sinéad's lifestream

Irish Blog Research 2009, Survey Goes Live

As part of the M.Sc Cyberpsychology at IADT each postgraduate student is currently in the process of conducting a major research project. My own is focused on blogging, but from an Irish perspective, looking at the attitudes and behaviour of Irish bloggers and Irish blog readers. (Related Article)

Online Survey

At the very heart of this research study is an online survey which you can find here. I’m hoping to recruit a large sample of both bloggers and non-blogging readers. If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you fit into one of these categories and would very much appreciate it if you could spare 10-15 minutes to fill out the survey. Most of the questions are multiple choice, a small number are essay based but you can write as much, or as little as you like. This questionnaire is 100% anonymous, confidential and for research purposes only.  Even your IP address won’t be stored.

Prize Draws!

At the end of the survey you will have the opportunity to enter a prize draw for either a €50 Amazon voucher or a €50 Ticketmaster voucher – if you win, you can choose either prize.

I’m also going to run a separate prize draw for another €50 voucher for anyone that posts a link to this survey on their blog, or on a messageboard – anywhere really! To enter this separate draw just leave a comment on this blog post, this can be in the form of a trackback or a comment telling me where you have posted the link.

Thank You!

Thank you in advance for your help, without the Irish blogging community on my side this research won’t be complete. The hard part will be finding non-blogging readers to complete the survey, so if you know anyone that would fit that category please pass the link for the survey onto them.

As a way of giving something back to the blogging community I will be publishing summaries of the most interesting findings here on this blog. If you would like to be notified when the entire research document is available for download  – this will be a masters thesis of approximately 15,000 words, with an introduction to the psychogical aspects of blogging – you can enter your details on this form.

Pat Phelan has been giving away some amazing prizes this week, has raised €1222.00 for the Cancer ward at Crumlins Childrens Hospital and has been busy encouraging the donation of old mobile phones to the Jack & Jill Foundation.

He also made Christmas come early for me yesterday with the delivery of the mystery “nice prize” I won. I had joked on his blog that “This could make the FIRST interesting unboxing video” but I was far too excited to do so. Considering that the mystery turned out to be a lovely little Flip video camera I decided I’d film a quick little video to say thank you. It really *IS* an easy little thing to use, and within 5 minutes of opening it I had the 1 minute .avi file on my computer and ready to upload to youtube (that was the part that took the longest!). You can find my cringe worthy video here (as always with youtube, best viewed in high quality mode).

Following on from Pat’s give-away, Damien Mulley has another competition, in association with a supporter of the foundation. Anyone that donates one or more phones will be entered into a draw to win some more gadgey goodness. Everyone has old mobile phones, so why not put them to some real use? There is even a freepost address you can send them to:

The Jack and Jill Mobile Appeal, Freepost, Ratoath Road, Finglas, Dublin 11.

Just put the phone and charger (if you have it) into a jiffy bag and pop in the post. It couldn’t be simplier. I asked everyone in the house to fish out their old phones (pictured above, along side the Flip camera on it’s tripod) and I’ll be posting them after Christmas.

Niall Kitson from PC Live! does a “Blogger in Profile” feature every month, Alexia Golez and Anthony McGuinness have gone before me and the December issue was my turn. So, here is an unedited (thus far longer, because I can’t shut my mouth) version of the Q&A.

You decided to study bloggers and their readerships for your post grad. What have you learned so far?

At the moment I’m still in the preparatory stage of my research. What this basically means is that I’m reading almost every single piece of literature already written about blogging, knowledge sharing and the social psychology on the internet. That last one is probably the one that stands out the most because blogging can be extremely social. Blogs have this amazing potential to offer social support, friendship and positive interactions through feedback from readers. Blogging has genuinely had a  positive impact on many bloggers lives, because feedback can serve as an acknowledgement of your thoughts, emotions and sense of self. Then of course there are the bloggers that blog to share their knowledge, instead of their lives. Sometimes this is done because of the positive effects upon reputation and sometimes it is a purely altruistic act. It’s fascinating.

Right now I’m looking at the possible cultural differences in blogging practices. The reason I’m looking at this is because I’m curious as to why blogging is huge in other countries and yet seemingly low profile here in Ireland. Though, I do believe in quality over quantity, that is to say that  the majority of Irish blogs are either very well written or incredibly entertaining. It has been suggested that poor broadband penetration is a key aspect as to why the adoption of blogging has been slow, but today over a million  Irish Internet users have access to a broadband connection, and we have become a nation of social networkers, photo-sharers and you-tube watchers It’s simply not a valid argument any more. I’m hoping my research can shed some light on the matter.

As a community what do you think of the Irish Blogosphere?

