method for obtaining literature. The decision, however, was tough. I have long debated the tablet and in fact purchased one last summer. After a brief stint configuring and enjoying some of the many features of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, I returned it due to a small oil-slick defect with the screen. Now, six months later I am giving it another go, but this time I am going to try the Amazon Kindle.

I’ll be the first to advocate the tablet and its ability to deliver an amazing multimedia experience, but a few things worried me. The first was with the battery life, which may provide you 8 hours. The last thing I want when reading a book or newspaper in a cafe or in the park is to worry about charging my device. And from everything I have read the Amazon Kindle Touch gets impressive battery life, which is like 24+ hours of something insane. Additionally, the goal of this device is to force me to read more ‘books’. Should I have invested in a tablet, you betcha, I would be playing Angry Birds or watching movies, which I still love, but will reserve for late night mind-numbing goodness.

All said, I have yet to receive my new gadget, but I am excited. My father once told me how he remembered my older brother, at the ripe old age of 5, say that the waiting was the best part, even if Tom Petty says it’s also the hardest. Either way, I look forward to the easy access to timeless classics out of copyright and available for free in the Kindle Bookstore. I have tried to read these ebooks on my smartphone and on my computer, but the experience just wasn’t there and my interest quickly waned. The E-ink touchscreen is supposedly marvelous and equal to the experience of reading paper. I will include a follow up to this post after I have had the opportunity to test it out…

For those not introduced to it yet, let me be the first to introduce you to Google Music. The service, found at music.google.com, is simply amazing for a number of reasons.

The first reason being the amount of space Google allows you. Unlike other services from Apple and Amazon, which allow a sparse 5 gigabytes-worth, Google grants you space for 20k songs. That’s 20,000 or roughly 60 gigabytes, assuming 3-minute songs at 1-meg a minute (which is pretty poor quality, I know).

A second reason is access to the Android Market for music. While I have seen a disturbing trend that publishing companies do not want to play nice with Google, Google still has access to thousands of great songs and albums. More so, the music you purchase in iTunes, is easily uploaded to Google Music.

A third reason, and a second favorite (next to the library-space) to someone who rides the NYC subways is the streaming capabilities. Anyone familiar with the NYC underground, knows that there is zero Internet / WiFi access underground. However, and to my amazement, while streaming only for 5-minutes before entering the subway, my music continued for the duration of my ride, which was 15-20 minutes. I don’t have a clue how it works, but it does, even when I don’t expect it too (no, the music is not downloaded to my phone). And this may or may not be related to Google Music and may be better attributed to my Samsung Nexus Android phone. But does it matter? After all, I still believe in magic.

So what are the possibilities here? I am hoping for some Google+ integration to be able to share playlists and music with friends. I guess we should just stay tuned…

I just concluded the posttest for my Fall semester courses. The response rate was about what I expected with a little over 40 valid surveys. I haven’t touched the data as of yet, but I did a quick perusal (can you peruse something quickly?) and found the responses to be complete, which is a relief.

I am still yet to link pretest and posttest data for confidentiality purposes, but I aim to do that this Spring. I have been told that coming up with a simple coding scheme is efficient enough, but I am just so skeptical about it, since I am sure I can figure out who is who when I rely on a portion of their phone number / middle initial / town they grew up in. And what is more important, ensuring anonymity, or ensuring privacy? Some would say the former, others the later. We’ll see how I figure this one out in the Spring.

A good thing is that I am still able to tie system usage with grades. And I have the feeling my results will be surprising this go around. For starters, one of the sections using my software is an online course, while the other is not. This will make for interesting comparisons for sure. But aside from that, I am much more interested in seeing if Twitter had any impact for facilitating interaction among my students. I can’t help but feel it did, but I won’t know for sure until I analyze the data.

With the deadline for AMCIS fast approaching (Feb 1), I am hoping to crank out a paper next week. Actually, make that two papers, since I still need to resubmit my journal paper for JISE.

But first…. Let’s finish grading before Christmas, shall we…

Came across this article last week: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/pearson-and-google-jump-into-learning-management-systems/33636, which discusses a budding partnership for Google, the Internet search giant, and Pearson, a publishing company. Up until a few years ago, I thought publishing companies simply published books.

I’m not going hide the fact that I never liked the ‘new edition’ model, where students looking to return books at the end of the term end up receiving pennies on the dollar. Oftentimes, as is the case with a recent textbook I am using, the upgrade to the later edition is largely to correct flaws and inconsistencies in the previous version. In software development, we call these bug fixes, not new versions.

That said, only since teaching have I realized the wealth of supplemental information that comes bundled with certain textbooks, including electronic versions, quizzes and study guides. And in some cases, publishing companies provide entire online environments for students and faculty to interact.

Where I teach, we rely predominantly on Angel, a low-cost alternative to, yet subsidiary of, Blackboard. This fact means that it becomes more difficult to synchronize material from the publisher with the course management system, since they seem to be competing with each other on some level.

Regarding this new alignment with Google and Pearson, I am curious to see where it goes and how, if at all, it will impact institutions as a whole.

