Category Archives: Collaboration, communication and participation

Communication networks and needs, digital communication tools and media, remote team work, influence of digital communications on society and scholarship.

All good things must come to an end

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After 4 years of blogging, 82 blog posts (including this one), countless writers and contributors, an ever-changing, fun, and knowledgeable blog editorial group, aka the Blog Bunch / Blog Group, we have come to the end of the road. This will be our final blog post, and we have invited current and past blog group members to share their highlights from the blog.

In addition to the group members who have contributed their highlights below, the current blog group would like to thank the following: Ana Shah Hosseani, Christopher Hart, Emily Pyers, Emma Chapman, Emma Nelms, Jasmine Castellano, Lyn Torres, Miranda Francis, and Sarah McQuillen (Photo by opera infinita on Unsplash).

To our valued readers, we have enjoyed and appreciated your support from the very beginning. Thanks for reading and enjoy this last post 🙂

A road of pebbles leading into a sea or lake at sunset

Danielle Degiorgio, Digital & Information Literacy Adviser, Edith Cowan University (previous blog group member):

Working with the Digital Dexterity blog editorial team, or, as we liked to call ourselves, the ‘Blog Bunch’, was an awesome experience, full of laughter and unforgettable moments. Our Teams’ chat was constantly filled with random GIFs that often wouldn’t load and multiple mentions of ‘scosk’ which took on a life of its own with Ruth even writing a mock post about it that I wish we published.  

Thanks to the support and knowledge-sharing of this amazing, talented group of librarians – Simone, Kristy, Emma, Sarah, Marianne, Krista, to name a few – I not only improved my editorial skills but also discovered new ways of thinking about digital learning and engagement. It was truly fun to be a part of such an incredible team, and I’ll always be grateful for the friendships I’ve made within the Digital Dexterity community of practice. A special shout-out to Sara, who was the heart of the ‘Blog Bunch’ and the CoP. Sara, your hard work and organisation kept us all on track and without you we’d have been too distracted to get anything done! Thank you all. 

Emeka Anele, Learning Designer, Deakin University:

As I look back to the beginning of my time with the DigiDex Group, I am overwhelmed by the incredible experiences and growth I’ve witnessed. I was invited by a colleague to attend a meeting, and I just never left. Joining the DigiDex blog group felt like rolling down a hill of digital literacy, only to be warmly welcomed at the bottom. This group picked me up and made me feel part of something special. 

One of the greatest highlights of my time with the DigiDex blog group has been the chance to collaborate with passionate colleagues from different libraries. Everyone approaches the work with such enthusiasm and optimism. This has been an asset to the editorial group as we enter a catch-up with no idea about the next blog post and leave with ten new ideas. 

I’ll always be immensely grateful for the guidance and support I received from other members of the editorial group. The joy and optimism I experienced has left a lasting impact on me. Though this is the end of the blog, the future looks bright. I am confident that our paths will cross again soon, to continue shining a light on digital literacy work in libraries. 

Kasthuri Anandasivam, Digital Curriculum Librarian, University of South Australia:

In my short time as a member of the CAUL DigiDex blog group, I have been amazed by how much I have learned and the inspiring people I have met from the different institutions. The group has been a safe, supportive space where I can ask questions—no matter how basic and know I will not be judged. I have gained insights into many new tools used by different institutions in higher education. Contributing to a post on an emerging and timely topic was incredibly rewarding. I have also been able to share what I have learned with my colleagues, sparking new ideas and conversations within my own institution. It has been a privilege to be part of such a creative, generous, and forward-thinking community.

Kristy Newton, Digital Literacies Coordinator, University of Wollongong (previous blog group member):

I was lucky enough to be a member of the CAUL Digital Dexterity blog team for a number of years and really enjoyed my time as a member. The team is an amazing, hard working group of folks with a genuine passion for digital dexterity. During the tumultuous times of 2020-2022 opportunities for in person collaborations were very limited but the virtual nature of the team made it possible to continue working together and producing a blog we were really proud of. The team kept an actively running chat in the background of our MS Teams site that covered everything from blog tasks and questions about meetings or post details to personal insights, advice, laughs, GIF preferences, and extremes in weather in our respective locations. As the pandemic eased, the blog continued and so did the group chat.  

