Jerry Watkins

The Impact of Social Media on Informal Learning in Museums

This paper posits that social networking can take a central role in learning in informal environments such as museums, libraries and galleries. It argues that social media offers young people agency previously unavailable in informal learning environments in order to explore complex responses to and participation with cultural content. The paper will consider transformations in digital literacy and the processes by which young learners can connect with knowledge in informal learning environments to become active cultural participants. Die Wirkung sozialer Medien auf informelle Bildung in Museen Dieses Papier postuliert, dass soziale Vernetzung eine zentrale Rolle im Lernen in informellen Umgebungen wie Museen, Bibliotheken und Galerien annehmen kann. Es behauptet, dass soziale Medien jungen Leuten als Agentur in informellen Lernumgebungen dienen können, die zuvor nicht verfügbar sind, um komplexe Antworten zu erkunden und Beteiligung mit kulturellem Inhalt zu erkennen. Die Autoren betrachten Transformationen in digitalen Fähigkeiten und den Prozessen, durch die junge Anfänger sich mit Wissen in anderen informellen Bildungsumgebungen verbinden können, um aktive kulturelle Teilnehmer zu werden. L’impact des medias “sociaux” sur l’apprentissage informel dans les musées Le présent article affirme que la mise en réseau humain peut jouer un rôle central pour l’apprentissage dans des environnements informels comme les musées,les bibliothèques et les galeries. Il avance que les medias “sociaux” offrent aux jeunes des moyens qui n’existaient pas auparavant dans les environnemetns d’apprentissage informels pour permettre d’explorer des réactions complexes et d’interagir avec le contexte culturel. Les auteurs examinent les mutations de la compétence numérique et les processus par lesquels les jeunes apprenants peuvent se brancher sur la connaissance dans des environnements d’apprentissage informels pour devenir des acteurs culturels dynamiques. El impacto de los medios colectivos sobre el aprendizaje informal en los museos Esta artículo postula que la creación de redes humanas puede desempeñar un papel central para el aprendizaje en entornos informales como los museos, las bibliotecas y las galerías. Apunta que los medios sociales ofrecen a los jovenes capacidades que antes no estaban asequibles dentro de los entornos de aprendizaje informal para explorar las respuestas complejas y interagir con el contexto cultural. Los autores consideran las transformaciones en el alfabetismo digital y los procesos a través de los cuales los jovenes alumnos pueden conectarse con los conocimientos dentro de esos entornos informales de aprendizaje para convertirse en actores culturales dinámicos.

Participatory content creation: voice, communication, and development

This article uses the example of a mobile mixed-media platform – a converted three-wheeled auto-rickshaw – in Sri Lanka in order to explore whether and how content-creation activities can enable marginalised communities to have a voice. It draws upon research into participatory content-creation activities conducted in 15 locations across India, Indonesia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The main findings are: the need to pay attention to context when thinking about what might be locally appropriate, relevant, and beneficial in terms of participatory content creation; the benefits that can be gained from creatively reaching out to and engaging marginalised groups and encouraging a diversity of voices; the usefulness of locally produced content for generating local debate around local issues; and the benefits of encouraging participation at all stages of content creation, so that content is locally meaningful and might lead to positive social change.

ICTs, development and trust: an overview

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on information and communication technologies (ICTs), development and trust and to introduce papers in the special issue: “Trust and information and communication technologies for development”.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the literature on trust, broadly, and then, specifically, focuses on linkages to ICTs, and human development.Findings – Trust is a broadly defined, yet relatively understudied concept in the context of ICTs and development (ICTD). The paper finds that there are many definitions of trust and ways it is constituted in the context of ICTD. It highlights the opportunity to contribute to the literature and this burgeoning field through research on trust in ICT‐mediated services or systems, trust in information and trust in institutions that are often key providers of these services.Originality/value – The paper holds value to both academics and practitioners working in the field of ICTD by outlining the key pro...

Social media, participatory design and cultural engagement

This paper reports on the application of Participatory Design methodology to an experiment in social media production. Staff at the Australian Museum are developing new content genres, creative tools and techniques in order to produce original cultural multimedia based on -- or inspired by -- the Museums extensive collections. The ultimate aim of the project is for the Museum to act as a social media hub for external communities of interest to co-create their own narrative-based interpretations of the Museums content, leading to an individualized cultural experience for physical and online visitors alike. A participatory content creation method has been developed for this project, which features iterative design cycles marked by social prototyping, evaluation and strategic formulation. These cycles are repeated until desired performance is achieved.

