The Horizon Report
T H E H O R I Z O N R E P O R T
2 0 0 8 E D I T I O N
a collaboration between
The New Media CoNsorTiuM
and the
eduCause Learning initiative
an eduCause Program
The 2008 Horizon Report is
a collaboration between
The New Media CoNsorTiuM
and the
eduCause Learning initiative
an eduCause Program
© 2008, The New Media Consortium.
Permission is granted under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license to replicate
and distribute this report freely for noncommercial purposes provided that it is distributed only in its entirety.
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ISBN 0-9765087-6-1
Ta b L e o f C o N T e N T s
executive summary ....................................................................................................................................... 3
■ Key Emerging Technologies
■ Critical Challenges
■ Significant Trends
■ After Five Years: The Metatrends
■ About the Horizon Project
Time-to-adoption: one Year or Less
Grassroots Video ..................................................................................................................................... 10
■ Overview
■ Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Expression
■ Examples
■ For Further Reading
Collaboration Webs ................................................................................................................................. 13
■ Overview
■ Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Expression
■ Examples
■ For Further Reading
Time-to-adoption: Two to Three Years
Mobile Broadband ................................................................................................................................... 17
■ Overview
■ Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Expression
■ Examples
■ For Further Reading
Data Mashups ......................................................................................................................................... 20
■ Overview
■ Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Expression
■ Examples
■ For Further Reading
Time-to-adoption: four to five Years
Collective Intelligence .............................................................................................................................. 23
■ Overview
■ Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Expression
■ Examples
■ For Further Reading
Social Operating Systems ....................................................................................................................... 26
■ Overview
■ Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Expression
■ Examples
■ For Further Reading
Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 30
2008 Horizon Project advisory board ......................................................................................................... 32
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eXeCuTiVe suMMarY
The annual Horizon Report describes the continuing
Key emerging Technologies
work of the New Media Consortium (NMC)’s Horizon
The technologies featured in the 2008 Horizon
Project, a five-year qualitative research ef ort that seeks
Report are placed along three adoption horizons that
to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to
represent what the Advisory Board considers likely
have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative
timeframes for their entrance into mainstream use
expression within learning-focused organizations. The
for teaching, learning, or creative applications. The
2008 Horizon Report, the fifth in this annual series, is
first adoption horizon assumes the likelihood of entry
produced as a col aboration between the NMC and the
within the next year; the second, within two to three
EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE
years; and the third, within four to five years.
program.
The two technologies placed on the first adoption
The main sections of the report describe six emerging
horizon in this edition, grassroots video and
technologies or practices that will likely enter
collaboration webs, are already in use on many
mainstream use in learning-focused organizations
campuses. Examples of these are not difficult to
within three adoption horizons over the next one to
find. Applications of mobile broadband and data
five years. Also highlighted are a set of chal enges
mashups, both on the mid-term horizon, are evident
and trends that will influence our choices in the same
in organizations at the leading edge of technology
time frames. The project draws on an ongoing primary
adoption, and are beginning to appear at many
research ef ort that has distil ed the viewpoints of
institutions. Educational uses of the two topics on
more than 175 Advisory Board members in the
the far-term horizon, collective intelligence and
fields of business, industry, and education into the
social operating systems, are understandably
six topics presented here; drawn on an extensive
rarer; however, there are examples in the worlds of
array of published resources, current research, and
commerce, industry and entertainment that hint at
practice; and made extensive use of the expertise of
coming use in academia within four to five years.
the NMC and ELI communities. (The precise research
Each profiled technology is described in detail in the
methodology is detailed in the final section.) Many of
body of the report, including a discussion of what it
the examples under each area feature the innovative
is and why it is relevant to teaching, learning, and
work of NMC and ELI member institutions.
creative expression. Specific examples are listed
The format of the Horizon Report reflects the focus of
there for each of the six topics, consistent with the
the Horizon Project, which centers on the applications
level of adoption at the time the report was written
of emerging technologies to teaching, learning, and
(December 2007). Taken as a set, our research
creative expression. Each topic opens with an overview
indicates that all six of these technologies will
to introduce the concept or technology involved and
significantly impact the choices of learning-focused
fol ows with a discussion of the particular relevance of
organizations within the next five years.
the topic to education or creativity. Examples of how
■ Grassroots Video. Virtually anyone can
the technology is being—or could be—applied to those
capture, edit, and share short video clips, using
activities are given. Each description is fol owed by an
inexpensive equipment (such as a cell phone)
annotated list of additional examples and readings
and free or nearly free software. Video sharing
which expand on the discussion in the Report, as well
sites continue to grow at some of the most
as a link to the list of tagged resources col ected by
prodigious rates on the Internet; it is very common
the Advisory Board and other interested parties during
now to find news clips, tutorials, and informative
the process of researching the topic areas.
videos listed alongside the music videos and the
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
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raft of personal content that dominated these
sources are “mashed up” into a single tool—
sites when they first appeared. What used to be
offer new ways to look at and interact with
difficult and expensive, and often required special
datasets. The availability of large amounts of
servers and content distribution networks, now
data (from search patterns, say, or real estate
has become something anyone can do easily
sales or Flickr photo tags) is converging with the
for almost nothing. Hosting services handle
development of open programming interfaces
encoding, infrastructure, searching, and more,
for social networking, mapping, and other tools.
leaving only the content for the producer to worry
This in turn is opening the doors to hundreds
about. Custom branding has allowed institutions
of data mashups that will transform the way we
to even have their own special presence within
understand and represent information.
these networks, and will fuel rapid growth among
■ Collective intelligence. The kind of knowledge
learning-focused organizations who want their
and understanding that emerges from large
content to be where the viewers are.
groups of people is collective intelligence. In
■ Collaboration webs. Collaboration no longer
the coming years, we will see educational
calls for expensive equipment and specialized
applications for both explicit collective
expertise. The newest tools for collaborative
intelligence—evidenced in projects like the
work are small, flexible, and free, and require
Wikipedia and in community tagging—and
no installation. Colleagues simply open their
implicit collective intelligence, or data gathered
web browsers and they are able to edit group
from the repeated activities of numbers
documents, hold online meetings, swap
of people, including search patterns, cell
information and data, and collaborate in any
phone locations over time, geocoded digital
number of ways without ever leaving their desks.
photographs, and other data that are passively
Open programming interfaces allow users to
obtained. Data mashups will tap into information
author tools that they need and easily tailor
generated by collective intelligence to expand
them to their requirements, then share them
our understanding of ourselves and the
with others.
technologically-mediated world we inhabit.
■ Mobile broadband. Each year, more than a
■ social operating systems. The essential
billion new mobile devices are manufactured1—
ingredient of next generation social networking,
or a new phone for every six people on the
social operating systems, is that they will
planet. In this market, innovation is unfolding
base the organization of the network around
at an unprecedented pace. Capabilities are
people, rather than around content. This simple
increasing rapidly, and prices are becoming ever
conceptual shift promises profound implications
more affordable. Indeed, mobiles are quickly
for the academy, and for the ways in which we
becoming the most affordable portable platform
think about knowledge and learning. Social
for staying networked on the go. New displays
operating systems will support whole new
and interfaces make it possible to use mobiles
categories of applications that weave through
to access almost any Internet content—content
the implicit connections and clues we leave
that can be delivered over either a broadband
everywhere as we go about our lives, and use
cellular network or a local wireless network.
them to organize our work and our thinking
around the people we know.
■ data Mashups. Mashups—custom applications
where combinations of data from different
As might be expected when studying emerging
phenomena over time, some of these topics are
1 Jaques, Robert. (2007). One Billion Mobile Phones Shipped in
related to, or outgrowths of, ones featured
2006. Computing, January 26, 2007. Retrieved December 2007, from
www.computing.co.uk/2173516.
in previous editions of the Horizon Report.
Grassroots video (2008), for example, reflects
academic community as a whole embraces the
the evolution of user-created content (2007);
potential of technologies and practices like those
it has been singled out this year because it
described in this report. Experimentation must
has emerged as a distinct set of technologies
be encouraged and supported by policy; in order
in common use that has broad application to
for that to happen, scholars, researchers, and
teaching, learning, and creative expression.
teachers must demonstrate its value by taking
Similarly, we have followed mobile devices with
advantage of opportunities for collaboration and
interest for the past several years. In 2006, multimedia
interdisciplinary work.
capture was the key factor; mobiles became prolific
■ Higher education is facing a growing
recording devices for video, audio, and still imagery.
expectation to deliver services, content and
Personal content storehouses were the focus of
media to mobile and personal devices. This
mobile in 2007; calendars, contact databases,
challenge is even more true today than it was a
photo and music collections, and more began to be
year ago. As new devices like the Apple iPhone
increasingly and commonly stored on mobile devices
and the LG Electronics Voyager are released
over the past year. Now for 2008, we are seeing the
that make content almost as easy to access
effect of new displays and increased access to web
and view on a mobile as on a computer, the
content taking these devices by storm. Nonetheless,
demand for mobile content will continue to grow.
while there are abundant examples of personal and
Recent infrastructure changes have resulted in
professional uses for mobiles, educational content
increased access areas for mobile devices, and
delivery via mobile devices is still in the early stages.
there are clear applications of mobile technology
The expectation is that advances in technology over
for public safety, education, and entertainment.
the next twelve to eighteen months will remove the
This is more than merely an expectation to
last barriers to access and bring mobiles truly into
provide content: this is an opportunity for higher
the mainstream for education.
education to reach its constituents wherever
Critical Challenges
they may be.
The Horizon Project Advisory Board annual y
■ The renewed emphasis on collaborative
identifies critical chal enges facing learning
learning is pushing the educational community
organizations over the five-year time period covered
to develop new forms of interaction and
by this report, drawing them from a careful analysis of
assessment. Collaborative experiences in virtual
current events, papers, articles, and similar sources.
worlds are easy to find today compared to a year
The challenges ranked as most likely to have a
ago, when this challenge was first described.
significant impact on teaching, learning, and creativity
The results are encouraging, but more work
in the coming years appear below, in the order of
is needed on the assessment side before the
importance assigned them by the Advisory Board.
full potential of these kinds of activities can be
■ Significant shifts in scholarship, research,
realized. Issues like ownership of collaborative
creative expression, and learning have created
work and certification of authorship present
a need for innovation and leadership at all
difficulties for evaluation. Further development
levels of the academy. This challenge has
of social networking and other collaborative
evolved over the past year and is a crucial one
tools will continue to facilitate this kind of
for teaching and learning. As the gap grows
work, and opportunities for interaction will only
between new scholarship and old, leadership
increase; the challenge faced by the educational
and innovation are needed at all levels of the
community is to seize those opportunities and
academy—from students to faculty to staff and
develop effective ways to measure academic
administrative leadership. It is critical that the
progress as it happens.
