Concept 1: Asynchronicity
“Asynchronous communication means that the sender and receiver deal with the communication between them at different times. We are familiar with asynchronous communication, for we use it regularly with letters, faxes and similar media. However, email often appears to be more similar to the conventions of real-time (or synchronous) communication and thus the particular nature of asynchronicity is different. People often expect a response to email in faster time than a letter (perhaps because they themselves respond rapidly to email). People expect to be able, through email, to conduct a conversation, with much back and forth, similar to an oral conversation.
In other words, asynchronous communication does not render time and schedules unimportant (as is sometimes claimed). Rather it requires us to think up new rules to assist us in managing communications that, from one perspective are 'instant' and, from another, are 'lagged' and that, standing back, are about the differences in temporal location of the people communicating.
In other words, asynchronous communication does not render time and schedules unimportant (as is sometimes claimed). Rather it requires us to think up new rules to assist us in managing communications that, from one perspective are 'instant' and, from another, are 'lagged' and that, standing back, are about the differences in temporal location of the people communicating.
Asynchronous electronic communication is not the opposite of real-time, synchronous communication: rather it describes forms of communication that appear differently 'located in time' depending on the perspective of the sender and receiver.
This concept applies equally, of course, to the other forms of asynchronous communication that are very similar to email, or use email (newsgroups and lists). What is perhaps less obvious is that FTP and the World Wide Web can also enable asynchronicity: indeed they depend on it, by allowing individuals to access material in many different personal ‘time zones’. For example, teaching online is predominantly effective where students cannot gather together in class to hear lectures but need to access them individually, at their own time.” (Concepts Document - The Internet: Communications (SP2 and SP4))
Communication is asynchronous if the sender and receiver each have the ability to transmit their messages intermittently without the other party having to be present to instantly respond. In terms of person to person communication, the communication is taking place at different times or over a certain period of time.
This is in contrast to synchronous communication which implies that the sender and receiver are expected to transmit their and receive their messages in real time where they have to be in the same place (physically or virtually) at the same time. A chat room or video conference are examples of two people being in front of their computers or camera, ready and able to exchange information.
The definition of asynchronous and synchronous communication is sometimes blurred as it is often a distinction between whether the sender and receiver choose to send and receive in real time. An example of this is email where the parties to the communication may be available and willing to exchange messages in real time but by choice decide on a delay in responding. Neither is there a compulsory timeframe in which a response is required. Because of the email process, the transmitted message will be received whether the addressee of the message is present or not.
The concept of asynchronous communication is more clearly defined when it is applied to the technical environment of communication and data transmission between computers and peripheral equipment such as printers and modems where the internal clock of each piece of equipment operates independently of its counterparts. An elaborate system of communicating between these components allows the transmission of data in relatively small packages which limits the speed that information travels between each component (e.g. 64 kilobits per second)
The use of synchronous communication has the advantage of synchronizing the clock of the sending and receiving components which removes the need for transmitting in packaged bits of data. Information can be transmitted at much greater speeds (e.g. 10 Gigabits per second).
The implication from demonstrating the technical superiority of synchronizing component clocks and faster data transmission speeds is that this is the overriding factor that demonstrates the inferiority of asynchronous communication. However, whilst high transmission speeds may be an advantage it is premature to expect that this will revolutionize the response time to an email or other similar electronic communication.
There are advantages to both types of communication which suit the purpose of a variety of users. The use of email and other asynchronous communication are flexible enough to allow users to approach the synchronicity of machines if they desire by the instant exchange of information and data package transfer but the convenience of a timely and considered response to a complex email query should also remain an important component in electronic communication. This flexibility is also not limited to two users but can be expanded to a group who may be in different time zones or otherwise preoccupied but who can contribute to the discussion because of the delay made available through this type of communication.
References:
Site 1: Asynchronous Communication / http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/gorry/eg2069/async.html
Fairhurst, Gorry, Asynchronous Communication. Retrieved: August 5, 2008, from http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/gorry/eg2069/async.html
This is a brief explanation of some aspects of asynchronous communication between computer hardware and how data flow is affected. The specific differences are explained in relation to the behavior and speed of data transmission in an asynchronous and synchronous environment.
The start, stop nature of asynchronous data transmission because of the differing internal time clocks of each piece of hardware is an apt description of the behavior of human communication: It parallels the differences of an individual’s internal clock but the acts of sending and reading transmitted data at different times are determined by the individual and not the program.
