Conclusions

In this essay I have tried to describe the ways in which a new from of scholarly discourse can be sculpted. Although the scope and length of this work does not make it an appropriate forum for discussing in detail the impact or methodology of this new form of discourse, my aim is to highlight the need and possibilities that new technologies provide and which cannot be ignored if scholarly discourse is to fit into the daily lives of students, researchers and academics who exist in the wider and fast-moving multi-modal world.


There will be many issues in crafting new forms of expression. The first and most obvious will be in the assessment and planning of work in multi-modal presentation formats: this is necessarily more complex than writing a traditionally structured essay and, initially, takes some additional time for establishing structures, adding links, creating non-textual content etc. There are however compensating benefits for this work: a more engaging and absorbing work; a longevity beyond a project's first use; the ability to publish widely and add value to and/or edit the project over time (as long appropriatte!).


Not only will there be technical and time issues but there are also broader issues to consider which will include the role of visual communication, media skills, VLEs (which are rarely platform neutral nor open and interoperable), the role of open access materials and it's relationship to trends in Open Access publishing, intellectual property rights and copyright, statistics (both for resource management and, potentially, for trackings-based assessment), and the role of for-profit but free at the point of use web services as providers of "mission critical" information services.

However the idea of a new form of scholarly discourse, particularly for educational purposes, links into a broader scholarly environment which should include the regular addition of value-adding content such as linked citations, dynamic and interactive graphs, social networking features, etc. This discourse must also encompass factors which are important to academic institutions and and their staff and users: free or inexpensive access, good interface design, easy access.

This could be achieved by a move towards the semantic web in the long run. This must be alongside the acceptance of new technologies and the adoption of programmes such as Library Learning 2.0 (Hastings and Newman 2008) to foster a new understanding of new structures and multi-modal communication styles in scholarly discourse in the shorter term.

Web 3.0 or the Semantic Web

If web 2.0 represented a revolution to computer users, allowing more or less anyone with an internet connection to quickly upload content and communicate ideas and creative works to the world, then web 3.0 represents a very different type of revolution which may be far less immediately apparent but may offer the biggest opportunity for the sophisticated rethinking of scholarly communications.

Web 2.0's greatest asset was the fact that users did not need to learn any sort of programming or coding in order to create content, it could all be done visually with WYSWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors in almost all web services. Web 3.0 utilises what is known as the "semantic web" to make the bridge between human and computer understanding even more reliable. XML is the backbone of the semantic web (Dunsire et al 2008) as it separates content from formatting. XML is a data structure for carrying and transferring data which it does in a flexible standardised but platform neutral text only format (W3Schools 2008). The standard allows creators of content to select or create a suitable data structure which self-describes the file's content, this means that the content has been converted into a machine-readable but also a contextualised and descriptive way. In combination with formatting from HTML, XHTMLCSS data can therefore easily be moved between otherwise incompatible systems and software and reformatted quickly into a logical structure. For instance this example from W3Schools (2008) shows how a logical structure (defined by the content creator) is established, used and expressed in XML:

and/or

 

 Giada De Laurentiis

 2005

 30.00





 

 J K. Rowling

 2005

 29.99





 

 Erik T. Ray

 2003

 39.95

You can see that tags are descriptive and indicate the type of text contained, rather than defining the presentation or universal role (e.g. "title") of the content. This may not look revolutionary but it does represent a whole new way of structuring information for the web that is and will continue to make for more intelligent and flexible data usage and re-purposing which should also have an impact on the accuracy and relevance of semantic web search. Since XML is very much format neutral and descriptive it can therefore describe sound, video, text. etc. in comparable and equally machine readable ways. With HTML 5 (the current draft of which includes specific tags for embedding sound, video etc.) XML will be able to support fully multi-modal materials in a way that makes them as easy, if not easier, to connect to, find and manipulate than current html pages. In addition the separation of form and content offers far greater support for accessibility tools than traditional data structures. It is, for instance, obvious from looking at the XML is the example above that a screen reader may be written or adapted to use the contextual structure to better explain the content to a visually impaired reader. Similarly tools used to change the appearance of the web to suit users (high contrast, moving or larger text etc) will be able to work better with XML data than with data loaded only in HTML

