We can learn more from each other when information is open. A free exchange of ideas is critical to creating an environment where people are allowed to learn and use existing information toward creating new ideas.
Participation and collaboration is a fundamental key to being about to live in a community orientated fair world. Open Source software applies these principles to the development and sharing of new kinds of alternative digital platforms.
One of the first aspects I am loving about the course so far, is the lecturers. It is so refreshing to be guided by people who really believe in the love of knowledge, and share it so openly. In fact, everything about the course is open; Open Source. Using tools and information that is open source, our own thoughts and research, through this blog, will be open source. But what does Open Source mean? According to the Open Source Initiative,
Open source software is software that can be freely used, changed, and shared (in modified or unmodified form) by anyone.
Free alternatives to the Apples and Microsofts of this world, owning and copyrighting everything. Examples of open source software that I already use myself are WordPress, Mozilla Firefox, 7-Zip, Open Office, Notepad++. There are many more that I havn’t discovered yet, and when I do, I will be adding to my digital box of tools.
What does it mean to study “literature” or “history” when print is no longer the normative medium in which literary or historical artifacts are produced, let alone analyzed? What does it mean, more generally, for humanistic knowledge?
There is an incredible range of courses, you can do online now, through e-learning. From primary school teaching, web design, to languages such as Elvish (Lord of the Rings) to Klingon (Star Trek).
This Masters course is an e-learning course. So, naturally, we have been doing some research and reading on e-learning. We take it for granted now, we have all learnt how to do something from a website, whether its cooking, building a pallet-raised bed, to spinning. Apart from the usual tech tools you need for e-learning, eg laptop, connection to internet, etc, there are other skills needed to keep you going.
In one of our modules ‘Communities of Practice in Digital Scholarship‘, we were asked to read an article “Web Logs and Online Discussions as Tools to Promote Reflective Practice”. by Pedro Hernández Ramos. (Bear with me, I’ll learn how to do proper citations on WordPress, but for now here’s the info: The Journal of Interactive Online Learning,Vol 3, N0 1, Summer 2004, www.ncolr.org ISSN: 1541-4914).
Last winter I completed a course on Digital Design, it was the start of my journey down the digital road. Using Photoshop and Notepad, I learned how to design and hand-code my own website. Looking to further my knowledge and experience, I researched for an online course, that would further my digital skills.
I have just begun a Masters in Digital Culture with UCC.
This blog contains my research and rambling on what is Digital Culture. What is means to me, my community and my work.
