Frequenty Asked Questions
Multimedia conferencing is an extension of text-based conferencing (otherwise known as CMC: computer mediated conferencing). Multimedia conferencing allows participants to create and share video, audio, text and graphical material. Conferencing uses computer network technologies to allow people in different places to access and share such material.
Asynchronous communication is communication which does not require participants to be available at the same time. (Phone conversations are a familiar example of synchronous communication. Fax and email are familiar examples of asynchronous communication.)
Working practices are what people actually do in their jobs. Working practices may (or may not) correspond with documented procedures and theories of the work involved, but they will always be richer and more complex.
Anyone who starts work in a new area must learn the working practices of their colleagues, and/or develop their own.
By 'shareable representation of practice' we mean a record of some small part of a practitioner's working practices that can be examined and discussed by other practitioners or students.
Within the SHARP project we use short videoclips as the medium to capture shareable representations of working practice.
Making video clips of working practice is a quick and accessible method of capturing small chunks of a practitioner's work and making available for analysis and discussion.
However, for most complex working practices, the visual images and audio track captured with a video recorder are extremely unlikely in themselves to really show how a practitioner carries out their work. With AMC, the video clip can be used to provide a kernel around which to construct an explanation and discussion of the working practice. As the video clip is closely tied to the actuality of what the practitioner does, the discussion should remain grounded in the reality of the practioner's actions, rather than being based solely on the theory, rules, or ideals that are the starting point for the practitioner's actions.
AMC technology means that many different geographically separated individuals can contribute to the discussion at times that suit them. These individuals may be:
- practitioners (including or excluding the practitioner whose working practice is the subject of a video clip)
- pre-practitioners (students)
- tutors
When AMC is used in the way envisaged in the SHARP project - to help practitioners and others share, discuss and improve working practices - it is providing new forms of support for learner-driven learning, allowing learning to take place when, where and how learners require. It also helps to build a 'community of practice' - reducing the isolation of individuals in specialised fields.
The SHARP approach is suitable for people who are:
- pre-practitioners: students in higher education who need to learn about real-world working methods in preparation for their entry into a field of work
- practitioners: professionals who need to upgrade or update their practical skills, either as part of a training programme, or as a continuous process of learning
- tutors in universities, who can learn about current working practices and guide discussion of them with reference to relevant academic knowledge.
This approach can be used in any field of work. The SHARP project itself focuses on the area of software and information systems engineering.
The technology falls into two main areas:
- tools for creating video clips, audio clips, text and graphics - that is, the 'objects' which are placed in the AMC database
- the AMC database and database management tools - that is, tools for creating links between multimedia objects in the database, for providing the user with different views of the database, etc.
In the SHARP project we are experimenting with existing elements of AMC technology. We are not trying to create a new integrated software system.