In this paper we examine the possibilities of applying predictive analysis to users ' written communication via comments in an open-ended online social networking forum: Scratch.mit.edu. Scratch is primarily used by youth ages 8-16 years to program software like games, animations, and stories; their social interactions take place around commenting, remixing, and sharing computer programs (called projects). This exploratory work contributes to work in educational data mining by broadly describing and comparing comments about projects versus other topics in Scratch. Referencing communication accommodation theory, we found that user comments about projects exhibited different linguistic cues than other comments, and these cues were successfully used to classify comment topic. Further, results also suggest that project comments embody richer language than other comments. This suggests several future avenues for research on youth's online comments about programming and other technical projects that may reveal educational opportunities in creating and sharing projects.[16]. These websites include places where kids can share written stories or fanfiction (e.g., Fanfiction.net, Storybird.com), mods or adaptations of popular games (e.g., Little Big Planet, The Sims), and, as we focus on in this paper, computer programs that can take the form of video games, animations, stories, or art (e.g., Scratch, Kodu). Since the potential for learning when children design or make projects has been well documented for many years [7; 21], it is understandable why there is such excitement over this new phenomenon. Furthermore, sites such as Scratch are unstructured environments where engaged and authentic learning can occur, in contrast to constrained and structured learning environments such as cognitive tutors [4; 22].Yet while websites where people post usergenerated content (UGC) are increasing in number, we know relatively little about the quality of communication on these sites, especially on a large scale that can reveal trends across thousands of users. Further, we know even less about the quality of communication of young people on such websites. Given that children and youth are at different stages of development and that their language tends to differ from adults' language, it is important to study communication on websites dominated by them. Most importantly, communication itself is learning. Developing a better understanding of what children and youth are doing on these emerging types of websites will help us better grasp the opportunities in participating in such sites as well as the challenges to designing for richer communication on websites for children.In addition, there may be value to understanding communication specifically about projects that children create. Although the benefits to learning by making projects are widely discussed [7], sharing and discussing creations may contain particular educational value. Heath [18] argued that sharing
Computer server management is an important component of the global IT (information technology) services business. The providers of server management services face unrelenting efficiency challenges in order to remain competitive with other providers. Server system administrators (SAs) represent the majority of the workers in this industry, and their primary task is server management. Since system administration is a highly skilled position, the costs of employing such individuals are high, and thus, the challenge is to increase their efficiency so that a given SA can manage larger numbers of servers. In this paper, we describe a widely deployed Service Delivery Portal (SDP) in use throughout the Server Systems Operations business of IBM that provides a set of well-integrated technologies to help SAs perform their tasks more efficiently. The SDP is based on three simple design principles: 1) user interface aggregation, 2) data aggregation, and 3) knowledge centralization. This paper describes the development of the SDP from the vantage point of these three basic design principles along with lessons learned and the impact assessed from studying the behavior of SAs with and without the tool. IntroductionCurrent business infrastructures comprise multiple components (e.g., database management servers, application servers, and Web servers) residing on hundreds of servers distributed across many networks and running on multiple operating systems [1][2][3]. Due to the large scale and complexity of IT infrastructures, server system management has emerged as a major component of the IT (information technology) services business [4]. The ever-increasing demands for data availability and high-quality service have amplified the importance of continuously available service, and as a result, the industry has encountered server system management costs that exceed system component costs [5][6][7]. In fact, the human cost of system administration has grown since the 1990s to represent two-thirds of total system administration costs [7], requiring a business to achieve significant efficiency gains in order to be competitive in the services marketplace.Our research focuses on designing and developing viable new technology to help improve efficiency of server system management activities so that a given system administrator (SA) can manage larger numbers of servers, in order to reduce service management costs and improve business competitiveness.In general, SAs are responsible for the installation, configuration, maintenance, and troubleshooting of servers and their hardware and software components [2]. System administration encompasses many domains including operating systems, storage, databases, and networks and involves multiple levels of technical expertise [2]. The work activities of SAs pertain mainly to the ITIL ** (IT Infrastructure Library) processes of incident, problem, and change management [8] and focus on resolving the incident, problem, or change (IPC) tickets initiated by or on behalf of the customers. An SA's work ca...
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