Got the bottle?

Another punch-up is brewing at this year's ALT-C Conference, which kicks off tomorrow at the University of Nottingham. Last year, several of us had a dust up on the future of institutional VLEs, and apparently we caused a bit of a stir. This year, I'm on another debate panel, this time with John Traxler, Frances Bell, Karl Royle, Mark Childs and Andy Black, to discuss ethical interventions in Web 2.0. Will this be about the ethics of Web 2.0 use, or the ethics of researching the use of Web 2.0, or about using Web 2.0 tools to research, or about .... er, well, you'll just have to come along and find out...

The title of the symposium/debate, which is scheduled for Wednesday 8th, at 09.00 in the main auditorium, is New Bottles, Old Wine? You can check out this and all the other conference sessions, venues, times and also who will be attending each by going to the conference Crowdvine site. There is also a link for you to participate with the live events online, if you can't get to the conference this year. We are expecting 550 delegates, according to the latest bulletin from ALT. Here's a sneak preview:

Frances Bell will identify private/public as complex reflexive student practice in personal and education use of social media, e.g. Youtube (Lange, 2007) and explore the role of the educator in students’ ethical development.

Andy Black will expose the issues relating to the transnational use of technologies approaches where users will have access to very different levels of technology and even if technology used is the same or similar the way it is deployed is culturally different. The concept is that these differences will decline or morph over time to become transnational & transcultural, resulting in usage that is woven into a global cultural thread.

Mark Childs will raise some of the ethical issues that influence creating learning activities in immersive virtual worlds and offer viewpoints to be debated on the potential responses to students' unease concerning the experience, cultures and perceptions of virtual worlds, the appropriate balance between authenticity and pseudonymity in virtual worlds and the responsibilities of teachers with respect to protecting those within virtual worlds from the impact of our teaching within them.

Karl Royle will argue that the ethical considerations of gaming are inherently bounded and regulated by the inherent rules of 'the game' and that as such are disposed to self regulation, and are about trying to do good or at least minimise harm in achieving a win state.

John Traxler will argue that the universal experience of mobility and connectedness in our societies is leading to transient, ephemeral and overlapping communities each with its own ethics; there are no longer grand narratives of ethics, only partial and local expressions of values and preferences. It's new wine, new bottles, new drinkers.

Steve Wheeler will take a cognitive stance to the issue of ethics in emerging digital environment research. He will hold that users interact and represent themselves in different ways depending on environment and context, switching between identities. Steve will argue that new technologies and tools present new affordances and expectations, and therefore require new approaches.

Do you have the bottle for a debate? You're welcome to join us, f2f or online.

Got the bottle? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Looking forward.... to ALT-C

So many things to look forward to next week at ALT-C 2008 at the University of Leeds, although I don't relish the long drive up from Plymouth. The conference promises to be the best yet, if the pre-mailed abstracts and research proceedings books are anything to go by. I'm looking forward to the workshops in particular, including the sessions on Web 2.0 - 'It's a Web 2.0 world out there' (James Clay) and 'Learning about the Digital Divide' (Frances Bell, Helen Keegan, Josie Fraser et al). From such presentations come a host of new ideas, and better still, an energising to go off and try out some new things you hadn't considered before.

There are already success stories before ALT-C has started. Take a look at the Crowdvine site the ALT team set up and you will see that there are already over 340 members (well over half of the 600 plus delegates who are booked into the event). I have already made contact with a number of people I am intending to meet, including one of the keynote speakers, Itiel Dror (Southampton University) and Mark van Harmelen (ALT Director of Operations).

Then of course, there is the Fringe ALT-C event - or F-ALT, as it is being called. There are a limited edition F-ALT badges designed by Josie Fraser that are being given away to the first 50 people who sign up to the F-ALT Wetpaint wiki site. When I looked just now there were already 36 people registered, so be quick if you want a badge! Yes, there is plenty to look forward to....

Slamming about again

At ALT-C 2008 next week there will be several workshops, but one of those I will not miss is the one entitled 'Learning about the Digital Divide', run by Frances Bell, Josie Fraser, Helen Keegan (remember them doing the illustrious Web 2.0 slam at ALT-C Nottingham last year?) joined this year by Cristina Costa (the pocket dynamo of Web 2.0) and Frank Theissen. Out of last year's workshop came a number of interesting artefacts including the cult website Hood 2.0 - which incidently has a workshop in its own right this year! Last year was not only great fun, but also innovative and challenging. I chaired the session, and it was one of the most enjoyable workshops I have every presided over.

This year they have gone one step further and have created a Digital Divide wiki using Wetpaint in which they are inviting everyone and anyone to submit a 'Digital Divide' slam. I have sent one in already - it's a poem entitled 'Hooked' - about the digital divide between immigrants and natives. Check out the site and contribute if you have something you want to get off your chest.... oh, and see you there, I hope.

Magnificent seven?

It was good to read the Josie Fraser interview today featured on the blog Information World Review. With the strapline "Information professionals guiding you to the best bits of the blogosphere", it's one not to miss for all those who want to know the latest on the practice and art of blogging. Josie is well known for her work in learning technology, and has also run the influential EduBlog Awards for the last three years. It's an annual bash that celebrates best blogs, most influential blog posting, coolest educational wiki, etc, you get the drift....

Best of all, I have been mentioned in dispatches..... Josie lists my blog as one of her top seven favourites, and I find myself in the elevated company of Graham Attwell, Helen Keegan, Steven Warburton, Scott Wilson, Frances Bell and Brian Kelly. Wow - are we the magnificent seven already? If so, I'll be the one who gets shot dead whilst being distracted by a small and demanding child.

Seriously, I'm deeply honoured to be included in such distinguished company. Keep up the good work Josie, and when this year's Edublog Awards come around, I hope there's a new category for the blog containing the most dots ...............

Wham, Slam, thank you m'ams

I thought Josie Fraser, Helen Keegan and Frances Bell caught the mood of the ALT-C conference today with their excellent workshop this morning entitled: 'Web 2.0 Slam'. In it they worked through a number of salient issues about the use of social networking technologies, including privacy, identity, communication and copyright. (That's me pictured with Helen doing a Web 2.0 Slam on social tagging using bits of crumpled up paper ... yes it really was that mad). The audience was encouraged to participate, and each small group was asked to create a 90 second 'slam', about some aspect of Web 2.0.

The wiki resulting from this session can be found here on Helen's blog. Thanks for an excellent, well worked and thought ptovoking session ladies!