Supporting research with social software
Between the meetings we are working hard on new web sites, using a variety of different software. Here is one of my favourites. This new social networking site for the European Educational Research Association Vocational education and Training Networks (VETNET) has been created using Mixxt. Mixxt is a bit Ning like. But it is advert free and somehow (perhaps a bit irrationally) I trust the developers more than I do Ning.
We are also working on sites using Buddypress, Cloudworks and WritetoReply. As ever, usability is one of our main aims. Most of the users we work with are not technology experts, neither do they usually have any experience with social software.
Anyway, here is the invitation we have sent to members of the VETNET network. And it is extended to you!
“VETNET has set up a new social networking web site.
The web site is designed to promote networking and collaboration between researchers in VET in Europe. It also provides information on VETNET activities and particularly on the VETNET conference.
Unlike other VETNET web spaces this site has been designed to make it easy for you to do things yourselves and to share ideas with other members.
You can join the site by going to http://vetnet.mixxt.org/ and then creating an account using the sign up here button. Then log in with your new account details.
Things you can do
- Fill in your profile
- Comment on other peoples’ profiles and leave them a message
- Add people as friends
- Add to the existing discussion or start a new one
- Upload a file – e.g. your conference paper
- Vote in the poll
- Get maps of the conference locations
- Download the conference draft programme
- Add details of your conference session to the events page
And much more
We hope you will enjoy using the site.”