We witnessed the rise and rise of generative AI and its impact on higher education and libraries and tried our best to cover it in blog form. We dipped our toes into SEO optimisation and the intricacies of the Edublogs platform that hosted the blog. We made lots of great connections with blog post authors and evolved our collaborative approaches as the blog group membership shifted over time. It’s been a fantastic project to be part of and I think everyone involved should be very proud of the contributions we have made to the discourse around digital dexterity in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Krista Yuen, Teaching and Learning Librarian, University of Waikato | Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato:

I joined the DigiDex blog group around the beginning of what we could probably call the GenAI and ChatGPT trend, and it was an exciting time to be involved in a blog that explored and discussed ideas around digital literacy. We had some very enthusiastic Zoom meetings, which I always left feeling very inspired and full of new ideas to explore. This group, from the get-go, has been very warm and welcoming and our meetings have often been a highlight of my month. 

It has been great meeting and working with lots of dedicated librarians from across the Tasman, while also facilitating discussions, sharing ideas, and learning from each other about everything digital dexterity, especially in the world of tertiary libraries. It’s been a wild ride, and I am looking forward to our paths crossing again. 

Marianne Sato, Digital Learning Specialist, University of Queensland (previous blog group member):

I really enjoyed my time working with the Digital Dexterity Blog Group. Getting to know the other blog group members was a highlight for me, and hearing about all the interesting work they were doing at their own institutions. 

I continued to enjoy reading the blog and learning new things that I could apply to my work even after I was no longer a member of the group. 

Ruth Cameron, Open Education and Digital Learning Advisor, University of Newcastle (previous blog group member):

Being part of the DigiDex blog group has been one of my life’s highlights! The group has been so creative, generous, and innovative. We learned how to use Edublogs, schedule posts, analyse usage statistics, and other fun things like complying with all the different permissions for reposting. We learned how to write engaging blog posts that could educate readers about different digital dexterities. And we did all this in addition to our ‘normal’ work as librarians. It was a real wrench when I had to leave the group, and I’m grateful for the chance to have been part of such a wonderful project.

Sara Davidsson, Member Services & Governance Lead, CAVAL:

Starting a blog from scratch with colleagues from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic was…extremely rewarding and fun! We started in association with our Championing the Digital Dexterity Framework Virtual Festival and have since covered topics such as: advocating for OERs, digital identity, and copyright. Virtual collaboration, building connections, and fostering flexibility have all been integral parts of keeping the blog running and the content fresh. 

In addition to the cross-Tasman Sea collaboration, the connection we made with Mish Boutet (Digital Literacy Librarian at the University of Ottawa in Canada) was a blog highlight for me. Mish joined the Digital Dexterity Champions as a guest and introduced us to Ateliers sur demande | Instant Workshops through both his blog post and presentations. The opportunity to learn from others through the blog in this way has been inspiring!

Simone Tyrell, Learning Designer, Deakin University (previous blog group member):

When we first started the Digital Dexterity Blog, I think it’s fair to say not only did we not know each other but for most of us we’d never run a blog or been a part of a blog editorial team before. We came together as a group of librarians, passionate about digital literacy and lifelong learning. We had a clean slate to start the blog as we wished, we had lots of ideas and between us a variety of skills and knowledge. Whilst running the blog was a learning curve, choosing the platform, scheduling posts, learning about subscriptions, editing posts, and more, what I remember most from my time with the group is the editorial team itself (aka the blog group).   

From the beginning of the blog, the blog group proved to be a safe and welcoming space, a group of people whose skills complemented each other, who collaborated seamlessly to get things done, and, most importantly, who supported each other. I always looked forward to our meetings, we always got work done but we also took the time to breathe and take some space. The blog group is what I missed the most when I changed roles and had to hand the baton over (don’t worry I kept reading the blog).    

So, to my fellow blog groupers, as a former group member and reader, thank you for all your hard work and collegiality. To all our contributing authors and of course our readers, we couldn’t have done it without you, thank you.  

Thanks for having me and bye just for now! 

Two pairs of feet in shoes are visible on a footpath where it says Passion led us here
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

How we used digital dexterity to write a book chapter on digital dexterity: a meta journey!

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by Ruth Cameron, University of Newcastle Library

The first steps

In February 2022 a CAUL Digital Dexterity Champion was idly reading an IFLA newsletter email when the following article struck a spark: Call for Chapters – Book on Digital Literacy. This sounded relevant and challenging so she posted a message in the Digital Dexterity Champions General Teams channel:

“Hi Digital Dexterity Champions, have you seen this? https://www.ifla.org/news/call-for-chapters-book-on-digital-literacy/ Deadline for proposals is unfortunately 31 March, so we would have to move quickly …”

Six Champions (all from separate institutions across Australia and New Zealand) chimed in that they were interested and we identified the theme to be addressed – Collaborative projects or programs on the diffusion, implementation and creation of materials and tools relevant to digital literacy. A draft abstract, written by one Champion, was posted into Microsoft Teams and the budding chapter authors added comments and suggestions over the next two weeks. Digital collaboration allowed us to pull the final version together in time for submission on 31 March 2022.

