With most computer software developed in societies with the ability to connect computers at low cost and high speed, even standard operating and office software is Internet enabled, with connections for purposes of upgrading, bug fixing, and help operating in the background. The revolution, much talked about previously, is now over. The world has changed fundamentally – and those who have access to a telephone and a computer find it hard to even conceive of a time before the Internet.
Nevertheless, there are still digital divides, between those who have this access and those who don’t – still the majority of the world’s population; and amongst the haves, between those for whom telephones and computers are cheap and easy to obtain and maintain and those for whom these are necessary but costly tools.
Educators developing web-based materials must remain as attuned to their audiences as those developing materials in any other medium. Unfortunately, the cost of entry and publishing to the web are low, materials can be rushed to publication and they can be amended on the fly. All these make the temptation to publish on the web without considering standard publishing and quality control questions quite high, see Printed Materials. This temptation should be resisted.
But in addition to these standard questions, those committed to web publishing should consider a number of other matters which arise as a result of qualitative change which the Web has brought.
While there are a few examples of web-based materials being projected to a group audience, this is primarily a use of the Web as a distributor of particular content – for example a video clip or document, or possibly a web-based live interview – but quality of reproduction still imposes some limits to this. However, the Web is largely a facility for simultaneous access by a number of individuals. Even where these individuals are engaged in a joint activity, the technology requires separate screens and keyboards, if not separate computers. Collaborative work on a single access point is possible, but not entirely successful or satisfying.
Multi-media
There are very few limits, other than those of the imagination and skill of the educator and his or her technical team, to the range of media which can be used to animate, highlight, illustrate, illuminate or merely decorate materials made available on the Web. Limitations should rather be imposed by consideration of educational objectives, audience and the constraints of the equipment and download speeds, and reliability at the user end. This can of course mean that those expecting ‘bells and whistles’ (a term used to describe websites with a high degree of features) may be disappointed by apparently bland or ‘low tech’ sites. Sometimes these people have provided the money or resources, have been commissioned to do the necessary programming, or are programme stakeholders rather than the intended audience. Educators should be prepared to defend their choices vigorously.
Differential user platforms
In addition to the concerns above, it is in any event true that those at the user end come to the web materials with different interfaces. Different browser software, different screen size and quality, and different download systems – slow modems, cable or satellite, data streaming devices, digital, analogue or fibre telephone lines or wireless - are all present-day possibilities. This affects just what a user sees, in what order they see the material being loaded onto their screens, and the extent to which colours and images display themselves. Managing these differences is normally left to programmers but educators should take some interest in the outcomes of their work, especially if they are trying to ensure standardization and general, as opposed to discriminatory, access to their materials. A number of sites have advisory notes regarding the most appropriate software, screen settings, and other conditions for viewing material, but these do not help those who cannot achieve these conditions.
Web to print
The majority of websites still operate as electronic and interactive books, whether providing content, how to’s and manuals, or brokering the content developed by others. It is increasingly likely that these materials are going to be printed for later use or for distribution. Therefore educators must consider and develop the appropriate tools to allow such printing without the materials losing their integrity. But in addition to merely considering the conditions under which materials are going to be printed, this facility provides an opportunity for the distribution of materials to educators and learners in remote areas or in widely separate sites. There are a number of possible advantages to this – whether those of reducing cost and impact, overcoming poor infrastructures, or overcoming security and censorship constraints. See Environmental Considerations of Voter Education.
On-line activities
However, the Web is not only a publisher. It provides significant opportunities for interactive behaviour between an educator and learners, either in real time or through consecutive activities. Real time interactions can include conversations between individuals, or within a group, or the delivery of a video or audio lecture together with questions from remote audiences. Consecutive activities might include moderated discussion forums where contributors e-mail contributions which are then displayed edited or unedited for all contributors; submitting assignments taken on-line after concluding readings posted by the educators; and so on (see below on e-mail). There are an increasing number of automated on-line tests and surveys being conducted in which the results are then relayed to the appropriate person after being collated. The efficacy of these distance learning techniques – expanded in scope, speeded up and facilitated by the Web – must be judged in the same way as all distance education processes. Do they result in change in knowledge, behaviour or attitudes? Are they cost effective? Are they of the necessary educational quality and standardization? What are the drop-out rates?
Synergy
Apart from convergence, in which the same material is ‘streamed’ or broadcast through a variety of media or ‘receivers’, the Web provides for some fundamental connections between different media. While it is perfectly possible for people to use e-mail independently of a web browser, there are an increasing number of subscriber lists distributing bulletins and newsletters by e-mail which alert people to material on a website. Best practice seems to be to keep these e-mails short and to provide links so that users make the decision about what and when to read. Websites are also using e-mail forms to solicit responses to their material.
Wikis
"Wiki wiki" is an Hawaiian term meaning ‘quick’ or ‘informal’. It was adapted to name and describe the development of collaborative software which enables a group of users to contribute to and amend content. The first use of this software was in the creation of “Wikipedia” but a variety of open source versions has meant that it is now possible at limited cost to develop a wiki site and allow an interest group to establish a web community where they can interact with one another or develop materials. It was previously not possible to do this, and there are alternative ways of doing this. Increasingly, the tools for such collaborative communities and for web publishing are becoming easier to use and more freely available.
User tracking and statistics
Software exists to enable some automated tracking of visitors to a website. Unfortunately these automated systems are not able to discriminate as well as needed, so invariably large numbers of users are recorded as being from Virginia in the USA, or from commercial sites only because of the dominance of certain internet service providers who enable individuals to access the Web. However for evaluation purposes as well as to ensure that delivery of the educational materials is to the right audiences, finer tracking may be required. Sites are increasingly encouraging registration to enable them to recognize their visitors in the same way that an institution may require a sign in at reception or a store or hotel may want to recognize frequent visitors. Such registration systems can sometimes have a chilling effect on visitors who do not expect to have to disclose their identity or remember passwords and user names. As a result of this, some sites are segmenting content as an incentive for registration, or preserving certain parts of the site for those with whom they have established a relationship, whether commercial or programmatic. Public service sites providing educational materials will probably adopt a universal access approach and trade off the quality of their statistical and tracking data, but there have been some attempts by nongovernmental organisations to make their sites self-sustaining through advertising. These are going to be ongoing dilemmas especially for poorer institutions and countries.
File sharing
Software exists for facilitating file sharing and downloading. File transfer protocols are now seldom used by casual computer users who rely on streaming and high speed connections to preserve the integrity of their files: but they were and remain a staple of the Internet. The developments of free copying and distribution mechanisms by programmers have been of particular concern to commercial producers of moving images and music., There may well be times when the ability to file share is useful to educators seeking fast and cheap distribution of materials, see Digital and Recorded Materials.
