Abstract
Informational resources are essential for communities, rooting them in their own history, helping them learn and solve problems, giving them a voice in decisionmaking and so on. For digital inclusion and inclusion in the informational and democratic processes of society more generally it is essential that communities retain the skills, awareness and motivation to create and manage their own informational resources. This article explores a model for the creation of online content that incorporates the different ways in which the quality and relevance of information can be assured. This model, ‘‘Aggregate-then-Curate’’ (A/C), was developed from earlier work concerning digital inclusion in UK online centres, models of informal e-learning and ecologies of resources. A/C shows how creating online content can be viewed as a 7-step process, initiated by individuals but bringing in ‘‘digital learning champions’’, other community members and formal educational institutions at different stages. A/C can be used to design training to help build the capacity to manage community informational resources in an inclusive way. The article then discusses and evaluates MOSI-ALONG, a Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded project founded on these ideas, which illustrates how A/C can be used to design training to help build the capacity to manage community informational resources in an inclusive way. This conclusion is supported by evaluations of the work done so far in MOSI-ALONG.Keywords: curation; digital inclusion; object-centred sociality; ecology of resources; inclusion; online content; social media; digital learning champions; communities(Published: 19 December 2012)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20: 18677 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.18677
Highlights
This article presents and tests an original model for the process of developing collections of online content in a digitally inclusive way
What have we learned about the A/C model? Firstly, Stage 2 is often very unconscious and often embedded in personal attributes such as confidence and skills
The digital learning champions’’ (DLCs) role remained external to the community throughout
Summary
This article presents and tests an original model for the process of developing collections of online content in a digitally inclusive way. The recommendation of the research was that content creation tools and new skills in the ‘‘trusted intermediaries’’ who support learning in digital contexts were needed, designed for social inclusion, by allowing learners to follow those interests that motivated them This was called the Community Development Model of Learning (Garnett 2005). This article reflected the idea of Simon (2010) of object-centred sociality Á the notion that community identity was, at least in part, sustained by the collections of artefacts or content that helped form part of the community’s informational resources Á and became the foundation of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded MOSI-ALONG project This ran in 2011 and was initiated to test parts of the learning model.
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