We had an immediate reply from one of the book’s editors: Many thanks for your very interesting submission – I will send to the other editors and get back to you.

Over the next few weeks we had a chance to sit back and wonder what we had done …

On the escalator!

On 29 April 2022 we got the amazing news that our abstract had been accepted, and we started to realise just what we were in for:

“Many thanks for your proposal for a book chapter titled “Supporting Digital Dexterity in academic library communities across Australia and New Zealand” in the upcoming IFLA Book Libraries Empowering Society through Digital Literacy. All the Book Editors reviewed your submission and were in agreement that it should be included in the book….” (Followed by a list of milestone dates and accompanied by two documents to assist with our writing).

Heather Todd, email message to author, 29 April 2022

Really getting started

At that stage we decided to move our conversations out of the General Teams channel into a dedicated Teams Chat, nicknamed Chapter superheroes to keep our spirits up. The first message in this chat might give you an idea of our feelings:

“Hello co-authors! I’d like to get started on our chapter but am feeling quite daunted about what our first steps are. What’s the best way for us to proceed, do you think?”

Luckily, our author group included many diverse strengths which were demonstrated over the writing period. We had an organiser, a drafter, a ‘pull everything together’-er, experienced writers and presenters, and subject matter experts (all of us had at least one strength, some of us had more). We used our Chat to share reference papers, suggest planning, and keep the author group up to date (we may also have suggested various coping strategies to each other).

Digital communication and collaboration

We all participated in the writing and editing processes. Draft documents were added to the Teams Chat so that we could all edit and contribute. We set up virtual meetings so that we could come together for sanity checks and mutual encouragement. When some of us couldn’t attend the meetings, the rest of us either rescheduled or got together at the original time and made sure we kept the others up to date.

Two meetings were designated as ‘Shut up and write’ sessions and it was surprising how helpful it was to have people in the same virtual space, concentrating on the same work. We could see each other’s contributions to the shared document in real time. This was digital collaboration and cooperation at its very best.

Results!

We submitted our draft chapter on the due date (1 August 2022). There was a lot of discussion in the Chat a few days beforehand about how to ‘tighten up’ some paragraphs, fixing grammatical issues, nominating a group member as the ‘final sweeper’ to make sure it read smoothly and made sense, and cheerleading each other so that we could submit on time. Once it was submitted we all celebrated with emojis, gifs, and congratulatory messages.

On 23 October 2022 we received an updated timeline from the editor. We settled in for more waiting … was our writing up to standard? Had we addressed the theme adequately? Was it all a horrible mistake?

Imagine our feelings at the opening words of the first peer reviewer when we received the reviewed document on 15 January 2023:

“This is an interesting and well-written chapter and makes a worthwhile contribution to the book. My comments below arise from questions I had as a reader, and also suggestions for clarification or improvement. I leave it to the authors’ discretion as to which and how many they wish to implement.”

On the home stretch?

We used Teams Chat again to discuss the review and make the required changes, and re-submitted by the due date. Our documents were organised into folders for ease of retrieval. Remember too that we were doing this while still working full-time in our library roles!

On 14 March 2023, we received the chapter with the final reviewer comments. They required tiny tweaks, such as putting capital letters in, deciding whether we wanted to include something in the references, and adding a separate image file. All of the superheroes jumped in to make the changes in the Teams document and we submitted our final, final, final draft on 23 March 2023. We received an encouraging email back from our reviewers and we are now waiting for the book to be published.

Our journey

From an impulsive “that looks like something we could write about”, this journey developed into a truly “meta experience” as we used our digital communication, collaboration, creation and innovation skills to solve problems, synthesise ideas and create new knowledge around digital literacies/dexterity. Our digital collaboration reinforced the trust that we had started to build as members of the Digital Dexterity Champions group. While not yet completely fearless, we are all confident that we could tackle a project like this again, especially if we have a supportive virtual group to contribute different strengths to the process.

We hope that you can take heart and learnings from our experience to try something like this in your future. Be curious, be collaborative, and you might surprise yourselves.

The IFLA chapter superheroes (Emma Chapman, Kat Cain, Kristy Newton, Ruth Cameron , Sara Davidsson, Simone Tyrell and Wendy Ratcliffe)

Navigating digital burnout and your right to disconnect

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Emeka Anele (Library Learning Designer) and Kat Cain (Library Partner for NIKERI & Divisions) – Deakin University

Prompt: Close up hands using navigation on mobile smartphone in decaying background. Viewing location map in a network via smartphone during road trip. Vector look.

