Custom MapCustom Map

Messaging & Presence for LearnersThe evolution of “MSG”

Marc Eisenstadt, Chris Denham, & Alex LittleKnowledge Media Institute

The Open UniversityMarch 2007

Instant Messaging & Presence: Why?

• Fastest-growing application: >600M users!• [A] Messaging (chat): fast, easy, ephemeral• [B] Presence: the key enabler!

– Shows ‘who is online right now’– Like ‘personal radar alert’, no need to ‘trawl’ for info

A B

Relevance to Learning• This is “Social Software” (connecting a distributed community)• Fosters impromptu/informal interactions• Well-known “feel-good factor” (seeing “who’s around”)• Encourages peer-group problem-solving• Avoids “telephone tag” and “email tag” (& spam)

BuddySpace + Web2.0 = MSG

• BuddySpace = fancy IM + maps (great, but too difficult)• MSG much simpler (no download, no installation, no fancy options)• Automatic ‘contact list’ (from LDAP or group administrator)• Optional maps

Three “status” choices, that’s all!(Online, Away, Do not disturb)

Automatically-constructedcontact lists

Click-to-chat, that’s all!

Click-to-launch; no download(runs in a web browser window)

Click-to-chat

Custom Map LauncherCustom Map Launcher

Custom MapCustom Map

• Presence at a glance• All dots = 1-click-to-chat• Any image + XML file with

simple X,Y coordinates• Upload by ‘group administrator’

World Map launcherWorld Map launcher

Google MapsMSG “clusters”

Google MapsDynamic re-clustering

Google MapsAll map features

Google MapsClick-to-chat

Instant notificationInstant notification

Selective viewsSelective views

“Presence everywhere”:Postings annotated with live status,

facilitating “click-to-chat now”(any user can opt out of this)

“Desktop notification widget”:lights up when new messages appear

Both ELeGI-i and ELeGI-f!

MSG status persistently displayed in the IWTGA banner.

Both ELeGI-i and ELeGI-f!

MSG status persistently displayed in the IWTGA banner.

Clicking on green bullet will open MSG Client in a new window

Clicking on green bullet will open MSG Client in a new window

When any authorized user logs in to the IWTGA portal they will automatically be

logged in to MSG too.

When any authorized user logs in to the IWTGA portal they will automatically be

logged in to MSG too.

Click on green bullet will open MSG Client in a new window

Click on green bullet will open MSG Client in a new window

When any authorized user logon into IWTGA portal it will automatically logged

into MSG too.

When any authorized user logon into IWTGA portal it will automatically logged

into MSG too.

Chatting with Chris …Chatting with Chris …

Note the “!” status alert changeNote the “!” status alert change

MSG: So What?

• Dis-aggregation of innards into cleaner/re-usable components

• Service Oriented Architecture facilitates integration• Open source: fosters active developer community (e.g.

Moodle integration)• Fosters impromptu/informal interactions in context• Well-known “feel-good factor” (seeing “who’s around”)• Encourages peer-group problem-solving• Avoids “telephone tag” and “email tag” (& spam)• Spans both formal and informal branches of ELeGI

Acknowledgements

MSG client & server systems: Chris DenhamMoodle integration and MSG Presence Maps: Alex LittleBuddySpace.org (original concepts and implementation): Jiri Komzak, Martin DzborGraphics and site: Peter Devine, Harriett Cornish, Damian DadswellProject principal investigator: Marc Eisenstadt

MSG is partly supported by the European Community under the Information Society Technologies (IST) programme of the 6th Framework Programme for RTD - project ELeGI, contract IST-002205. This software and its documentation do not represent the opinion of the European Community, and the European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of the data and tools appearing herein. MSG Software is available at http://msg.open.ac.uk

We also gratefully acknowledge support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for enabling us to extend MSG to become part of the larger “Open Content Initiative” OpenLearn project at the Open University (http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn)

http://msg.open.ac.uk