Site 2: Synchronous vs. Asynchronous: Some Thoughts /
http://www.webct.com/service/ViewContent?contentID=2339346
Goldberg, Murray, (2000) Synchronous vs. Asynchronous: Some Thoughts. Retrieved: August 5, 2008 from http://www.webct.com/service/ViewContent?contentID=2339346
An opinion on the future benefit of asynchronous communication in the light of developing technology in synchronous communication. Asynchronous communication is introduced using the example of email and the advantage and convenience to send and receive information at different times as opposed to the sometimes inconvenient necessity to be present during synchronous communication.
The author discusses the use of asynchronous communication in an electronic teaching environment that offers a revolutionary type of interaction between teacher and student rather than an electronic version of face to face teaching offered by synchronous communication which already exists in classrooms.
Site 3: Internet Communications Concept Document, Concept 1 - Asynchronocity. Retrieved August 1st, 2008 from: http://webct.curtin.edu.au/SCRIPT/305033_b/scripts/serve_home
Concept 6: Reading the difference between 'surface' metadata and 'implied' metadata.
“Metadata, in the context of email, is the generic term for the descriptive data contained in the header of the message that tells us who the email is address to; who the email comes from; what is the email's subject; who else is receiving copies of the email; the urgency which the sender has ascribed to the message; the time the email was sent; and (as supplied by your own interaction with the message once arrived) has it been read and has it been replied to. Metadata is, technically 'data about data'. It is the information which tells us the import and content of other information (you will learn more about metadata throughout your studies).
Effective electronic communication depends on metadata; but, from a user's point of view, the 'surface' metadata (what is actually 'there' in the header) needs to be read in light of the content of the message to see if it is reallyas it should be. For example, a message send to my email address may not actually be to 'me'. Perhaps the person believes I am, for example, the technical support officer in my department (whereas I am the academic coordinator of Internet Studies). The content of the message will make that clear and I will need to respond accordingly.
While the header contains the 'surface' metadata, understanding email messages may require you to interpret the implied, hidden metadata cued into the body of email messages.
While email messages need certain key elements of metadata to make them sendable, and also routinely contain other key elements to make them useable, many websites do no really have good metadata and, with the URL, no-one needs that data. Furthermore, URLs are, rarely, much help as metadata in themselves, unless the site is carefully constructed in such a way as to make the URL communicate to you as well as to the computer. However, as you can see by looking at the metadata in websites, it is important for the proper functioning of search engines and other finding tools.
Conceptually, we are seeing the use of metadata in information services change from being a tightly controlled, ‘professional’ activity (ie a classifying system used by librarians, such as Dewey Decimal, MARC etc) to being an activity completely entwined with the many, diverse processes of everyday, social life. Hence, marketeers carefully think about the metadata they can place in a site so as to attract an audience; pornographers try to make their sites ‘available’ to as many different kinds of search engine requests as they can get away with; even non-commercial sites use metadata to attact people. Thus, rather than being data that describes the data, metadata is slowly becoming (at least in part), data that tries to predict and attract certain types of users.” (Concepts Document - The Internet: Communications (SP2 and SP4))
The surface data of an email is gleaned from the traditional areas such as header, author & address of sender, subject, and time sent etc. Similar information can be included in a URL (Webpage) and for research and study it provides a relatively simpler means of finding related information via search engines especially when it is a standardized form such as MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_readable or Dublin Core (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Core). The quality and quantity of metadata required by either of these standards ensures the reliability and relevancy of the information. This process lends itself to collection by repositories with structured metadata which can be applied to a wide range of digital materials, such as: images, learning materials, assessment materials, technical reports or catalogue records.
However, metadata management as a marketing tool can be fashioned to infiltrate a broader customer market when a greater focus is placed on the target audience. The audience will be attracted by the product that best fits their perceived need and therefore the entrepreneur will design metadata used to identify a webpage or a location in the webpage that targets that need. This is called Search Engine Optimisation (SOE). The wording of the metadata may be keywords placed in a webpage document or series of documents each with a unique set of key words that advertise the content and draws the client to that site. The metadata used to describe the information contained in the resource therefore implies that the content relates to the heading via one or many key words planted in the webpage.