Our professional landscapes significantly altered at the end of August 2024. Did you notice? Following international movements, the Australian government introduced laws focused on work-life balance and to address digital burnout. Digital burnout is a concern we all share, as boundaries between work and personal life are increasingly blurred. Add to this, deeply immersive technology that uses sophisticated algorithms and user-centric design to hook our attention all the time. Well, it’s a wonder we ever disconnect.

So, as Australia’s workplaces recognise the “right to disconnect” we must reflect on what this means for our work practices as information professionals. Previously, we highlighted “Digital wellbeing and striking a balance” as a complex need in our work worlds. What does properly disconnecting from work even mean for us? And what changes to work habits could impact our wellbeing for the better?

Understanding digital burnout

Digital burnout is when constant connectivity to digital devices leads to mental and physical exhaustion. Workplaces often require employees to juggle multiple digital platforms and communication channels. Recognising symptoms of digital burnout early is crucial.

Illustration grouping the symptoms of digital burnout under mental and physical. Mental symptoms include diminished interested in a job and feelings of exhaustion, anxiety or depression. Physical symptoms include chest pains, decreased energy and sleep disorders.

Creating a culture of digital wellbeing

Australia’s workplace policy shift highlights the importance of separating work from personal time. The right to disconnect allows employees to step away from work-related communications outside of their designated hours, fostering a healthier work-life balance.

Encouraging a culture of respect for this right within libraries can lead to improved mental wellbeing, reduced stress, and a more sustainable work environment. This involves not only adhering to the right to disconnect but also promoting it within the workplace. By supporting employees to recognise the signs of digital burnout workplaces can foster a supportive culture. A culture that protects employees mental health, thus lead to balanced and sustainable work practices.

Recommendations that help with digital disconnect

With so much advice out there, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. To make it easier, we’ve gathered some straightforward digital disconnect tips and resources:

  • Kat’s personal favourite: minimise meetings in the lunch period. And ditch the lunch and learn model!
  • Emeka’s personal favourite: turning off notifications for work related apps.
  • Use guides like how to do a digital detox, which assess your current digital habits and practical tips to reduce screen time.
  • Embrace digital wellbeing practices that align with the right to disconnect.
  • Choose a digital detox app that helps manage and reduce screen time.
  • Try a digital detox tool to remove digital distractions.
  • Attend workshops on managing digital workloads.
  • Set realistic expectations for response times. Perhaps you don’t need to respond to a message you receive at 4pm?

The time to disconnect is right now!

We now have a unique opportunity to prioritise our digital wellbeing in the workplace. For organisations and individuals to foster open communication about digital burnout.

Once your workday is over, seriously consider if it’s necessary to respond to work-related messages. It’s more important to take that time as an opportunity to unwind from work.

World Emoji Day: 🌍 😃 📅

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By Emeka Anele (Library Learning Designer) and Kat Cain (Library Partner for NIKERI & Divisions) – Deakin University

Photo by pinwhalestock on Pixabay

Did you know that July 17th is World Emoji Day? 😱 Can you believe that emojis first appeared in our digital lives in 1999! This first set consisted of 176 symbols that were used in early chatrooms, with the basic symbols designed to convey weather, time, tech and traffic.   

Emojis have added fun, unexpected depth, and non-verbal cues to our online communication.

Research tells us that the inclusion of an emoji can help people make sense of the overall tone of a message. Sometimes removing ambiguity. Think about how you use 🤪 to flag the comical tone of your text. Or the ☕ when you are leaving a digital work chat for a quick break.

Emojis also help us respond more promptly. We can give a 👍 faster than we can type a response to a request in a post or chat stream. Or we can respond with ❤️ to an idea or potential project proposed by someone, sharing in seconds how good we think that idea is.

Emojis can also help us to respond to communication more promptly. We can give a thumbs up to text communication on Microsoft Teams that we understand a task that has been given to us faster than typing a message. We can also respond to communication with a love heart on Teams to show that we think an idea or potential project raised by someone is really good.

Emoji evolution 🧬

Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash

The different types of emojis that we use in our day to day lives are only growing. Check out this just-posted list of new 2023-2024 emojis. How do new emojis get created I hear you ask? Did you know that there’s actually an official body that approves which new emojis are created!

You can also hear different stories about people around the world trying to get their new emoji created in a 2020 “The Emoji Story” documentary. Check out the trailer (2:02) below for the documentary.

Emoji tips ✅, resources 📚 and news 📰

Below are some emoji tips, resources and news for you: 

  • Zoom chat tips – Next time you are on Zoom, have a look at the variety of emojis you can use. 
  • Emoji encylopedia – Have a look at all the current emojis with copy paste code function. 
  • Emojicode – An open-source programming language consisting of emojis. 
  • Emoji as a universal language – Article outlining history of emojis and asks is it a language? 
  • Emoji activism? – A New Yorker article all about the radical emoji-activist movement.

