SOCIAL SOFTWARE:
An Educational Tool for College Students
Esperanza, Jeffrey Ian Go, Jeatte Christel
jeffreyesperanza@gmail.com jeattechristel.go@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
In today’s IT-enabled society, there is no doubt that social
software, such as wikis, and blogs have created a major role
in the field of education, as it has created a new environment
for college students to leverage their learning outside the
traditional classroom. Benefits of such software include
knowledge sharing, and timely access to research
information. Inevitably, issues have also arisen, mostly on
the credibility, authorship, and interactivity of social
software. With regards to these, it is recommended that
schools must first analyze their situation before pushing
through social software.
INTRODUCTION
Indeed, social software has provided a new paradigm in the
field of education. From various surveys and studies, it was
indicated that more than 50% of American teenagers
communicate with their peers regarding schoolwork through
the use of instant messengers, blogs, social networking sites,
or text messaging. In addition, studies claim that social
networking sites will be key assets in future job interviews
as it is capable of providing information, as well as
connections to its members. The Philippines are no different
from these findings, as almost any Filipinos who are
knowledgeable in using computers, have a Friendster
account, as well as a Yahoo Messenger account. Therefore,
it cannot be denied that social software has a future in the
field of education. However, despite the possible benefits of
social software, this research was also able to identify
possible problems in different aspects, which will be
discussed in the latter part of this paper.
In order to further understand the topic on hand, it is
best to first establish a definition of what social software is,
as well as the nature of such software. In relation to this,
Clay Shirky defines social software as any software that
promotes group interaction [2]. Another definition given by
Boyd states that social software must be capable of
providing interaction, feedback and expressions for its
members and at the same time greatly benefit its community;
in this case, the students who are using this tool [4]. It is
basically not just applications but is the combination of
various social applications and tools governed by common
Sioco, Louie Albert So, Renrick Gerald
louiesioco1@yahoo.com renrick_so@yahoo.com
protocols and principles that enable people to collaborate,
share, and become more productive in cyberspace [7]. Such
traits are very beneficial to college students because it
promotes teamwork through collaboration, as well as
increased knowledge because they are able to hear out the
comments of peers.
SOCIAL SOFTWARE IN THE ACADEME
In an educational setting, there are several technologies that
experts can implement, all of which are under the platform
of the Web 2.0 standard, which signifies the use of online
collaboration tools, such as blogs, wikis and other related
sites to stimulate dynamic user interaction and concept
sharing among its users. In today’s environment, education
can now be at anywhere, it’s not like the old concept where
people were used to learning only within the four walls of
the classroom. Now, with the advent of both the internet and
the dynamic pacing of information, social software can be
used to encourage student participation, in such a way that
they are free to express themselves without being seen
physically [9].
One particular group of social software that is gaining
popularity in its academic use are the collaborative and
dynamic knowledge and learning platform of the wikis and
blogs, and combining this with the management capabilities
of RSS and Social Bookmarking, the web can now be used
as a powerful tool for both outside-classroom sessions as
well as for distance learning programs. In combining these
technologies for the use of students, not only higher
education based students, but also for all students in all
education levels, the use of blogs and wikis would allow
students to have a broader scope and perspective in terms of
group sharing and dynamics, by allowing them to have a
“free expression” through the use of blogs for social
interaction and discussion activities, and for the wikis, to
allow students to be flexible in their research agendas by
allowing them to edit and contribute to a particular set of
terminologies based from their learning inputs. As for both
social bookmarking and RSS feeds, a good advantage of
these two technologies is that students can now share their
own research weblinks over the internet, and allow other
members of the community to look into these data, see what
people have read through, and give feedbacks based from
inputs, and for the RSS feeds, this will allow students to be
abreast with the latest development in their research
interests, by way of the RSS feeds, they will be constantly
updated on the latest updates from RSS-supported websites,
which can be very useful especially for real-time updated
research links and sites [10].
A good example of the application and combination of
wikis, blogs, social tagging and RSS feeding is the “Elgg”,
which basically provides a blog, file storage, profiling and
RSS feeds. Based from the founder’s transcript, elgg allows
one user to have his / her own working space over the
internet, and control its publicity, meaning he / she can set
privacy levels to ensure that only those who are affiliated
with his team can view his research data. The software that
is used by elgg is open-source in nature, meaning other
programmers and developers can also contribute to the
development of the program, and it is available both in a
free version and a premium version for both individual and
large users [13]. A sample screenshot is shown below.
