27 July 2012, 15:23

Hello,

Sometimes the question comes up why "Place feedback" is not "Place comments". If we are thinking of Web 2.0 sites, it is always "Comments", but I believe "Feedback" was chosen originally as it denotes something more than comments and points towards an educational activity rather than something social. That doesn't mean to say that comments cannot be profound, constructive etc. or that feedback is always fantastic.

So the question is which word you use more or prefer. A user pointed out the inconsistency of having "Place feedback" on the page or an artefact, but when you edit a file, you "Allow comments".

Cheers

Kristina

29 July 2012, 9:00

Either Feedback or Comments would be fine, although I agree Feedback seems a bit more instructional than Comments.  To my mind, the verb (Place) is what sounds a bit artificial.  Add Feedback (or Add Comments) would sound more natural than Place Feedback.

29 July 2012, 11:11

Hello Kristina,

in German and from my understanding also in English there is a different connotation to the terms. Feedback includes positive, neutral and negative reaction to anything, Comments is much more used for critical reactions and something we don't agree with.

In teaching and learning cultural aspects are relevant for the wording. What did we want to push or to challenge?

From my experience (the German view)  in teaching, training and corporate world we need more positive and neutral reactions. Its normal that people give negative reactions.Often I heard: "If I didn't say anything its all ok. I will tell you if things will fail". Positive supportive reactions are much more seldom.  From psychological standpoint its easy to describe: There is much more and intensive awarenesss if something went wrong.

My interest is to give people also response if things are ok.

If the connotation of a term is more neutral I would prefere this. For me 'feedback' is more neutral and 'comment' will often challenge people to concentrate on critical aspects.

Ralf

04 August 2012, 17:36

Hello Keith and Ralf,

Thank you very much for your insight into feedback or comments. I'd prefer to keep feedback at the bottom of a page / artefact because then hopefully users do think about constructive critique instead of just making quick comments.

But we do use "Comments" on journal entries and then when allowing feedback on files (allow comments). If we kept "Feedback", should we change these or some of these as well? I wouldn't really change "Comments" to "Feedback" for the journal entries as we are used to them on blogs. Using "feedback" there would seem strange to me. So you could also argue to keep "Allow comments" on files, but then we would need to change "Place / Add feedback" on the artefact page. What do you think?

Consistency can be tricky sometimes.

Cheers

Kristina

05 August 2012, 8:48

After having discussed with several scholar during my last stay in London last week. People agreed that

• You place a Comment when you want to add your voice to a discussion, when you agree, disagree or want to add something to what someone else has already said
• You place a (sommative / formative) Feedback when you expect someone to change, improve a work done by this someone.

-dajan