This blog post was adapted from DigiBytes by © 2022 Deakin University Library. Reproduced with Permission.

Choice overload: Finding the right tool for the job (conference) 

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By Sae Ra Germaine, Deputy CEO and Manager, Member & Academic Services, CAVAL (saera.germaine@caval.edu.au)

As a self-confessed conference organising addict I’ve seen my fair share of conference platforms. Before COVID there was a smattering of virtual conference platforms available and to be honest they were all terrible. There just wasn’t the need to develop something that was user-friendly and created an event “experience” that we all grew to love in the “meatspace”.

Since then… well, COVID happened. It saw this accelerated need to bring the conference space into the virtual space and the rapid growth in many cases didn’t do us many favours. We now have an over-abundance of event management platforms and I for one suffered from a severe case of choice overload.

A bit of background about me, I’m currently the Co-Chair of VALA2024 Conference, founder of the Everything Open Conference, and a “Ghost of Conferences Past” for Linux Australia. In total, for the various organisations I am linked to, I have helped in some sort of form, run 13 conferences. 4 of those were in a virtual environment with no face-to-face attendance, while 2 of those were in a hybrid form. The concept of a “Ghost of Conferences Past” is a group of those who have organised a conference prior to the current conference organising team. This group passes on knowledge, wisdom, and war stories to the current team, so they learn from victories and mistakes of conferences past.  

A picture of a dark stairwell with an illuminated 3 hanging light to indicate the 3rd floor
Photo by Alison Pang on Unsplash  

One of the greatest words of wisdom that was ever dealt out was: “You only need to deliver 3 things for a successful conference: speakers, delegates, and venue”. The venue could be the crappiest venue available, but the important piece was that people were there to learn from each other and that’s all that matters. Some of the best conferences I attended were held at a school camp venue, with post-it notes on a wall for a schedule, terrible Subway for lunch, and a whole bunch of new people to meet. 

Most conferences I have run have been 100% volunteer effort. Most core teams had about 6-10 people and then about 30 volunteers on the ground during the conference. Many of these volunteers had many hats ranging from Rego Desk-ers to speaker wranglers, AV recorders, MCs, code of conduct teams, and volunteer well-being checkers. A personal plea… please don’t forget volunteer well-being checkers. This is so important! Volunteers need to be looked after too! 

A screenshot of the vFAIRS platform. The screenshot depicts a large virtual hall with an Information desk, vending machines, plants, advertising on the walls, and virtual people standing around in groups.
Screenshot from vFAIRS

As I mentioned, COVID caused many platforms to pop-up and I’m not sure why this is but, so many platforms insisted on re-creating the “meatspace” conference experience in a virtual environment. You know what? It does not work! It creates a confusing space for people, and it makes it difficult to manage by your team.  

A fancy virtual world creating experiences are very IT resource intensive. Remember, given Australia’s terrible internet situation you want to deliver a conference to reach the regions that will experience your conference with a horrible internet connection. The true benefit to running an online conference is to maximise your reach, don’t exclude those you are trying to reach by choosing a platform that a bad internet connection will struggle to deliver. 

I’m not going to list and do comparisons on lots of platforms as we all will make decisions on the platform we use based on needs at the time and what would provide the best experience possible. But, what I will do is talk about 3 specific setups that I’ve found to work very well for the events that I’ve helped run. The key with all 3 is the usability of the interface – in a virtual world, the venue does matter! The first 2 setups will require a separate mechanism for managing sponsorships, vendors, and schedules/website, etc.

Scrabble pieces that spell out the word Zoom.
Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash

Zoom:

Love it or hate it, Zoom is one of the most common tools used across sectors. It can be downloaded or used directly within a browser. Zoom has also added an “Events” platform to help manage ticket sales and while it’s not perfect, it will get there eventually. One of the best conferences I attended was multiple zooms that I could duck in and out of and the schedule was in a simple Google doc spreadsheet. But the one thing that was missing was the serendipitous chatting that happens between/during/after talks.

Other versions of this were using an open-source tool called Jitsi. While this works great, it just doesn’t scale well beyond about 30 people.

A photo of a mobile phone which has the Twitch.tv app open that has the Twitch.tv logo.
Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin on Unsplash

Twitch.tv: or even YouTube: 

Twitch is a gaming platform where you can watch many streamers play games. But between Twitch and YouTube they have more recently moved to hosting conferences and it has worked quite well. It has chat functions and is very light in using computer resources. But again, it’s missing those serendipitous chats! 