The Irish Blogosphere isn’t the first online community that I’ve interacted with. Over the years I’ve been a member of numerous web forums and long ago even usenet groups. The biggest difference, for me, was how quickly I began feeling like a member of the Irish blogging community. With other online groups it took months of interactions online before I started feeling like a member of the in-group. No heckling of the newbie occurs and there are no obvious exclusive cliques, though there are members that would be thought of more highly that others. Flaming is very rare. There are debates and discussions, but it rarely gets personal, which is something that can turn many people away from web forums – that fear of being ostracised. The thing that stands out for me about the Irish blogging community is their ability to offer support to one another without hesitation. Be it technical, informational, or even emotional.

Your writing demonstrates a real creative streak but you keep your content factual. Have you been tempted to post some fiction?

Any student of a Psychology will tell you that the biggest lesson you learn in college is to write objectively, and to always be able to back up any argument with valid and reliable facts. It can be difficult to separate my academic self from my writing, and if I post an article that in essence is my actual opinion on something, I will always back it up with solid facts. Maintaining a high level of quality and keeping with the theme of my blog is important to me, this is one of the reasons I don’t post articles on a daily basis. I have, however, tried to incorporate a few personally orientated posts, and I find this quite rewarding in itself. More recently I’ve been channelling my own creativeness into a separate blog project, related to poetry and photography. It’s not unnatural for bloggers to have more than one blog and I have done this to provide myself with a separate, non-serious vehicle online.

Are blogs really breaking the web?

Blogs might not be breaking the web, but I certainly don’t think they could be considered a replacement to websites or even wikis, as a source of information. The software behind blogging is temporal in nature, articles are displayed in reverse chronological order, so the first blog post an reader sees is the most recent one and navigation usually relies on moving backwards through these time-stamped entries. Blogs are great when used as a companion to a website, but relying on a blog to post articles that should or could be re-read, and would have context no matter what year or month they are written in, can mean that they don’t get re-read and instead get lost inside archives. However there are exceptions to this rule, and having a very well designed blog can counteract this. Relying on standard blog templates or free blogging websites such as Blogger.com is not the way to go, unless of course you’re planning on writing a diary style blog.

In the field of cyberpsychology whose work would you recommend to a friend?

The two subjects that are most interesting to me, that relate to the combined field of Psychology and Technology e.g. what is now referred to as Cyberpsychology, are the social Psychology of the Internet and Human Computer Interaction. The researcher who has had the most influence on me in both of these subjects is a Dr. Jennifer Preece from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Much of her work highlights the importance of good usability and design to facilitate the creation of successful online communities. She has also co-authored numerous books related to Human Computer Interaction, a subject that is concerned with making technology more usable and accessible to everyone – something I feel very passionate about.

For anyone interested in the field of Cyberpsychology I can also recommend the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, published online four times a year, many of the research pieces published can be freely accessed and offer many interesting insights into online behaviour.

IADT offers both a certificate in Cyberpsychology and an intensive Masters program. These courses are open to individuals with no background in Psychology, and cover areas ranging from e-learning, to online addictions and therapy. I can’t recommend the course enough, and think it would be great for anyone working in all aspects of the technology sector. It would also perfect for graduates of Psychology or Psychiatry that wish to learn how to apply these fields to our modern technologically bound world.

Lee (a fellow Cyberpsychology student) and I visited the Science Gallery during Science Week to attend a lecture by Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, the founder and director of the Personal Robots Group at MIT. She introduced the attendees to the topics of Social Robotics and Human Robot Interaction, followed by a brief Q&A session.

Social Robotics

Social learning theory proposes that people learn new information and behaviors by watching other people. This is especially prominent in children, as they are social learners. The Personal Robots Group at MIT are applying learning theories and developmental psychology theories towards building child like robots that will have natural learning capacities. They are developing socially intelligent robots that will interact with humans in human-centric terms, work as peers, and learn from people. Instead of having people learn how to communicate with robots or how to teach them, instead they are developing robots that will be able to learn from humans through natural social interactions in real world environments.

The first step towards social learning in robotics is social mimicking or mirroring, as highlighted very recently by the research of US robiticist David Hanson. The MIT robot Leonardo demonstrated this ability back in 2005, Leonardo is an advanced robot capable of social learning, self-motivated learning and logical problem solving. Another robot MIT are working on is the Huggable – a multifunctional teddy bear like robot designed to be an educator, a communication device and a therapeutic companion. Through Huggable the MIT group has explored the concept of “the educator as a peer” going back to the theory of social learning and children.

Human Robot Interaction – “Are these robots naked?”

