LiDA100: Learning in a Digital Age

"However, when we use the web now, when we use it with students, and when we ask students to engage online, we must always ask: What are we signing them up for?"
—Chris Gilliard, Educause Review^[2]

Stimulus Resources

• How to Write a Product Review;
• Terms of Service. Didn’t Read.

In this challenge, you are invited to critically evaluate an online tool. Please select any online tool, or choose one from the list below.

Examples of Software as Service

• Blogging: Blogger, WordPress, Medium, Tumblr;
• File Sharing: Dropbox, Nextcloud, MediaFire, Google Drive, SugarSync;
• Presentations: Haikudeck, Prezi, Google Slides, Slides (using Reveal.js);
• Online Collaboration: Basecamp, Slack, Rocket.chat, Hipchat;
• Video Conferencing: jitsi, Anymeeting, Zoom, GoToMeeting;
• Feed Aggregators: Feedly, Panada, NewsBlur, Inoreader, Feedreader;
• Project Management: Trello, Kanboard, Freedcamp, Asana.

Purpose

The purpose of this learning challenge is to:

• Improve your skills in becoming a critical consumer of web tools;
• Publish a critical product review for an online tool of your choice.

Tasks

1. Choose an online tool for review;
2. Describe your intended purpose or application for the tool (for example, learning or work related). Be specific.
3. Complete the review by considering the questions listed below.

The review tasks are grouped into three main areas:

Business Context

1. Who owns the tool?
2. Who is the tool maker or CEO?
3. What are their politics? Does that matter?
4. What is the tool’s history?
5. How do they market themselves?
6. How does the company generate revenue?
7. What is their market positioning / point of difference?
8. Who are the competitors?
9. What do others say about the product? Are these sources reliable?

Terms of Service

1. What are the terms of service? Are they easy to find?
2. What personal data is required to use the tool (username, real names, email, date of birth etc)?
3. Who owns the data?
4. How is the data protected?
5. Where is the data housed?
6. What flexibility do users have to be anonymous?
7. Does the tool support open licensing of user generated content?
8. How is copyright infringement managed?
9. How is user generated content distributed by the company? What license does the user give the company for distributing to third parties?
10. Can users delete their accounts or leave the service?
11. Can users export their data? What export formats are supported?
12. How is personal information managed?
13. Can information be shared with third parties, and if so under what conditions?
14. Can the company terminate a users account? Under what conditions?
15. How are the changes to the terms of service managed?

Fit for Purpose

1. Is the tool suitable for the stated purpose?
2. How does the design of the tool influence what users can do with the tool?
3. Does the tool provide support resources and or help tutorials?
4. Search the web to find out if others provide help and advice on using the tool (for example Youtube, blog posts etc.)
5. What are the implications or opportunities of the tool to support learning in a digital age?

Outputs

Prepare a blog post (about 450–600 words) where you publish a critical review of your selected tool.

Your blog post must:

1. State your intended purpose for the tool
2. Highlight strengths and weaknesses (company reputation, software features, terms of service etc.)
3. Include hyperlinks to appropriate web pages
4. Include references using the APA style if required
5. Include if applicable a disclaimer or disclosure, that is whether you have any association with the company or tool that may impact on the review.
6. Include concluding recommendation(s)
   • Include a comment on whether the tool fit for your stated purpose?
   • Include a comment on whether the extent to which the tool would be useful for learning in a digital age?
7. Add a category or tag for your post using the course tag: lida102

References

1. Inspired by activity assembled by Jesse Stommel for the Digital Studies 101 course at the University of Mary Washington
2. Gilliard, C. (2017). Pedagogy and the Logic of Platforms. Retrieved July 5, 2017.