Last but not least:

Sae Ra’s choice! https://venueless.org/en/

It would be remiss if I didn’t bring up an open-source friendly alternative 😊. Venueless is part of a 3-part software package. Venueless is primarily text based however it has 4 key pieces. Sponsor exhibitor spaces, text-based chat rooms, streaming spaces, and video/audio conferencing. What makes this unique is that it’s completely stripped back and a low resource intensive solution. There are no bells and whistles, it’s essentially text-based chat rooms with some video capabilities.

Screenshot of linux.conf.au Online 2022 conference opening address. The screenshot includes the linux.conf.au 2022 logos, a picture of the speaker, and a picture of “The pets of LCA” with pictures of cats and dogs that joined during the conference.
Screenshot of linux.conf.au online 2022 conference opening address

At Linux Australia we used the video/audio conferencing for side birds-of-a-feather sessions, product demonstrations, user group meetings, and we even had our conference dinner in there! One of our speakers wrote their perspective on the event. Running that specific conference gave me all the joy that I would have got in bringing something to people face to face.

One thing to note, is that audio quality is a must. If you are watching a video stream all day, you can forgive video quality because you can look away, but audio quality we aren’t so forgiving about. For some handy tips please go and see this document that we created for linux.conf.au 2021. 

After all of this I think it will just go back to the basics: Speakers, Delegates, and Venue. You don’t need the bells and whistles to run a successful conference. Keeping it simple will make your life easier and will make the delegates feel more included.

Highlights reel for 2023 

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by the members of the Digital Dexterity Blog Group

Emma Chapman, Auckland University of Technology | Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau:

AI has sure been big on the agenda this year. I’ve gone through all stages of excitement and grief with this topic. I think there was a time mid-year when AI-fatigue set in. But, the latest post on prompt engineering really re-ignites interest for me – as does the development of new, improved AI models. Sadly, as most of these are paid, I think an AI-digital divide could be the next thing we see. Meantime, I’ll keep working on trying to craft killer prompts (and keep trying to make GIFs that do not make me seasick). Merry holidays and a peaceful new year to all.  

Kristy Newton, University of Wollongong:

I’m not sure if we can refer to the year that has been 2023 without also saying the phrase “Generative AI”, and libraries (like everyone else) scrambled to understand how we could use these tools, whether we could use them ethically, and what this all meant for critical literacies. It’s been both exciting and fatiguing as others noted, but an absolute game changer. The blog has been a great space to facilitate discussions, share opinions, and learn from each other about this and about all things digital dexterity. 

Krista Yuen, University of Waikato | Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato:

I only joined the DigiDex community and blog group about halfway through 2023, and I honestly think I’m still finding my feet. That said, getting to know the fellow blog group has no doubt been a highlight for me. Coupled with the upward trend of Generative AI and navigating a new world of literacies in libraries and education, it has certainly made for a very interesting time to be involved with DigiDex. It has been a real honour to partake in and witness all the discussions we’ve had around the use of AI and how to best support and embrace these advancements. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what 2024 will bring! 

Sara Davidsson, CAVAL:

The diversity of topics and voices in the blog has been my highlight for 2023. We have been able to deliver posts from our extended DigiDex community, written especially for the blog, as well as showcasing interesting articles from far and near. I am so happy to see that our readers keep returning every month for more posts! 

Danielle Degiorgio, Edith Cowan University:

It’s been an absolutely fascinating year diving into the world of AI. I’m genuinely thrilled by how these technologies are revolutionising the way we work in libraries and education as a whole. I’ve particularly enjoyed exploring how generative AI tools can support and foster creativity and innovative learning. It’s an exciting time to be in the field, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds! 

Also, a big shoutout to our DigiDex blog group for their amazing work this year. They’ve done a stellar job in capturing these advancements and discussions around AI in libraries. It’s been inspiring to see their dedication and creativity in action. Kudos to the team for their exceptional work. 

Marianne Sato, University of Queensland:

I love reading the new Digital Dexterity blog posts each month. And being part of the blog group, I often get a sneak preview! The posts about different aspects of AI, finding and creating inclusive OER, and how websites work have been highlights for me this year. The blog posts always have so many great ideas or innovative solutions that I can apply to my work. AI definitely had a big impact this year and I suspect every year from now on. I look forward to reading more great posts in 2024! 

From all of us, we wish our loyal readers a happy and peaceful holiday season and all the best for 2024! We will return with a new blog post on 29 January.

Decorative image of tree branches laid out in a festive way
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

What does the word “community” mean to you in the context of teaching and research?

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We loved this Open Access Australasia blog post by Richard White, Chair of the Open Access Australasia OA Week 2023 organising group, originally published on 12 July 2023.