In the technology world, we often use the term RIP anthropomorphically when we refer to older, obsolete versions of operating systems, browsers, compilers and just about any antiquated technology. Just name the device and there is probably a blog, or an article with RIP in front of the name. Here’s an article from Wired on the death of the Floppy Disk: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/sony-announces-the-death-of-the-floppy-disk/.

On October 5, 2011 we place RIP in front of Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, and the reason Forrest Gump didn’t have to worry about money anymore, was an amazing icon in the computer world. Rottenly discarded from Apple in 1985, he returned a decade later and rejuvenated the company with innovations such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. His visions have set the path, not only for how we use computers today, but how we will use them in the future.

Personally, I have only owned a couple Apple devices. In 2001, I purchased an iPod and I was happy that I could store all my music on one portable device. I still have that iPod, although it lasts about 2 minutes without being plugged into my car adapter. And in 2007 I purchased an iPhone, which allowed me to browse the web and talk on the phone while camping on the beach (entirely unnecessary, I know). While I have shifted my appetite from Apple to Android, I respect the quality of Apple products. Under Steve Jobs, Apple pursued perfection and in many instances succeeding in producing flawless products. Until his recent passing, the technology world waited in anticipation, and some in trepidation, for each new product Apple produced (pun intended).

I remember, not that long ago when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad. The world laughed and said it was just a bigger iPhone. 20 million or-so iPad sales later….

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs… RIP.

Now I feel I am beating HICSS 45 to death… And I have another HICSS post in draft… And it is over three months away… But I just got the statistics on this year’s Advances in Teaching and Learning Technologies track. The total number of paper submissions was 32, of which 13 (or 40%) were accepted for inclusion in HICSS 45. That’s not a bad acceptance rate for a conference and makes it more competitive than a lot of journal publications out there.

Here is a link to this year’s overview of the Advances in Teaching and Learning Track: hicss45-overview.

I think Google+ is great. Ever since I abandoned Facebook a year ago, I have been wanting to share content with my closest friends. My problem with Facebook, at least at the time, was that I could only share content with everyone I was connected with. With Google+ I can create dedicated circles and target my content. After all, I am a different person when I am with my family, different when I am with my friends and different when I am in the workplace. Do these worlds merge on occasion, of course, and it is always nice to share across social circles. However, I think the approach Google+ has taken reflects this real-world phenomenon.

That said, I think a major hurdle with Google+ right now is the public profile. Currently Google requires that members have a public profile with some basic information, such as a name. The problem with this idea is that anyone can place you in their circle. I was just added by someone 1) whom I have never met and 2) whom none of my friends have ever met.  This notion is similar to how Twitter functions, but it is more alarming since 1) everyone on Google+ must have a public facing profile and 2) Google+ hopes to integrate every aspect of your web identity from documents to photos. It is possible to block users and I have already blocked my share of social spies, as I call them.

I still see a lot of potential with Google+ and I hope it begins to pickup more steam. I have been reading that, although the initial buzz has been great, the usage has dropped off considerably. I also hope to see a better integration across Google products such as YouTube, Blogger and Documents.

A brief update to my previous post, New Elgg Installation on fsc.SocialXYZ.com.

I am conducting a very interesting study that looks to compare a hybrid class with an online class. The course title is the same, but I have the feeling the perceptions of the software will be quite drastic. Additionally, I have the sneaking suspicion that students in my online course will be turned off by the initial complexity of linking SocialXYZ with Twitter. Granted, the process is not exactly straightforward, but I did my best to minimize the number of integration steps, by allowing students to tweet directly from SocialXYZ.

That said, I feel the start of the semester went nicely. I currently have 50 active participants posting interesting content to the site. From these 50 participants, 45 have helped complete a pretest, which is a fantastic response rate, especially for my online class. The survey is anonymous and I cannot identify who responds and who doesn’t, so the fact that I was able to achieve a 90% response rate is amazing. As for the data, I have no intentions of looking at it prior to the end of the semester, but I look forward to the responses…

Last term I introduced twitter into my course online learning platform (fsc.socialxyz.com) in upper-division information systems courses at SUNY Farmingdale. I collected data towards the end of the semester and turned a conference paper around in a matter of weeks (see http://blog.socialxyz.com/?p=23). Granted, I have been working within this area of research for some time and had most of my content analysis ready before I conducted my posttest. That said, I was excited about the positive feedback I received from reviewers and look forward to sharing my research with the larger IS community.

HICSS, which stands for the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, is the premier conference in my field and getting a paper accepted can be challenging. While some reviewers are primarily interested in new ideas and topic, other reviewers demand high quality research. And it’s hard to luck out and get only reviewers that are interested in researchers performing novel ideas. From my experience, and this is my fourth HICSS paper, meeting the criteria for HICSS can be more challenging than some journals.

This year the conference is located on Maui and takes place in January. Not bad, huh. One aspect missing from this blog, aside from an audience, is the lack of multimedia within my posts. Soon, hopefully, I will share some screenshots of my old and new software to give a better idea of the kind of experiments I am running.