Digital cultural communication: designing co-creative new media environments

The design and implementation of audience-focused immersive media-rich physical environments is a familiar landscape within the commercial sphere. From theatre and theme parks to autoshows and airports, commercial interdisciplinary design and production teams have extended and solidified the new media agenda. The success of this track record is demonstrated by the increasing presence of commercial design techniques and knowledge in the creation of immersive new media within the cultural sphere, as proven by Londons Natural History Museum, or the Melbourne Museum.This paper introduces the notion of digital cultural communication, a continuum through which designers can consider the place of narrative and experience and their attributes within public and commercial institutions. Digital cultural communication allows users to become co-creators of knowledge by providing tools and methods which enable the co-construction of creative artefacts. This paper uses a case study from Australias rich cultural institution sector to illustrate the conceptual design of new media co-creative environment using an HCI-derived methodology supported by participatory action research. It is hoped that this method will demonstrate to curators of cultural experiences the cost-effective possibilities for enabling audiences to create rich narrative from user-led content.

Cultural institutions, co-creativity and communities of interest

Despite the proliferation of web-based news and information services, there remains a lack of online destinations from which to obtain reliable and authoritative cultural knowledge. In many countries, such knowledge is provided by cultural institutions such as museums and libraries. Recent discussion suggests that social media - including blogs, wikis and digital stories - may provide a creative solution to the ongoing interaction between cultural institutions and communities of interest. However, little applied research exists to demonstrate how social media can be established and maintained within museums and libraries, and what issues are raised within the institution by a more participatory approach to cultural communication. This paper highlights the implementation of a new program at the Australian Museum to train staff in social media production, in order to make the many thousands of objects and stories held within the Museums collections more accessible and engaging to communities of interest.

Developing communities and collections with new media and information literacy

As part of its many functions, the reference library is charged with developing both its collection and its user community. These two functions are sometimes pursued as separate initiatives (with separate funding) by library managers. In Australia, the State Library of Queensland (SLQ) is committed to an exciting policy of simultaneous collection development and community engagement by integrating new media technologies with public programs. SLQs Mobile Multimedia Laboratory is a purpose-designed portable digital creativity workshop which is made available to communities as a powerful platform to capture and disseminate local digital culture, and also to promote and train community members in information literacy. The Mobile Multimedia Laboratory facility operates in conjunction with SLQs Queensland Stories project, an innovative portal for the display and promotion of community co-created multimedia. Together, the Mobile Multimedia Laboratory and the Queensland Stories initiatives allow SLQ to directly engage with existing and new communities, and also to increase its digital collection with community created content. Not only are both initiatives relatively cost-effective, they have a positive impact upon information literacy within the state.

The Role of Intermediaries in the Development of Asynchronous Rural Access

In Orissa state, India, the DakNet system supports asynchronous Internet communication between an urban hub and rural nodes. DakNet is noteworthy in many respects, not least in how the system leverages existing transport infrastructure. Wi-Fi transceivers mounted on local buses send and receive user data from roadside kiosks, for later transfer to/from the Internet via wireless protocols. This store-and-forward system allows DakNet to offer asynchronous communication capacity to rural users at low cost. The original ambition of the DakNet system was to provide email and SMS facilities to rural communities. Our 2008 study of the communicative ecology surrounding the DakNet system revealed that this ambition has now evolved --- in response to market demand --- to the extent that e-shopping (rather than email) has become the primary driver behind the DakNet offer.

Digital Literacy and Cultural Institutions

This paper argues that a focus on digital literacy could be critical to the further development of a content-rich interaction between cultural institutions and communities of interest. Passive cultural audiences and active cultural participants will continue to expect higher levels of interactivity with institutionally located content. Social media could redefine the exchange of information and meaning between content-rich cultural institutions and content-hungry, digitally literate communities of interest. The digitally literate community not only consumes digital culture, it can produce and distribute its own artefacts in collaboration with the institution.