Hi, Thanks for this discussion its highlighted an issue for a site on WE that I work on a lot but has only small traffic (DE Hub). The curator idea is interesting, however any limit on the availability of materials because they have been returned to the basement seams to me to run counter to the spirit of OERs. Certainly having a curating function that pushes out what is current an available could work assuming the availability of funding and resources to support the activity.
I wish to raise an issue that at first may not seam relevant but is closely related and apologies if this has been raised in the past. I've been following this and other discussion on WE for the past few weeks and we seam to be making reference to OEr users without being particularly specific about which users. It appears to me that there a numerous users who will have different expectations of the OER they are seeking. Three that immediately come to mid are the "student" (looking for a structured program of study), the "free wheeling student" (who wishes to compile their own learning program from a range of available resources) and the "teacher" (looking to add, supplement or build a program of study for students). Clearly there are many possible content cross overs between the OERs they all require, however it seams to me that there is not enough consideration given to the design of the OER to meet the needs of the different users. This spreads into the discussion concerning where to find OERs, as end user will not necessarily wish to hunt through all the resources that do not meet their needs. This I suggest compounds the issue of how to get the end user to find the right OER for their individual needs. "Ramblings of an new oer player". Cheers, Alan Wyle On Apr 8, 9:38 pm, simonfj <[email protected]> wrote: > That's great Joshua, John, Joyce, Edwin, > > Let me note this one. "what I think > > > we are talking about is not simply "findability" of a site, but, rather > > being able to continually reach out to people and engage them and connect > > them with a project". > > It really is the point isn't it? My perspective, which is one of an > old audio/video teacher, has me looking at 'repositories' or > 'libraries' in terms of tens of thousands of TV stations or utube > channels, each broadcasting or streaming their contents (in different > languages). It's a bit your idea of libraries with their endless > shelves of contents; only the 'consumer' can do nothing but switch > between channels in a search for something useful. > > All WE want is a sociable curator(s) who can reach out/direct a > student to a small shelf of media, in their preferred format, which > they understand may be useful to a searcher, after understanding their > level of understanding, age, language, etc. > > The one thing which seems to be becoming apparent to most people here, > if they are thinking about 'findability' and an interactive space > where learning communties might coalesce, is the fundamental idea that > these communities are firstly, global and secondly, disciplinary > focussed ones. > > At the same time, i spend a lot of my time talking with the (NREN and > commercial telecommunication's) network engineers who try and > understand what 'products and services' their content producers might > want. E.g.http://www.terena.org/activities/media/meeting1/ > > The web, for them, is simply the door to a range of back end services > which are largely duplicated because they're rarely asked to build > networks on behalf of global groups. National institutions are the > ones who call the tunes and spend the money, so the global > aggregations tend to be just on the 'surface' level. The main effect > here is that the real time communications networks, which can't be as > forgiving as the information networks (latency, bandwidth, etc. > limitations), remain pretty expensive for most web users. It's a CATCH > 22. > > We're beginning to see the start of how we might begin to solve this > problem ( a least at a euro librarian's level) at a portal called > europeana. > I'll just point you at this (embryonic) > page.http://www.europeana.eu/portal/communities.html?page=view# > > Let me flag this idea as it an attempt at using a librarian's logic to > put some shape on a disciplinary centric web. What if we use the dewey > code as a way to classify the url's and communication's hub of > european communities? The idea is to institute a new kind of directory > which uses a cut down dewey code with european as the directory host. > i.e. xxx.xxx.europeana.eu > > Now this is no great leap. It's simply an attempt to bring together > (european) real time network engineers and curators, and have them > focus their professional logics on disciplinary communities' > repositories and communications at the same time. I've always found > that it much easier "an active and committeed group" (who might speak > different languages) to work together if they share the same > 'telephone' (conferencing) number as well as the same url. > > We'll see. > > On Apr 7, 7:24 pm, Joshua Gay <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I apologize ahead of time for derailing this conversation a bit. However, I > > believe that it presents a good opportunity to touch upon what I believe to > > be an important issue. > > > It seems like there is a deeper issue being discussed in this thread than > > simply the "findability" of a project's site. For example, even if a person > > is able to come to your project homepage and know how to get there, it > > doesn't mean that this will necessarily get them any closer to finding what > > aspects of the project will be the most relevant for them. So, what I think > > we are talking about is not simply "findability" of a site, but, rather > > being able to continually reach out to people and engage them and connect > > them with a project. I believe that for a project to be able to achieve this > > that participants must continually take on the roll of curator. > > > To provide some intuition behind what I mean, let's consider the job of the > > curators of a very large art museum. Their goal is