Rethinking the Role of the University in the Internet Era (Society and the Internet Lecture Series, Part 7)

About

Educational institutions in general, and universities in particular, have been considered for centuries as the traditional sources of formal teaching and valid knowledge. However, the expansion of the Internet and a variety of digital devices has influenced the way that information and knowledge is generated, consumed and distributed.

This lecture will explore how non-traditional academic channels of knowledge generation and distribution are increasing in visibility and relevance on the Internet. For instance, relevant examples can be identified in new facets of knowledge generation (e-science, online education, distributed R&D, open innovation, peer-based production, online encyclopaedias, user generated content), and new models of knowledge circulation and distribution (digital print on demand, e-journals, open repositories, Creative Commons licensing, academic podcasting, etc.).

These experiences will be analysed based on four dimensions of scholarship, suggested by Boyer’s model as: discovery, integration, application and teaching. The two modes of knowledge production: Mode 1 (closed and isolated) and Mode 2 (open and interconnected) coined by Gibbons et al. (1994) will also be included in this analysis. This lecture will outline a possible taxonomy to explore practices of re-intermediation in higher education such as: new coordination agents and new coordination mechanisms (e.g. P2P University, Khan Academy, PLoS ONE, Science Commons, Scivee, Directory of Open Access Journals, OCW, OER, iTunesU, Wikipedia, and TED), as well as to suggest a matrix to map a new territory full of potentiality that is triggering re-intermediation, innovation and openness within and outside of universities.

This lecture is part of a public series on “Society and the Internet”, run by the OII. The series will continue in Hilary (spring) term.