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■ The academy is faced with a need to provide
■ The growing use of Web 2.0 and social net-
formal instruction in information, visual, and
working—combined with collective intelligence
technological literacy as well as in how to create
and mass amateurization—is gradually but in-
meaningful content with today’s tools. Web-
exorably changing the practice of scholarship.
based tools are rapidly becoming the standard,
The proliferation of tools that enable co-creation,
both in education and in the workplace.
mashups, remixes, and instant self-publication
Technologically mediated communication is
is remaking the traditional model of academic
the norm. Fluency in information, visual, and
publication and has growing implications for
technological literacy is of vital importance,
tenure and merit systems. Web 2.0 and social
yet these literacies are not formally taught to
networking tools are increasingly being adopted
most students. We need new and expanded
for educational use. In the sciences especially,
definitions of these literacies that are based
amateur scholars are juxtaposing data into “data
on mastering underlying concepts rather
mashups” and creating sophisticated visual
than on specialized skill sets, and we need to
representations that add to the body of knowl-
edge in compelling ways. Taken together, the
develop and establish methods for teaching and
increased use of these technologies indicates a
evaluating these critical literacies at all levels of
steady change in the way scholarship is under-
education. The challenge is to develop curricula
taken and perceived.
and assessment rubrics that address not
only traditional capabilities like developing an
■ The way we work, collaborate, and communi-
argument over the course of a long paper, but
cate is evolving as boundaries become more
also how to apply those competencies to other
fluid and globalization increases. This trend,
forms of communication such as short digital
noted in last year’s Horizon Report as well, still
videos, blogs, or photo essays.
is having enduring impact, and continues to ex-
pand learning and creative possibilities. With the
These challenges are a reflection of the impact of
increasing availability of tools to connect learn-
new practices and technologies on our lives. They
ers and scholars all over the world—online col-
are indicative of the changing nature of the way we
laborative workspaces, social networking tools,
communicate, access information, and connect with
mobiles, Skype, and more—it is increasingly
peers and colleagues. Taken together, they provide
common to see courses that include interna-
a framing perspective with which to consider the
tional students who meet online or incorporate
potential impacts of the six technologies and practices
connections between classrooms in different ar-
described in this edition of the Horizon Report.
eas of the world.
significant Trends
■ Access to—and portability of—content is in-
creasing as smaller, more powerful devices
Each year the Horizon Advisory Board also
are introduced. Electronic book readers like the
researches, identifies and ranks key trends affecting
Amazon Kindle and small but powerful web-
the areas of teaching, learning, and creative
enabled devices like the Apple iPhone and the
expression. The Board reviews current articles,
LG Electronics Voyager make it possible to carry
interviews, papers, and published research to
vast amounts of information in a small package.
discover emerging or continuing trends. The trends
Movies, books, email, and more are available on
are ranked according to how significant an impact
these lightweight, portable platforms and given
they are likely to have on education in the next five
the pace of innovation in this market, ever in-
years. The top trends are presented below in priority
creasing capabilities and happily decreasing
order, as ranked by the Advisory Board.
prices, their use will only grow in influence.
■ The gap between students’ perception of tech-
These seven metatrends include the evolving
nology and that of faculty continues to widen.
approaches to communication between humans
Students and faculty continue to view and expe-
and machines; the collective sharing and generation
rience technology very differently. Students have
of knowledge; computing in three dimensions;
embraced social technologies like Facebook
connecting people via the network; games as
and many similar platforms in unprecedented
pedagogical platforms; the shifting of content
numbers, yet these technologies remain a mys-
production to users; and the evolution of a ubiquitous
tery to many on campuses. Webware tools with
platform. What is remarkable is that each year the
clear potential for education are meeting the
Advisory Board is reconstituted; more than half are
same reception: faculty are often either unaware
new every year, with Advisors chosen from many
of tools like Google Docs and Swivel, or have
industries, countries, and backgrounds.
difficulty integrating them into educational pro-
Nonetheless, after five years, it is quite easy to
cesses. Serving to expand this gap is the with-
see clear conceptual threads that this diverse and
ering pace of emerging technology, and even
changing group has returned to time and time again.
old technology hands often tire at the thought of
We believe it indicates a sustained interest and
learning yet another new way of working. At the
continued belief that these pathways of innovation
same time, student expectations are important,
and technological evolution will affect the long-term
and successful learning-focused organizations
practice of teaching, learning and creative expression.
have long known they ignore these expectations
Some of them already have.
at their peril.
While there is not room here to discuss them all,
three metatrends are discussed in the paragraphs
after five Years: The Metatrends
that follow. One that seems especially notable is
This is the fifth edition of the Horizon Report, and it
the collective sharing and generation of knowledge,
seems appropriate after five years to reflect on the
which was discussed in the very first Horizon Report,
sorts of patterns in the recent evolution of emerging
and has appeared in one form or another in every
technology that can only be seen over time. After
report since. Learning objects were an early attempt
five years, it is clear that the 175 people who have
at this, but advances in intelligent searching eclipsed
served on the Horizon Project Advisory Boards over
the need for complex metadata schema in the eyes
that time have been remarkably prescient—without
of many, and laid the foundations for what we called
exception, the topics in the past five Horizon Reports
knowledge webs, a topic that also first appeared
have proved to be worthy of our attention. At the
back in 2004. In the larger picture, it is clear that this
same time, we have seen many of the technologies
metatrend is mapped over nine years (2004-2012),
and practices highlighted in this series converge,
and the current Report reaches into the future to
morph, and shift over the years, evolving in ways that
describe technologies that we will not see entering
continue to keep them in our sights as they move to
mainstream use for learning for some time yet,
nearer and nearer adoption horizons. Some of them
such as mashups, new scholarship, and collective
have already become quite commonplace and are
intelligence. By considering the pattern over these
integrated into our everyday activities; others are
several years, it is easy to see that tools to aid
clearly still with us, their current form influenced by
and enhance collective sharing and generation of
parallel developments that are pushing them in one
knowledge have been present for many years and
direction or another. While the currents and eddies of
continue to develop.
emerging technology are complex, it is clear that the
Connecting people through the network is a second
Report has been following at least seven metatrends
metatrend that should be highlighted here. Ubiquitous
with some regularity.
wireless enabled a host of technologies like extended
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learning, social computing, and social networking—
The seven metatrends are described in more detail
all of which have been fueled by the emergence
on the Horizon Project wiki (horizon.nmc.org/wiki),
of anytime, anywhere access provided by wireless
where you are invited to participate in an ongoing
networks. In turn, the practice of extended learning
discussion taking place about them.
contributed to the development of global learning
communities. Extended learning approaches, so
about the Horizon Project
commonplace today, were the first steps at the
Since the launch of the Horizon Project in March
time toward the application of social computing and
2002, the NMC has held an ongoing series of
social networking to teaching, learning, and creative
conversations and dialogs with hundreds of
expression. Social networking has steadily continued
technology professionals, campus technologists,
to be a major influence, retaining ties to knowledge
faculty leaders from colleges and universities, and
webs and social computing while remaining distinct
representatives of leading corporations. Each year,
from both. The next phase for connecting people
an Advisory Board considers the results of these
through the network has been identified as the
dialogs and also looks at a wide range of articles,
emergence of social operating systems—tools that
published and unpublished research, papers,
not only recognize our social connections, but will
scholarly blogs, and websites to generate a list of
expose information in entirely new ways that will
technologies and practices, trends, challenges, and
make these networks richer and more fluid.
issues that knowledgeable people in technology
Moving the computer into three dimensions has been
industries, higher education, and museums are
an equal y interesting and recurring theme that is
thinking about.
now clearly a metatrend, with a mapping currently
The project uses qualitative research methods to
spanning the years between 2004 and 2010. In this
identify the technologies selected for inclusion in
case, development has been extensive, with the
each annual report, beginning with a survey of the
emergence of vector-based animation tools al owing
work of other organizations and a review of the
simple 3D representations in 2004, and the growth of
literature with an eye to spotting interesting emerging
physical 3D outputs in the form of rapid prototyping
technologies. When the cycle starts, little is known,
over 2005 and 2006. Virtual and augmented reality
or even can be known, about the appropriateness
began to find traction around that time as wel , and
or efficacy of many of the emerging technologies for
today nearly every learning organization is exploring
these purposes, as the Horizon Project expressly
some form of virtual reality, either in direct learning
focuses on technologies not currently in widespread
applications taking place in platforms like Open
use in academe. In a typical year, 75 or more of
Croquet or Second Life, or in research settings, where
these technologies may be identified for further
enhanced visualization tools are probing the depths
investigation; for the 2008 Report, more than 80
of rich data sets for new learning and knowledge.
were considered.
Each edition of the Horizon Report to date has targeted
By engaging a wide community of interested parties,
technologies or practices that fall somewhere along
and diligently searching the Internet and other
the path of one of these metatrends. With the benefit
sources, enough information is gathered early in the
of time, it is easy to see that often one technology’s
process to allow the members of the Advisory Board to
adoption paves the way for others down the road.
form an understanding of how each of the discovered
Technologies that feel natural today now have roots
technologies might be in use in settings outside of
in those that appeared on the mid or far horizons in
academe, to develop a sense of the potential the
earlier editions of the Report. It is likely that those
technology may have for higher education settings,
that appear on the far horizon today will similarly
and to envision applications of the technology for
influence the development of technologies that will
teaching, learning, and creative expression. The
be the focus of future Horizon Reports.
findings are discussed in a variety of settings—with
faculty, industry experts, campus technologists, and
of the Horizon Report. Once these semifinalists were
of course, the Horizon Advisory Board. Of particular
identified, a significant amount of time was spent
interest to the Advisory Board every year is finding
researching applications or potential applications
educational applications for these technologies that
for each of the areas that would be of interest to
may not be intuitive or obvious.
practitioners.
To create the 2008 Horizon Report, the 36
With the benefit of the full picture of how the topic
members of this year’s Advisory Board engaged in
would look in the report, the list of semifinalists was
a comprehensive review and analysis of research,
then ranked yet again. The six technologies and
articles, papers, blogs, and interviews; discussed
applications that emerged at the top of the final
existing applications, and brainstormed new ones;
rankings—two per adoption horizon—are detailed
and ultimately ranked the items on the list of
in the sections that follow. Those descriptions are
candidate technologies for their potential relevance
the heart of the 2008 Horizon Report, and will fuel
to teaching, learning, and creative expression.
the work of the Horizon Project throughout 2008-09.
Most of this work took place online over the fall of
The research aspects of the project, many of which
2007. From the more than 80 technologies originally
are ongoing and build on the work in the Report, are
considered, the twelve that emerged at the top of the
detailed in the section on methodology which follows
initial ranking process—four per adoption horizon—
the descriptions of the six emerging technologies
were extensively researched and cast in the format
that are profiled in this year’s report.