Also important to the semantic web (and indeed the social web) is the concept of the Resource Description Format or RDF (Bilder 2008) which allows the authoring of content to be declared with information such as date of edit, author's name, copyright information etc. A combination of RDF and XML allows for the construction of traceable machine readable information with a high level of context and connectivity (e.g. to other works by another author). For real benefit however RDF and XML must take place at the point of creating resources and this is why scholarly communications, including e-learning materials should be looking towards creating materials in XML so that it can be used effectively in the new semantic web.

Web 2.0

Applications and features under the heading of Web 2.0 (O'Reilly 2005) have enhanced the range of what is technically possible and achievable by introducing an immense variety of simple to use tools which allow creation of content with only very minimal technical skills. Blogs, wikis and social networking all have their grounding in this type of technology. However much of what drives Web 2.0 was already technically possible some years ago (e.g. javascript, flash etc) however some new technologies, cheaper computing power (at home and server farm levels) and the rise of wifi has made delivery of services over a network become viable technically and economically. Thus most learners and researchers now have tools at their disposal that are incredibly powerful and often include free hosting for content, especially if published publicly.

Web 2.0 also allows the first user-friendly re-purposing and integration of content from other services and websites with feeds, podcasts and "widgets" all allowing dynamic content creation and cascading of information in very simple, platform neutral formats. Clearly there are already and will continue to be extremely fruitful scholarly uses for this technology with RSS feeds for scholarly journals, sharing of learning materials and the ability to add social dimensions and group collaboration to more traditionally top-down contexts.

However many see Web 2.0 as only part of the picture. Whilst web 2.0 has made the web more human friendly the sheer power of Google highlights the issue of how one navigates and interprets such a highly populated space. Many scholarly journals have barely exploited the possibilities of html let alone web 2.0 but this may just be a matter of waiting for the right time to take action as the emerging next generation of the web offers new possibilities for automation, improved navigation and more authoritative linking between resources.

Tools, Skills and the Possible

The early days of computing and the internet largely enabled text-focused communication with only few and/or relatively low resolution images. However as cheap computing power has expanded in line with Moore's Law, the uptake of broadband internet rises, more effective forms of compression are developed and utilised (most recently and notably Flash, as used by YouTube), and simpler inexpensive multimedia tools have all emerged, the scene has been set for truly multi-modal computer mediated communication in academic scholarly discourse, be it academic journals, essays or theses.

Indeed what is remarkable at this point in time is that is difficult to imagine human-computer interactions that would not be technically possible in the present or near future. Already most people carry around mobile phones which are also a video and stills camera, an email device, calculator, web browser, Bluetooth device (thus connectible to other devices), MP3 player, radio, alarm clock, address book, diary, a file storage device, a games device and a computer capable of running many basic java and/or flash programs (Nightingale 2007, Smith 2008, Clark 2003). At the same time home computers and laptops include most if not all of the above elements as well as, potentially, acting as a VOIP phone, video editing suite, sophisticated musical instrument and editor, DVD player and author, graphics suite and home network hub. Modern machines are comparatively cheap (£200 to £500 in many cases), robust and also contain all the normal features one expects: word processing, web browsing, etc. present in previous generations of computers. What has changed though is the portability of computing power with full integration of multimedia devices (e.g. Mac's on board camera and microphone) now standard in many computers. A sea change in the price and culture of computer usage has meant that many now use laptops as their only computer, particularly university students who increasingly arrive at university with a high powered personal laptop (Oblinger 2005) and a mobile phone capable of producing multimedia content that can be edited or uploaded at ease. Given the widespread use of new and portable technologies, especially by university students, it is surprising that the educational sector remains reluctant to embrace the potential learning opportunities that these technologies provide.