Richard is also a member of the International OA Week organising committee and the Manager, Copyright & Open Access at University of Otago.

I vividly remember a senior researcher telling me a few years ago, as we were talking about making versions of our work available openly in repositories, that they didn’t need to worry about that because everyone who needed to had access to their publications.* Frankly I was flabbergasted at such a statement of privilege and assumption. I am afraid I didn’t come up with a counter argument to convince that person that there was no way they could possibly know who might be interested in their work. Still, that conversation has stayed with me, and this year’s Open Access Week theme resonates with how I felt about it.

Community over Commercialization. Open Access Week

Let’s ask that question again, then: what does the word “community” mean to you in the context of teaching and research? It’s true that many of us will first think about the disciplinary or professional communities we work with. Increasingly, though, we’re broadening our thinking. It might be professionals, teachers, policy makers, businesses and innovators, non-public-sector research organisations, citizen scientists, not to mention all the institutions, researchers and students around the world that cannot afford subscription access. Could it even mean the people or local communities who have contributed to our work or the people who might benefit from our work? If we tell people – especially those we’re writing about or working for – about our work in ways that require payment we should ask ourselves the question: are we doing research for us or for them?

In broadening the communities we want to engage with, however, we have a problem; we’re hindered by the systems we have built. Checking the COKI Open Access Dashboard, we can see that only about 40% of research publications by authors from Aotearoa and Australia from the past 20 years are free to read.** I say “we” have built them because we cannot absolve ourselves of the responsibility for these systems, even though we might complain that “Big Publishing” made them for us. 

The theme for this year’s OA week, running from October 23 to 29, is community over commercialisation. This theme was chosen by SPARC’s international OA week advisory committee to encourage conversation about the approaches to open scholarship that prioritise the interests of the public and the academic community.

The UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, adopted by its 193 members, highlights the need to prioritise community over commercialisation. It calls on members to ensure that science does not involve the “unfair and/or inequitable extraction of profit from publicly funded scientific activities” and to support “non-commercial publishing models and collaborative publishing models with no article processing charges.”

All this should not be reduced to: commercialism = bad. Many of the institutions we work for explicitly encourage commercialism and, naturally, commercial entities are constantly developing innovative ways of doing things. The distinction to make, perhaps, is that ideally investment should serve the needs of the community in sustainable ways.

For Australasian OA week this year, we’re planning a series of topics and discussions, with a star-studded cast of speakers, panellists and experts, that we hope will provoke discussion and debate. Naturally, our focus will be on our corner of the world, examining questions like these: 

  • What would community ownership of the scholarly communication ecosystem look like? What about a research system centred on indigenous knowledge?
  • How can we ensure our knowledge is made as widely available as possible in ways that are sustainable? What about book publishing and open educational resources, which often play second-fiddle to journal publications in OA conversations?
  • What safeguards need to be in place to ensure knowledge is used appropriately?
  • What opportunities and challenges does the emergence of generative AI (controlled by huge commercial entities) pose for open knowledge? 

We’re hoping the sessions will be not just food for thought but also provide some practical opportunities to work together and meet people. We are looking forward to it!

* Having just checked this person’s publications I am sad to report that, even in 2023, only 20 percent are free-to-read, which is much lower than the average for New Zealand researchers (which is about half of publications being open).

** The COKI OA Dashboard shows OA rates for Aotearoa and Australia over the last 20 years as 38% and 42% respectively. [Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative Open Access Dashboard. https://open.coki.ac/ Accessed 4 July 2023]

Attributions: 

DIY degree? Why universities should make online educational materials free for all

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We loved this article from The Conversation, originally published on 29 May 2023.

Richard F. Heller, University of Newcastle

This article is part of our series on big ideas for the Universities Accord. The federal government is calling for ideas to “reshape and reimagine higher education, and set it up for the next decade and beyond”. A review team is due to finish a draft report in June and a final report in December 2023.

Sam Lion/Pexels

As part of the federal government’s bid to overhaul higher education, the Universities Accord discussion paper is seeking to “widen” opportunities for people to access university. It also wants to “grow a culture” of lifelong learning in Australia. As the review team note, most people in Australia who study at university are under 35.

Lifelong learning can help to ensure that workforce skills are up to date and that jobs in high demand can be filled, as well as enabling people to create new job opportunities through innovation.

These issues need to be approached in many ways. And will inevitably include proposals for shorter forms of learning as well as addressing the financial cost of attending university.

My proposal – also outlined in this journal article – is that a proportion of educational resources generated by publicly funded universities should be made public and freely available.

This could radically expand opportunity and flexibility and potentially allow students to design their own degrees, by doing multiple different units from different universities.