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G r a s s r o oT s V i d e o
Time-to-adoption Horizon: one Year or Less
Video is everywhere—and almost any device that can access the Internet can play (and probably capture) it.
From user-created clips and machinima to creative mashups to excerpts from news or television shows, video
has become a popular medium for personal communication. Editing and distribution can be done easily with
affordable tools, lowering the barriers for production. Ubiquitous video capture capabilities have literally put
the ability to record events in the hands of almost everyone. Once the exclusive province of highly trained
professionals, video content production has gone grassroots.
overview
Over the past few years, the ways we produce, use
and in some cases, even easier. Sharing sites like
and even think about video have undergone a profound
YouTube, Google Video, Viddler, or Blip.tv accept a
transformation. Literal y mil ions of videos are just a click
variety of common formats, and transparently handle
away for any Internet-connected user. As the numbers
the intricacies of conversion and distribution.
and quality of user-produced clips have increased, our
Some sharing sites are designed to handle live
notions of what constitutes useful or engaging video
streams, allowing users to create their own broadcast
have been redefined—and more and more, it is a two
shows with a webcam; UStream (www.ustream.
to three minute piece designed for viewing in a three-
tv) is one example. Mogulus (www.mogulus.com)
inch browser window or on a mobile phone. That same
is a service currently in beta that enables users to
phone is often the video capture device, with surprisingly
produce their own shows by collaborating online with
high quality when viewed on a small screen.
other producers, mixing live and prerecorded content
Tools for assembling and editing clips are free or
from around the web, and broadcasting live in real
extremely low cost and make it easy for amateurs
time. Stickam (www.stickam.com) is a similar service
to get good results without investing in expensive
that lets users build social networks around their
equipment, software, or training. A new class of online
broadcasts—viewers can chat with the producer
toolsets do much of the work for you. FixMyMovie
and with each other while they are watching. Many
(www.fixmymovie.com), for example, enhances the
of these services provide embedding code that lets
quality of digital video and optimizes it for online
users place their streams on their blogs or other
distribution. Literally dozens of web communities
websites. The effect of all these developments is that
offer easy-to-access outlets for distribution and richly
the capacity for video production has been distributed
featured search and tagging functions.
to the grassroots level, to the point that even major
With video capture and editing tools in the hands of
news outlets routinely feature audience-captured cell
more and more people all the time, we are at the point
phone videos of breaking news stories.
where virtually any event may be caught on video, by
relevance for Teaching, Learning,
virtually anyone. The proliferation of video is due in
and Creative expression
large part to how easy it has become to share clips.
In January 2007 alone, 7.2 billion videos were viewed
As the costs of production and distribution for video
online by nearly 123 million Americans, or 70 percent
have dropped to nearly zero, many of the barriers to
of the total Internet audience in the U.S.2 Video
using in learning and creative situations have fal en
content is as easy to post to the Internet as is text,
away. Rather than investing in expensive infrastructure,
universities are beginning to turn to services like
2 Lipsman, Andrew. (2007). ‘Primetime’ U.S. Video Streaming Activity
YouTube and iTunes U to host their video content for
Occurs on Weekdays Between 5-8 P.M. Comscore Press Release,
them. As a result, students—whether on campus or
March 21, 2007. Retrieved December 2007, from www.comscore.
com/press/release.asp?press=1264.
across the globe—have access to an unprecedented
and growing range of educational video content from
A sampling of grassroots video applications across
smal segments on specific topics to ful lectures, all
disciplines includes the following:
available online. Hosting services like YouTube and
■ information Technology. Secondary school
iTunes U even provide institutional “channels” where
students from five schools in five different
content can be collected and branded.
countries researched and envisioned the future
With video easily produced on all manner of
of education and society through the framework
inexpensive devices from phones to pocket cameras,
of the 2007 Horizon Report, capturing their
faculty have more options than ever before to
work in a wiki. They then produced nearly
incorporate video into their curricula. Video capture,
twenty short videos about the topics in the
in the hands of an entire class, can be a very efficient
Report and shared them via YouTube. See the
data collection strategy for field work, or as a way
results at www.youtube.com/results?search_
to document service learning projects. Video papers
query=horizonproject07.
and projects are increasingly common assignments.
Student-produced clips on current topics are an
■ Mathematics. Two professors at the University
avenue for students to research and develop an idea,
of Minnesota used a 3-D animation to illustrate
design and execute the visual form, and broadcast
Möbius transformations. The simple video
their opinion beyond the walls of their classroom.
illustrates the mathematical concept in a way
that seems to have sparked the imaginations
Institutions are offering courses in new media
of a wide range of viewers. The video has been
production and new media literacy that take
watched more than 1.2 million times since it was
advantage of the inexpensive tools, distribution and
editing services, and social networking communities
put on YouTube. See the clip at ca.youtube.com/
that have evolved around video. New media courses
watch?v=JX3VmDgiFnY.
are examining the phenomenon of video creation
■ studio art. At the University of Mary Washing-
and sharing itself; one example, offered at Pitzer
ton, students in the course “Approaches to Video
College, required student commentary to be created
Art” study video as an art form and then create
in video form and published on YouTube. Faculty at
short video pieces as final projects. To see the
Elon University use digital storytelling approaches to
students’ work and read about how the course
reinforce research topics; student teams collaborate
progressed over the course of the term, visit the
to develop and produce a digital story that extends
course blog at cgar.umwblogs.org/.
the traditional research paper. The technique is used
in a variety of disciplines at Elon, including computing
examples of Grassroots Video
sciences, philosophy, mathematics, Spanish, and
The following links provide further examples of video
French.
applications being developed at the grassroots level.
The popularity of video is providing new outlets for
MerLoT eLiXr
creativity and enabling literal y mil ions of individual voices
elixr.merlot.org
to be heard. In education, politics, and other arenas,
The MERLOT ELIXR project uses digital case
people are using video rhetorically to persuade others
stories to encourage the adoption of exemplary
and articulate points of view. Amateur cinematographers
classroom practices in higher education.
and musicians use hosting sites to reach a broader
audience for their work and to build a network of fans.
MiT Tech TV
Increasingly, learning organizations, faculty, scholars,
techtv.mit.edu
and students are using these tools as well, and in the
MIT Tech TV makes it easy for the MIT community
coming year, it is very likely that such practice wil enter
to find and share video related to science,
the mainstream of use in these institutions.
technology, or the community.
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
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o N e Y e a r o r L e s s
Learning from YouTube: Ms135 at Pitzer College
i ustreaming Your ustream: Tha’s a Twitter of
www.youtube.com/mediapraxisme
an idea!
In a new media studies class at Pitzer College,
travelinedman.blogspot.com/2007/12/
students investigate what can be learned from
i-ustreaming-your-ustream-thas-twitter.html
YouTube. Throughout the process, the professor
(Curt Bonk, TravelinEdMan, December 17, 2007.)
writes frankly about the experience on her blog:
A professor describes the serendipitous connec-
wordpress.com/tag/learning-from-youtube/.
tions made during a talk he gave that happened
Custom YouTube Channels: university of
to be Ustreamed by a member of the audience.
California, berkeley; uMbCtube; university of
on YouTube, No enrollment Caps
New south wales
insidehighered.com/news/2007/10/04/youtube
www.youtube.com/ucberkeley;
(Andy Guess, Inside Higher Ed, October 4, 2007.)
www.youtube.com/umbc;
This article describes the University of California,
au.youtube.com/user/unsw
Berkeley’s course offerings on YouTube and
Courses from UC Berkeley are available on its
compares them to content available on iTunes U
own specially branded YouTube channel, an
and on Berkeley’s internal video portal.
approach also used by the University of New
Video Toolbox: 150+ online Video Tools
South Wales. UMBCtube, a custom YouTube
and resources
channel for the University of Maryland Baltimore
mashable.com/2007/06/27/video-toolbox/
County, allows the campus to blend community-
(Mashable Team, Mashable, June 27, 2007.) This
generated content with institutional video
is a comprehensive, annotated list of online
offerings. UMBCtube is designed to complement
video creation, editing, and sharing tools.
UMBC’s main course media portal on iTunes U.
Virginia Tech Launches first Major university
VideoaNT
YouTube Contest
ant.umn.edu
www.vtnews .vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2007
VideoANT is an online environment developed
&itemno=109
at the University of Minnesota that synchronizes
(Mark Owczarski, Virginia Tech News, February
web-based video with an author’s timeline-
28, 2007.) This news announcement describes
based text annotations. VideoANT is designed
a competition for YouTube videos about the
to engage learners by supporting interactions
Virginia Tech campus.
between students, instructors, and their video
content.
del.icio.us: Grassroots Video
del.icio.us/tag/hz08+video
for further reading
(Horizon Advisory Board and Friends, 2007.)
The following articles and resources are
Follow this link to find resources tagged for this
recommended for those who wish to learn more
topic and this edition of the Horizon Report,
about grassroots video.
including the ones listed here. To add to this list,
simply tag resources with “hz08” and “video”
when you save them to del.icio.us.
C o L L a b o r aT i o N w e b s
Time-to-adoption Horizon: one Year or Less
In today’s workplace, be it in education or industry, it is not unusual for a typical work week to include a virtual
meeting or conference. Tools to support collaborative online work are easy to find and uncomplicated to use.
Any networked computer can serve as a multi-function videoconference room, a gateway to a gathering in
a virtual world, or a joint workstation where several people can author the same documents together. Virtual
collaboration has been made increasingly seamless by a host of complimentary developments in networking
infrastructure, social networking tools, web applications, and collaborative workspaces.
overview
As the typical educator’s network of contacts has
the most common features that off-the-shelf packages
grown to include colleagues who might live and
provide, including word processing, spreadsheets,
work across the country, or indeed anywhere on the
presentation tools, and more, without the need to
globe, it has become common for people who are
buy or instal any software. Significantly, the ability to
not physically located near each other to collaborate
share documents and col aborate on content creation
on projects. In classrooms as well, joint projects with
is built into the core functionalities of these toolsets.
students at other campuses or in other countries
A wide variety of webware applications exist to
is more and more commonplace as a strategy to
manage the creation and workflow of rich media
expose learners to a variety of perspectives. Fueling
projects as well (see www.splashup.com for photos
these sorts of contacts, of course, is the Internet, the
and www.jumpcut.com for videos, to name just two
very existence of which has done much to dissipate
examples); capture a sketch with audio narration
the constraints once imposed by distance.