An eLGG Log-in Screen
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/elgg.php
Another example of a social software used for
educational purposes is Diigo. Diigo is an abbreviation for
“Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff.” It
is a social software with “two services in one -- it is a
research and collaborative research tool on the one hand,
and a knowledge-sharing community and social content site
on the other.” It is where registered members can use as a
personal research tool which can help improve a student’s
research productivity; it also has an application which allows
registered members to highlight portions of web pages that
are of particular interest to the users. It is also capable of
allowing the users to attach sticky notes to specific parts of
the web pages which can be helpful in research or studies.
Diigo is an effective research tool in the sense that it is
persistent wherein whenever the user returns to the original
web page, the highlights and sticky notes are still imposed
on the original page. All the information such as the
highlighted paragraphs, sticky notes, and url of the websites
are saved on Diigo servers. Thus, allowing the users to
create their personal digest of the web which can be shared
not only from any PCs but even iPhones. Diigo has also
established a reliable repository of any subject one has in
mind which allows the users to easily find the articles they
need in lesser time. Finally, Diigo also allow users to
connect with other people who share similar interests [3].
ISSUES
This will be a discussion of the issues related to the
emergence of social software in the field of education.
1.1. CREDIBILITY
The internet is now regarded as one of the primary data
sources for research, with one study (2007), citing that at
least 75% of the population (respondents tested) now use the
internet as their primary source for information research.
With the rise of social software, there have been a lot of
issues that emerged with regards to the sharing of ideas and
identities online. Since these software allow for easy
publishing and viewing of data, there has been a bigger
possibility of hoax and cyberbullying. Hoax is an attempt to
making an audience or a group of people believe that
something is real when in fact, it is not. With people now
being more dependent on electronic sources of information,
the question now comes to us, “How do we know which is
“fact” and what is “fiction””.In a related research conducted
by West (2004), information credibility in blogs, as an
avenue for online group collaboration, blogs are generally
less monitored by the concerned agencies, and since most of
the available blog journals are open for viewing by the
general public, there are instances where bloggers may
anonymously post malicious data, and anyone who has
access to the site, without any prior knowledge on the
discussion, will instantly believe about the rumor, and will
now spread around the internet, and it may take some time
before the person concerned could actually detect and
remedy the situation. There are times wherein there is the
proliferation of “biased” data being uploaded by companies
aiming to manipulate the facts in favor of these individuals.
One of the famous examples of this would be where entries
are routinely vandalized, in some cases, erroneous entries
are randomly posted by unscruoptious individuals, some of
them, by accident, and some, intentional. On one occasion,
Seigenthaler (2004) published an article emphasizing the
quality assurance flaws of Wikipedia in portraying his own
biography, wherein an anonymous editor (according to
Wikipedia’s administrator, they do not yet have the
capability to track and log changes initiated by web
‘editors’) made a malicious entry on the site, stating there
that he had a role in the assassination of JFK, that he used to
be a Russian spy (KGB), and even though there are ‘limited’
safeguards to prevent such attacks, the internet is so broad,
that given the current privacy laws governing the service
providers, it may take a while before the true identity of the
‘biographer’ maybe revealed [6]. Another general problem addition to this, they say that users can also conduct “live
that is common in wikis is the editorial biases that the chat sessions” with other editors. However, a particular law
contributors may have against an article or fact. Take the in the US constitution, Communications Decency Act of
case again of Wikipedia, as mentioned by Oswald (2005), 1996, shields online content providers from libel should
the founder himself, Jimmy Wales, changed his own there be any “libelous content” that is posted on their site,
biography at least 18 times, and even changed the wiki entry and other laws, such as related privacy acts in the US, limits
for one search engine to remove its “former bad image” [5]. the ability of ordinary persons to sue the “defamer” who
Another possible issue, in relation to the editorial biases of defamed them (IP Addresses (only way of tracing online
wiki and blog entries would be the educational background editors) cannot be obtained without a court subpoena).
