CALL FOR PAPERS FOR SPECIAL ISSUE
Universities
as
Knowledge
Institutions in the Networked Age
Guest Editors: PHILIPPE AIGRAIN, JUAN CARLOS DE
MARTIN &
URS GASSER
The
journal Policy Futures in Education (PFIE) –
available
online at w ww.wwwords.co.uk/PFIE
–
will publish a special issue on the impact of information
technology
and the Internet on universities: to keep and develop their
role as
knowledge institutions, how should universities reshape in
this new
environment? S ub-topics, such as open access to scientific
literature
and distance learning, have an established track of studies
and
proposals. However, it has not been common so far to aim at an
integrated analysis of how universities will and should change
to acco
mmodate the changes brought by cyberspace in their specific
role of
knowledge user, processor, producer and disseminator.
One topic to be addressed is how the process of learning
within
universities will change because of the Internet and digital
devices.
For centuries, college student were educated by listening to
their
professor read aloud selected books taken from the u niversity
library
(‘lesson’ comes, in fact, from ‘lectio’, Latin for ‘reading
session’).
Gutenberg changed that by making books cheaper and therefore
more
amenable to individual ownership and private reading, but the
typical
university lesson ended up not changing much anyway. Thanks to
technology, we are now experiencing, at least potentially, a
Renaissance of learning methods: from ebooks to podcasts, from
virtual
worlds classrooms to streaming, from computer-assi sted
learning to
videogames, the avenues of learning have increased
dramatically. Are we
heading towards purely technology-mediated learning
strategies? Is the
old Socratic professor-student direct approach completely
obsolete?
Doesn’t the wider s pectrum o
A second topic is how research will be affected by the
Internet. A
major potential impact will be on the way research results
will be
communicated in the future. The scientific paper as a
rhetorical device
is increasingly under pressure in favour of mor e flexible,
digitally-enabled forms of communication, mostly based on
semantic web
technologies. How would the decline of the scientific paper
affect
science? What about the role of search engines in the future
of
research? Will the Internet enable new forms of evaluation of
scientific results ? How would that change the centuries-old
mechanism
of recognition and promotion within the scientific community?
Moreover,
the transition towards digital knowledge seem to affect trends
towards
commercializatio n of knowledge at universities and knowledge
institutions, and the impact those trends have on knowledge
generation.
Additionally, the Internet seem to be increasing the tension
between
the growing specialization of research activities and the
aspiratio n
towards
The third topic regards how should universities use cyberspace
to best
implement their mission with respect to society. In recent
years
society has been asking universities to do more than simply –
albeit
crucially – educate students and pro duce new academic
knowledge. The
list of new demands include life-long education, open access
to
scientific papers and educational resources, and encouragement
and
support for spin-offs and start-ups. But is that it? Of course
not.
Public education, at all levels, was born with a clear mandate
to
educate citizens and to increase social mobility, not simply
provide
students with marketable skills and bookshelves with new
scientific
journals. Moreover, in our age the increasingly complex
problems that w
e are facing as society, from global warming to water
supplies, from
the environment to energy issues, from the challenges (and
opportunities) presented by bio-genetics and nanotechnology,
don’t call
for a renewal of the concept of University as P ublic Ins
The special issue builds upon the COMMUNIA 2010 Conference on University and Cyberspace – Reshaping Knowledge Insti tutions for the Networked Age, held at Turin, 28-30 June 2010. Submitters can visit the conference site and access material originating from the conference at http://www.communia2010.org
Possible
issues
relating
to the above topics include:
- Digital Natives: how will the characteristics of the new
generations
of students, faculty and staff shape the future of
universities?
- The Spatial Infrastructure: physical and virtual spaces for
higher
education
- The Use of Digital Technology in the Classroom
- Open Access to Scientific Results (papers, data, software)
- Open Educational Resources
- Educational Videogames
- Digital Devices as Platform for Learning
- Non-formal Education via the Internet
- Digital Divide and Higher Education
- Long-term Knowledge Preservation in a Digital Age
- Academic Production and the Knowledge Commons
- Digital and Physical Social Networks
- Intellectual Property and Academic Production
- Physical and Digital Library
- Semantic Web Technologies Applied to Scientific Results and
Educational Resources
Papers
should
be
sent as email attachments:
pfie-specialissue@nexa.polito.it
Deadline for submissions: 15 January 2011
All papers submitted will be evaluated using the PFIE’s normal peer review process. Please also see the Journal’s information for authors: www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/howtocontribute.asp
EDITORIAL
CONTACTS
Dr Philippe Aigrain
CEO, Sopinspace
4, passage de la Main d’Or
F-75011 Paris
France
philippe.aigrain@sopinspace.com
Professor
Juan
Carlos
De Martin
Co-Director, NEXA Center for Internet & Society
Politecnico di Torino – DAUIN
Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24
I-10129 TORINO
Italy
demartin@polito.it
Urs
Gasser
Executive Director
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA
ugasser@cyber.law.harvard.edu