(www.sketchcast.com); or publish presentations and
Indeed, web-based tools and collaborative work-
slideshows (www.slideshare.net; www.slide.com).
spaces that support a range of activities from
The second area of development has been in online
productivity-type tasks to fully fledged virtual
collaborative workspaces that serve as a hub where
conferences have been available for some time,
a group of people can easily work, share resources,
but these platforms have often been expensive.
capture ideas, and even socialize. In contrast to
Developments in two key areas, however, have
productivity applications, which enable users to
resulted in tools that are now quite inexpensive
perform a specific task or create a particular product,
and often free. These tools require no special
collaborative workspaces are “places” where groups
installation or setup, are designed to be used within
of people gather resources or information related to
a web browser, produce materials that can be easily
their personal or professional lives. The most popular
shared, and offer a convenience and flexibility that
of these tools are highly flexible and can be adapted
can make virtual collaborations both simple and
to almost any project. At the same time, these spaces
highly productive.
conveniently lend themselves to almost seamless
The first area of development has been an explosion
integration of content from other online resources,
of straightforward tools that al ow people to break
often quite transparently. Examples include do-
work into smal easy-to-accomplish pieces that a
it-yourself social networks like Ning (www.ning.
team of people can work on together or in parallel.
com); sharable personalized start pages that are
Examples are tasks like writing a document, building
“pagecast”—shared, in other words—from services
a budget, assembling a presentation, or creating a
like Netvibes (www.netvibes.com) or Pageflakes
digital story. Webware suites like Zoho Office (www.
(www.pageflakes.com); and social networks like
zoho.com) and Google Docs (docs.google.com) offer
Facebook (www.facebook.com).
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
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o N e Y e a r o r L e s s
Taken together, these tools are fostering collaboration
for one another. All the information the group needs
webs that span almost every discipline. It is
can be accessed and contributed to by any of them
increasingly common to see custom workplaces for
in a virtual space accessible from any computer.
projects and collaborations. They are easy to create,
The same tools can be used to set up a personal
and they allow people to jointly collaborate on
portfolio where a student can display his or her work
complex projects using low-cost, simple tools.
in any form—photos, blog posts, shared videos, and
relevance for Teaching, Learning,
more can be pul ed to the page by widgets that grab the
and Creative expression
student’s contributions on other sites. Complementary
The essential at ribute of the technologies in this set
webware tools make it possible for students to easily
is that they make it easy for people to share interests
incorporate multimedia into their work. Videos, audio
and ideas, work on joint projects, and easily monitor
clips, and images can al be edited online using free
col ective progress. Al of these are needs common to
tools like those mentioned above, then easily published
student work, research, col aborative teaching, writing
and shared using any of a number of online services.
and authoring, development of grant proposals, and
As new work is blogged, podcast, or posted, a portfolio
more. Using them, groups can col aborate on projects
page created with these tools will automatically
online, anywhere there is Internet access; interim results
update with the most current content. Using similar
of research can be shared among a team, supporting
approaches, online conferences and symposia can
il ustrations and tables created, and al changes and
offer session archives that persist over time; simply
iterations tracked, documented, and archived. In class
request that participants use a particular tag when they
situations, faculty can evaluate student work as it
post related content, and the widgets wil continue to
progresses, leaving detailed comments right in the
update the conference page as new content appears.
documents if desired in almost real time. Students can
work with other students in distant locations, or with
A sampling of applications of collaboration webs
faculty as they engage in fieldwork.
across disciplines includes the following:
The bar for widespread participation is very low,
■ art. Two art appreciation courses at Arkansas
since the software to support virtual collaboration is
State University pull in current events, student
low cost or free, and available via a web browser.
work, topical blog posts by art scholars and
Students can access the same materials from any
researchers, and more. Instead of the campus
computer, whether it is theirs or one in a computer
LMS, the courses use Facebook as their primary
lab. Support needs are greatly reduced as nothing
interaction and information tool.
needs to be installed or upgraded.
■ business. A course in Digital Entrepreneurship
A virtual collaborative workspace for a course or
at Rochester Institute of Technology created a
study group can be assembled quickly using tools,
Ning network on the topic, bringing undergrads
or widgets, that can pull information from a variety
enrolled in the course into contact with over a
of sources, including Flickr, Twitter, MySpace or
hundred graduate students, venture capitalists,
Facebook, news and weather feeds, Del.icio.us,
faculty, practitioners, and business owners
blog feeds and more. For example, a custom course
around the world.
workspace could include a calendar widget populated
with data from the school’s online calendaring
■ educational Technology. An educational tech-
system, an RSS feed that displays students’ and
nology course at George Mason University uses
professors’ recent blog posts or Twitter updates,
Pageflakes as the hub of a learning community.
a course-created tag cloud on Del.icio.us, a Flickr
Content is dynamical y assembled from a variety
badge featuring related photos, and a whiteboard
of timely sources, integrating it with student work
widget where course members can leave messages
from Flickr and other sources, all via RSS.
■ Multi-disciplinary studies. The Flat Classroom
National forum on Canadian History
Project (flatclassroomproject.ning.com) uses a
www.pageflakes.com/cnhs/14568889
Ning workspace to create a sense of space
The National Forum on Canadian History is a
that is shared by students located in the U.S.
one-day event with its own pagecast, including
and in Qatar. Students use the site to share
documents, photos and videos.
information about each other, collect resources
skoolaborate
and information, showcase multimedia clips and
www.skoolaborate.com
other class projects, provide access to course
Skoolaborate is a global project that uses a mix
materials, and participate in forums used to
of technologies (blogs, LMS, wikis and virtual
support group discussions and interactions.
worlds) for collaborative learning.
examples of Collaboration webs
for further reading
The following links provide examples of collaboration
The following articles and resources are
webs and the tools that support them.
recommended for those who wish to learn more
about collaboration webs.
digital entrepreneurship Community
educational uses of Google docs & spreadsheets
digent.rit.edu
www.tltgroup.org/FridayLive/20070309Google
This community, created by business faculty at the
DocsEdUsesResources.htm
Rochester Institute of Technology, is comprised of
(Steve Gilbert, Cynthia Russell, TLT-SWG, March
students, faculty, professionals, venture capitalists,
8, 2007.) This resource page by The Teaching,
and other interested parties from around the
Learning and Technology Group features
world. To visit the community page, use the login
materials about the educational use of Google
“digentguest@gmail.com” and the password
Docs & Spreadsheets.
“ritdigent” (or your own Ning identity).
MPK20: sun’s Virtual workplace
diVa
research.sun.com/projects/mc/mpk20.html
diva.sfsu.edu
(Sun Microsystems Website, retrieved November,
San Francisco State University’s Digital Information
2007.) This page describes Sun’s virtual
Virtual Archive (DIVA) blends repository services,
workplace (MPK20), how it came about, and
content development tools, personal file
how it is used within the company.
management and sharing capabilities, and private
Nine ways to build Your own social Network
workspaces to allow faculty to collaborate on course
www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/24/9-ways-to-
materials and leverage one another’s work.
build-your-own-social-network
Google apps at arizona state university
(Mark Hendrickson, TechCrunch, July 24, 2007.)
www.asu.edu/emailsignup/
This blog post describes nine tools that can be
used to build collaborative workspaces.
Arizona State University offers Google
applications, including mail, calendaring, and
Pageflakes, Netvibes Take on social Networks:
chat to its 65,000 students.
what Chance do They Have?
www.readwriteweb.com/archives/pageflakes_
Melbourne 2051 at Victoria university
netvibes_take_on_social_networks.php
www.melbourne2051.com
(Richard MacManus, Read/Write Web, July 22,
Victoria University’s Melbourne 2051 project
2007.) This blog post discusses the emergence
combines traditional writing with digital
of services like Pageflakes and Netvibes and
storytelling in the form of a virtual world setting
compares them to large social networking sites
built by students.
like Facebook.
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
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o N e Y e a r o r L e s s
using Pageflakes as a student Portal
weblogg-ed.com/2006/using-pageflakes-as-
student-portal/
(Will Richardson, weblogg-ed, November 21,
2007.) This blog post describes how to set up a
Pageflakes portal for educational purposes.
what’s driving adoption of rich internet
applications?
blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=634
(Ryan Stewart, The Universal Desktop, November
19, 2007.) This blog post examines possible
reasons why webware apps are growing in
popularity and use.
del.icio.us: Collaboration webs
del.icio.us/tag/hz08+virtualcollab
(Horizon Advisory Board and Friends, 2007.)
Follow this link to find additional resources tagged
for this topic and this edition of the Horizon Report.
To add to this list, simply tag resources with
“hz08” and “virtualcollab” when you save them to
del.icio.us.
T w o T o T H r e e Y e a r s
M o b i L e b r oa d b a N d
Time-to-adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years
Mobile devices have come a long way in the past few years. From portable (if bulky) telephones they became
slim little cameras, audio recorders, digital video recorders, pocket datebooks, photo albums, and music
players. Now they are video players, web browsers, document editors, news readers, and more. The technology
and infrastructure have developed to the point where mobile devices are becoming essential tools, bringing
the whole of the Internet and all your social connections to the palm of your hand.
overview
We have followed mobile devices with interest for
Even the days of having to buy a new phone to take
the past several years. In 2006, the Horizon Report
advantage of the latest features are coming to an
described how multimedia capture had come to
end. As more features are embedded in the software,
mobile phones, bringing the capability to record and
the physical device will become more flexible simply
play video, audio, and still imagery to small, portable
by receiving the latest software updates. Open APIs
devices that people carry routinely. A year later,
(application programming interfaces) are already
mobiles were established as the storehouse of our
encouraging the creation of special add-on software that
digital lives, holding our calendars, to-do lists, photo
wil of er even more services; those “widgets,” combined
with the growing array of webware applications will
and music collections, contact databases, and more.
make mobiles as capable as computers for doing
Driven by the innovation only possible in a market
many everyday tasks. Smaller and less expensive
where more than a billion devices are built each
than a laptop, yet increasingly useful, the mobile is fast
year,3 the feature sets of mobile phones continue to
becoming the ultimate portable computer.
expand enormously.
