Comparison |
UTSOnline |
BSCW |
Livenet |
| 1. Main use |
UTSOnline or Blackboard is a set of rich
tools, functions that are designed for “Learning”.
It is suitable for group collaboration between staff (Lecturer,
tutor) and student, and also between students themselves.
Main uses: EXCELLENT
-All in one system administrator for students and staffs
-Student can access to subjects which they enrolled, and get
relevant course/subject information.
-Rich tools for group collaboration such as file sharing,
virtual classroom, discussion board etc.
|
BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work) provides feature
of collaboration with the idea of “shared workspace”.
Main uses: GOOD
-D/L, U/L files to workspace.
- Share information between workgroup.
- Relevant event notification.
- planning and organizing meetings. (using Calendar and Tasks)
|
Livenet provides “Electronic Workspaces” which
can be customized as needed.
Main uses: POOR
-Workflow events.
-Knowledge (documents, files, URL) sharing between group members.
-Group discussion.
|
| 2. Primary users |
1.University
- Academic Provider such as Lecturer, Instructor, and Tutor.
- Students.
(Example: UTS)
|
1. Companies that want to provide basic collaborative services
to their employees. (Example: Emergency Management Australia)
2. University (Example: University of Queensland, Victoria University
of Technology)
[ref: http://www.bscw.de/english/ref/ref2.html]
|
1. Group of student who wants to work
in collaborative environment over internet. |
| 3. Skill level of user |
[Beginner to Intermediate]
UTSOnline provides rich features which will take time for
new user to get used to it.
|
[Beginner] Do not require much skill to use
it. |
[Beginner] Do not require much skill to use
it. |
| 4 .User interface |
EXCELLENT,
you can easily find your way, all the areas you can navigate
are clearly shown by the buttons on the left side of the screen,
which is a standard location of options. You can easily move
from one section to another through the tabs. A course map
is available for a quick view of the structure of the site.
It’s fast to navigate between pages because it does
not use very much heavy graphics and also because the Home,
Help, and Logout icons and section tabs are available in all
of the pages. The icons are neatly designed and simple. The
interface is well-designed using boxes to enclose texts and
tools. The colors choices are good making it easier to read
texts because it uses black or blue text on white background.
There is a lot of white spaces, making it even easier to read. |
The interface is GOOD
and unfamiliar design, all the menu options are on
top and you would think the icons underneath them represent
them but they do not, they are different options. They are
neatly designed however because the icons use the same color
and style. The texts are readable because it uses a lot of
white spaces. However, there are some pages that use backgrounds
with bright colors such as orange and blue, making it distracting
to read texts. |
Interface is GOOD
enough, the options are grouped properly on the left side
of the screen. It’s a bit uneasy to read all the available
options and menu because the yellow background is a bit strong
and distracting when reading the texts. It does not have a
course map but you can easily navigate from one section to
another because all the available options are on a fix location
and appear on each page. It’s also fast to navigate
between pages because it also does not use very much heavy
graphics. There’s also a lot of white spaces on the
text area so it’s easier to read from there. However,
some texts have varying sizes hence, making it a bit distracting
to read. |
| 5. Media support |
POOR. No media support such as phone, camera
or video conferencing. |
EXCELLENT. Has support for video phone, camera
or video conferencing thru NetMeeting, Netscape Conference Intel
Internet VideoPhone, etc. |
POOR. No media support such as phone, camera
or video conferencing. |
| 6. Interactivity |
EXCELLENT. UTS
online is interactive providing both asynchronous
and synchronous communication through its
discussion and announcement boards, email, and virtual classroom
including chat.
|
GOOD. Like Livenet BSCW provides only
asynchronous communication, allowing storage and
retrieval of documents and sharing information within a
group through workspaces. However, it has more features
than LiveNet for interactivity such as support for threaded
discussions, version management of documents, group management,
search features and many more.
|
GOOD. Interaction is mainly asynchronous
through its workspaces providing its participants with the
information and tools needed to build relationships and
carry out their work. Other than what’s on the workspaces,
the only other available communication is via email. There
is no synchronous communication.
|
| 7. Tracking |
Opinion1: It is EXCELLENT
for administrator. UTSONLINE is created for academic purpose,
therefore administrator can track what each student has
been doing. However, it is bad for user since there is little
authorization for them.
Opinion2: UTSOnline has a tracking
mechanism which is only available to specific users such
as administrators and lectures. This feature is not available
to students.
|
Opinion1: It is GOOD
for users, since the folders can have task lists and many
BSCW objects have system defined attributes such as creation
date or owner name.
Opinion2: BSCW allows tracking
of activities of each user through the tasks performed by
each of them. These tasks are visible to others members. |
Opinion1: It is GOOD
for users, since they can assign role to person, authorize
a person to access folder, create task force.
