Uno degli aspetti che sto cercando di trattare – seppur brevemente – nell’articolo che sto scrivendo per gli atti del seminario di studi Videomondi, riguarda la strategia evolutiva dei sistemi sociali che passa per la progressiva colonizzazione del tempo. Un’ambiente in grado di rendere possibile l’attivazione di più conversazioni contemporanee offre orizzonti di crescita ulteriori per i sistemi sociali intesi come network di comunicazioni. Per questo mi ha molto interessato questo progetto presentato di recente in occasione della consegna dei diplomi alla UC Berkeley School of Information (la segnalazione viene Tim O’Reilly nel suo blog).
Si tratta di una ricerca condotta con metodologie qualitative e quantitative di diverso genere (analisi dei log, osservazione partecipante, questionari ed interviste) per comprendere l’uso che gli studenti fanno delle chat room durante le lezioni.
La pratica di attivare un backchannel basato su conversazioni testuali è piuttosto diffusa nei seminari e convegni che hanno come tema le tecnologie. In pratica durante gli speech è possibile confrontarsi con gli altri partecipanti riflettendo in tempo reale e discutendo i temi trattati dal relatore. Secondo la definizione data in questa ricerca i backchannel sono:
A secondary means of communication in a physical space, often not visible or apparent in the physical space itself. Within the scope of this paper, we will always discuss backchannels as technologically-mediated communication, typically via textual group chat conducted on laptops.
Le attività principali notate dai ricercatori in relazione all’uso in classe sono state:
1. Richieste di chiarimenti
Asking clarifying questions about lecture content is one of the most common behaviors, with 78% of survey respondents reporting this usage.
2. Dibattiti e discussioni
Often this use takes the form of topical discussion, where, as one interviewee suggested, students “fill in the blanks” not only in the areas that other students may not fully understand, but also in circumstances where the professor only has time to briefly cover a topic.
3. Condivisione di risorse
The types of information shared, according to one interviewee, includes “clarifications, expansions, Wikipedia entries, [links] to classes people have taken at other institutions, web links—lots of web things, expanding definitions, things like that”.
Another interviewee mentioned an occasion where the professor was lecturing on a topic that another student had taken a class on at a different institution. The professor only reviewed the topic briefly, and the student posted a link to his previous class, commenting “too bad we’re not talking about some of these issues”.
Log analysis showed that during the school week, resource sharing of hyperlinks was 13.8% higher than during weekend periods. It is plausible that this could be due to the higher incidence of shared topical discussion, based on students being physically co-present in lectures together.
4. Esprimere critiche
Participants in the SIMS Backchannel used it as a venue to offer criticism about lecture material or the instructor’s teaching methodology.
Most interviewees and survey respondents characterized the primary function of criticism in the backchannel as “venting.” However, students did note some occasions in which the backchannel served as a planning area where they collaborated on carefully determining the most effective way to raise a shared criticism with a professor, exchanging opinions on how they thought they professor would react to different approaches.
5. Alleviare la noia
Several interviewees mentioned the desire for entertainment: “In some situations if the lecture isn’t something I’m particularly interested in, or if it’s a slow lecture, or I’m just not in the mood to pay attention to it, it’s something else I can do.”
6. Condividere la presenza con gli assenti
One story related to us by multiple interviewees involved a discussion between students in a class who were remarking upon the comeliness of a guest lecturer. Another student who was not enrolled in the class was logged in to the SIMS Backchannel while working in the student lounge in the same building, and asked for more details about the supposed attractiveness of the guest lecturer. This resulted in additional description from some of the students in the class, and even inspired one ambitious user to surreptitiously take a cameraphone picture of the individual, which was then uploaded and shared via the backchannel. Upon viewing the image, the non-present student was enticed to come visit the class to judge the merits of the group’s observations in person.
7. Socializzazione e humor
As one respondent noted, we “socialize based on the lecture—it’s a blurry line between on and off topic.”
Many interviewees noted that humor in the backchannel provided another commonality by which users forged bonds with one another.
While survey respondents generally agreed that the backchannel was an appropriate place to make jokes, a few mentioned that due to some instances during a class where the joking in the backchannel had become distracting, they had stopped participating in the backchannel during that class.
The SIMS Backchannel is also occasionally used for social activity coordination, primarily in the context of students deciding upon where to go to lunch between classes, or coordinating after-school plans.
Questi ed altri aspetti sono trattati per esteso nei paragrafi finali dedicati all’interazione fra backchannel e frontchannel, alla partecipazione e alla creazione di comunità.
Infine, per chi fosse interessato, ci sono anche i dati quantitativi raccolti disponibili pubblicamente sul sito web del progetto.