Research in DML presents new methodological opportunities and challenges. Research in the area often involves young subjects, new communication technologies, and the sharing of sensitive data, all of which make the Institutional Review Board process difficult. These two workshops aim to find solutions that will enable more effective IRB processes.

IRBs are bureaucrat-run groups of institutional members (usually faculty) that review research proposals involving human subjects in order to make sure they are safe, ethical, and consensual with respect to the treatment of and risks to the subjects. However, because IRBs also serve as a guard against institutional liability, they are often overly conservative when it comes to new methodologies, technologies, media, protocols, and subject matters . Moreover, many IRB members are often unfamiliar with new technologies and thus may be suspect of both protocols using them for information collection and the consequences of distributed data sharing via them, even when done ethically.

In a pair of workshops, we hope to address models of sharing, comparing, and using IRB-submitted protocols to leverage best practices in protocols that can then be used to increase consistency in protocols across institutions, provide models for data sharing while protecting subjects, and help to gain acceptance for models of informed consent and other issues that are pressing in digital environments and with young subjects.

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Excellent work is now emerging around mobile and learning, but it is often disconnected from investigations into mobile for social change. We ask: should these two investigations be better joined? Our goal is to catalyze scholarship by gathering leaders from two communities to generate a series of provocations for the field at large.

To view the project website, click here. 

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The Workshop on Networking Knowledge is a conjoint initiative by UCHRI, the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, and the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion. The Workshop hosts ongoing meetings to address common themes in the impact of digital technology, new media, and networking practices on knowledge formation, circulation, transformation, and their implications across various domains.

Workshops serve as a site for discussions of significant current and emerging work across these areas of interest. François Bar (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California) “Investigating the Social and Economic Impact of Public Access to Information and Communication Technology (IPAI)” Geert Lovink (Institute of Network Cultures) “Network Cultures” Donald Patterson (Informatics, UCI) “Status Quo: Micro-presence in an always online world” Kavita Philip and Colleagues (Women’s Studies, UCI) “DesigNation: Conversations on the design of Design Research” Sharon Traweek (History, UCLA) 
”Current work on databases”

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We believe there remains a shortage of serious thinking and research on innovative classroom pedagogies that leverage, build upon, and cultivate the collaborative forms of interactive, non-hierarchical peer-to-peer learning that students today engage in online, in social networks, in game play, and in various do-it-yourself co-developed media. Our Workshop proposes to address this concern on theoretical and practical levels, seeking to consider not just how we enhance digital learning skills online but how skills and values practiced online might be used to enhance the classroom experience as well.

To visit the project website, click here. 

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The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and the LIFE Center convened a meeting of twenty-two researchers and media producers for a daylong workshop to define “The New Coviewing: Promoting Children’s Learning through Joint Media Engagement.” The workshop, held at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, brought together a diverse group of learning scientists, developmentalists, communication scholars, and media producers to discuss shared uses of media between children and their parents, teachers, siblings, and friends. Topics for the workshop included the history and future of coviewing research, design considerations for technologies that leverage joint media engagement, and identifying opportunities for collaboration among industry and university partners. 

To visit the project website, click here. 

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