The document summarizes the Emerge project, which aimed to support the formation of an effective and sustainable community of practice around the Users and Innovation Development Model using Web 2.0 technologies. Over 28 months, Emerge used community development processes and social networking to provide professional development, stimulate collaboration between projects, and improve awareness of projects in a wider context. Going forward, Emerge hopes to become a user-centered social learning hub that amplifies the outputs, connections, and impact of individuals and networks interested in educational learning and teaching.

1. Next Generation Technologies in Practice, Loughborough, 11 March 2009 What sustains our community?

2. Outline Background: why we did What we did What we learned Where we are going from here

3. Emerge was an innovative, 28 month, user-centred, investigation-led, project, funded by the JISC and guided by the principles of appreciative inquiry.. The aim is to support the formation of an "effective and sustainable community of practice” around the Users and Innovation Development Model , using Web2.0 technologies ( def 1 , def 2 ). Emerge is the support project for the JISC Capital Programme , Users and Innovation strand

4. Educational R&D Outputs or outcomes? Producing artefacts or building capacity? Quantitative or qualitative measures? Easy answers or the deep complexity of institutional change? Through the U&I Programme a real effort has been made to transform practice based on the needs of individual users working in institutions

5. Developing projects in a context where there is awareness of the wider activity in a field and an understanding of the alignments and gaps in that field will lead to better projects being developed. By using community development processes and social networking the general quality of educational (learning) technology development projects may be improved, bringing benefits not just to the JISC but more widely to all sectoral funding agencies and stakeholders. Working hypotheses

6. Self-selected (autonomous, self-directed) individuals build networks to meet broader social objectives beyond the ‘daily-me’ ... Networked individuals can move across, undermine, and transgress boundaries of existing institutions. This provides the basis for pro-social networks: neither personal nor institutional. These self-selected, internet enabled, networked individuals often break from existing organisational or institutional networks that are themselves being transformed in Internet space... The ability that the Internet affords individuals to network beyond institutional arenas reinforces communicative power . (Dutton 2008, 5 th Estate, 5-6 my paraphrase ) A Connected Commons

7. A model of software development adapted to community development transformative, investigative approach Where we started

8. Phases 1 Community formation Support to understand processes of user engagement, undertake user engagement activities, and work through a peer review process 2 Project support using community development processes and social networking 3 Benefits realisation to widen the impact of the projects, build capacity , synthesise knowledge, experience and outputs

9. Radical, user-centred, Freirian approach to community formation activities authentic to the participants’ cultural context … participants in the proto-projects, projects and the community of practice are themselves a user group working in a user centred environment, modelling the user engagement development cycle and applying asset-based community development processes It is an actor network, not a software platform or an institution

10. Activities London Launch, April 07 Online Activity Days, June 07 Manchester Community Consolidation, July 07 Nottingham Project Development (Dragon’s Den), Sept 07 York Programme Launch, Jan 08 Digital Communities & Digital Identities, April 2008 Exploring User 2.0: the shape of future users, June 08 Live at Leeds, ALT-C Sept 08 Altered States, Nov 08 Benefits Realisation events Emerging Sounds of the Bazaar internet radio shows Second Life conference socials supported by a Moodle and Elluminate…

12. http://reports.jiscemerge.org.uk Emerge Reports B uilt on Joomla Events Network B uilt on Elgg 0.9 http://tinyurl.com/ngtip09-network 2 New Services … model practice, r elease often …

14. and… ( here )

15. For individuals and projects professional development/capacity building Stimulated & f acilitated collaboration Improved project planning and management Awareness of the relevance of projects in a wider context Benefits an effective support system

16. Visibility, connectivity and discovery? Or … obscurity, isolation and at times wandering lost. The form and patterns of interaction, which develop across a community over time, cannot be predetermined The use of participatory social media is multi-modal The articulation between people and software is not just a question of interface design (though that is crucial) The effective use of Web2.0 depends essentially on human networks. Benefits unevenly distributed

17. For institutions to what extent are they comfortable with ceding certain amounts of control to individuals? to what extent are they, as established communities, willing to cede control to new communities? For individuals the principal issue is to what extent do they subordinate their autonomy and self-direction to any community? And, then how much do they subordinate and to which communities? Questions inclusion, exclusion and identity

18. Conditions for success Bounded openness Enough difference Semi-stability Adaptable model Shared repertoire Structured freedom Multimodal identity Serious fun Multiple Contextualised Relative There had to be affective advantage to affiliation. Of course there were also those who though that if it wasn't hurting, it wasn't working.

19. The Future of Emerge

20. The Future of Emerge User-centred social learning media hub where networks of networks of individuals: the human internet, the connected commons, is made visible to participants and the wider community Amplifying outputs, connections, impact – presence – of professionals interested in ELT for, e.g.: Learning & teaching Research with … and into Community engagement Administration (MIAP, LLL Records, etc) Blended, pervaded, physical, virtual and mobile learning spaces “ Green” ICT User engagement Modelling and supporting effective use of ELT

21. Thank you Thank you George Roberts Project Director [email_address] http://jiscemerge.org.uk Josie Fraser Steve Warburton Paul Bailey Emma Anderson Marion Samler Rhona Sharpe Joe Rosa Chris Fowler Isobel Falconer Nik Bessis Mitul Shukla Graham Attwell Brian Kelly Glenaffric and all the jiscemerge people, projects, partners, steering groups and teams