Today, mobiles are increasingly about networking
relevance for Teaching, Learning,
on the go. Better displays and new interfaces make
and Creative expression
it easier to interact with an ever-expanding variety
The fact that many students already own and carry
of content—not just content formatted specially for
mobiles remains a key factor in their potential for
mobiles, but nearly any content available on the
education. Added to that is the tremendous pace of
Internet. Mobiles now keep us in touch in almost
innovation in this sector, where intense competition
all the ways that laptops used to: with email, web
is driving continual advancements. The feature sets
of the most recent high-end phones have moved
browsing, photos and videos, documents, searching
these devices into an entirely new class. Just as we
and shopping—all available anywhere without the
have seen with cell phone cameras, as innovation
need to find a hotspot or a power outlet.
continues, prices for established features will drop
Newer, longer-lasting batteries keep our mobiles
considerably. Over the time frame of this adoption
alive for longer trips between charges. Today’s
horizon, it is expected that mobile broadband, full-
mobiles are smaller, slimmer, and more powerful
featured Internet, touch-screen interfaces, remotely
than ever before. Storage capacity has significantly
upgradeable software, and high-quality displays will
increased, and some mobiles can even store and
become as common as cameras are today.
play back multiple feature-length films—perfect for
Mobiles, of course, were always designed to
long airplane rides.
enable people to keep in touch, and in addition to
voice, today’s mobiles offer a multitude of ways to
3 Jaques, Robert. (2007). One Billion Mobile Phones Shipped in
connect with peers and colleagues. Users now use
2006. Computing, January 26, 2007. Retrieved December 2007, from
www.computing.co.uk/2173516.
their phones to post to their blogs, send updates to
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
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T w o T o T H r e e Y e a r s
services like Twitter and Utterz, add appointments
related disciplines. Interviews, sites, and artifacts
to online calendars, find friends in their immediate
can easily be captured in short video or audio
area, signal the campus police to keep an eye on
segments; similarly, photographs can record
their whereabouts as they move across campus, and
events or evidentiary information. Broadband-
more. Students doing fieldwork are using mobiles to
enabled phones allow rich media to be shared
take notes and photographs and send them directly
in close to real time. With field access to the
to a course blog, where they receive instructor
Internet, field workers can enter data directly into
feedback; colleagues using virtual collaboration tools
databases as it is collected, or access experts
have access to materials while traveling or otherwise
and knowledge banks as needed.
away from their computers. The combination of social
networking and mobility lets students and colleagues
examples of Mobile broadband
collaborate from anywhere they happen to be. Add
The following links provide examples of mobile
to that connectivity the multimedia capacities of
broadband applications.
phones, and the storage they offer for podcasts,
Montclair state university
videos, photos, PDF files and even documents and
w w w. m o n t c l a i r. e d u / Pu b l i c a t i o n s / N e w s /
spreadsheets, and it is not hard to see why phones
NewsRelease0807technology.html
are increasingly the portable tool of choice.
Initially, Montclair State University started
A sampling of learning-related mobile broadband
requiring students to own mobile phones as
applications includes the following:
a campus security measure. Now, mobile
technology has become an integral component
■ engineering. Broadband-enabled cell phones
of project-based learning activities in several
can be used to remotely monitor structures,
disciplines that involve blogging, polling, and
equipment, and processes in real time, and
video podcasts. Course groups are created
via web control interfaces can even be used as
that allow students to discuss study-related
remote control platforms.
questions; the Office of Information Technology
■ Museum education. Mobile phones are
reports that since many of MSU’s students
being used in museums as a delivery platform
commute, mobiles are very effective tools for
for supplemental content, with podcasts,
creating a feeling of connectedness with the
multimedia, and video learning being delivered
university.
directly into the gallery. The promise of handhelds
Pocket Virtual worlds
as an alternative to wands and audio tours is
www.pocketvirtualworlds.com
being fulfilled by phones that have geolocation
Faculty and students at Bowling Green State
capabilities.
University and Case Western Reserve University
have developed a program that creates a 3D
■ service Learning. A planning, public policy
and management course at the University of
virtual space which they can explore via a
screen on their mobile phone; the representation
Oregon uses GIS-enabled mobile devices to
of the virtual surroundings changes as the user
collaborate on projects with the community
moves. The goal is to enable classroom-bound
in Eugene, Oregon. Students work with
students to take “virtual field trips” of locations
community members to develop resources such
like the Amazon rainforest, with classroom
as safe walking route maps, reports of local area
projects and discussion launched from what they
conditions, and sidewalk walkability surveys.
“see” around them. Since the program can use
■ social sciences. Students and researchers
digitally-created images as well as photographs,
can use their mobile phones as data collection
students could also theoretically explore outer
devices for fieldwork in the social sciences and
space or locations in history.
wiki City rome
invention of the Year: The iPhone
senseable.mit.edu/wikicity/rome/
w w w . t i m e . c o m / t i m e / s p e c i a l s / 2 0 0 7 /
MIT’s Wiki City Rome project maps events and
article/0,28804,1677329_1678542_1677891,00.
movement through the city in a 24-hour festival
html
period using cell phone and other data. The
(Lev Grossman, TIME, 2007.) This article cites
Notte Bianca implementation allows people
five reasons why the iPhone is “still the invention
to access the real time data on dynamics that
of the year” for 2007.
occur in the very place they find themselves in,
Mobile Productivity Toolbox: 45+ Mobile
in that moment, creating the intriguing situation
Productivity Tools
that the map is drawn on the basis of dynamic
mashable.com/2007/08/21/mobile-productivity-
elements of which the map itself is an active
toolbox/
part.
(Johsua Ho, Mashable, August 21, 2007.) This is
ZoneTag
an annotated list of mobile tools for phones and
zonetag.research.yahoo.com
WAP enabled web sites, grouped by what the
ZoneTag is an application for mobile phones
tool is designed to do.
that enables photos taken on the phone to be
so Much More than Phone Calls
instantly tagged with location information and
betch.edublogs.org/2007/10/10/so-much-more-
uploaded to Flickr, right from the phone.
than-phone-calls/
for further reading
(Chris Betcha, Betchablog, October 10, 2007.)
An Australian educator shares the tools he uses
The following articles and resources are
on a broadband-enabled cell phone.
recommended for those who wish to learn more
about mobile broadband.
del.icio.us: Mobile broadband
del.icio.us/tag/hz08+mobile
iPhone vs Mobile web
(Horizon Advisory Board and Friends, 2007.)
www.readwriteweb.com/archives/iphone_vs_
Follow this link to find resources tagged for this
mobile_web.php
topic and this edition of the Horizon Report,
(Richard MacManus, Read/Write Web, August 7,
including the ones listed here. To add to this list,
2007.) This blog post summarizes and comments
simply tag resources with “hz08” and “mobile”
on a Forrester report comparing the iPhone,
when you save them to del.icio.us.
which can browse normal web content, and
content designed specially for mobiles.
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
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T w o T o T H r e e Y e a r s
daTa M a s H u P s
Time-to-adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years
Overlay the location of every Flickr photo tagged with “bluejay” on a map of the United States and see where
people are finding blue jays (www.flickr.com/map). See Twitter updates from your geographical area (www.
twittermap.com) or follow the global progress of the public stream (www.twittervision.com). Each of these
applications is a mashup: a combination of data from multiple sources in a single tool. Mashups have been
around for several years, but in recent months they have captured greater interest, due in part to a broader
exposure from their integration with social networking systems like Facebook. While most current examples
are focused on the integration of maps with a variety of data, it is not difficult to picture broad educational and
scholarly applications for mashups.
overview
A mashup is a web application that combines data
Yahoo! Pipes (pipes.yahoo.com) is another mashup
from more than one source via a single, unified tool.4
authoring tool. Pipes allows users to combine, filter,
Mashups are often about data visualization, but they
and display RSS content from al over the web. Finished
can also be creative products of other kinds—indeed,
“pipes” can then be published, shared, and embedded
the term “mashup” originates from the music industry—
in other web pages. A pipe could pul updates from
such as assorted film and music clips assembled into
a handful of educational blogs, for instance, filtering
parodies of well-known productions, for instance.
the posts so that only those about technology, say, or
physics, are received. Developers can also create and
Data mashups are powerful tools for navigating and
add additional modules to expand the functionality
visualizing datasets; understanding connections
of the authoring tool. A special y format ed version
between dif erent dimensions such as time, distance,
is available for the iPhone (iphone.pipes.yahoo.com)
and location; juxtaposing data from different sources
that includes a “map” but on to plot the results of any
to reveal new relationships; and other purposes.
geographic pipe onto the iPhone’s Google map with
Tools like Google’s Mashup Editor (code.google.com/
a single tap.
gme/) make it relatively easy to create applications
Geotagging, the practice of adding geographical
that grab online data, organize it, and display it
metadata like latitude, longitude, altitude, and/or
the way the author wants. For example, the U.S.
placenames to images, websites, or other media, has
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created
already ushered in compel ing forms of data mashups
a Google Earth mashup that generates maps of the
that illustrate the potential of this practice for education.
U.S. displaying air quality based on the amount and
Mashups that make use of geotagged data let us plot
kind of pollutants emitted by businesses (www.epa.
information against the landscape of the real world to
gov/air/emissions/where.htm). This mashup requires
visualize phenomena and datasets in ways that make
viewers to download and install Google Earth, a free
spatial and temporal relationships transparent and
application; but most mashups are web-based and
obvious. More and more, geo-information is becoming
a characteristic embedded in everything around us,
require no download. One such mashup, created
and mashups are the tools that enable us to reach in
by László Kozma, combines data from Wikipedia
and put that information to use.
and Google Maps to identify the location of authors
posting updates to Wikipedia almost in real-time
relevance for Teaching, Learning,
(www.lkozma.net/wpv/).
and Creative expression
Mashups are very common on the Internet today,
4 Wikipedia, “mashup (web application hybrid),” retrieved December
2007.
and new authoring tools are being developed that will
enable non-technical users to create sophisticated
■ Criminal Justice. At the Rochester Institute of
products without programming. As tools like these
Technology, a criminal justice course integrates
become more robust, we wil see increasing use of
local criminal statistics, population data and
data mashups in teaching and learning. Faculty will
census data using GIS mapping software,
create custom mashups to il ustrate concepts as
graphing data and statistical analysis tools to
they teach; students wil include them in reports and
study and attempt to better understand the
assignments. Already new forms of visualizing data
problem of violence and homicide in the city of
and relationships are changing the way we think about
Rochester, New York.
the world.
■ education. A research project at the University
The power of mashups for education lies in the way
of Oregon has created a tool that al ows users to
they help us reach new conclusions or discern new
col ect data about objects in the virtual world of
relationships by uniting large amounts of data in a
Second Life and export it to a website. The tool is
manageable way. Web-based tools for manipulating
designed to be used to catalog educational objects
data are easy to use, usually free, and widely available.
that can be found in the virtual world (see blip.tv/
Research can be displayed on interactive graphs,
file/571587 for a video overview).
charts, or maps that make the concepts clear.
■ Library services. Libraries—including those
Mashups of geotagged data have obvious applications
at the University of Calgary, Baylor College,
for education; researchers can use public, tagged
McMaster University, and public systems in
media to create mashup maps with embedded
Topeka and Chicago, among others—have
annotations. These “hyperlocal” annotations—minute
begun integrating a MeeboMe mashup that lets
details about a specific location in the form of everyday
patrons send instant messages to a live librarian
photographs, blog entries, and video clips—of er
while using the library’s online services (catalog
opportunities for research that were previously only
search, reservations, etc).
available by actually living in the location in question.
■ Public Policy. At the University of Oregon, a
Digital photographs taken with GPS-enabled cameras
freshman seminar on investigating natural disasters
automatical y capture precise geographic/locative
and the response of governments, nonprofits and
information; when uploaded to services like Flickr, the
individuals to them uses the Havaria Information
photos “know” where they were taken, making them
Services Alerts Map mashup (see below) to
readily available for geo-based mashups.
monitor current natural events as they develop.