One of the most fascinating studies Dr. Breazeal highlighted during the lecture was a long term study where participants interacted with either a computer or with an anthropomorphised robotic device (has human like features e.g. a face). Both devices were weight management aids, acting as a social support, with a form of patient-therapist dialogue and input options for calories consumed, exercise etc. They found that participants interacted more often and for longer periods of time with the robot, despite the computer running the same software. They found that people felt a stronger alliance with and trusted the robot more. People named and clothed the robot (they did not do this with the computer). This research, and many other studies, has indicated that screen agents (e.g. the paperclip in Microsoft Word) are never as effective, and that the physical properties of the device do matter.

The Value of Robotics Today

Dr. Breazeal discussed how Robots don’t have to be anthropomorphic. Cars are becoming more like robots every day, and she suggested that they are no longer a tool but are a partner. She described the value of robotics – exploration, capturing data, and closer to her own research: using robotics to study the theoretical models of social and cognitive abilities in humans. Social robots can be applied to the study of how we communicate and solve problems and can offer insights into psychology, neuroscience and interface design. We can learn a great deal about our own behavior when we try to apply these theoretical models to robots.

“Robot’s aren’t going to replace us, they’re going to help and empower us, with strengths and abilities to compliment people.”

Questions relating back to science fiction concepts of robots replacing humans or overthrowing humanity were of course brought up during the Q&A session. Dr. Breazeal argued that these were fears that were culturally based and weren’t apparent in Eastern culture, in countries such as Japan robotics have always been associated with good and advances in robotics have always been embraced and encouraged. She suggested that because robots will learn from humans, their behavior will depend on what we teach them.

The “Un-canny-valley” was also brought up, this is a hypothesis that says that when robots look and act almost like real humans it cause a response of revulsion amongst actual humans. Dr. Breazeal argued that this was based on conjecture and was unreliable, that personal values, preferences and culture had a bigger impact upon response to anthropomorphisim.

Overall I was very impressed with the lecture by Dr. Breazeal – she demonstrated a serious passion for her work. Finally, to sum up what most of the lecture was like… when questioned about whether robots will ever having feelings she replied “Robots will not have human emotions, but maybe they can have robot emotions”.

Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT) are in the process of recruiting for the fifth year of the Create Digital Media business training and mentoring programme. Create seeks to train and mentor 10 entrepreneurs/employees of small companies on a part-time basis, for one day every month. It’s a 12-month government-financed programme that will train participants in further developing their digital media companies and they are particularly interested in individuals involved in e-commerce, online advertising, mobile media and social media.

Create also offers incubation desk space at the Media Cube on the IADT campus or at the Digital Hub in Dublin City Centre and each selected individual will be assigned an average of €10,000 for customised training and mentoring in business skills related to digital media development of companies, services and products. For more information, visit www.createireland.ie.

Having studied at IADT for 5 years I can’t recommend it enough to prospective students. I’ve always found the college overflowing with highly skilled, extremely engaging and approachable lecturers, who make the learning process effortless. IADT also offer a part-time post graduate programme in Digital Media, the MA/MSc in Digital Media which is currently taking applications.

I’m heading down to Limerick tomorrow, once again, for a conference. Though, I’ve been told that this particular one should be referred to as an “un-conference”. 3Dcamp is a variation on the BarCamp idea of holding user generated conferences – where the attendees provide the content of talks, workshops and demonstrations, unusually focusing on upcoming technologies and developments. The focus of 3Dcamp is “essentially the internet beyond the 2D browser”.

Talks of interest to a Cyberpsychologist?

A talk related to culture and sociability within the virtual world of World of Warcraft .

A demonstration of physical controls for virtual environments, highlighting the use of inexpensive hardware and open source software.

A ubiquitous computing talk outlining interaction design approaches to technologically-enhanced physical environments – e.g. interactive media in public spaces.

A talk focusing on augmented reality – using technology to insert objects into real environments. Brings to mind holograms and a (15ft tall Bill Gates!, but the applications of these future technologies are endless.

Also…

Design guru Sabrina Dent will be discussing how to make money from Second Life. I assume this will be through designing and selling 3D objects.

The M.Sc in Cyberpsychology course coordinator (Dr. Grainne Kirwan) will be discussing some of the current research in Cyberpsychology at 3Dcamp. If anyone is interested in a student perspective of the IADT masters course, there will be 3 of us from the class attending 3Dcamp.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the famous Pedestrian Living Bridge at University Limerick. Fingers crossed the current Iarnród Éireann dispute doesn’t de-rail my plans!

