Category: Curation

Hunting

On By Margaret SimkinIn Curation, Digital scholarship, INF537, knowledge networksLeave a comment

Tracking Down references: 

The Journey to find authentic sources for a case study on LMS:

Research is an absorbing process and it will take control of as much of your mind and your life as you allow. The starting point for my case study was Colloquium 2, led by CSU’s Simon Welsh http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/msimkin/2015/09/06/lms-learning/ (Simkin, LMS and Learning, 2015). Until then I had not really engaged with why I was using our LMS, SIMON, beyond the elements we have to use, and the fact that, as most researchers have noted, it makes managing course material easier for teachers. This attitude was impacted on because my initial passion at having access to an LMS was expended on my first encounter with Moodle, into which I had invested heavily in terms of time and energy. The change to SIMON was a non-negotiable, and when we made the move SIMON was just developing the elements of our highly customized school-wide Moodle. However, taking stock of what has changed since then I realise that I now have a much better opportunity due to the complete integration of resource bookings and reporting, as well as forums, course material of all types and access to student profile information, which integrates with our ability to email all the students in or classes with one click. Obviously this has brought economic benefits to our school as well.

Stemming from the colloquium (Welsh, 2015), the weekly modules added more fuel for the journey. Weller’s work in particular introduced much food for thought around building and maintaining digital collections (Weller, 2011 p.42). Issues such as ownership of data and appropriate ways of creating and sharing information for scholarly purposes led to creating this post http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/msimkin/2015/09/06/assignment-2/ and chasing more peer-reviewed work on the topic.

Sending out requests through the Twitter PLN resulted in a number of links. A cheeky question to @RMIT_CSIT resulted in a conversation and an interesting research paper (Maleko, Nandi, Hamilton, D’Souza, & Harland, 2013).

Initial tweets
Initial tweets
And the conversation continued
And the conversation continued

 

Clarification
Clarification

 

 

And was worthwhile
And was worthwhile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@hbaillie provided a link to her INF536 assessment discussing the product that was intended to be the ultimate LMS for the Victorian Education Department: http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/hbailie/assessed-work/inf536-case-report/

@sbradbeer sent me an unpublished PhD confirmation of Candidature paper, which while very specific was also enlightening in terms of challenges faced in some countries that are not an issue for us here (Algahtani, 2014).

I commenced by using the power of Primo

Linked to CSU's LMS
Linked to CSU’s LMS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, ensuring that the titles I accessed were peer reviewed and relatively recent, I selected initially on the basis of relevance to the aspects of LMS on which I wished to focus, then tracked through the references these authors had provided.

Selecting peer reviewed titles
Selecting peer reviewed titles

 

 

 

 

 

There was so much material that it became a necessity to call time in order to meet the impending due date.

 

References

Algahtani, M. (2014). Factors influencing the adoption of learning management systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabian Universities by female academic staff. Reaserch proposal for confirmation of candidature (PhD) DR209 16th July 2014. Received by personal communication from Bradeer, Susan, through a dopbox link provided by a lecturer at RMIT, 17 September 2015

Maleko, M., Nandi, D., Hamilton, M., D’Souza, D., & Harland, J. (2013). Facebook versus Blackboard for supporting the learning of programming in a fully online course: the changing face of computer education. Learning and Teaching in Computing and Engineering, pp. 83-89. doi:10.1109/LaTiCE.2013.31

Simkin, M. (2015, September 6). LMS and Learning. Retrieved from Digitalli: http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/msimkin/2015/09/06/lms-learning/

Weller, M. (2011). The Nature of Scholarship. In M. Weller, The Digital Scholar, How Technology is Transforming Scholarly Practice (pp. 41-51). London: Bloomsbury Collections.

Welsh, S. (Host). (2015, July 28). Learning Analytics: A Traveller’s Guide; Colloquium 2. Retrieved from http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/msimkin/2015/08/03/2/ Albury, New South Wales, Victoria.

 

 

Tweeting

On By Margaret SimkinIn Collaborating, Connecting, Curation, digital literacy, discussion, evaluation, INF532, knowledge networks, peer learningLeave a comment

Connected Education Through Twitter:

Twitter is a great space for developing and nurturing a PLN.

I have been a member since 2009

My Twitter avatar
My Twitter avatar

I have used Twitter to enhance my personal interests and my professional life with increasing degrees of success. It is quick and easy and seems to work when low Internet connectivity prevents other means of communication.

My Twitter account

My Twitter account

Since commencing the Master of Education (Knowledge Networks and Digital Innovation), I have increased all aspects of my Twitter membership as shown in the above image.

Tweeting a range of topics
Tweeting a range of topics. Twitter offers a range of topics from the amazing to the ridiculous. It enables serendipitous discovery of many gems of wisdom and leads to the development of knowledge.Tweeting connection April

 

 

Tweeting connection April

Connection with past and present study companions makes the learning journey more enjoyable and deepens understanding when links are shared.Tweeting connections

Tweeting connections May

 

Reading over the connections through Twitter this semester is another means of reflecting on the nature and depth of learning it has enabled.