Opinion2: Tracking of activities
is available only via permissions.
|
| 8. Delivery platform |
Opinion1: It
provides platform independence since Web browsers are available
for all commonly used system platform such as Windows, Macintosh
OS, or Unix
Opinion2: Internet based. Users
must be connected to the internet to be able to access any
UTSOnline application. |
Opinion1: It provides platform
independence since Web browsers are available for all commonly
used system platform, however if user want to own your own
server, it works on most Unix systems, Windows NT and Windows
2000
Opinion2: Internet based. However
some activities are also available on stand alone mode.
So the users can perform tasks on their own PCs without
having to connect to the internet. On the other hand to
be able to communicate with other members they must be online.
|
Opinion1: It provides platform
independence since Web browsers are available for all commonly
used system platform such as Windows, Macintosh OS, or Unix
Opinion2: Internet based. Users
must be connected to the internet to be able to access any
Livenet application.
|
| 9. File management system |
GOOD, UTSONLINE provide
menu for user to transfer file to each other by file exchange
option. However, the file that is posted on webpage can only
edit by user who pose it. Other person can just only open
the file with out any modification |
EXCELLENT, it provide
more flexible file management system than UTSONLINE because
all of group member can modify or remove the file that posed
in group website, moreover user can post and transfer file
to other member easier than uts online. |
EXCELLENT, its performance
is similar to BSCW. User who gets permission from administrator
can modify the file the group member posted in website. Although
it leads to complicated task for user, they can use file management
more efficient. |
| 10. Community building tools |
GOOD,
it provides both synchronized and asynchronized communication.
Moreover, user can also transfer file by using file exchange
menu and communicate with other member via discussion and
e-mail menu. |
EXCELLENT,
apart of basic tools, it also provide more tool for example
Calender and task menu to let all user know the duty for each
member which is really helpful to complete the whole task
of group. |
POOR, it is very complicated
for user to use this tools since they have to get the permission
from administrator first, furthermore, it provide less tools(document,
discussion, action) than other communication mechanism. |
| 11. Flexibility |
EXCELLENT. In term of software,
Blackboard is consisted of multiple modules which can be add/upgrade
or delete depends on the use. [Ref: http://www.blackboard.com/]
In term of ease of use, Blackboard provides rich functions
and features with high flexibility. Users can convey information
in both asynchronous and synchronous communication such as
discussion board, virtual room, etc.
|
GOOD. Due to less functionality
compared to Blackboard, BSCW has less flexibility in term
of ease of use and the system supports only asynchronous communication. |
POOR. Livenet provides
least functionality compared to Blackboard and BSCW. This
is due to limited function provided by software. |
| 12. Security |
EXCELLENT.
Different type of users has different privilege. For example,
staffs are allowed to add delete student into/from course/subject
and has a full control of information posted on website. |
GOOD.
Users are bounded by group of known member in address book.
Information is shared to others by selecting list of other
members in address book. Users who do not receive invitation
for certain event or not being recognized as member are not
allowed in participation. |
EXCELLENT.
Users are limited to access only to Workspaces in which they
register, more than one workspace can be joined, but one at
a time.
Role based Security system is implemented. This allows owner
of the workspace to permit certain actions to each role which
will then assign to each member.
|
| 13. Customisation |
GOOD, as it provide
some choices for the layout and selected module display to
be displayed in the Main Page.
Below are some of the functions:
Page Layout: User can define
the Right and left panel, furthermore can move the modules
from top to bottom.
Theme: User can choose the
Theme that they like.
Modules: User can select
some modules to display in the Main Page.
|
EXCELLENT, Provide lot
of function that user can customise them own Main Page.
Below are some of the functions:
Calendar: User can choose
the colour of the calendar
Shortcut: user can choose for display some
shortcut below the Menu Bar.
Columns: From the Main page, user can choose
the column type to be displayed, for example info, size, share,
rating, status, deadline and etc, from the ‘View’
list in Menu Bar.
Scale: User can choose different font size
from the ‘View’ list in Menu Bar.
Sort: From Main page, user can sort the list
by some option, for example: Name, Type, Size, Rating and
etc.
Description: From the Main page, User can choose to display
the description or not.
Calender Filter: In Calendar, User can filter by some optional
from the ‘View’ list in Menu Bar.
|
POOR, because
No Theme , layout colour,
scale, shortcut for user chosen.
|
| 14. Collaboration |
EXCELLENT, for email,
user needn’t remember the recipient’s mail address
by tick the checkbox beside the name. Provide the virtual
classroom to let student communicate each
other in |
GOOD, provide more function than Livenet,
such as sharing notes, URLs,
tasks and etc., |
Average, provide normal function such as
mail sending and file exchange. |
