Edumeres.net: A Virtual Research Environment for International Research into Educational Media
International research into textbooks and educational media is a field of scientific work which spans a broad range of disciplines and a wide geographical area. It operates at the intersection between academic research, school practice and education policy. The Edumeres.net portal, a comprehensive and centralised gateway to research into international educational media, will be set up by the Georg Eckert Institute as a virtual point of reference. Thus it will offer a variety of ways of documenting, and ensuring open access to, the most up-to-date knowledge in this field. Over the next two years, and with the support of the German Research Foundation, the Georg Eckert Institute will develop and test an integrated virtual research environment (VRE). By applying the latest communication technology and publication processes, this VRE should expand and sustain the function of the institute as a promoter of networks among the broadly scattered community of educational media researchers.
Information, Publications, Topics
The groundwork for the portal was laid and made publicly available thanks to a grant from the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony. Access to information and search motors as well as various publication methods enables users to become acquainted with the basic principles and results of research, which are either created internally within the scope of the VRE, or submitted by users to be published online. The sections devoted to reviews, analyses, contributions, dossiers, the books series and journal contain a variety of publications in the field of educational media research and the GEI which are available via open access and in a citable form via a uniform resource name (URN). The area devoted to ‘Topics’ provides users with access to information and materials from the portal which are arranged in a structured and focused way. In addition, social tagging or collaborative tagging enables users, once logged on to the portal, to allocate headings of their choice to accessible contents. These then appear on the screen in tag clouds. Thus users have direct access to gateways dealing with specific topics which have either been defined by the portal editors or indexed directly by users themselves.
Virtual Research Environment (VRE)
Edumeres.net, the virtual network for international educational media research provides collaborative support for work groups at all stages, from the moment they develop their initial idea to practical work on texts and materials as well as the preparation of final publications. Various Web 2.0 technologies have been applied in order to facilitate this process and make it more effective. Community-based communication tools and work tools based on the TYPO 3 content management system are also integrated in order to provide users with research aids which are adapted to their context. At the same time, security requirements are taken into consideration, so that it is possible to set up a project application to which only a restricted circle of colleagues has access, or so that a number of colleagues may work on a common publication such as a textbook. The key tool of the VRE is a text editor, which includes additional functions such as a software versioning programme enabling users to trace the successive versions of a text. A file management system with a RTF repository makes it possible to secure and exchange documents. The additional use of an import/export function also makes it possible to integrate texts from other sources or to make images and multimedia data available to all members. The possibility of creating several articles within each project increases the flexibility of the system. Direct communication between participants in the project is facilitated thanks to the relevant community- and commentary-based functions such as the creation of networks, messaging, forums and blogs.
Edumeres.net may be understood as virtual work in progress, a project which is open to all users at all stages of its development, such that the portal remains receptive to practical knowledge at all stages of its development.
Project leaders: Roderich Henrÿ and Robert Strötgen
Project assistants: Sylvia Brink, Christian Frey, Andreas L. Fuchs and Kathleen Reiß
Duration: two years
Sponsor: German Research Foundation
Publications:
Brink, Sylvia, Christian Frey, Andreas L. Fuchs, Roderich Henry, Kathleen Reiß and Robert Strötgen, „Edumeres.net: Aufbau einer virtuellen Forschungsumgebung für die internationale Bildungsmedienforschung.“ in Generation international - die Zukunft von Information, Wissenschaft und Profession: 31. Online-Tagung der DGI ; 61. Jahrestagung der DGI ; Frankfurt am Main, 15. bis 17. Oktober 2009 ; Proceedings, ed. by Marlies Ockenfeld, 225–234, Tagungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Informationswissenschaft und Informationspraxis 12. Frankfurt am Main: DGI Deutsche Gesellschaft für Informationswissenschaft und Informationspraxis, 2009.
Presentations:
- „Vernetzung im Forschungsgebiet der internationalen Bildungsmedienforschung und Erprobung neuer Formen wissenschaftlicher Kommunikation und Publikation“, presentation at the DFG/DINI workshop „Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Informationslandschaft in Deutschland - Der Aufbau virtueller Forschungsumgebungen“ in Berlin-Adlershof, February 17/18, 2009.
- „Edumeres.net: Aufbau einer virtuellen Forschungsumgebung für die internationale Bildungsmedienforschung“, talk at the 31st DGI-Jahrestagung in Frankfurt a.M., October 16, 2009.
- „Edumeres.net: Community-basierte Forschungsumgebung für die internationale Bildungsmedienforschung“, presentation at the workshop „Virtuelle Forschungsplattformen in den Geisteswissenschaften“ at the Universität Trier, October 21/22, 2009.
Contact:
Roderich Henrÿ
Main Building Office E 2.14
Tel.: +49 (0)531 590 99 57
[Research/Communication]
Email: send
Robert Strötgen
Main Building Office E 2.05
Tel.: +49 (0)531 590 99 47
Tel.: +49 (0)531 123 103 -205
[Research/Head of Communication]
Email: send