This document discusses using an ecological approach for collaborative narrative creation through location-based social media in urban environments. It draws analogies between biological swarming behaviors and how people interact through social media platforms. By accumulating signals like popular topics and tags in the virtual environment that then dissipate over time, it may be possible to trigger self-organized collaborative activities and learning in hybrid virtual and real-world urban spaces. Some open questions are raised around how to best utilize these accumulated social media signals to navigate action and emotion across both the virtual and real world.

1. An
ecological
approach
to
collabora0ve
narra0ve
crea0on
using
loca0ve
social
media
in
urban
contexts
ECER
2011
Session:
Didac0cs
and
technologies
for
outdoor
learning
in
urban
contexts
Kai
Pata
Tallinn
University,
Center
for
Educa0onal
Technology

2. Ecological
approach
to
learning
is…
learner
and
system
• …the
process
in
which
(community,
culture)
detects
and
corrects
errors
in
order
to
fit
and
be
responsive
• Adap0ng
to…
• the
dynamically
changing
environment
• the
behaviors
of
the
community/culture

3. Swarming
• Swarming
in
biology
is
based
on
species-­‐specific
signals
that:
– a)
are
accumulated
to
the
environment,
but
dissipate
in
<me
if
no
new
signals
are
added
(foraging
Analogy
to
popular
topics
and
tags
ants
detec0ng
pheromone
signals)
– b)
can
be
observed
in
real-­‐<me
as
a
signal
flow
in
the
surrounding
environment
(awareness
of
others
when
moving
in
the
flock)
• Swarm
members
interpret
and
use
the
signals
which
triggers
the
self-­‐
organized
collabora<ve
phenomena
Analogy
to
“Facebook
etc.
wall”

4. Swarming
for
foraging
food

5. Narra0ve
swarming
in
hybrid
urban
environments

6. Swarming
in
hybrid
(virtual
and
real)
urban
environments

7. From
graffiV
emo0on
to
real
urban
ac0on
We
store
eco-­‐cogni0ve
chances
for
ac0on
and
emo0onal
involvement
to
the
hybrid
ecosystem,
and
use
community
chances
for
naviga<on

8. Swarm
can
determine
the
meaning-­‐
and
ac0on
poten0ality
of
urban
environment
Embedding
bronze
soldier
memory
from
conceptual
space
into
the
real
space

9. Using
PLEs
for
ecological
approach
of
urban
learning

10. Ecological
learning
design
principles
Self-­‐organized
community
Teacher
Learner
Personal
learning
environment
Rules
for
connec0ng
community
networks
Community
creates
the
environment
for
knowledge
accumula0on
Autonomous
crea0on
and
sharing
Designing
learning
tasks
based
on
swarming
Community
as
the
ini0ator
of
accumulated
swarming
topics
Monitoring
the
community,
adap0ng
to
the
environment
Monitoring
the
community
to
detect
evalua0on
criteria
Community
gives
feedback
and
determines
effec0veness

11. Open
ques0ons
How
can
we
find
and
use
accumulated
signals
as
swarm
triggers
in
hybrid
urban
environment?
Virtual
presence
in
the
communi0es
Dissipa0ng
signals
enables
naviga0on
for
ac0on
and
emo0on
in
real
world
Mutual
awareness
“Hot
spots”
are
changing
in
0me
(Geo)tags
as
hot
spots
in
virtual
realm
enable
naviga0on
for
ac0on
and
emo0on
in
real
world