Creative mashups have educational applications as
wel , in teaching and learning as wel as in creative
examples of data Mashups
expression. Mashups made from pop culture
The following links provide examples of educational
sources can demonstrate mastery of subject mat er,
applications of data mashups.
understanding of cinematic and literary themes,
Havaria information services alert Map
social awareness, and more. At the University of
hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?lang=eng
Pennsylvania, a contest cal ed for students to produce
This interactive map displays data relating to
mashup video parodies of popular movies (see
severe weather conditions, epidemic alerts, and
the presentation at wic.library.upenn.edu/mashup/
seismic incidents around the world. Created
cni2007.html for details). Creative mashups and
by the National Association of Radio-Distress
remixes are themselves an art form—but they can
Signalling and Infocommunications (RSOE)
also be an effective presentation tool.
in Budapest, Hungary, the map draws from
A sampling of applications of data mashups across
over 200 news sources for the information it
disciplines includes the following:
displays.
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
21
T w o T o T H r e e Y e a r s
interactive Learning resources at Michigan state
for further reading
university
The following articles and resources are
clear.msu.edu/teaching/online/ria/
recommended for those who wish to learn more
Michigan State University offers a set of webware
about data mashups.
apps that allow faculty to mashup interactive
abs to open up data for online Mapping
language learning resources on the fly.
www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/ABS-to-
interactive Map Tool
o p e n - u p - d a t a - f o r - o n l i n e - m a p p i n g / 0 ,
www.cer.jhu.edu/index.cfm?pageID=351
130061733,339282984,00.htm
This web-based authoring tool, developed at
(Angus Kidman, ZDNet Australia, October 16,
Johns Hopkins University, supports digital field
2007.) The Australian Bureau of Statistics plans
assignments and allows students and instructors
to release its data for use in online mashups in
to create custom mashups using a wide variety
2008.
of digital media, text, and data.
The Mash-up future of the web
Minnesota interactive internet Mapping Project
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6375525.stm
maps.umn.edu/
(Bill Thompson, BBC News, February 19, 2007.)
The Minnesota Interactive Internet Mapping
This article discusses the effect mashups may
(MIIM) Project is developing an internet mapping
have on the Internet in coming years.
application that provides digital maps and
Mashing on the Library, Part i
imagery similar to Google Maps or MapQuest;
theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/12/04/
the project involves educators in designing the
mashing-on-the-library-part-i.html
tool to identify features necessary for instruction,
(Jenny Levine, The Shifted Librarian, December
including a broad range of data, interactivity,
4, 2007.) This blog post describes the MeeboMe
security, ease of use, customization, analytical
mashup being used by libraries to allow patrons
capabilities, low resource demands, and
to send instant messages to librarians while
sustainability.
searching the library’s catalog.
research at Pompeu fabra university
Mishmash of Mashups
www.girardin.org/fabien/tracing/
waynehodgins.typepad.com/ontarget/2007/07/
Researchers at the Pompeu Fabra University in
mishmash-of-mas.html
Barcelona are mining the spatial-temporal data
(Wayne Hodgins, Off Course—On Target, July
provided by geotagged Flickr photos of urban
25, 2007.) This blog post explains what mashups
locations.
are (and aren’t) and suggests why they are
useful for education.
del.icio.us: data Mashups
del.icio.us/tag/hz08+mashup
(Horizon Advisory Board and Friends, 2007.)
Follow this link to find resources tagged for this
topic and this edition of the Horizon Report,
including the ones listed here. To add to this list,
simply tag resources with “hz08” and “mashup”
when you save them to del.icio.us.
f o u r T o f i V e Y e a r s
CoLLeCTiVe iNTeLLiGeNCe
Time-to-adoption Horizon: four to five Years
Two new forms of information stores are being created in real time by thousands of people in the course of
their daily activities, some explicitly col aborating to create col ective knowledge stores like the Wikipedia and
Freebase, some contributing implicitly through the patterns of their choices and actions. The data in these new
information stores has come to be called “collective intelligence” and both forms have already proven to be
compel ing applications of the network. Explicit knowledge stores refine knowledge through the contributions
of thousands of authors; implicit stores allow the discovery of entirely new knowledge by capturing trillions of
key clicks and decisions as people use the network in the course of their everyday lives.
overview
Collective intelligence is a term for the knowledge
stores, and already businesses and governments
embedded within societies or large groups of
are using tools to mine these storehouses; there are
individuals. It can be explicit, in the form of knowledge
obvious applications to medicine, manufacturing, and
gathered and recorded by many people (for example,
economics, just to name a few disciplines.
the Wikipedia—www.wikipedia.org—is the result of
While the approaches that enable col ective intel igence
collective intelligence); but perhaps more interesting,
have their roots in the open source movement, there
and more powerful, is the tacit intelligence that results
are clear distinctions between the data stores that
from the data generated by the activities of many
constitute collective intelligence and other approaches
people over time. Discovering and harnessing the
to open information such as the Open Educational
intelligence in such data—revealed through analyses
Resources (OER) movement. Specifical y, col ective
of patterns, correlations, and flows—is enabling ever
intel igence is by definition highly distributed, both
more accurate predictions about people’s preferences
in its implicit and explicit forms. The data are not
and behaviors, and helping researchers and everyday
organized in the traditional sense, and indeed it is in
users understand and map relationships, and gauge
part the unstructured nature of collective intelligence
the relative significance of ideas and events.
which allows it to be created and mined in ways that
Examples of uses for this type of intelligence already
often lead to multiple levels of new insights.
exist in industry. Google’s PageRank system, which
assigns value to a web page based on the number of
relevance for Teaching, Learning,
other pages that link to it, uses patterns discovered in
and Creative expression
hundreds of millions of links to determine which web
Sources of explicit collective intelligence provide
pages are most likely to be relevant in a list of search
opportunities for research and self-study and give
results. Amazon.com examines patterns in hundreds
students a chance to practice the construction of
of buyer variables to recommend purchases that you
knowledge—they can contribute as well as consume.
might like based on your previous purchases, those
Social encyclopedias like the Wikipedia and others
of your friends, and other people who may have
like the Cellphedia (www.cellphedia.com), are self-
similar tastes or preferences.
correcting; they tend to be more up-to-date, especially
Col ective intel igence applications are an outgrowth
in areas such as emerging technology or pop culture,
of “open data,” the practice and philosophy that certain
than printed sources simply because thousands of
data should, or even must be freely available to
contributors are continuously and actively engaged
everyone (Wikipedia, “open data,” retrieved December
in adding, modifying, reviewing, and updating them.
2007). Col ective intel igence refers to knowledge
Implicit collective intelligence is already revealing a
that can be uncovered by combing these open data
great deal about everyday patterns of activity based
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
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f o u r T o f i V e Y e a r s
on programs that mine datasets of information
sends the data to a database, providing detailed
from huge numbers of human actions—purchases,
information about local air quality and conditions
hyperlink trails, search patterns—and the kinds
anywhere. One possible use of such technology
of activities that can be recorded while respecting
is to involve the community in capturing detailed
individual privacy are expansive and growing.
climate data related to CO emissions, smog,
2
Research projects in fields like business, economics,
ozone and other pol utants to use in earth system
and cultural studies already make use of data
science and environmental studies.
from popular search engines, media sharing sites,
■ dynamic systems. Currently, cell phones in
e-commerce sites, and even game play. Geo-based
major cities are transparently used to monitor
mashups of health, commercial, and other data
are easy to find, and as geotagging becomes more
traffic flow on major highways; by tracking the
common, geographical data will be embedded in
location of a mobile device as a caller moves
more and more of these data, making it possible to
from cell to cell, an accurate picture of how
plot almost anything on a map or track its movement
fast the traffic is moving can be projected and
over time.
displayed on a map. When viewed over time,
these data show how traffic flow is akin to other
In fields like astronomy and meteorology, collective
dynamic systems such as the movement of
intelligence has already led to new discoveries and
sound through air, or currents in the ocean.
broadened our understanding of the world. Amateur
scientists both contribute to and have access to
■ History. Created through a partnership among
data gathered by professionals; hundreds of millions
George Mason University, the University of New
of observations exist, and discoveries are quickly
Orleans, the National Museum of American
disseminated. Especially in these two fields, but also
History, and others, the Hurricane Digital Memory
in other fields that grow by sifting through mountains
Bank (hurricanearchive.org) is a community-
of observations, amateur scientists have come to be
created archive of stories, photographs, and
considered valuable collaborators, adding to the body
other digital media that preserves and presents
of understanding and contributing new discoveries to
personal experiences of Hurricanes Katrina and
the field.
Rita.
A sampling of applications for collective intelligence
■ Meteorology. Small personal weather stations
across disciplines includes the following:
instal ed in homes and schools augment those
in public safety facilities, television stations, and
■ archival science. Tagging is an accessible
form of collective intelligence that offers insight
official weather stations at airports and other
to language use and conceptual associations.
facilites to continuously monitor local weather and
The Steve Museum project is researching the
atmospheric data. These data are transmit ed
effect of community tagging on access to and
automatically at intervals to the National Weather
appreciation of museum collections (www.steve.
Service, where they are used to refine micro
museum).
forecasts, especially in severe weather situations.
Anyone can access the information to do
■ environmental
studies. Researchers at
research based on up-to-the-minute, real world
the University of California, San Diego have
data. Companies like WeatherBug provide easy
developed a prototype personal device, Squirrel,
access to this information and help connect the
that samples air pollutants and transmits the data
community around it.
to a cel phone. A program on the cel phone then
examples of Collective intelligence
for further reading
The following links provide examples of collective
The following articles and resources are
intelligence.
recommended for those who wish to learn more
freebase
about collective intelligence.
www.freebase.com
10 semantic apps to watch
Freebase is an open, shared online database;
www.readwriteweb.com/archives/10_semantic_
not only is the data in it entered by the
apps_to_watch.php
community, but the structure of the database
(Richard
MacManus,
Read/Write
Web,
itself (data types, categories, and so forth) is
November 29, 2007.) This blog post describes
also community-created.
ten “semantic apps,” or applications that take
Google image Labeler
advantage of the kinds of data provided by
images.google.com/imagelabeler/
collective intelligence, that are currently in
Google Image Labeler uses a game format to
development.
gather tags for images that are then used to
Panel on Collective intelligence
improve image search.
mitworld.mit.edu/video/494/
Google Zeitgeist
(Moderated by David Thorburn, MIT World,
www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist.html
October 7, 2007.) This panel discussion, featuring
Google Zeitgeist, a year-end report of sorts, uses
Thomas W. Malone, Alex Pentland, and Karim
implicit collective intelligence to graph search
R. Lakhani, discusses the question of whether
terms used throughout the year to demonstrate
a group of people working with smart machines
what topics mattered most to people.
can achieve a greater degree of intelligence
than humans or machines alone. Presented as
History Commons
a two-hour video.
www.cooperativeresearch.org
The History Commons is an open-content
Video, education, and open Content: Notes
civic journalism site. Contributors add articles
Toward a New research and action agenda
about events or entities, creating detailed
www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_4/kaufman/
timelines about them (e.g. the events leading
index.html
up to, during, and following Hurricane Katrina).