As suggested by the increasing power of home computers modern learners now come to academia with expectations and experience in popular multi-modal tools and may be using many of these on a recreational basis already. For example Mr_Stein (2008) has constructed a visual representation of all of the tools in his own personal learning environment (PLE) which brilliantly highlights the diverse networked nature of the modern web environment:

There are however important limitations on technologies mainly related to institutional policy, accessibility and individual engagement. The tech-savvy nature of young learners and researchers may be at odds with the position of their educators or senior scholars (Oblinger 2005). Regardless of age or background the enthusiasm for technology and the integration between individual and device can differ quite widely (Hastings and Newman 2008) and this may, in part, explain the text-focused usage of many technologies that allow for much more.

Scholarly Communication Demands and Realisation

In his later work on hypertext Landow (2006) reconsiders some of these ideas in the light of the shift to a "network structure of hypertext" as opposed to what Landow describes as the "axial structure of electronic books and scholarly books with foot – or endnotes". The latter format may suit tradition but the possibilities of the former only become obvious where initial experiments in multi-modal delivery are already taking place such the International Union of Crystallography (n.d.) where traditional html and pdf full text of articles are available alongside detailed descriptions of experiment (design, results and methods of analysis) and 2D and 3D representations of chemical structures are accessible by clicking chemical names in the (html) text. This combination of features allows readers of the journals to have a useful multi-modal experience where visual and specialist knowledge is valued and presented with equal status to the full text. As a result, readers get a richer and fuller learning experience than if they were to look at the text alone.

Clearly 3D modeling of chemical compounds will not be essential to all forms of electronic scholarly communication but each discipline and specialist area of scholarly work will have certain key modes of communication associated with it. This tailorable blend of key modes should be incorporated into scholarly journals and communications as those communications require. For instance, media and film studies journals might be expected to include multimedia clips, images and links to appropriate resources; medical journals are frequently highly illustrated but use of animated 3D views, access to click through to full detailed results of clinical research and RSS feeds of related studies might be appropriate enhancements or integrated elements to the full text.

Multi-Modal Learning

Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience (1945 quoted in Metiri Group 2008) describes the way in which different types of communication are absorbed and, in particular, the fact that the more multi-modal the experience, the better the human brain can process, retain and understand a concept. Though a complex concept Dale's theory can be seen in day to day academic life in rich combination of face to face, textual and multimedia used to aid study in on-campus courses. Or the ways in which people express themselves changes across different media as witnessed in the unexpected results of less traditional techniques used in Fried Foster and Gibbons' (2007) research to analyze students information seeking and working behaviours. Different modes of learning and expression may all re-enforce and add to each other: for instance in planning this essay I wrote many preliminary thoughts and comments in electronic and print forms, ideas were re-enforced and added to by annotating readings, and then firmer ideas formed as the assignment was talked about with friends and course colleagues, planned topics, refined them and made a visual plan to re-enforce and develop my ideas (see below).

Indeed Dreyfus' theory of educational embodiment may in fact be a demonstration of Dale's multi-modal learning as in-person contact and discussion is adding another form of stimuli to a pool of modes that may include readings, visual elements such as slides in lectures, class discussions, presentations etc. Thus it may be possible to get over the barrier of distance in e-learning and/or scholarly communication through a truly multi-modal experience where information is repeated and re-enforced through, say, sound, visual elements and online discussion.

Beyond Hypertext

"Professionally our methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate for their purpose... The summation of human experience is being expanded at a prodigious rate, and the means we use for threading through the consequent maze to the momentarily important item is the same as was used in the days of square-rigged ships."

Bush (1945 cited in Treloar 1999).

Traditionally one of the most prestigious and important forms of scholarly communication has been the academic journal. Most such journals have changed little with the move to digital printing processes: online editions are frequently presented as pdf or html pages sitting within a very hierarchical journal structure that mirrors the page numbering and linear format of the printed equivalent (Murray-Rust 2008).