 

Curation

On By Margaret SimkinIn Connecting, Curation, INF532Leave a comment

Information curation is critical in collecting information and using it to create wisdom:

The following graphic provides one view of a framework of thinking about curation.

 The Ideal Curation Practice

Source: Beth Kanter www.bethkanter.org 

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6164/6212246958_71d5878927.jpg

Building thought leadership through content curation by Corinne Weisgerber

is a Slideshare of 79 slides presenting the issues that are attached to curating content. Here is my selection of the slides for investigating her opinion:

Curating content
Curating content

 

Spermalogos learning a new word while learning about curation.
Spermalogos learning a new word while learning about curation.
Curators add perspective, driven by their purpose
Curators add perspective, driven by their purpose
Steps to successful curation
Steps to successful curation

 

How to decide where things go when curating
How to decide where things go when curating

And I learned another new word from slide 57: Sharing as a lagniappe – Lagniappe – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagniappe A lagniappe (/ˈlænjæp/ LAN-yap) is a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase (such as a 13th doughnut when buying a dozen), or more broadly, “something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure.” Serendipitous learning – always a source of joy! 

You can see the full slideshare here:

Visser (2011) believes that being a curator is both being a strategist and a curator and then defines the roles of a curator. The curator (not the strategist) will have four main roles:

  1. Searching, filtering and selecting content to become a taste-maker for the target audience.
  2. Providing curatorial leadership to help other workers within an organization understand what makes valuable content for the brand — so they can be enlisted to create and maintain content based on these evolving criteria.
  3. Spotting trends, and feeding these to the strategists who will use them to help define future direction.
  4. Distributing — identifying channels and fine-tuning them.

Not everyone has the skills to be an effective curator for other people. Personal curation is quite different to curating for other people to retrieve. For personal access and use, any individual can collect and store according to their own processes. If others are to benefit, there need to be guidelines spelt out and common understandings agreed to by all involved parties; alternatively there needs to be a designated interpreter.

Visser, G. (2011, November 25). Gerrit Visser: Use smart knowledge networks to be a curator. Paper.li.

Good, R. (2014) Content curation tools: 21 criteria to select and evaluate your ideal one. Retrieved fromhttp://www.masternewmedia.org/content-curation-tools-selection-criteria-to-evaluate/

An amazing set of criteria backed up by a wonderful Pearltrees site using his own categories.

Valenza, J. (2012) Curation. School Library Monthly. XXIX(1) Retrieved fromhttp://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/valenza2012-v29n1p20.html

Human filters make a difference. Librarians can be filters in the best sense of the word. Librarians can synchronize communities because they are skilled at taming the information flow for the purpose of aiding discovery and knowledge building. They have access to a range of appropriate tools  with which to find, collect and curate; many have of these tools have the additional power of being able to be used collaboratively. Teacher-Librarians are not one interest curators – hence their strength.

Curating for different categories of people requires a different style:

parents – http://kawah.wikispaces.com/ 

teachers – http://esandbox.wikispaces.com/

and students –

Link to our Library catalogue in our Learning Management System
Link to our Library catalogue in our Learning Management System

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“While many curators effectively serve to vet signal from noise, curators may also, intentionally or unintentionally, function as gatekeepers. Does individual curation serve to narrow the lens? Can we learn to assess not only the credibility of information creators, but the credibility of information curators? The following issues deserve consideration:

  • Issue: How do we avoid the role of gatekeeper?
    Does individual curation serve to narrow the lens? Can we learn to assess not only the credibility of information creators, but the credibility of information curators?
  • Issue: How do we avoid the “filter bubble” (Pariser 2012)?
    Is only the curator’s (or the searcher’s) point of view represented?
  • Issue: How do we evaluate quality and relevance in emerging information landscapes and recognize exemplary curation practices?
    Do credibility scores (e.g., Scoop it) give data without identifying bias?
    Does a curation effort model passion about a topic, shared knowledge, and updates through knowledge-forming communities?
  • Issue: How do we protect and promote ideals of intellectual property?
    What are the legal concerns when posting/using work of others? What are the ethical, moral, and professional concerns? “

From <http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/valenza2012-v29n1p20.html>

Shirky

On By Margaret SimkinIn Connecting, Curation, INF532, knowledge networksLeave a comment
Disconcerting approach to collecting information to share - through Google glass!
A disconcerting approach to collecting information to share – through Google glass!

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNyksYKniJY

Clay Shirky – the distant man on the stage -makes some valid points based around the premise that knowledge networking is based on having a common interest and working with like-minded people. Of necessity, the incorporation of finding like minded people, connecting with them and following their interests, forms part of this process.

3.00 mins into the film Shirky states that when previously impossible problems become trivial, they become unimportant. Does teaching fit this description??

5 mins into the film he surmises that networking is the difference. 

27.21 into the film he also comments that anyone with a large collection of books can now start to build upon it. Shared investigation and work = power.