Implied metadata has many applications that are not necessarily used for direct marketing. Information resides in the context of the data and the location and extraction of this may be more relevant to a diversity of applications than indicated by the information inserted in the surface metadata. Access to the actual or implied content of the data allows a search to be conducted and correlated according to any number of variable criteria. Surface metadata entered on a document is influenced by the relevance of the information at the time of filing and ignores the possible future applications of information within the context of the data that can be discovered using the implied or semantic metadata.
A search of semantic metadata will provide a potential for differentiating search results which may not have been apparent or relevant at the time of creating the formal metadata but are relevant to the current research or a variety f different types of research. This type of search will provide results that may not use the exact words specified but find data that has the same meaning or concept. A major shift in the operation of this type of metadata search is the greater involvement of the machine to search and sift through data and interpret relevant results from resources that are related by the data or concepts contained in the context of the data rather than their surface metadata.
References:
Site 1: The Semantic Web / http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-semantic-web
Berners-Lee, Tim & Hendler, James & Lassila, Ora. (2001): The Semantic Web: Retrieved August 5, 2008 from http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-semantic-web
This is an article that illustrates a hypothetical scenario using an existing semantic web and leading with the vision that the new web culture will expect that the new semantic metadata may be searched for information to a degree that will enable the application of the results to the solve complex problems and the execute intelligent tasks. These functions will be completely automated by the machine. The new features/ systems that will operate within the semantic web are: knowledge representation, ontologies and the introduction of “virtual” agents in the software, which will lead to the continuing evolution of knowledge.
Site 2: Semantic Web Activity Statement – W3C/ http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/Activity.html
Semantic Web Activity Statement – W3C. (2008): Retrieved August 5, 2008 from http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/Activity.html
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a leader in the development of standards for the World Wide Web. This web page is indicative, of the resources and progress that is being made in the development of the semantic web. There is research into software language, structures within the web to enable connection of all data, software development and vocabulary.
This site gives information about specific areas of research and the progress being made. Even if this is not the sole source of information about the semantic web, this is the mainstream research and should be an authoritative guide when researching other sources.
Site 3: Internet Communications Concept Document, Concept 6 - Reading the difference between 'Surface' Metadata and 'Implied' Metadata. Retrieved August 1st, 2008 from: http://webct.curtin.edu.au/SCRIPT/305033_b/scripts/serve_home
Concept 7: Netiquette.
“An overwhelming and many-facted aspect of using email and similar asynchronous communication systems over the Internet is 'Netiquette'. Netiquette describes 'good' and 'bad' conduct in online communication (amongst other forms of Internet use). But what is important about Netiquette is the concept that there are these 'agreed' rules of what is good and bad.
Understanding why and now netiquette operates is more than just learning those rules (for, indeed, there are numerous differences and disagreements about the 'rules'). Rather, one must gain from a reading of 'netiquette' a sense that users must themselves contribute to the proper functioning of the Internet as a communication system: that no-one is in 'charge' of the net and we all must exercise an ethic of maintenance, taking responsibility for doing it 'right'. Moreover, what defines 'right' most of all is : 'how would I feel if this action I am about to take was done to me, instead of by me?' and, as a test of whether you are implementing 'right' properly, ask yourself "if I assume the recipient of my messages is less experienced than me, will they learn something 'good' or 'bad' from what I am doing?'
Good communication practice on the Internet is not something one 'learns', but something one 'practices' so as to teach others, less familiar than yourself, how it is done.
Good communication practice on the Internet is not something one 'learns', but something one 'practices' so as to teach others, less familiar than yourself, how it is done.
Netiquette seems to apply almost entirely to communication: email, online chat, and so on. Perhaps this fact suggests a difference between the kind of info-communication practice involved in website creation and use and that involving direct communication lines. The difference is that, in the latter case, the immediacy of the communication, the sense of ‘back and forth’ means that damaging practices cannot be as easily ignored. We feel, in personal communication (as opposed to the more indirect ‘reading and website’ form of communication), that bad netiquette really does waste our time and affect us. A poorly designed website doesn’t do more than prompt us to move on to the next one.” (Concepts Document - The Internet: Communications (SP2 and SP4))
Effective electronic communication, whether it is synchronous or asynchronous is meaningful conversation; to exchange information or convey a message whether for the purpose of social interaction, research or commerce. To effectively use electronic text medium it is important to be aware that communication between sender and receiver relies solely on the text to convey meaning. In text it is not possible to use visual cues such as facial expression or tone of voice to communicate meaning.
