Personal Blogs

The two topics I chose were 'Data" and 'OER'. In relation to data, I have researched Open Context, which is a tool that aims to disseminate archaeological data. I have also looked into 

LangOER, and EU funded initiative to support the teaching of minority languages, something that relates quite well to my BSL idea.

OPEN CONTEXT

• who is/are the main spokesperson(s) for this initiative Eric and Sarah Kansa are the husband and wife team who founded the initiative, and they appear to do most of the promotional work.
  
• where the research and activity around it is occurring The data being accepted and digitally archived comes from all over the globe, although the greatest volume appears to come from Europe, the United States and the Middle East. The website's homepage (http://opencontext.org/) explains that "Open Context reviews, edits, and publishes archaeological research data and archives data with university-backed repositories, including the California Digital Library."
  
• why it appears to be happening now or in this form (which are the apparent drivers and motivators) I listened to a podcast featuring an interview with the founders of this project. They explained that they were beginning their careers as archaeologists, and happened to discuss the huge benefits to be gained from archaeologists and those in the CRM community sharing data, even before publication. As blogging was just starting to take off, they decided that a website would be an ideal way to facilitate this.
  
• what product(s) or progress is/are apparent Since I am not an archaeologist,  I think I'm probably best off quoting directly from "About Open Context" at this juncture: Open Context specializes in the review, documentation, and publication of research data contributed by scholars. "Open Context data publications can complement and enhance conventional publications through comprehensive dissemination and preservation of rich digital data and media." They provide editorial and peer review of the material submitted, and then safeguard and preserve it, making it available to ther researchers.
  
• how these might connect now, or in the future, with learning and teaching activity. This is a tool aimed pretty squarely at researchers, but I assume it could be used for the training of postgraduate students. It is explained that "Data aligned to key "Linked Open Data" standards to facilitate future analyses, data integration, visualization, and understanding".
  

LANGOER

• who is/are the main spokesperson(s) for this initiative This is an EU-funded initiative, and quite a few organisations are involved in its promotion, as its website (http://langoer.eun.org/) explains: "a global organisation for open and distance education, a consortium of 30 European Ministries of Education linked to the biggest network of European schools, a research centre on multilingualism / network of multilingual schools in minority language areas in Europe, universities with R&D activity and strong local and national reach, and companies with experience in quality e-learning activity at European level."  Alastair Creelman, of Linnaeus University, appears to be particularly active in representing the initiative on Twitter.
  
• where the research and activity around it is occurring It's a 'pan-European' initiative, so the activity is occurring in a number of different countries.
  
• why it appears to be happening now or in this form (which are the apparent drivers and motivators) Because OER language initiatives have, so far, overwhelmingly been aimed at improving English, it was felt that there was a need to draw educators' and policymakers' attention to the potential of the medium for protecting and promoting minority languages. There is a growing awareness of endangered languages, and this initiative has probably been inspired, at least partly, by this.
  
• what product(s) or progress is/are apparent The project has been running since early 2014, so quite a great deal of material has been produced. A State Of The Art report has been published, looking into OER in 23 different languages. A policy brief has also been produced, available in 8 languages. 18 expert interviews have been conducted and made available on. Teacher training activities have been carried out in 6 different countries, providing instruction in how to use and create OER.  A number of conference presentations have been delivered.
  

• how these might connect now, or in the future, with learning and teaching activity. I think the main idea is to enable teachers of minority languages to create OER, and to influence policy makers to improve the distribution of these materials.