Learning in a digital age/LiDA102/Digital environments/Tasks digital tool evaluation


 * 1) Select an online tool for review
 * 2) Describe your intended purpose or application for the tool (for example, learning or work related). Be specific.
 * 3) Complete the review by considering the questions listed below.

The review tasks are grouped into three main areas:

Business context

 * 1) Who owns the tool?
 * 2) Who is the tool maker or CEO?
 * 3) What are their politics? Does that matter?
 * 4) What is the tool's history?
 * 5) How do they market themselves?
 * 6) How does the company generate revenue?
 * 7) What is their market positioning / point of difference?
 * 8) Who are the competitors?
 * 9) What do others say about the product? Are these sources reliable?

Terms of service

 * 1) What are the terms of service? Are they easy to find?
 * 2) What personal data is required to use the tool (username, real names, email, date of birth etc)?
 * 3) Who owns the data?
 * 4) How is the data protected?
 * 5) Where is the data housed?
 * 6) What flexibility do users have to be anonymous?
 * 7) Does the tool support open licensing of user generated content?
 * 8) How is copyright infringement managed?
 * 9) How is user generated content distributed by the company? What license does the user give the company for distributing to third parties?
 * 10) Can users delete their accounts or leave the service?
 * 11) Can users export their data? What export formats are supported?
 * 12) How is personal information managed?
 * 13) Can information be shared with third parties, and if so under what conditions?
 * 14) Can the company terminate a users account? Under what conditions?
 * 15) How are the changes to the terms of service managed?

Fit for purpose

 * 1) Is the tool suitable for the stated purpose?
 * 2) How does the design of the tool influence what users can do with the tool?
 * 3) Does the tool provide support resources and or help tutorials?
 * 4) Search the web to find out if others provide help and advice on using the tool (for example Youtube, blog posts etc.)
 * 5) What are the implications or opportunities of the tool to support learning in a digital age?