ten lessons in digital scholarship

Digital scholarship10 lessons in 10 videos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/

Book

Bloomsburyacademic.com

Definition

<Alternative title>

10 things I’ve come to believe after thinking about the impact of technology

for a few years, accompanied by 10 tenuously connected, and sometimes

amusing, videos

Lesson 1: It’s not just for geeks

• YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/fKXk1VhAuvE

But it’s also about:

• Knowledge sharing• Knowledge creation• Networking• Generating ideas• Communicating• Democratisation of learning

Aren’t those all scholarly activities?

Sir Martin Rees:

“arXiv.org archive transformed the literature of physics, establishing a new model for communication over the whole of science. Far fewer people today read traditional journals. These have so far survived as guarantors of quality. But even this role may soon be trumped by a more informal system of quality control, signaled by the approbation of discerning readers”

So there’s something going on here,

beyond just geeks

The Boyer view of scholarship

• Discovery• Integration • Application• Teaching

Lesson 2: Researchers are caught in a dilemma

• YouTube clip http://youtu.be/LnQcCgS7aPQ

But researchers aren’t keen

“frequent or intensive use is rare, and some researchers regard blogs, wikis and other novel forms of communication as a waste of time or even dangerous”

(Proctor, Williams and Stewart (2010)

Carpenter et al describe researchers as ‘risk averse’ and ‘behind the curve in using digital technology’

Harley et al (2010) “We found no evidence to suggest that “tech-savvy” young graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, or assistant professors are bucking traditional publishing practices”

Is it tenure?

“The advice given to pre-tenure scholars was consistent across all fields: focus on publishing in the right venues and avoid spending too much time on public engagement, committee work, writing op-ed pieces, developing websites, blogging, and other non-traditional forms of electronic dissemination”

Is it caution?

Waldrop 2008 (on blogging)

““It's so antithetical to the way scientists are trained," Duke University geneticist Huntington F. Willard said... The whole point of blogging is spontaneity--getting your ideas out there quickly, even at the risk of being wrong or incomplete. “But to a scientist, that's a tough jump to make,” says Willard. “When we publish things, by and large, we've gone through a very long process of drafting a paper and getting it peer reviewed.”

Is it habit?

Kroll & Forsman

“Almost all researchers have created a strong network of friends and colleagues and they draw together the same team repeatedly for new projects…

Everyone emphasizes the paramount importance of interpersonal contact as the vital basis for agreeing to enter into joint work. Personal introductions, conversations at meetings or hearing someone present a paper were cited as key in choosing collaborators.”

<A tension between potential and context>

Lesson 3: Interdisciplinary is the network

• YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/LJr8uAqQCBM

New economics

Interdisciplinary used to be CostlyDifficulty

Now it’s

Cheap

Easy

New cultural normsWhat are the cultural norms of blogging?• a willingness to share thoughts and experiences with others at an

early stage;• the importance of getting input from others on an idea or opinion;• launching collaborative projects that would be very difficult or

impossible to achieve alone;• gathering information from a high number of sources every day;• control over the sources and aggregation of their news;• the existence of a ‘common code’: a vocabulary, a way to write posts

and behaviour codes such as quoting other sources when you use them, linking into them, commenting on other posts and so on;

• a culture of speed and currency, with a preference to post or react instantaneously; and

• a need for recognition – bloggers want to express themselves and get credit for it.

(Le Muir 2005)

How ‘sticky’ are these cultural norms?

Lesson 4: We’re all broadcasters now

Public engagement used to look like this:

YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/2un9rO2ZF4g

Now looks like this:

YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/5zVaFjSxAZs

Research papers

Lectures/Teaching content

Conferences Data

Code

IdeasDebate

A long tail content production system

Digital outputs

• Low cost (free?)• Small but unpredictable

audience• Open• No compromise• High reuse potential• Different distribution

Lesson 5: Teaching in an attention economy

• YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/DRBW8eJGTVs

• Pedagogy of scarcity?• Lecture – one to many• Library• Instructivism/didactic

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skyfaller/8394194/

What would a pedagogy of abundance look like?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42903611@N00/387761039/

• Content is free• Content is abundant• Content is varied• Sharing is easy• Social based• Connections are ‘lite’• Organisation is ‘cheap’• Crowdsourcing• Network is valuable

Do we need different skills to compete in an attention economy?

Lesson 6: Rethink research

• YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/7KLnXjqKL5g

Start a journal today!

http://metaedtech.wordpress.com/

Invent an app today!

Interrogate data today!

Ouseful.info

Heppell (2001) “we continually make the error of subjugating technology to our present practice rather than allowing it to free us from the tyranny of past mistakes”

Lesson 7: New skills will be required

• YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/7KLnXjqKL5g

• Video• Networks• Data visualisation• Analytics• Writing for online• Managing online

identityhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/5749192621/

<Do we need to be taught these skills?>

Lesson 8: It’ll impact even if you ignore it

• YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/rIABo0d9MVE

Conferences

• Amplified• Online• Backchannel

The new conference archive

Alternative formats

• Barcamp• Pre-presentation• Voting• Produce something

Lesson 9: It’s about alternatives

• YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/SKVcQnyEIT8

Alternatives

• Communication• Publishing models• Research methods• Networking

The following are not dead:

• VLEs• Peer review• Universities• Teaching• Books

But they are operating in a different ecosystem

http://www.flickr.com/photos/luc/393887467/

Lesson 10: Don’t focus just on risk

• YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/w7RIgs3eygo

• Doomed - we're all destined to become stupid, dysfunctional & lessened by the technology eg Carr

• Marooned - we are placing technology in too powerful a position and dehumanising ourselves in the process eg Lanier

• Entombed - the more we communicate, the more alone and isolated we are becoming eg Turkle

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markusram/1361719776/

Tversky and Kahneman: We give risk/loss more weight

James Boyle:

“We are very good at seeing the downsides and the dangers of open systems, open production systems, networks of openness. .. Those dangers are real… we are not so good at seeing the benefits and the converse holds true for the closed system.”

To recap

1. It’s not just for geeks

2. Resolve the researcher’s dilemma

3. Interdisciplinarity is in the network

4. We’re all broadcasters now

5. Teaching in an attention economy

6. Opportunity to rethink research

7. New skills will be required

8. It’ll impact even if you ignore it

9. It’s about alternatives

10.Don’t focus just on risk

<and now – disagree>

<polite applause>

Links ‘n’ stuff

• Videos: www.youtube.com/edtechie• Twitter: @mweller• Blog: Edtechie.net• Book: bit.ly/w80vcq