3.3 Facilitating Open Dissemination
With the advent of technology and the growing influence of social media communities, we now have a wider interpretation of ‘openness’. The concept of sharing outputs is no longer just viewed in a formal sense (e.g. a journal publication), but outputs can include informal ideas, suggestions and presentations.
Here are some examples of how technology has been supporting openness to a wider community:
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Stephen Downes curates blogs on a wide range of topics relating to educational technology, and publishes a daily and weekly digest.
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True Stories of Open Sharing is compiled by Alan Levine and “…shares moving, personal stories that would not have been previously possible, enabled by open licensed materials and personal networks.”
Activity 12: Tools that support Open Dissemination (30 mins)
Think about some technologies that support and facilitate open dissemination (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, blogging platforms, Flickr, SlideShare, Scoop.it, etc.). Select which of these tools you would use to disseminate your research and give a short explanation to justify your selection in the Discourse forum.
In selecting a channel, think about your project’s audience and what they could easily gain access to. For example, does your community have ready access to internet? Is your community active on a particular social network? Does your community regularly engage with blogs?