Aggregate-then-Curate: how digital learning champions help communities nurture online content

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