not simply to make > > available their entire collection to the public. If they did this, in some > > cases it would take a person weeks of walking through miles of corridors and > > buildings. Instead, their goal is to use their collections as effectively as > > possible and to facilitate various activities such as exhibits, research, > > and education. > > > Or, consider the job of curating a large library. Popular and new books are > > exhibited in a way to both be accessible and inviting. Special collections > > and exhibits are often carefully crafted collages of information. Creating > > processes and roles to manage circulations is often of vital importance to > > whether or not a library is effectively achieving its mission. And then > > beyond these kinds of activities, curators of libraries must often put their > > most effort into satifying their steakholders: the local public and > > community. > > > I believe that the free and open educational resource community is beginning > > to form large collections and libraries and (perhaps most importantly) it > > will continue to have more and more success at cultivating new and nurturing > > existing communities of people that are actually are actually building > > libraries of knowledge. If we were to organize the work context in which the > > work is being done, we might say that the members have taken on the roles of > > author, editor, teacher, student, librarian, and archivist. > > > However, in many of these projects, it is hard to try to claim that a > > substantial number of participants have taken on the roll of curator. In the > > long term, I believe that curation is needed in order to constantly > > rejuvinate projects; revitalize communities; and promote fresh and relevant > > exhibits and special collections. In the short term, I believe that a focus > > on curation will make it easier for people to find the best and most > > relevant free/open educational resources a given project has to offer. > > > It is likely that the biggest challenges in curation will not stem from > > choosing what works you will exhibit, but instead, the biggest challenges > > will be in deciding what works will remain in the basement or will not be > > part of the collection at all. Or, looked at another way, it won't be > > whether or not there are enough rooms in the building for community members > > to have meetings and run programs, but what programs will be promoted on on > > the bulletin board, the latest brochure, or free bookmarks at the counter. > > > To provide a recent and relevant example, one might look toward the recent > > uproad in the English version of the Wikiversity (a project of the Wikimedia > > Foundation). Instead of providing for you an ethnographer's analysis of the > > controversy, I will instead share a single quote from an important > > discussion > > thread<http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Community_Review/Wikimedia...>on > > the controversy, which reads: > > > The only detailed discussion I have seen about what [Wikiversity (WV)] > > should be or become has been here, on this wiki (and recently on this page). > > There is no particular [Wikimedia Foundation (WMF)] view of WV - though > > recently I have heard a number of Wikipedians suggest that trolls are more > > welcome here than elsewhere. (It's not clear to me that this is true, but > > some of the discussions about the deleted project are flavored by those > > thoughts.) I think the current concerns would be resolved by developing ways > > to > > > 1. review research projects that would cause trouble for other groups or > > projects online, or that might hurt individuals through the course of > > research > > 2. review any WV projects that might be veiled attempts to continue an > > ongoing campaign of wiki politics (forum-shopping a grudge, targetting a > > user one has disagreed with on another project by using them as a case > > study > > for 'research', exploring failure modes of other projects) > > 3. focus WV's scope and mission > > > –SJ > > <http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/User:Sj>+<http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/User_talk:Sj>14:17, > > 18 March 2010 (UTC) > > To add a bit of context to this statement, consider that the commentor is a > > prominent wikipedian, wikimedian, an active member of the OER community, and > > that he holds a community-elected seat on the board of directors of the > > Wikimedia Foundation. Now, let's, consider his statement that in the ~four > > years Wikiversity has been existence he had not come across a detailed > > discussion as to what "Wikiversity should be or [should] become." I do not > > believe the author is stating that it was simply he who did not come across > > such discussions, but instead, I believe it is safe to say that those > > conversations were just non-existent. Further, I do not believe that he > > feels the project lacks vision or that it is lacking in substance or even > > participants. Rather, I believe his statement is that the community has not > > exhibited the kinds of acts of stewardship that one expects to see when > > there is a group of active curators working together on a project. > > > I believe that his advice is a testament that what people (and especially > > the board of directors) want to see most with the (en) Wikiversity project > > is a serious committment to curation of the WikiVersity project and the rise > > of committed and trusted project curators who can help in stewardship, > > conflict resolution, and to continually improve the processes and > > communications. And, lastly, I believe that that the long-term stability of > > any free and open educational resource project (of any real size) will > > largely depend upon there being a group of active and committed curators > > working together. > > > -Josh > > > On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 10:43 PM, john stampe <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi, all > > ... > > read more » -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, reply using "remove me" as the subject.
