Learning Ecosystems

Portals, not repositories — from Mike Bogle

From his “Bigger than content” section:

The point here is that, in light of the prevailing aversion to sharing of material, I just can’t see the financial justification or prospect of success in setting up these large, expensive centralised repositories. People seem far more willing to share their materials in a context and environment that they feel a sense of “ownership” and control over.

In order to evolve past this cycle of hoarding and protecting, I think we must address the cultural elements first. The discussion has to be bigger than content, because the concerns are bigger than content.

In my view this is one of the key aspects that PLNs, open education, networked learning, and communities of practice have going for them. Not only do they model sharing and reuse, they demonstrate how it fits within the wider landscape of learning, teaching, personal and professional development – and in fact largely answer the question “what’s in it for me.”

Honestly I can’t say that centralised repositories do the same thing, because they still focus on content, and content by itself is static.

Quote from elsewhere in his posting:

But fundamentally we need to start thinking of content as something that sits within a broader process of participation, engagement, and discourse (emphasis DSC), rather than a singular focal point.

From DSC:
…as something that sits within a broader…learning…ecosystem.