(Peter B. Kaufman, First Monday, March 16,
Content is submitted, reviewed, and copyedited
2007.) This paper discusses the intersection of
by volunteers.
moving images, education, and open content,
and suggests areas for research.
Human brain Cloud
www.humanbraincloud.com
del.icio.us: Collective intelligence
The Human Brain Cloud is a game that col ects
del.icio.us/tag/hz08+collectiveintelligence
word associations from thousands of “players”
(Horizon Advisory Board and Friends, 2007.)
and creates a visual map of common associa-
Fol ow this link to find resources tagged for this
tions for a given word.
topic and this edition of the Horizon Report,
including the ones listed here. To add to this
list, simply tag resources with “hz08” and
“collectiveintelligence” when you save them to
del.icio.us.
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
25
f o u r T o f i V e Y e a r s
s o C i a L o P e r aT i N G sYs T e M s
Time-to-adoption Horizon: four to five Years
Social networking systems have led us to a new understanding of how people connect. Relationships are the
currency of these systems, but we are only beginning to realize how valuable a currency they truly are. The
next generation of social networking systems—social operating systems—wil change the way we search
for, work with, and understand information by placing people at the center of the network. The first social
operating system tools, only just emerging now, understand who we know, how we know them, and how deep
our relationships actual y are. They can lead us to connections we would otherwise have missed. As they
develop further, these tools will transform the academy in significant ways we can only begin to imagine.
overview
Our concept of the purpose and nature of the
The issue, and what social operating systems will
network is evolving. We are seeing a shift in focus;
resolve, is that today’s tools do not recognize the
where the primary purpose of the web has been
“social graph”—the network of relationships a person
seen as sharing files and applications, there is a
has, independent of any given networking system
growing sense that the real value of the network lies
or address book; the people one actually knows, is
in the way it helps us create, identify, and sustain
related to, or works with. At the same time, credible
relationships. This seemingly subtle change—from
information about your social graph is embedded
an emphasis on file sharing to one on relationships—
all over the web: in the carbon-copy fields of your
will have a profound impact on the way we will work,
emails; in attendee lists from conferences you attend;
play, create, and interact online.
in tagged Flickr photos of you with people you know;
Early social networking systems already recognize
in your comments on their blog posts; and in jointly
the value of connections and relationships. As
authored papers and presentations published online.
opportunities for virtual collaboration increase and we
These data and other information you use every day,
rely more on trust-based networks, there is a growing
analyzed with a people-centric view, can be and are
need for context through which we can interpret and
being used to transparently connect the dots among
evaluate the depth of a person’s social connections.
files, contacts, and much more.
How do we evaluate the depth of a relationship?
Does it reflect years of working collaboratively in
Early applications like Xobni (www.xobni.com) and
a particular discipline, or is it equivalent to the
a proof-of-concept project from Yahoo known as
business card exchanged at a conference or an
Yahoo Life! demonstrate this shift in the organization
email introduction?
of information. Xobni is a tool that extends the email
program Microsoft Outlook; with Xobni installed, each
Current social networking systems like Facebook
and MySpace are attempts to help people define
time you select an email in your inbox, a pane shows
themselves in ways that provide some of that context,
you everything about that person that is implicit in
but the information available to us about friends of
your email system, including how often you email
friends is still superficial and often related more to
each other; what times of day you typically receive
personal interests than professional work. It is difficult
emails from that contact; any attachments you have
for any given system to present an accurate picture
sent to or received from that person; and previous
of our relationships: social networking systems are
email conversations you have had. Xobni places the
unaware of connections that we have not explicitly
person—the contact who sent you the email—at the
told them about, and there is often little distinction
center of all this data, and gathers information for you
between a deep connection and a shallow one.
that helps you manage your interactions.
The proof-of-concept project from Yahoo, still very
Students working on research papers often do
much in the conceptual stage, is also an effort to
not fully realize what it means to be a scholar. Of
illustrate the kinds of activities that will be possible
the network of activities that scholars are involved
with applications that bring together information
in—writing, researching, interacting with peers and
and services based on a contact. In a concept
colleagues, presenting at conferences and symposia,
demonstration, a Yahoo Life! user opened an email
and so on—only a small part is apparent to a student
sent to several colleagues meeting at a conference
doing research. Every idea, paper, experiment, and
with an invitation to dinner. Possible locations
artifact is, in reality, attached to a person or group of
were plotted on a map based on nearness to the
people who helped bring it about. Imagine the impact
convention center and previously stated preferences
of tools that place those people and relationships at
by the people involved, gleaned from earlier emails.
the center of any research inquiry: concepts clearly
These two examples illustrate how social operating
linked to people; connections between those people
system tools will access the user’s social network and
and others clearly indicated; a much more complete
provide services based on information embedded
picture of the topic would emerge, more quickly than
is possible with current tools. Simply changing the
there. While this category of applications is in its
organizing principle—from products or concepts to
infancy, the emergence of tools like these heralds the
people and their connections—will change the kinds
beginning of the next generation of social software.
of results that are revealed.
Flexible
application
programming
interfaces
Linking students to researchers and scientists will
(APIs) and an open, people-centered approach
deepen their understanding of how professional
to developing widgets and applications is fueling
research is done. Using the professional network
progress in this area; for instance, Google has created
as a point of departure for study will lead students
a set of APIs called OpenSocial (code.google.
to connections that are not otherwise apparent.
com/apis/opensocial/) that is designed to facilitate
Scholars collaborate on papers; students reading
development of independent social tools that can
about Doug Engelbart, for example, would see who
interoperate easily. Developers can use OpenSocial
he has worked with on different projects, giving them
to create web applications, using standard HTML
a clearer picture of the community of scientists to
and Javascript, that can tap into any system that
which he belongs, and the contributions of Engelbart
supports the OpenSocial API. Currently, over a
and his peers. Following those trails with social tools,
dozen social networking sites support OpenSocial,
students would discover other connections and
including Friendster, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, and
insights that might not have come to light before.
Plaxo, among others; widgets developed using
Social operating systems will also address the issue
OpenSocial can access connections and data in all
of trust in virtual collaborations. It is not difficult to
of those spaces.
envision applications that will help fill in the spaces
relevance for Teaching, Learning,
of our knowledge about a person we encounter in an
online collaborative space or virtual world, displaying
and Creative expression
at a glance the contacts we have in common
Placing people and relationships at the center of
(including how deep those connections actually are),
informational space will have a profound influence
recent writing or other work the person has done,
at all levels of academia. It will change the way we
and other online locations where the person is active.
relate to knowledge and information; the way we do
Because the tools that make up the social operating
research and evaluate credibility; the way educators
system will access information stored all over the
and students interact with each other; and the way
Internet, they will tap into the social graph, displaying
students learn to be professionals in their chosen
analyses, documents, email and IM conversations,
disciplines.
and much more, in real time. Credibility, too, will be
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
27
f o u r T o f i V e Y e a r s
easier to assess: if an unfamiliar writer is part of a
information about that person is displayed,
clear network of collaborators and cited authors—
including other fields of study the person is involved
and your tools will be able to tell you if he or she
in. The students discover that the group includes
is—chances are the writer is a credible source.
people with experience in biology, physics, and
Each of us produces a significant amount of “stuff”
nutrition, and their subsequent conversations
that contributes to our professional identity and that
about chemistry are enriched as they draw on
we want to carry around wherever we go. Social
one another’s understanding of those topics.
operating systems will enable us to maintain our own
■ Collaborative research. Colleagues working
work products and easily discover those belonging
on the same research project share files, both
to others. This idea is not a new one; the concept
by email and online using collaborative writing
of lifestreams, or electronic portfolios that are
tools. In both cases, whenever one of them
contributed to from our earliest youth through school,
touches a document, the names and profiles of
work, and on into late adulthood, has been around
everyone else who has worked on that document
for years. Social operating systems will allow us to
are displayed in a sidebar. The application also
easily access lifestream-like materials without having
suggests names from the scholar’s network
to explicitly search for them.
of other contacts who have not worked on the
The picture of someone’s digital identity is a rich
project, but whose background indicates that
mosaic that communicates who we are. Social
they might be useful contributors.
operating systems will tap that mosaic and encourage
relationships between people based on connections
■ Professional Portfolios. Information about
and common interests between them. Self-organizing
presentations, papers, and research is already
communities will develop around these interests as
embedded in the web; social tools will be able
the network reveals them. Instead of having to find
to find and assemble it, giving the creator
each online space where colleagues in your field
ful control over what to include and what to
collect resources and hold discussions, your tools
display in his or her professional profile. Review
will bring those discussions and colleagues to you.
committees looking for evidence of professional
When you know someone who knows someone who
accomplishment or interview candidates wishing
shares your interests, your tools will realize it and will
to demonstrate their experience would simply
direct you to each other. The next “third place”—the
search for the person to find the body of work;
space where people gather that is neither home nor
researchers seeking new col eagues would
work—will be spontaneous communities of interest
do the same to evaluate potential partners
created by social operating systems.
discovered in their community of interest.
While there are early examples of tools with some
of the capabilities described here, social operating
examples of social operating systems
systems are still very much in the conceptual stage.
The following links provide examples of applications
Nonetheless, it is possible to envision ways that social
for social operating systems.
operating systems might be applied in education.
Concept demo of Yahoo Life!
Scenarios describing potential applications of
blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=7503
social operating systems and related tools across
This blog post describes a presentation by Yahoo
disciplines include the following:
co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang in which he
■ Graduate studies. Graduate students meeting
demonstrates a project concept, currently known
for the first time in an online chemistry course
as Yahoo Life!, that includes characteristics of
click on the names of the students present in
social operating systems (also see the video at
the col aborative workspace. With each click,
news.zdnet.com/2422-13934_22-182567.html).