of the editors and contributors. Wikis and blog entries are
written and shared over the internet, and people may not Moreover cyberbullying is another case that may affect
fully understand and/or comprehend the true meaning of the the teenagers due to the fact that it allows others to engage in
definitions and terms stated there, and verify that it is an cruel actions in order to attack another person. [5] An
authentic reference source. To further illustrate the point, incident of cyberbullying happened on October 2006 when a
let’s say a person has a choice between the book, which is thirteen year old Megan Meier was found hanging in her
of credible source, and a wiki entry posted over the internet bedroom closet. This particular incident happened because
with no information on who authored and/or ‘of good of Lori Drew who made a fake MySpace account and used
looking words that are too good to be true’. Another John Evans as his name while at the same time pretending to
example related to the editorial biases, as pointed by Wilson be a sixteen year old boy who was interested with Megan.
(2007), would be the controversial diebold election machine The term being used today for the incident that occurred is
scandal, where an anonymous editor deleted critical sections known as cyberbullying. [6] In relation with that identity
of information about the controversy, and what’s worse is theft also happens, wherein people steal the personal
that the “editors” information of an individual and impersonating as that
themselves are those individual. There have been a lot of students engaging with
coming from known social software who became victims of either identity theft
institutions, from or identity fraud wherein an unknown individual used their
Microsoft, going all personal information to perform illegal activities. [2] But it
the way to the CIA. is not all bad; since sometimes with these functions available
This discovery was for users, credible and reliable people can easily upload their
made through a researches for the benefit of the learning of others.
software (refer to the Moreover, since students who wish to learn can easily access
left image ) the data presented and thus social software is promoting
developed by a education to people, not just to students.
California Tech
Student, Virgil 1.2. AUTHORSHIP
Griffith, who was
WikiScanner Web User Interface
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/galleries/ able to trace and With the emerging of social software, people are now
2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest confirm the IP capable of sharing or posting their ideas or opinions around
.fortune/images/096_wikiscanner.jpg address of the editor the world. The main advantage of social software is that
working on the unlike blogs, or wikis which communicate with individuals
diebold case, and it one-way, social software are for sharing information in all
really came from their directions. Social software themselves have become an
own corporate office online community which made millions of people easily and
[14]. efficiently communicate with one another. Also with the
help of social software, students can now contact people all
Administrators of around the world whom they share the same interests. This
wikis and selected blog in effect would allow them to acquire information on
sites (for education different subjects faster and easier [20]. According to
purposes), counter Torrey, one of the key techniques in social software is to
these alleged network with people whom an individual can learn a lot
“anonymous” editing from [21]. In short, anybody can post their ideas, opinions,
of wiki / blog entries, or advocacy.
saying that they have a Track Editing History Changes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hist
“tracking system” for But with this came a problem. Social software have
ory_comparison_example.png
tracing entries, and in made it even easier for student to plagiarize the works of
others. It also gives the students wrong understanding that
unpublished materials does not require quotations.
According to a study conducted by Jessica Shepherd,
plagiarism experts have already warned universities to be
aware of students who copy coursework on social sites. A
survey conducted in Cambridge University in a poll of 1,000
students showed that 49% of the undergraduate admitted that
they passed projects or papers of other people’s work as
their own. The law students were even worse wherein 62%
admitted that they broke university rules. 82% of the
students are plagiarizing admitted that they take information
from Wikipedia. Finally out of the 82% that were
plagiarizing, only 5% of these students admitted that they
had been caught [22].
1.3. INTERACTION
Social software has the basic purpose of dealing and
interacting with groups [15]. It has a variety of functions that
support interaction such as presence notification, referral
tracking, mentor referrals, push and pull notification, user
profiling, relating with others of the same interest,
establishing directories, inviting others to join networks,
permissioning, connecting, communicating, managing
relationships across media, cooperative learning support,
content storing, publishing, sharing, and filtering All of these
functions contribute to the possibilities of distance learning
[17]. Through the proper usage of social software, students
can maximize their learning experience through the web. It
was found out in a study conducted in UK that these tools
help students gain transferable skills of team working, online
collaboration, negotiation, communication, managing digital
identities, individual and group reflection. Thus here the role
of the teachers shift from being the provider of information
to a facilitator or moderator, thus causes issues on the side of
the training needs, workload issues, adjustment to the new
way of teaching [16]. But on a personal level utilizing social
software may bring about an increase in the isolation level of
the student since they are encouraged more to express their
thoughts online than do it personally in class. This somehow
minimizes the level of intimate interaction with other people.