When you're holding a conversation online there is always a risk of misinterpreting your correspondent's meaning whether it's an email exchange or a response to a discussion group posting. And it's easy to forget that your correspondent is a person with similar feelings to you. Behavior and interaction with people on line removes the personality of the people communicating with each other and some of the inhibitions that we may have in place to protect ourselves and moderate our speech when we interact with people face to face are removed when we communicate on line.
There are conventions or rules that have evolved to avoid any disadvantage of only using the written word to communicate in the electronically. Netiquette is a set of rules for behaving properly online. It is a book on manners rather than a legal document but it urges the user to do their best to act within the laws of society and cyberspace.
Likewise, webpage design is inspired by the need for visitors to be attracted by the impact of the design for the purpose of using the site for the utility it provides. If there are no strict conventions for webpage design then surely the conventions and standards will be driven by the popularity of some pages over others. The development of these standards are similar to netiquette in as much as the breach of a rule of netiquette will compromise lines of communication and perhaps cause a conversation to be terminated, whereas the webpage that breaches fundamental design rules that make it unattractive and non conventional to the point of unusable, causes the same affect of the website being discarded and not seen again.
Users are in constant motion across the web and experience different levels usability which they expected to appear in your site. This will not be a static measure but should be constantly improved to move with the changing expectations.
Netiquette is a collection of rules which may vary in the number and are not definitive or enforceable but they are based on an underlying philosophy to remember the person/ people involved in the communication expect to be treated with the same respect and consideration they would receive if the conversation was face to face and in the same manner we expect to be treated by them.
Perhaps the same standard should be used by website designers to remember that the webpage is a type of communication to many unknown clients who expect that the webpage design respects their needs and not that of the designer.
References:
Site 1: Netiquette Home Page / http://www.albion.com/netiquette/
Ross, Seth T. The Netiquette Quiz: Netiquette Home Page: Retrieved August 5, 2008 from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/ .
This website gives an overview of netiquette and is as informative as many other sites on the subject. The questionnaire is a short quiz which took me 5 minutes to complete. The questions and answers reinforce the notion that netiquette is common sense behavior that we would expect from any considerate person who has an interest in informative and meaningful communication using the electronic medium.
However, rule 10 of this version says “be forgiving of other peoples mistakes” which is essential because the use of this medium requires practice before the application of some of these rules become routine behavior.
Site 2: End of Web Design/ http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000723.html
Nielsen, Jakob. (2000). End of Web Design: Retrieved August 5, 2008 from: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000723.html.
This article argues for the eventual conformity of webpage design as both the experienced and new web browser will expect common features in each web page to remove the time wasting effort of having to learn a new technique for access or navigation. This will effectively relinquish control of the site to the expert and novice as opposed to the service provider attempting to enforce the order of exploration through structured and complicated design. He also supports the expansion of website promotion through interaction between websites and the exchange of content to advertise or promote complementary services.
Site 3: Internet Communications Concept Document, Concept 7 - Netiquette. Retrieved August 1st, 2008 from: http://webct.curtin.edu.au/SCRIPT/305033_b/scripts/serve_home
Concept 11: The relationship of data to meta-data.
“Meta-data is, in essence, information about information. In electronic communication, it is mostly to be thought of as the information that locates data in a particular context. The obvious example is the 'header' in an email message, detailing who it is from, to whom it is addressed, when it was sent, and what it is about. Internet communication depends on this meta data as obviously as, say, the postal system or, indeed, face-to-face communication. But, whereas in most other communicative contexts metadata is often concealed, or inflexibly mediated (the postmark on an envelope is sometimes germane to its contents but rarely do we keep envelopes), on the Internet, the metadata is fully available. Moreover, it is tightly connected to its data and, without physical form, can be manipulated much more easily.
For example, if I file paper correspondence under 'sender', then it is no longer available for me to file under – say – subject matter. I could copy the correspondence and file it twice, or three times, or more, depending on the number of categories of metadata and the importance I ascribe to them. However, it is often the case that a category does not become important until after the initial filing. Electronic communication (say, email), can be filed in one place and then sorted and resorted depending on the needs of the moment.
