Hi,
The recent facebook discussion is quite relevant to my project so I thought I'd contribute. This is my first post to the list but I've been a long-time reader.
I work for JANET(UK), the public sector national education network connecting schools, colleges and universities as well as other members of the education sector, including some museums. In my previous role I worked on the Education Team at the National Space Centre delivering online and videoconferencing content to schools and it is now my job to advise museums on videoconferencing to schools
JANET have tasked me with providing an online service where educators can go to find each other as well as opportunities to collaborate. The prototype uses many of the profile, messaging, groups, forums, wikis and search features that you will find on Facebook The difference is that my site, JANET Collaborate, is aimed squarely at the Education Sector and includes providers off educational content such as museums. People have described the service as a Facebook for teachers and museums, but I wouldn't go quite that far (yet).
We officially launch the prototype in September and all are welcome to join as either institutions or individuals. We are also including a system to enable members to offer "Opportunities" to collaborate, where an opportunity can be pretty much any thing you want it to be.
I'll post a link to the service once its available in a month or so and then again for the official launch, but please have a look at the project page on http://www.ja.net/development/collaboration/pilot/index.html .
I hope you'll use it.
Thanks,
Tim.
________________________
Tim Boundy
Schools Content Coordinator, JANET(UK)
t: 01235 822370
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of lamusediffuse
Sent: 03 July 2007 10:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Facebook
Hello all,
Interesting thread, indeed. However, it seems that for some reason I did not received some of your emails, so maybe my contribution is already done.
Sorry if so.
Probably you would find very interesting this article by the PhD student Danah Boyd with the title, "Viewing American Class Divisions Thorugh Facebook and MySpace." (
http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html) I find it very relevant for our discussion. I got the reference reading the article "MySpace es para perdedores" published on the Spanish newspaper, El País ( http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internet/MySpace/perdedores/elpeputec/20070626elpepunet_1/Tes
)
Best,
Pilar Gonzalo
lamusediffuse / e-artcasting
Website: lamusediffuse.com
Blog: http://e-artcasting.blogspot.com
Photo Project: http://www.flickr.com/groups/e-artcasting
Reference Websites: http://del.icio.us/e_artcasting
On 7/3/07, Peter Davies <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Hi all, this is a really interesting thread, and something I'm just
> starting to become interested in myself.
>
> In a project we are just about to be running with teenagers, we are
> playing about with the idea of using something like Facebook. The
> reasons behind this are similar, but not the same, as below. Yes we
> want to engage with teenagers on a platform they use and understand,
> and something that can be accessed remotely to the museum, but the
> main reason I want to use something like this is that these are
> 'social networking sites.'
>
> What better way to advocate the service to a large and distanced
> audience, such as teenagers, than to have them act as the advocates!
> My idea is simple, that the small group of teenagers I am working with
> over the summer all have a facebook account, they start a group which
> is formed of themselves, and they can add images (of the museum and
> objects if they wish), and their thoughts, reasons, ideas etc on
> these, and also mingle them with 'non-museum' images about themselves and their lives.
> Basically explaining what being a teenager in canterbury in 2007 is
> like.
>
> The theory behind this is that there isn't a 'museum hand' controlling
> what they write or say, and so the teenagers can advocate the service
> in their own words to their own peers. This to me is a much better
> way of running a site like this, it then lives for the duration it
> should live, and doesn't suffer 'ditching and moving' resentment when
> the next big thing comes along, because it isn't run by us, it's run
> by them. By allowing them to add the images to the site, they choose
> what they like and generate the debate and idea flow around that.
>
> In this way I'd hope we would gain the benefits of it, but by
> empowering the young people we work with, rather than some kind of
> obvious band-wagon jumping exercise on our part, which as was pointed
> out below, would have people join a group, but never know if they ever
> turn up again, or, even worse, turns out to be all us lot subscribing
> to each others' groups!
>
> Peter
>
> Peter Davies
> Outreach Officer (City Museums)
> tel: 01227 475 203
> email: [log in to unmask]
> website: www.favourite-things.org.uk
>
> **************************************************
>
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