Things can turn to be difficult if the student always relies on
the social software and networks he has and never actually
stand out in the real world, it may be difficult to make a
child so used to the anonymous-ness of the web and simply
expose him to the outside world wherein people may act
differently. However, as discussed social software does still
have benefits with regards to its convenience for students
since it is easily accessible, also it breaks down the walls of
peer pressure for shy students since they can easily express
their ideas. As discussed by an introvert guy who calls
himself 12 frogs, he claims that social software enables him
to have several benefits such as meditated communication,
maintains the strength of weak ties, and creates pockets of
quiet and focus in the noise [18]. This just goes to show that
social software can indeed be a great tool for introverts to
express their own being without being afraid of judgment
like that of in the real world.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
As a closing argument to this research, the proponents agree
that social interaction with members of the academe through
the use of online-based tools can be very useful in promoting
dynamic discussions and collaboration within the team
members. The group firmly believes in the power of social
software, most especially the ability of blogs and wikis, to
share information, as well as promote group collaboration
and sharing among members. However, with the vastness of
the internet and its resources, these sites will always be
prone and vulnerable to vandalism, false information and
tampering of facts. As a general recommendation, the team
suggests that each school must first analyze and study
carefully each of their situations. After which, from the
inputs gathered, they should implement a standardized set of
guidelines governing the use of blogs and wikis, in order to
minimize the complications that were stated earlier. On a
much larger scale, the group also suggests amendments to
the current laws regarding information secrecy and content
quality, in order to be stricter in terms of information in
Internet resources from people who are not credible. In
doing so, it is suggested that further research should be
conducted on this in order to identify what the government is
doing to resolve such problems. Finally, educate the general
public about the significance of wikis and blogs not only in
the academe, but also in everyday living, in order to raise
their awareness on the possible implications of false
information, as well as prevent the circulation of these sorts
of bad information in cyberspace.
REFERENCES
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GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Blog. Aka weblog. Is a basic social tool used to narrate or
share opinions and experiences by the writer. Usually it is
maintained by an individual, but in the field of education it
is growing to be a portal used for personal portfolios, group
projects and explorations. Also since blogging mainly
focused on the expression of one’s ideas, it is growing to be
a key tool in developing literacy and confidence in
expression. As perceived by Mark Ahlness, blogging is a
very strong force that motivates people of all ages to write
since there is the factor of an audience reading. This then
suggests that the blogging is very well accepted by people
since it retains the interpersonal, free, and critical
relationship of communicating people [7].
Wiki. Is a Hawaiian word that means fast. It is basically a
page wherein collaboration is always ongoing. It is another
tool used for collaborating ideas and knowledge between a
group of people. In education, it is used to share, organize
and construct projects accessibly. Also it is through the wiki
that students gain important insights and skills through
collaborating with people and enhancing drafts. But due to
this unauthorized access to the edit functions of the wiki,
there have been issues with regards to its reliability and
vulnerability to vandalisms. Since the wiki, most especially
the Wikipedia is becoming the major reference of people; it
is alarming that people can be misled by the minor errors in
the information being fed [7].

Online bookmarks. It works just like the typical bookmark

wherein it leads the user to a specific noted item. Online
bookmarks supported by social networking does not only
gather and organize bookmarks, instead it allows people to
collaborate with other people through similar bookmarks.
This is related to “tagging”. In education, this is very
practical in projects and collaborative works since it enables
the class to build up a collection of resources and references
that can easily be tagged, sorted, and accessed. Also in
relation with this, tagging supports the natural labeling of
objects since it allows people to tag a particular item that
reflects the current thinking, behavior, and interest of the
author; thus making the specific item more reliable and more
human [7].

Podcasts. Are generally sound files that provide insights and

knowledge on a particular topic. This has become a very
well known trend in the field of education since there was a
rise in the usage of MP3 players and Ipods. Professors and
students use podcasts to share their lectures and assignments
easily. There is also a new kind of podcast called Enhanced
Podcasts wherein it merges images and slides with audio [7].