The Irish Times reports today that €252 million euro will be available to schools in Ireland over the next 5 years for computer equipment (link). The National Centre for Technology in Education claims that this is an inadequate fund and it will not be enough to bring schools towards the EU average level. A draft copy of a report questioning this €252 million euro ICT fund makes a number of recommendations that in my opinion are completely disingenuous. Peter Mac Menamin the general secretary of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland points out that thousands of teachers had gone to the trouble of getting ICT training but that the lack of commitment to ICT means that…

“It is like learning to drive – and then sitting into a car with no wheels.”

Essentially the argument is that the lack of high-speed internet connections and modern computer equipment has stopped these thousands of teachers being capable of correctly teaching this subject.

However, even if half the computers in Irish schools are over 4 years old (the Irish Times article points out), this could not possibly stop someone from teaching basic practical computer skills. You also do not need a high-speed Internet connection to teach ICT, yes it would be preferable, but there are plenty of music teachers and language teachers in Irish schools that would greatly benefit from having modern audio equipment, but are more than capable of continuing to teach their classes with the equipment provided to them (i.e. a piano or a tape recorder).

“The Republic has one of the lowest rates of ICT usage in education in the developed world”

Does the report point out the fact that the ICT training provided to teachers is possibly inadequate? That ICT is still not a Junior or Leaving Certificate subject? (Interestingly enough, Greek, Hebrew and Classical Studies continue to be). As ICT is not a subject at either Junior or Leaving Cert. examination level, there is no need to be qualified in the field. If you want to teach English, Irish, French, Maths etc., you must first have your primary degree in these topics and this is not the case with ICT. Yet, it is a topic that is difficult to teach and requires plenty of experience. Otherwise you end up teaching a class of students irrelevant information, rather than the practical ICT skills needed in a modern workplace. Yes, there is the Junior Certificate cycle subject “Technology” but this seems to be a mixed bag of technical drawing and some kind of model making and electronics.

Why can’t part of this €252 million euro be used to provide schools with 1 full-time ICT teacher? Why not allow I.T graduates to get their Higher Diploma in Education and then employee them full-time. They would also be able to provide much needed technical support and ICT consultation, ultimately saving schools money as they would no longer have to pay unnecessary fees to outside firms when a computer crashes or a piece of software needed updating. I.T graduates could also save schools money by implementing the open source software initiative.

I would argue that it is not like sitting in a car with no wheels. It is more like taking a short course in French, and then being asked to teach it to a mixed class of students who already speak it fluently, and those who only know how to say…

“Il est sur ma page de Bebo.”

Take, for example, my own experience with ICT in secondary school. Yes, we were lucky enough to be provided with two computer rooms with rows upon rows of computers, an adequate Internet connection (that sometimes worked) and a couple of the math and science teachers were sent on ICT skills training. The actual ICT classes we received taught some basic typing skills, using Microsoft Word to create an assortment of projects, the ins and outs of computer hardware and how to use “skoool.ie”. Not exactly the most practical set of skills.

However, as lucky as we were, the teachers that had been sent on these ICT courses were usually too busy with their main classes to actually teach us and we’d be left in a room full of computers with nothing but mischief to get up to. Even when a teacher was present, they were completely unaware of the fact that I had taught the class not only how to write and reply to the boys from the local boy’s secondary school, but also how to make sure the teachers didn’t find out about it.

According to my younger brother, still in secondary school, not much has changed since I’ve left school. Just like me before him, he gains nothing from these ICT classes and has instead channeled his boredom into finding plenty of non-Bebo methods of sending “innocent” messages across the Internet to other secondary school classes, albeit classes full of teenage girls.

A relatively inexpensive wireless technology that has been developed by Intel, with underdeveloped countries in mind, could work for rural Ireland.

The new technology can extend a wi-fi signal between two antennas up to a maximum of 96 miles. Considering Ireland is only about 190 miles wide, why not implement this kind of system? Rather than forcing Irish rural and island internet users to connect via ridiculously expensive satellite systems or leaving them lagging behind on dial-up.

Will someone please let the Department of “Communications” know about this, because according to Silicon Republic (and everyone else in the country) Ireland is below the EU Broadband average, and it’s all down to the rural “deficit”.

New Zealand company Simtrix have developed a novel alternative to the trackpad. It has the overall usability of a mouse but doesn’t restrict you to the tiny surface of a trackpad, by using the surface of your laptop (keyboard) as a mousepad. The tiny Swiftpoint “Slider” mouse can be tucked under your thumb, which allows you to very quickly switch between typing and navigating.

See it in action here (link: BBC news video).

For someone that does as much typing (some of this may or may not be chatting) whilst browsing the internet (all in the name of research of course), this would be a godsend. Not only would this replace my completely worn down trackpad and mini usb travel mouse, I can see this completely replacing any mouse I would ever think of using. Being able to switch between typing and navigating at such ease would be bliss.

I must have one of these. Immediately.