However information-seeking (and consumption) behaviors are manifested quite differently online than they are in a print context, with readers speed reading or skipping through content, assessing material quickly and often based on what is available easily rather than what is most appropriate for their area of research. This has been characterized by some as behaviour more reminiscent of retail shopping (with accumulation of information the end goal) rather than behaviour traditionally recognised as scholarly research (Nicholas 2008). Additionally the current generation of students and researchers are coming into academia with a grounding in computer and internet usage for recreational as well as educational usage, and highly developed understandings of the media and visual design (Withers and Sheldon 2008) as well as an unprecedented day to day relationship to technology (Clark 2003), and have concomitant expectations of the uses of technology in education.

Landow (1997) considers the rich possibilities of linking and restructuring information using "hypertext" and the impact such experimentation has upon the traditional notions of structure and assessment (Elliott 2007) in scholarly communications .

What is Effective Scholarly Communication?

There is a popular attitude that communicating information in person will always be superior to doing so from a distance and that factors such as body language, physical gestures and the like can never be reproduced in a virtual environment. This concept is fervently supported by Dreyfus (2001) but the idea of educational embodiment denies the value of recording, absorbing, and reusing information at the time of receiving it - such as the looking up of a URL, checking terminology or even consulting a book at the time of hearing it's mention. With real time communications technologies (MSN, AIM, Skype) as well as, potentially, an enormous virtual reference library to hand at all times it may actually be the case that e-learning (and other forms of online-only scholarly discourse) not only as effective but possibly even more effective than face-to-face methods.

Dreyfus' attitude is however in line with the relatively cautious development of scholarly communications in the digital age. Perhaps this is simply a matter of adjusting to technology and the new methods of communication such technologies introduce (Carrington 2005), perhaps it is a pragmatic issue of the business models and intellectual property attitudes of scholarly publishers as considered by Murray-Rust (2008). Regardless of the reasons for the reluctance to change we are, with the explosion of network level computing and the coming of the semantic web, reaching a timely and important point at which to reassess fully the whole model of scholarly discourse as we know it.

In considering the possibilities of scholarly discourse (whether that be e-learning, essays, theses, scholarly communications, or journal articles) it seems crucial to consider what the most effective and deeply ingrained forms of human communication actually are. Whilst technology has allowed for ever more sophisticated forms of communication, text undoubtedly remains the dominant form of scholarly communication and assessment. Slowly and only marginally more absorbing mediums have been adopted in ways which closely resemble existing methods of communication and delivery. However, there are more approaches that better suit both reader and technology.

While text may be the dominant recorded form of scholarly communication and educational assessment, verbal and visual communication have always been key to physically-taught courses and should therefore also have more prominence in recorded scholarly communications and e-learning. Indeed it is the mixture of multi-modal stimuli and human interaction that makes “real life” compelling and can therefore make the internet and the written word less compelling or at times de-humanizing. Though it's meaning evolves somewhat over time,

"Hypertext most often refers to text on a computer that will lead the user to other, related information on demand. Hypertext represents a relatively recent innovation to user interfaces, which overcomes some of the limitations of written text. Rather than remaining static like traditional text, hypertext makes possible a dynamic organization of information through links and connections (called hyperlinks). Hypertext can be designed to perform various tasks; for instance when a user "clicks" on it or "hovers" over it, a bubble with a word definition may appear, a web page on a related subject may load, a video clip may run, or an application may open."

Wikipedia (2008)

This traditional meaning of hypertext goes some of the way to creating a new way to communicate. But it is with the developments of Web2.0, the widespread uptake of broadband technology and the emergence of the semantic web that scholarly communication has a chance to truly evolve beyond variations on the written word.

In this essay I will be looking at hypertext and what I believe are the key reasons that scholarly communication needs to change and make use of the opportunities new technologies provide. Throughout this essay I will be inserting images, video and sound as well as linking out to other sites. Though this is a conventionally structured essay I intend to combine it’s element in a networked rather than purely linear way and I will be aiming to illustrate some of my ideas through this assignment’s presentation.