Dissemination and Publishing

[John Simkin]

At the meeting at the British Council it was made very clear that the major problem of Transnational Projects was dissemination. We of course start out with a major advantage over other projects because we have a forum. Several of our members also have websites.

I have had an idea where we can combine the forum, websites and traditional publishing methods.

I developed the idea from my work on the JFK Forum. We have a section called Online Seminars. Over the last few weeks we have produced 27 of these seminars. So far 80 people have participated in these seminars. All contributors are told to reference their work in the same way as if they were producing an academic paper. The role of the participants is to both point out flaws in the argument of the seminar leader or to add extra information to support the case that is being made.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=197

My intention is to commission another 20 or so of these seminars. When each one of these has come under the scrutiny of the whole group, I will ask the authors of the best of these seminars to submit a final paper based on what information they have received during the discussion period. I believe that this is a good example of developing collective/community intelligence via the web.

These seminars will be produced in a form of a book. All the authors will be able to purchase copies at cost price. These can be sold at a profit via their website or at conferences, etc.

My idea is that we do something similar via E-HELP. For example, we could organize a collection of seminars on ICT in History, E-Learning, Online Forums and Language Teaching, etc.

Would you be interested in becoming involved in such a venture?

[Raymond Blair]

I find this idea interesting. My present time available for creating publications is limited and I have no such project in mind, but I think the basic idea is strong.

Ray Blair

[Doug Belshaw]

I find this idea interesting.  My present time available for creating publications is limited and I have no such project in mind, but I think the basic idea is strong.

Ray Blair

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Likewise, sounds like a great idea (although I think perhaps we should be moving away from paper-based dissemination of work). My time as an NQT is limited, but I'm sure that I could contribute in some way!

Doug

[Caterina Gasparini]

I find this idea interesting.  My present time available for creating publications is limited and I have no such project in mind, but I think the basic idea is strong.

Ray Blair

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Likewise, sounds like a great idea (although I think perhaps we should be moving away from paper-based dissemination of work). My time as an NQT is limited, but I'm sure that I could contribute in some way!

Doug

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It is a good idea, and I also agree that paper-based dissemination of work could be replaced by other means. I would like to contribute to it.

[David Richardson]

Count me in too, John. I've already got one or two papers which have only been disseminated internally which might be of interest to others.

[alf wilkinson]

Euroclio would also make an excellent avenue for dissemination - at their annual conferences we could do a progress paper, and promote the book too. If we can contact national subject associations, like the HA, and ICT organisations, like NAACE in the UK, these too would be good avenues for dissemination. You might also find one of the mainstream publishers prepared to handle the book - Terry got the HA book out via Routledge....

[John Simkin]

Euroclio would also make an excellent avenue for dissemination - at their annual conferences we could do a progress paper, and promote the book too. If we can contact national subject associations, like the HA, and ICT organisations, like NAACE in the UK, these too would be good avenues for dissemination. You might also find one of the mainstream publishers prepared to handle the book - Terry got the HA book out via Routledge....

Good idea about Euroclio, HA, NAACE, etc. The problem about using a publisher like Routledge is the cost of the book. I am sure we could do it for a fraction of the price. Routledge would also be unwilling to have the content of the book appear for free on the web. The danger is that such a deal would actually reduce dissemination of our ideas.

[Terry Haydn]

One way forward is 'network to network' learning; I am involved in several networks, and some of the work which we will be doing will be of interest to them. There is a network of about 40 Norfolk history teachers who meet regularly, a Norfolk Ntworked Learning Community project and a 'Creative Approaches to the use of ICT in history project. As well as the internet and forums, CDs can be a cheap and effective way of disseminating examples, ideas etc. Disadvantages in terms of time to copy CD, cost of posting etc, but gets round some other problems,

Terry

[Juan Carlos]

My intention is to commission another 20 or so of these seminars. When each one of these has come under the scrutiny of the whole group, I will ask the authors of the best of these seminars to submit a final paper based on what information they have received during the discussion period. I believe that this is a good example of developing collective/community intelligence via the web.

These seminars will be produced in a form of a book. All the authors will be able to purchase copies at cost price. These can be sold at a profit via their website or at conferences, etc.

My idea is that we do something similar via E-HELP. For example, we could organize a collection of seminars on ICT in History, E-Learning, Online Forums and Language Teaching, etc. If organized correctly, these could be self-funding.

I have also posted this message in the associates section. I have done this because I believe that the possibility of having an article published in a book might help to motivate them into producing seminars for us.

Excellent idea. I think that we could obtain some funding from National Socrates Agencies or Socrates in Brussels to publish the book.

We should also foster all sort of internet ways of dissemination. I think that different platforms such as MyEurope, Comenius Space or Spring Day in Europe and their respective newsletters will be very interesting.