Lyceum as a research support tool

This second workshop of the Odyssey Group involves participants from the UK and overseas in both face to face and remote interaction. On-line meetings are being conducted using Lyceum software developed at the Open University. Simon Buckingham Shum has provided an on-line account of the development of this tool in the context of earlier generations of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) tools.

Lyceum was piloted during 1999. This software was developed by the Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University and has been deployed in teaching by the Open University Business School and by the Centre for Modern Languages.

The Centre for Modern Languages used version 1 for fixed tutorial groups, the Open University Business School used version 2 to support a community of 900 students and tutors during the first presentation of B823 - Managing Knowledge, a second-level MBA Elective.

Lyceum allows a group to share both white board and concept mapper images, to grab material from on-line and off-line sources and to discuss and modify these in real time. Version 2.1 incorporates a text chat facility which can be used alongside the audio channel.

Separate tutorial groups can have controlled access to their own e-space, but any sub-set of the community can form an ad-hoc group, just as break-out e-spaces can be created on the fly during on-line meetings.

Lyceum as a Research Tool
Lyceum allows frame-grabbing of images from any application on your desktop	Images placed on a whiteboard can be used as backgrounds or modifiable objects
The concept mapper can be used to shape or direct discussions	or to summarise tutorial activity

The first exploratory sessions in the use of Lyceum as a research coordination tool were conducted within the group at Ely.

The first long distance session involved a virtual meeting with Perry Morrison. Dr Morrison is the Top End Regional Manager, Outback Digital Network, in Dumpy Doo, 40 kilometres south of Darwin, Australia. Discussion included issues of accessibility from remote areas and Australian experiences since the inauguration of the Tanami Network in November 1992. This provided remote aboriginal communities with access both to basic services and to teleconferencing via Australia's domestic satellite system. These issues are discussed in one of the Virtual Journeys created during the workshop.

A second session linked the workshop with the AMED Conference at Warwick and involved a second Anglo-Australian meeting.

Cathedral of nature

The Tanami network substitutes for 20 hour journeys over routes impassable during much of the year

Cathedral grounds