Volunteer participation in citizen science projects

The purpose of this research is to assess the current state of citizen science projects and reveal the role of volunteers in the research process. This is achieved by performing a literature review and content analysis of three international and one state-owned citizen science platforms (Wikipedia, SciStarter, CitSci and Precipita) that contain more than 800 research projects. Projects have been analyzed according to four categories: the academic disciplines, the way the project is designed, the phases of the research in which volunteers participate, and the tasks they perform. The results show that projects in the arts, humanities, and social sciences disciplines are almost non-existent. In addition, in the field of natural and physical sciences, projects are fostered with a top-down approach and volunteers participate primarily in the data collection phase in order to obtain a large volume of data, thereby receiving more financing from the European Union

Towards personalization in digital libraries through ontologies

In this paper we describe a browsing and searching personalization system for digital libraries based on the use of ontologies for describing the relationships between all the elements which take part in a digital library scenario of use. The main goal of this project is to help the users of a digital library to improve their experience of use by means of two complementary strategies: first, by maintaining a complete history record of his or her browsing and searching activities, which is part of a navigational user profile which includes preferences and all the aspects related to community involvement; and second, by reusing all the knowledge which has been extracted from previous usage from other users with similar profiles. This can be accomplished in terms of narrowing and focusing the search results and browsing options through the use of a recommendation system which organizes such results in the most appropriate manner, using ontologies and concepts drawn from the semantic web field. The complete integration of the experience of use of a digital library in the learning process is also pursued. Both the usage and information organization can be also exploited to extract useful knowledge from the way users interact with a digital library, knowledge that can be used to improve several design aspects of the library, ranging from internal organization aspects to human factors and user interfaces. Although this project is still on an early development stage, it is possible to identify all the desired functionalities and requirements that are necessary to fully integrate the use of a digital library in an e-learning environment

Evaluating teaching and management innovations in an online university: the case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is an online university that has innovation as a transversal feature in all its activities and processes. Therefore, innovation is present in the annual objectives of all the academic and management departments in order to increase student satisfaction. UOC stimulates innovation by funding strategic projects as well as organizing regular internal calls for small projects which brings about innovative academic and management proposals. In this paper we present the method for evaluating teaching and management innovations through internal calls (APLICA), by selecting which initiatives are suitable to become strategic innovative projects (INNOVA) or which features should compose any application available at the OpenApps platform. Besides, general indicators used by the Innovation Program to evaluate the activities carried out are also reported

Open Apps: Opening Teaching Experiences and Applications

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC) is an online university that makes extensive use of information and communication technologies to provide education. Ever since its establishment in 1995, the UOC has developed and tested methodologies and technological support services to meet the educational challenges posed by its student community and its teaching and management staff. The know-how it has acquired in doing so is the basis on which it has created the Open Apps platform, which is designed to provide access to open source technical applications, information on successful learning and teaching experiences, resources and other solutions, all in a single environment. Open Apps is an open, online catalogue, the content of which is available to all students for learning purposes, all IT professionals for downloading and all teachers for reusing. To contribute to the transfer of knowledge, experience and technology, each of the platform¿s apps comes with full documentation, plus information on cases in which it has been used and related tools. It is hoped that such transfer will lead to the growth of an external partner network, and that this, in turn, will result in improvements to the applications and teaching/learning practices, and in greater scope for collaboration. Open Apps is a strategic project that has arisen from the UOC's commitment to the open access movement and to giving knowledge and technology back to society, as well as its firm belief that sustainability depends on communities of interest.La Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) es una universidad en línea que realiza un uso intensivo de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación para proporcionar una educación y aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida. Des de sus inicios la universidad ha desarrollado y testeado metodologías y tecnologías con el objetivo de proporcionar soluciones a los retos de aprendizaje y docentes ofrecidos por la comunidad de estudiantes, académicos y personal de gestión. Fundamentado en este saber hacer, nace la plataforma OpenApps con la finalidad principal de poner a disposición de la comunidad la experiencia acumulada en la UOC durante más de 15 años en docencia, aprendizaje y gestión para que pueda ser aplicado, adaptado o evolucionado por terceros. En este artículo se presentan las características esenciales para que una innovación pueda formar parte de esta plataforma institucional, las especificaciones y usuarios de la plataforma, la finalidad del servicio y las futuras líneas de trabajo.La universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) és una universitat en línia que fa un ús intensiu de les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació per proporcionar una educació i aprenentatge al llarg de la vida. Des dels seus inicis la universitat ha desenvolupat i testejat metodologies i tecnologies amb l'objectiu de proporcionar solucions als reptes d'aprenentatge i docents oferts per la comunitat d'estudiants, acadèmics i personal de gestió. Basat en aquest saber fer, neix la plataforma OpenApps amb la finalitat principal de posar a disposició de la comunitat l'experiència acumulada a la UOC durant més de 15 anys en docència, aprenentatge i gestió, perquè es pugui aplicar, adaptar o desenvolupar per tercers. En aquest article es presenten les característiques essencials perquè una innovació pugui formar part d'aquesta plataforma institucional, les especificacions i usuaris de la plataforma, la finalitat del servei i les futures línies de treball