Advanced Internet users learn to intuitively conceive of any document, file, message or communication as consisting of metadata and data. They then can explore the functions of various communications/information software looking for how that software can assist them in using metadata to enable sorting, processing or otherwise dealing with that data.
A great failing of most web browser and management software is its inability to allow people to easily organize and reorganise information, to catalogue and sort it, thereby attaching their own metadata to it. Without the physical ability to sort, annotate, sort and resort, it is harder to do the cognitive processing necessary to make the data ‘one’s own’, relevant to the tasks that you are using it for, rather than its initially intended uses. New forms of ‘organisation’ need to be found, and new software to make it work.” (Concepts Document - The Internet: Communications (SP2 and SP4))
Metadata consists of information that characterizes data and is information about data and is used to provide documentation for data. Some characteristics that Metadata describes are content, accuracy, reliability and the source.
The metadata can be used to publicise the data or assist research in locating and extracting relevant information. To say that Metadata is similar to a paper filing system narrows the application of Metadata. It is accurate to say that data can be filed and retrieved using Metadata but the potential for multi-level access to relevant data is a far more powerful than simple filing and retrieval.
At a local level, file “tagging” and storage of data files is an application using Metadata to give the data a label. The usual business application is to file labeled data into folders that relate to a specific project or client. This can be applied to email documents where numerous messages are collected and may be automatically filtered or redirected to various folders with Meta data that identifies the data using such tags as: time of transmission, subject matter or name of sender. This principle can be applied to information contained in newsgroups and websites where information described by its Metadata can be allocated to specific areas of a webpage or to a particular discussion group or topic thread.
However, using Metadata in the electronic environment also enables a much broader application than filing. Metadata helps researchers find the data they need and determine how best to use it. The data may have been produced for a completely different purpose but refers to information/research that, at some time in the future, may be relevant to another project. Locating and incorporating the existing information into current research prevents the duplication of work and resources.
Metadata enables the grouping of similar data sets from an unlimited number of locations provided they contain metadata that has common identifiers. The data may be documents, files or images that have been filed.
The system of identifying terms of reference using metadata is therefore integral to the efficiency of filing and retrieval. Metadata standards are a way of defining information in a consistent way, which enables that information to be compared across different service delivery settings and sectors and to ensure consistency and comparability of information to improve interoperability of systems, cross-program analysis, relevance and availability of information.
Of course, to have consistency in tracking and compiling the information, it is important to consider the creation of using rules or standards when recording the metadata.
From an organization’s viewpoint, maintaining a library or file of data using the Metadata prolongs the value of data if it has the capacity to be retrieved and used for different research projects. This potential value would not be available if changes, such as in personnel cause undocumented data to be lost over time.
Data producers and users cannot afford to be without documented data. The initial expense of documenting data clearly outweighs the potential costs of unnecessarily duplicating data or making data redundant prematurely.
References:
Site 1: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative / http://dublincore.org/resources/
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative – Resources: Retrieved August 5, 2008 from http://dublincore.org/resources/
This is a web page that accesses all the resources offered by Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. It describes the resources and research that is being carried out by the organization to standardize metadata and offers comprehensive instruction on how to use the standards.
Dublin Core is a consistently referred to resource by most articles I have read on the web and demonstrates the significant effort being put into the concept of metadata storage and retrieval.
Site 2: Metadata Interoperability and Standardization – A Study of Methodology Part I / http://dlib.ejournal.ascc.net/dlib/june06/chan/06chan.html
Chan, Lois Mai, & Zeng, Marcia Lei (2006): Achieving Interoperability at the Schema Level: Metadata Interoperability and Standardization – A Study of Methodology Part I. Retrieved August 5, 2008 from http://dlib.ejournal.ascc.net/dlib/june06/chan/06chan.html
This document describes the current reluctance of data producers or services to conform to a uniform standard of metadata schema. The result is the difficulty of conducting a reliable search for relevant data across multiple repositories and libraries. However, methods are emerging to enable interoperability of data across different systems, which is an essential advantage and goal of using metadata.
The article defines and describes the various relevant terminology and methods involved in the storing and retrieving metadata. This has been valuable in understanding the technical information and the potential that a uniform standard schema can achieve.
Site 3: Internet Communications Concept Document, Concept 11 - The Relationship of Data to Metadata. Retrieved August 1st, 2008 from: http://webct.curtin.edu.au/SCRIPT/305033_b/scripts/serve_home
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