Volume 3, Number 39 http://isedj.org/3/39/ August 9, 2005 In this issue: Towards a WebCenter for Pedagogical Freeware Collaborative Review and Retrieval Eunhee Kim Julian M. Scher New Jersey Institute of Technology New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey 07102 USA Newark, New Jersey 07102 USA Murray Turoff New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey 07102 USA Abstract: A significant amount of freeware is accessible to students and faculty, from a variety of sources, and downloadable from a multitude of web-sites. Much of the freeware, often of equiva- lent quality to commercial off-the-shelf software, and many times unique and having no commercial equivalent, is underutilized by both educators and students, who generally are unaware of its avail- ability. With constraints on their financial resources, students and faculty are faced with limits on the purchase of commercial software, and would significantly benefit if they were to have a single place they could visit to obtain relevant software which is legitimately free of commercial fees. Our objective for this effort is the design and development of a WebCenter which will provide a “one-stop shopping experience” for both students and faculty who are seeking to obtain relevant freeware for their pedagogical needs. The WebCenter will satisfy the diverse needs of a community of users, who will provide links to the software titles which they use or have developed, and who, using a simple Technology Acceptance Model-like evaluation scheme, will supply collaborative feedback on the freeware titles, share their experiences with them, and provide suggestions for their usage. A preliminary taxonomy of pedagogical freeware has been designed, to categorize the freeware titles, and provide for ready retrieval by the user community. Keywords: freeware, WebCenter, pedagogical, collaborative, feedback, learning Recommended Citation: Kim, Scher, and Turoff (2005). Towards a WebCenter for Pedagogical Freeware Collaborative Review and Retrieval. Information Systems Education Journal, 3 (39). http://isedj.org/3/39/. ISSN: 1545-679X. (Also appears in The Proceedings of ISECON 2004: §4124. ISSN: 1542-7382.) This issue is on the Internet at http://isedj.org/3/39/ ISEDJ 3 (39) Information Systems Education Journal 2 The Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Education Special Interest Group (EDSIG) of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP, Chicago, Illinois). • ISSN: 1545-679X. • First issue: 8 Sep 2003. • Title: Information Systems Education Journal. Variants: IS Education Journal; ISEDJ. • Phys- ical format: online. • Publishing frequency: irregular; as each article is approved, it is published immediately and constitutes a complete separate issue of the current volume. • Single issue price: free. • Subscription address: [email protected]. • Subscription price: free. • Electronic access: http://isedj.org/ • Contact person: Don Colton ([email protected]) 2005 AITP Education Special Interest Group Board of Directors Stuart A. Varden Paul M. Leidig Don Colton Ronald I. Frank Pace University Grand Valley St Univ BYU Hawaii Pace University Past President 2005 EDSIG President Vice President Secretary, 2005 Kenneth A. Grant Albert L. Harris Jeffrey Hsu Dena Johnson Ryerson University Appalachian St Univ Fairleigh Dickinson Tarleton State Univ Dir 2002-2003, 2005 JISE Editor Director, 2004-2005 Membership, 2005 Jens O. Liegle Marcos Sivitanides Robert B. Sweeney Margaret Thomas Georgia State Univ Texas St San Marcos U of South Alabama Ohio University Director, 2003-2005 Director, 2004-2005 Treasurer, 2004-2005 Director, 2005 Information Systems Education Journal Editorial and Review Board Don Colton Thomas N. Janicki Brigham Young University Hawaii University of North Carolina Wilmington Editor Associate Editor Amjad A. Abdullat Samuel Abraham Robert C. Beatty Neelima Bhatnagar Tonda Bone West Texas A&M U Siena Heights U N Illinois Univ U Pitt Johnstown Tarleton State U Alan T. Burns Lucia Dettori Ronald I. Frank Kenneth A. Grant Robert Grenier DePaul University DePaul University Pace University Ryerson Univ Augustana College Owen P. Hall, Jr Mark (Buzz) Hensel James Lawler Jens O. Liegle Terri L. Lenox Pepperdine Univ U Texas Arlington Pace University Georgia State U Westminster Coll Denise R. McGinnis Peter N. Meso Therese D. O’Neil Alan R. Peslak Robert B. Sweeney Mesa State College Georgia St Univ Indiana Univ PA Penn State Univ U of South Alabama William J. Tastle Margaret Thomas Jennifer Thomas Stuart A. Varden Charles Woratschek Ithaca College Ohio University Pace University Pace University Robert Morris Univ EDSIG activities include the publication of ISEDJ, the organization and execution of the annual