Youth impact on the public sphere in Press and Twitter: The dissolution of the Spanish Youth Council / El impacto de los jóvenes en la esfera pública: La disolución del Consejo de la Juventud de España en la prensa y en Twitter

This paper aims to contribute to the study of the difficulties that young people face in accessing the public sphere as political actors. It looks at the Press coverage and the Twitter activity surrounding the restructuring process and the subsequent dissolution of the Spanish Youth Council (Consejo de la Juventud de España - CJE). A content analysis was carried out on the news published in 22 newspapers between 2012 and 2014, as well as on the use of Twitter within the framework of the “Salvemos el CJE” campaign during the same period of time. The main objective of the analysis has been to see the prominence of this issue on both the media and citizens’ agendas. In most newspapers, the measures taken by the government vis-á-vis the CJE were treated as punctual news of peripheral importance. The online campaign, mainly orchestrated by youth grassroots movements, raised the controversy on the biased nature and the political consequences of this plan. The core of the campaign addressed the representation of young people in public institutions. The results of the study suggest that the increased potential for visibility offered by social media is not always maximized and does not necessarily alter the prominence of an issue in the public sphere

Participatory design of citizen science experiments

This article describes and analyzes the collaborative design of a citizen science research project through cocreation. Three groups of secondary school students and a team of scientists conceived three experiments on human behavior and social capital in urban and public spaces. The study goal is to address how interdisciplinary work and attention to social concerns and needs, as well as the collective construction of research questions, can be integrated into scientific research. The 95 students participating in the project answered a survey to evaluate their perception about the dynamics and tools used in the cocreation process of each experiment, and the five scientists responded to a semistructured interview. The results from the survey and interviews demonstrate how citizen science can achieve a “cocreated” modality beyond the usual “contributory” paradigm, which usually only involves the public or amateurs in data collection stages. This type of more collaborative science was made possible by the adaptation of materials and facilitation mechanisms, as well as the promotion of key aspects in research such as trust, creativity and transparency. The results also point to the possibility of adopting similar codesign strategies in other contexts of scientific collaboration and collaborative knowledge generatio

Falling on deaf ears? An analysis of youth political claims in the European mainstream press

There is a growing body of work on the ability of young people and minorities to have their voices heard in the public sphere, particularly with advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the emancipatory expectations that ensued. Are all young people, in all their diversity, equally likely to have their political claims relayed by the mainstream press? Is the growing prevalence of social media communication reflected in mainstream media agenda setting? Does it contribute to political equality in terms of representation in the mainstream press? This article answers these questions through a large-scale political claims analysis in 45 newspapers across 9 European countries. It comes to confirm the theoretical underpinnings laid out by scholars like Herman and Chomsky with their analysis of media agenda setting and power relations, or Chantal Mouffe and her notion of agonistic pluralism and the need to address unequal access to the public sphere. Overall, our findings suggest that young people in general, but even more so disadvantaged youth socio-economic groups still seem highly misrepresented in mainstream newspapers, and that the increasing prevalence of social media communication does not seem reflected in mainstream media agenda setting

Recursos educativos abiertos: repositorios y uso

Open educational resources: repositories and use. A bibliographic review, state of the art, history, characteristics, development, projects and research lines of open educational resources (OERs) are presented, as well as their storage in repositories and their use in university educational practice. OERs have had two phases: an initial one concerned about providing access, and the more current one, focused on their incorporation into educational practice