Recent research seminar at the University of Brighton presenting the CloudBank project. Here's the abstract: The rapid transformation of mobile phones from voice-based communication devices to networked micro computers with advanced networking and multimedia capabilities affords new ways of m-learning. This seminar describes the user-centred development of CloudBank, a mobile and web-based language learning application that enables international students resident in the UK to pool their knowledge and understanding of the local language and culture. Drawing on Web 2.0 concepts of user generated content, content syndication and social networks, the application utilises fast 3G data connections and multimedia capabilities available on modern smart phones to support informal, incidental, community supported language learning in everyday life. The seminar gives an overview of the CloudBank system design, discusses how the initial design idea was transformed in scenario-based focus groups and co-design sessions with international students, and maps out future research issues that arise in the contexts of localisation and social network integration. CloudBank is being developed by the Interactive Technologies Research Group at the University of Brighton, UK. The project is supported by the Joint Information Systems Committee (#jiscri)

1. CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISC Rapid Innovation 6 month project

2. overview:1 the user group and problem we address 2 initial design idea 3 first prototype 4 on-going formative usability evaluation 5 conclusions future work user centred design CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

4. typically high level of competency in English language

5. no need to enrol for formal English course

6. still concerned with improving facility in language & culture

7. ... but find it difficult to progress (“reaching a plateau”)HESA (2009) http://www.hesa.ac.uk/dox/pressOffice/sfr130/sfr130r_table1.pdf (27 October 2009) CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

8. Khalil – football in pub “nutmeg the keeper” + relevant + authentic Manuela – talking to friend incidental learning “flying the Jolly Roger” - passing - isolated Keichi – media class “Red-Top newspapers”

9. 1 collect, annotate and tag interesting or intriguing found in everyday life language- and culture-related content CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

10. 2 pool these content items with other language learners rss& mobile alerts in a repository, and distribute them via CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

11. overview: CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

12. mobile app: emphasis oncollecting & distributingcontent + start-up screen CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

13. scenario-based design: scenarios ground design of the system in the reality of its potential users ensure development team shares the same vision of the system help to make concrete what might otherwise appear to be a nebulous set of concepts CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

14. first scenario: Khalil is Jordanian student at the University of Brighton. He is in the Student Union watching a football game with some English friends. A goal is scored and there is much hilarity over the goalkeeper being nutmegged. Khalil cannot make sense of this: there’s not much connection with the nutmegs of his experience, which are used in cooking. He asks his UK friends what it means to be nutmegged. They explain that it means the striker played the ball through the keeper's legs. Khalil thinks other non-native speakers may be interested in this new nugget of knowledge. He gets out his Android G1 phone, starts the CloudBank app and keys in “to nutmeg: in football, to play through an opponent's legs”, tagging the entry with nutmeg and football. For good measure he also records an English friend pronouncing the word, and adds the recording to the entry, before sending it to the CloudBank cloud. This same evening, Keichi, a Japanese student, reads the new item about the term to nutmeg through the CloudBank RSS feed on his profile page. By chance he’s just been watching a video clip of the goal from tonight’s match. He clicks through to the nutmeg entry on the CloudBank community portal and adds a link to the video clip, so that others can get a better understanding of what it means to be nutmegged. CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

15. video: CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

16. user groups: co-design sessions focus groups consulted on detailed interaction design consulted onfunctionality, wider issues CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

17. sample composition: over both user groups: 9 undergraduate 8 postgraduate 7 female 10 male 10 different first languages CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

18. transformed design: emphasis oncollecting & distributingcontent » emphasis on browsing & collecting & distributingcontent CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

19. requirements: quick start-up: nothing is more tedious than waiting for an app to start my / others’ stuff: my personal list of words to look up and re-visit filters, follow friends: friends’ contributions might be more relevant to me edit on the go: should be able to edit entries, e.g. to correct mistakes after saving CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

20. transformed design: » CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

21. implementation: prototype for Android OS CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

22. roadmap: formative usability evaluation (on-going) “version 1” evaluation in the field Brighton / Sussex? “version 2” CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

24. System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire

25. additional questionnaire with mostly open questions

26. discussion with researchers (video)5 students so far, on-going.... CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

27. version 1 (short-term): ...get ready for evaluation wrong content / inappropriate content / vandalism:monitoring very costly community regulated: “report this” refine search / filtering:scale back current implementation: search includes tags terminology: nugget / word / item, add / save / upload, etc. other: icons, messages, etc. CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

28. evaluation in the field: ...has the idea legs? do students use the system?we need phones for this... how do they use it? instruments, ethics does it help their learning? how to measure? subjective? CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

29. 1) localisation geographic / demographic / app. domain version 2 (longer term): user identities, user groups:- dynamically subscribe to user groups - ad-hoc, short-term user groups - filter content according to interests (might also de-fuse “inappropriate content” problem) CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

30. 2) social network integrationsocial graph, syndication, notification version 2 (longer term): follow your users drive traffic central (website) de-central (widget) build new network of friends pull in existing network of friends (via API) directly use existing network of friends and community infrastructure passwords fragmentation » social network integration often mentioned, but so far no clear trend in users’ preferences... CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

31. thank you  Lyn Pemberton, Marcus Winter, Sanaz Fallahkhair {lp22, mw159, sf61}@brighton.ac.uk http://itrg.brighton.ac.uk/cloudbank/ http://blogspot.com/cloudbankblog/ CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation

32. http://itrg.brighton.ac.uk/cloudbank/download.php ( enable installation of non-market applications: settings > applications > unknown sources ) CloudBank mobile knowledge sharing for language learners JISCRapid Innovation