This was a most disconcerting method of sharing Shirky’s presentation and did little justice to his delivery. Actually sitting where this person was located in the audience would have been bad enough for attendees – for a virtual audience member is was incredibly irritating.

A good example of how not to create a digital artefact!

K. C in a C. A

On By Margaret SimkinIn Connecting, Curation, digital literacy, INF532, knowledge networks, ReflectionLeave a comment

Knowledge Construction in a Connected Age:

 How is knowledge constructed?

“Knowledge is not a lean-back process; it’s a lean-forward activity” (Popova, 2011)

Knowledge development, as well as knowledge management, is a social and connective activity that is no longer easy for organisations to control. In this digitally connected world, anyone can gather content, curate it according to their own needs and share it with others regardless of where people live or work. Company (or school) control over information is almost impossible to achieve, even if it is still seen to be desirable.

Collecting and Connecting
Collecting and Connecting

Source: McInerney & Koenig. p. 10

For most schools the situation varies from classroom to classroom, teacher to teacher and subject to subject. Traditional learning/teaching models fall very strongly into the top left-hand space, and the continuing dependence on textbooks, and focus on content, ensures that this will continue for many colleagues and their classrooms.

Giving students the power to find and evaluate information results in a much richer learning environment, in which the teacher becomes a co-learner, both modelling information that is considered reliable and ethical, questioning what makes such sources valuable; and additionally, it allows for the vibrancy of serendipitous encounters.

Reference:

McInerney, C. R., & Koenig, M. E. (2011). Knowledge management (KM) processes in organizations theoretical foundations and practice. San Rafael, Calif. (1537 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901 USA): Morgan & Claypool. Retrieved from: http://reader.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/(S(gviqgukar2zhosdvwh11anqt))/Reader.aspx?p=881112&o=476&u=75%2bPOA257%2f1ZaNWG7TLUwA%3d%3d&t=1395028466&h= ABCC76461B2C7E39317217DE63C2FE194451C0E9&s=21866167&ut=1443&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#

Filter Bubbles

On By Margaret SimkinIn Connecting, Curation, digital literacy, INF532, knowledge networks, ReflectionLeave a comment

The digital artefact:

Beware online “filter bubbles” by Eli Pariser

Published on Mar 22, 2013

examines these issues closely.

Retrieved: http://youtu.be/4w48Ip-KPRs viewed 9 May 2015

Relevance?
Relevance?

0.28

Invisible algorithmic editing of the web.

Personalisation or control???

There is no standard Google anymore:

Collecting information
Collecting information

2.20

Controlled consumerism?
Controlled consumerism?

3.58

These concepts present us with a great learning idea – having students search the same keyword and comparing what they get back could be very powerful.

Where is your personalisation coming from?
Where is your personalisation coming from?

4.35

Problem with filter bubbles problem is we don’t get to choose what gets in and we don’t even know when things are being collected.

Should we be grateful or concerned?
Should we be grateful or concerned?

6.20

How do we decide?
How do we decide?

6.54 We are now back in 1915 on the web because we are being exposed to a selection of information over which we have no real input.

Information curation and knowledge networks could either enable filter bubbles or break through them.

It is our role to educate our students so that they know how these websites work and what they collect and present to each one of us separately. The way in which our actions are summarised and utilised differs  depending on the website we are using. Comparing this to the way in which our library catalogues respond is a worthwhile educational exercise. The speed at which information is being added to the web in combination with these mining algorithms is a critical C21st skill, and one we should be including in our overall education programs.

To balance information or to personalise it?

The issue of who has control is the answer to this question.

Reflecting on metadata

On By Margaret SimkinIn Curation, knowledge networks, ReflectionLeave a comment

What’s the most important point that struck you in your readings?

Investigating RDA as the new cataloguing, and having a presentation from OCLC about their cataloguing system last year brought some of these concepts to my attention. There is a big difference between knowing something exists and understanding it and I am still struggling with that. I can see the value of where metadata is heading but I don’t fully understand how to create it for best effect. I also worry that there amount of data will become a problem for retrieval rather than assisting us to find things.

What is the value of Web 3 to your learning and teaching?

I think it is important to record or note the good things that we come across so that we can find them again. Collaboratively locating valuable sources is a great way to save time and energy while contributing to the learning process.

Do you engage in tagging, indexing, or any other information organisation strategy?

I have been a long time “collector” of sources adding them to a wiki for teachers at my school: http://www.esandbox.wikispaces.com/ but, like the Internet itself, my organization of the data is not the best as additions are made in spurts and often spasmodically while tagging tends to be overlooked. I add to my Diigo library often, usually by favouriting tweets, which automatically records them. I have good intentions of going in to Diigo and adding tags but often don’t get around to it. My library : https://www.diigo.com/user/msimkin has 3268 untagged items (which is rather embarrassing!)

Do you embed metadata into your pdf documents (for example)?

It has never occurred to me to embed metadata into documents that I produce, and frat this stage I am not sure how I could manage this.

Do you have an organised approach to organising metadata?

I am afraid that I am little ad hoc (unless I am actually cataloguing something in the formal sense).