ISECON conference held each fall, the publication of the Journal of Information Systems Education (JISE), and the designation and honoring of an IS Educator of the Year. • The Foundation for Information Technology Education has been the key sponsor of ISECON over the years. • The Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP) provides the corporate umbrella under which EDSIG operates. c Copyright 2005 EDSIG. In the spirit of academic freedom, permission is granted to make and distribute unlimited copies of this issue in its PDF or printed form, so long as the entire document is presented, and it is not modified in any substantial way. c 2005 EDSIG http://isedj.org/3/39/ August 9, 2005 ISEDJ 3 (39) Kim, Scher, and Turoff 3 Towards a WebCenter for Pedagogical Freeware Collaborative Review and Retrieval Eunhee Kim ([email protected]) Julian M. Scher ([email protected]) Murray Turoff ([email protected]) Department of Information Systems, New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey 07102 USA Abstract A significant amount of freeware is accessible to students and faculty, from a variety of sources, and downloadable from a multitude of web-sites. Much of the freeware, often of equivalent quality to commercial off-the-shelf software, and many times unique and having no commercial equivalent, is underutilized by both educators and students, who generally are unaware of its availability. With constraints on their financial resources, students and faculty are faced with limits on the purchase of commercial software, and would significantly benefit if they were to have a single place they could visit to obtain relevant software which is legitimately free of commercial fees. Our objective for this effort is the design and development of a WebCenter which will provide a “one-stop shopping experience” for both students and faculty who are seeking to obtain relevant freeware for their pedagogical needs. The WebCenter will satisfy the diverse needs of a community of users, who will provide links to the software titles which they use or have developed, and who, using a simple Technology Acceptance Model-like evaluation scheme, will supply collaborative feedback on the freeware titles, share their experiences with them, and provide suggestions for their usage. A preliminary taxonomy of pedagogical freeware has been designed, to categorize the freeware titles, and provide for ready retrieval by the user community. Keywords : freeware, WebCenter, pedagogical, collaborative, feedback, learning 1. FREEWARE: DEFINITIONS, SOURCES altruism.” Contrary to the popular usage of AND AUTHOR MOTIVATIONS the term today, Fluegelman actually encouraged users to make voluntary Freeware is generally considered to be payments for the software, and though he computer software which is available free of trademarked the term “freeware” to describe charge and distributed via the World Wide this, other software developers substituted Web. Usually (but not necessarily) freeware the term “shareware” as a more realistic is distributed without source code, and is designation which negated the gratuitous often accompanied by a license and tone of the original term. copyright which permit redistribution, but will often have limitations, such as In contrast to what we call freeware, restrictions on commercial use. The term shareware is software that is also distributed freeware was coined by Andrew Fluegelman typically via the World Wide Web, and allows in the early 1980’s, who applied it to a piece a user to try out the software for a specified of communications software he developed period of time, after which the user is for the MS-DOS platform, called PC-Talk, obligated to provide a payment to the and which he distributed to others. shareware author(s). The term shareware is Fluegelman marketed PC-Talk using the due to Bob Wallace (http://tinyurl.com/ term “freeware,” which he characterized as 5mlko ) who coined this term to describe his “an experiment in economics more than word processor, PC-Write, in the mid-1980’s. c 2005 EDSIG http://isedj.org/3/39/ August 9, 2005 ISEDJ 3 (39) Kim, Scher, and Turoff 4 A slight variant of shareware is termed altruistic? In many, but not all cases, the “crippleware,” and refers to the notion that answer is “yes” and, indeed, the original the full features of the shareware title can spirit of the internet was a free sharing of only be obtained after the payment of the knowledge, and many freeware authors see registration fee – until then, several features freeware as an opportunity to “return” will be “crippled.” something to the community which provided them with the excitement of enhanced We do note the confusion which persists knowledge and new skills. If financial today as to the