Hosted Lifebits
The social Network operating system
blog.jonudell.net/2007/05/22/hosted-lifebits/
radar.oreilly.com/archives/20 07/10/social_
(John Udell, May 22, 2007.) This blog post
network_operating_system.html
describes a scenario for a hosted space to hold
(Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly Radar, October 12, 2007.)
all the digital media and information a person
This blog post describes the benefits of the
might create, throughout his or her life and even
social graph.
beyond.
social operating system: Connecting domains
The social Catalog
and social Media
pvlddirectorsblog.typepad.com/kathy/2007/11/
www.circleid.com/posts/social_operating_
the-social-cata.html
system_domain_names/
(Katharine Gould, PVLD Director’s Blog,
(Isabel Wang, CircleID, August 2, 2007.) This
November 20, 2007.) This blog post describes
blog post speculates about possible forms of a
an idea for a “social catalog,” a system for
social operating system.
cataloging books that takes into account why
Thoughts on the social Graph
the book is sought as well as what it is about.
bradfitz.com/social-graph-problem/
Team orCa Project site
(Brad Fitzpatrick and David Recordon, August
www.hcii.cmu.edu/M-HCI/2007/PittDental/
17, 2007.) This article discusses the need for a
This team project by students in the Masters of
social graph that exists outside of systems like
Human Computer Interaction program at Carn-
Facebook, so that applications can take advan-
egie Mellon University is a prototype of a system
tage of the fact that you already know who your
that facilitates the kinds of connections social
contacts are.
operating systems will enable. The project’s goal
Xobni and the future of social Networking data
was to develop a system to make it easier for
www.charleshudson.net/?p=385
scientists to find collaborators.
(Charles Hudson, Charles Hudson’s Weblog,
for further reading
October 19, 2007.) This blog post describes
three phases of social networking, from simply
The following articles and resources are
making connections to adding context to those
recommended for those who wish to learn more
connections and finally to having the network
about social operating systems.
describe the strength of a connection.
Giant Global Graph
del.icio.us: social operating systems
dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/node/215
del.icio.us/tag/hz08+socialos
(Tim Berners-Lee, Dig (timbl’s blog), November
(Horizon Advisory Board and Friends, 2007.) Fol-
21, 2007.) This blog post discusses the social
low this link to find resources tagged for this topic
graph (or the giant global graph) in terms of its
and this edition of the Horizon Report, including
relationship to the Internet as a whole.
the ones listed here. To add to this list, simply tag
The rise of the social operating system
resources with “hz08” and “socialos” when you
novaspivack.typepad.com/nova_spivacks_
save them to del.icio.us.
weblog/2007/07/the-rise-of-the.html
(Nova Spivak, Minding the Planet, July 19, 2007.)
This blog post defines and suggests some key
characteristics of a social operating system.
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
29
M e T H o d o L o G Y
MeTHodoLoGY
The Horizon Report is produced each fall using a
should all be using broadly today to support
carefully constructed process that is informed by
or enhance teaching, learning, or creative
both primary and secondary research. As many as
expression?
a hundred technologies are examined for possible
2 What technologies that have a solid user base
inclusion in the report each year, as well as dozens of
in consumer, entertainment, or other industries
meaningful trends and challenges; an internationally
should learning-focused institutions be actively
renowned Advisory Board examines each topic in
looking for ways to apply?
progressively more detail, reducing the set until the
final listing of technologies, trends, and challenges is
3 What are the key emerging technologies you
selected. The entire process takes place online and
see developing to the point that learning-
is fully documented at horizon.nmc.org/wiki.
focused institutions should begin to take
notice during the next 3 to 5 years? What
The process of selection, a modified Delphi process
organizations or companies are the leaders in
now refined over several years of producing Horizon
these technologies?
Reports, begins each summer as the Advisory
Board is selected. About half of the thirty to forty
4 What do you see as the key challenges related
members are newly chosen each year, and the
to teaching, learning, or creative expression that
board as a whole is intended to represent a wide
learning-focused institutions will face during
range of backgrounds, nationalities, and interests.
the next 5 years?
To date, more than 175 internationally recognized
5 What trends do you expect to have a significant
practitioners and experts have participated. Once the
impact on the ways in which learning-focused
Advisory Board is constituted, their work begins with
institutions approach our core missions of
a systematic review of the literature—press clippings,
teaching, research, and service?
reports, essays, and other materials—that pertain
to emerging technology. Advisory Board members
One of the Advisory Board’s most important tasks
are provided with an extensive set of background
is to answer these five questions as systematically
materials when the project begins, and then are
and broadly as possible, so as to generate a large
asked to comment on them, identify those which
number of potential topics to consider. As the last step
seem especially worthwhile, and also add to the set.
in this process, past Horizon Reports are revisited
A carefully selected set of RSS feeds from a dozen
and the Advisory Board is asked to comment on
leading publications ensures that these resources
the current state of technologies, challenges, and
stay current as the project progresses, and they are
trends identified in previous years, and to look for
used to inform the thinking of the participants through
metatrends that may be evident only across the
the process.
results of multiple years.
Following the review of the literature, the Advisory
To create the 2008 Horizon Report, the 36
Board engages in the process of addressing the five
members of this year’s Advisory Board engaged in
research questions that are at the core of the Horizon
a comprehensive review and analysis of research,
Project. These questions are the same each year,
articles, papers, blogs, and interviews; discussed
and are designed to elicit a comprehensive listing of
existing applications; and brainstormed new ones. A
interesting technologies, challenges, and trends from
key criterion was the potential relevance of the topics
the Advisory Board:
to teaching, learning, and creative expression.
1 What would you list among the established
Once this foundational work was completed, the
technologies that learning-focused institutions
Advisory Board moved to a unique consensus-
building process based on an iterative Delphi-based
released for details) based on the input of hundreds
methodology. In the first step, the responses to the
of faculty and staff working in campus-based groups.
research questions were systematically ranked and
The Call details recommendations for research,
placed into adoption horizons by each Advisory
demonstration projects, policy formulation, tools, and
Board member in a multi-vote system that allowed
technology support systems related to each topic.
members to weight their selections. These rankings
These recommendations are a starting place for
were compiled into a collective set of responses.
continued dialog and reflection around the six topics in
From the more than 80 technologies originally
the Horizon Report, and are acknowledgements that
considered in 2008, the twelve that emerged at the
while these technologies offer considerable promise
top of the initial ranking process—four per adoption
and potential, much work remains to be done before
horizon—were further researched. Once this “short
many of them are really ready for mainstream use.
list” was identified, the potential applications of
The Call to Scholarship is also a call to action, and it
these important technologies were further explored
is our hope that it will generate a cascade of activities
by higher education practitioners who were either
across the academy. The NMC is deeply interested in
knowledgeable about them, or interested in thinking
such activities and hopes to see new demonstration
about how they might be used. A significant amount of
projects, papers, and presentations at conferences
time was spent researching applications or potential
around the ideas in each new edition of the Horizon
applications for each of the areas that would be of
Report. Simultaneous with the release of the 2008
interest to practitioners.
edition of the Horizon Report, the NMC will launch
Each of these twelve was written up in the format
the process to create its related Call to Scholarship,
of the Horizon Report. With the benefit of the full
which will be released in the fall of 2008.
picture of how the topic would look in the report, the
Another ongoing component of the project involves
“short list” was then ranked yet again, this time with
a special set of del.icio.us links that have been
a reverse ranking approach. The six technologies
established to help extend the findings of the project
and applications that emerged at the top of the
and allow new information to be shared within the
rankings—two per adoption horizon—are detailed in
community. These del.icio.us tags are listed under
the preceding sections, and those descriptions are
the “Further Reading” section of each of the six
the final results of this process.
topic areas, and readers are invited to view not
As in previous years, the Horizon Report is intended
only the resources that were listed in the report, but
to be the first step in building a research agenda rather
many others that were used in our research as well.
than the final result of one; the NMC membership
Readers are further encouraged to add their own
uses the Horizon Report each spring to generate
examples and readings to these dynamic lists by
an annual Call to Scholarship (see www.nmc.org/
tagging them for inclusion in each category.
news/nmc/2007-08-horizon-project-call-scholarship-
T H e H o r i Z o N r e P o r T – 2 0 0 8
31
a d V i s o r Y b o a r d
2008 HoriZoN ProJeCT adVisorY board
Lev Gonick, Chairperson
eva de Lera
Milton C. Neilsen
Vice President for Information
Senior Strategist, Office of Learning
AVP, Instructional Technologies
Technology Services
Technologies
Texas State University—San Marcos
Case Western Reserve University
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Nick Noakes
Larry Johnson, co-Pi
(Spain)
Director, Center for Enhanced Learning
Chief Executive Officer
scott Leslie
and Teaching
The New Media Consortium
Manager, Shareable Online Learning
Hong Kong University of Science and
diana G. oblinger, co-Pi
Resources
Technology
President
BCcampus (British Columbia)
sarah Porter
EDUCAUSE
alan Levine
Head of Development
bryan alexander
Vice President, NMC Community and
Joint Information Systems Committee
Director of Research
CTO
(JISC) (UK)
National Institute for Technology and
The New Media Consortium
donna russell
Liberal Education (NITLE)
Julie Lindsay
Assistant Professor
ian brown
Head of Information Technology/
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Associate Dean
E-Learning
Martha G. russell
University of Wollongong (Australia)
Qatar Academy (Qatar)
Associate Director, Media X
Malcolm brown
Julie K. Little
Stanford University
Director, Academic Computing
Interim Director, EDUCAUSE Learning
bill shewbridge
Dartmouth College
Initiative
Assistant Director, Instructional
EDUCAUSE
Gardner Campbell
Technology and New Media
Cyprien Lomas
Professor of English
University of Maryland, Baltimore
University of Mary Washington
ELI Scholar in Residence
County
Director, The Learning Centre
Vicki a. davis
rachel s. smith
Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Teacher/IT Director
Vice President, NMC Services
University of British Columbia
Westwood Schools (Camilla, GA)
The New Media Consortium
Phillip Long
Joan Getman
Peggy G. snyder
Associate Director, Office of
Sr. Strategist for Learning Technologies
Director, NA Education Sales
Educational Innovation and Technology
Office of the VP for Information
Adobe Systems Inc.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Technologies
John soat
Cliff Lynch
Cornell University
Executive Editor
Executive Director
don Henderson
InformationWeek
Coalition for Networked Information
Senior Manager, Creative Expression
susan b. spero, Ph.d.
Jamie Madden
Apple Education
Associate Professor, Museum Studies
Researcher, ITEE
John C. ittelson
John F. Kennedy University
The University of Queensland (Australia)
Professor, Director Instructional Design
Heather stewart
doug Mcdavid
and Technology Lab
Director, Academic Technology
California State University, Monterey Bay Executive Consultant
Services
IBM Business Consulting Services
Jean Paul Jacob
New York University
susan e. Metros
IBM Research, Emeritus
Matt woolsey
UC Berkeley, Visiting Scholar
Associate Vice Provost and Deputy
Staff Writer
CIO, Technology Enhanced Learning
shoji Kajita
Forbes.com
University of Southern California
Associate Professor, Information
Technology Center
Nagoya University, Japan
The New Media CoNsorTiuM
sparking innovative lear ning & creativit y
6101 West Courtyard Drive
Building One, Suite 100
Austin, TX 78730
t 512 445-4200 f 512 445-4205
www.nmc.org
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advancing lear ning through IT innovation
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ISBN 0-9765087-6-1
