Seminar Three October 14th & 15th 2010 The Open University
Researching everyday learning in digital contexts
Candice Satchwell, Mary Hamilton and David Barton, Literacy Research Centre, Lancaster
University
In our presentation and workshops we will examine three case studies of everyday learning
and explore their significance for learning, teaching and research in the digital university. In
particular we consider methodological issues in researching the boundaries between formal
and informal learning, and literacy and learning in different domains and stages of life. Our
case studies include: (1) researching informal learning within a virtual environment, raising
methodological issues of access, constantly shifting texts, and ethics of dealing with “public”
on-line data; (2) how collaborative methodology can contribute to our understandings of
informal and formal learning in the domain of communication technologies; and (3)
researching on- and off-line informal learning using digitally-based research tools.
Everyday uses of Flickr. David Barton will report on a multi-method study investigating the
Flickr photo site as an example of a much used online writing space. On this site people
write titles and descriptions for their photos, they annotate their photos with semantic tags,
they provide profiles of themselves, and they comment on other people’s photos. In these
activities people are engaging in new forms of writing and are extending their vernacular
practices into new areas. The study has analysed Flickr sites and interviewed users of Flickr
about their online practices. It began with an examination of the sites of a cross section of
100 users; this was followed up by a more detailed examination of 30 focal users. They were
interviewed using 2 stage online interviews and their sites were examined in detail. Firstly
there was a general interview about their uses of Flickr; this was followed by particular
questions based upon analysis of at least 100 of their photos.
Here we will focus on how people learn to participate in these new vernacular writing
practices. Learning and use were integrated in everyday activities in our data. There was
extensive learning and sharing of photographic skills and people said they were doing this in
ways they had not done before. They were reflecting on their own photographic practices in
new ways. In the sessions we will examine the ways in which people talk about the learning
they are involved in and the specific discourses of learning they commonly draw upon. We
will focus in particular on the ways in which Web2.0 sites provide new spaces for learning
and how people undertake deliberate projects of learning. We will also examine changes over
time as people identify new possibilities for themselves on Flickr. The work contributes to
theories of situated learning by developing them to take account of learning in online spaces.
Spiralling Through Change: Mary Hamilton will focus on the methodological issues and
process of collaborative research in which decision-making is shared among a core group of
participants. She will use the example of a collaborative research study among a small group
of older adults who were students, documenting changes in their communication practices as
they moved from the “old technology” of the printed word to new digital technologies. The
interview and enquiry process developed over a year of group and individual meetings within
which the key theme of social connection and isolation in relation to the adoption of new
technologies was identified. The study explored different domains of social activity from local
political participation to internet shopping; the experience of changing technologies across
the lifespan; intergenerational and cross cultural “sponsors” of learning; issues of fear and
trust; and the material factors that affect learning and appropriate take up of different
technologies for communication.
Collaboration evolved over the different stages of the project and included the following
aspects:
 Developing the research focus within the context of a university Continuing Education
programme;
 Determining places, times and pace of discussion groups and interviews;
Seminar Three October 14th & 15th 2010 The Open University
 Evolving methods and research questions through monthly discussions, some of
which were recorded using notes or an audio device;
 Choosing methods of communicating with participants and documenting findings,
including blogs, emails, handwritten letters, photos and tape recordings;
 Making decisions in the group about how to collaboratively write up or otherwise
communicate the findings and who the audiences might be.
In the presentation and workshop Mary will discuss these aspects and illustrate the
methodological advantages and challenges of collaboration using extracts from the data.
‘Carbon literacy practices’: Candice Satchwell will focus on the use of technology as a
method for investigating literacy practices relating to climate change. Whereas the Literacies
for Learning in Further Education project (Ivanic et al 2009) had used simple paper-based
methods to uncover details of students’ everyday literacy practices, many of which were
technology-based, the study she will talk about here used technology in the research
methods themselves. The study set out to investigate the role of texts in children’s
construction of knowledge about climate change. Traditional methods of interviewing and
observation could be used in schools to research the activities and understanding. However,
in order to understand the out-of-school aspects of children’s lives, a method involving the
Twitter network was used to encourage them to communicate with one another and a
researcher about the sources and ongoing development of their knowledge about climate
change. Candice will present some of the data generated; she will discuss some of the
affordances and limitations of this and other methods used, and their application to older
students.
We will all raise issues arising from negotiating boundaries between formal and informal
literacy and learning, including ethical, theoretical and methodological considerations.
References
Barton, D. Vernacular writing on the web. In D. Barton & U. Papen (eds.) The anthropology
of writing. London: Continuum, 2010.
Gee, J. P. 2004. Situated Language and Learning. London: Routledge.
Gerrard, R. Hamilton, M. Roberston, A., Ross-Mills, J. Willis, B (in preparation) Spiralling
through Change: Older People Negotiating New Communication Technologies .
Ivanic, R., Edwards, R., Barton, D., Fowler, Z., Mannion, G., Miller, K., Satchwell, C., Smith,
J., Martin-Jones, M., Hughes, B. (2009) Improving Learning in College, London: Routledge.
Lee, C. & D. Barton, Constructing Glocal Identities through Multilingual Writing Practices on
Flickr.com. International Multilingualism Research Journal, 5(1), 2011 to appear.
Selfe, C. E. and Hawisher, G. E. (2004) Literacy Lives in the Information Age: Narratives of
Literacy from the United States. Lawrence Erlbaum
Tusting, K. & D. Barton, Models of Adult Learning. Leicester: NIACE, 2006.