This idea is not completely new

There is a precedence for this idea. The international Plan S initiative is led by a group of national research funding organisations. Since 2018, it has been pushing for publicly funded research to be published in open-access journals or platforms.

Australian chief scientist Cathy Foley similarly wants all Australian research to be “open access, domestically and internationally, and for research conducted overseas to be freely available to read in Australia”.

When it comes to university learning, a 2019 UNESCO report encouraged member states to make higher education educational resources developed with public funds free and freely available.

In a March 2023 report, the Productivity Commission recommended the federal government require “all universities to provide all lectures online and for free”. The commission said this would increase transparency in teaching performance and encourage online learning.

But this also has the ability to make to higher education more accessible.

There is already plenty of international experience sharing educational materials online – including the global Open Educational Resources public digital library. This includes resources from early learning through to adult education.

The Productivity Commission says universities would not lose income by making educational resources open access. This is because universities “sell” credentials, not resources. It is also argued overworked academics can save time by using materials created by others.

A mother works on her computer next to her young son.

But there is resistance from institutions and academics, including a perception free resources will be poor quality and take a lot of time to create. There is also a lack of technological tools to adapt resources. This may explain why open education has not yet taken off in Australia.

Making resources free will increase access to higher education in Australia. Shutterstock

How would this work?

My plan would require open online sites to host educational materials produced by academics. These would need to be moderated or curated and published under an open access license.

It would include a peer review system for educational materials like the one already used for research publications. Academics could get credit for publishing, updating or reviewing resources and the publication of education output would be included in the university metrics.

This could also help reverse the current downgrading of teaching in Australian universities in favour of research.

There could be three types of users:

  1. students who access materials through the university that produced them, as per current practice

  2. individual students outside the university that created the materials who access materials for their own learning at whatever stage of life they are relevant to them

  3. other organisations, including other universities, that then contextualise and deliver the materials to their students.

What kind of materials are we talking about?

The Productivity Commission has talked about “lectures” being made available for free. But lectures are not a good way of transmitting information, especially online. For one thing, they do not promote critical thinking.

My plan proposes whole courses or at least sections of courses with assessments, would be provided. This includes text, videos and software and can include course planning materials and evaluation tools.

An indication of the academic level to which the course speaks, and the amount of possible credit, should also be provided.

What about accreditation?

Accreditation of learning should be considered as part of this.

The OERu is an international organisation where partner universities (including Penn State in the US and Curtin University in Australia) offer free access to online courses. Students pay reduced fees if they want to submit assignments, which can earn them microcredits towards a degree offered by one of the partners.

A woman in a wheelchair work on a laptop in a cafe.

A more radical option would be to develop a system where students collect microcredits from whatever source they wish and present them to an accrediting body for an academic award rather than enrolling in a particular degree course.

Students could pay a fee if they want accreditation for their work. Marcus Aurelius/Pexels

Suggested recommendations

As it prepares its draft report, the accord review team should recommend:

  • most university-generated educational material should be public and free

  • as an interim goal, within three years, 10% of all public university courses should be freely available online

  • an organisation should be created to develop the infrastructure needed to do this. This includes, open repositories, a peer review system for open educational materials, and systems for offering microcredits to students and academic credit to academics who take part.

Why is this a good idea?

The Productivity Commission says making this material public will encourage higher quality teaching, empower students and assist in lifelong learning. On top of this, there is the potential for true reform of the educational landscape.

It provides opportunities for collaboration between universities, rather than a competitive business model. And it would make teaching more important, rather than an “inconvenient task” by those seeking academic advancement through research.

Finally, it would genuinely make learning more accessible and more affordable, no matter who you are or where you live.The Conversation

Richard F. Heller, Emeritus Professor, University of Newcastle

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Project Management Digital Tools at University of Newcastle and University of Wollongong libraries

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by Kristy Newton (Digital Literacies Coordinator, University of Wollongong Library, knewton@uow.edu.au), and the Library Business Services Team (Aimee Herridge, Cassie Connor, Shaista Poonawalla and Tahlia Kelso) with Ruth Cameron (Coordinator, Digital Library Programs, University of Newcastle Library, ruth.cameron@newcastle.edu.au)

Two members of CAUL’s Digital Dexterity Champions group had a chat about the different project management tools we use in our libraries. You might like to read about what we found: 

University of Newcastle Library – the Project Management Toolkit 

Screenshot of the Project Management Toolkit in our Library Hub SharePoint site

What is it?

Library staff can use the digital toolkit to learn more about what a project is, how to propose and gain approval for a project, and the library’s project lifecycle (including a current project register). Templates have been created for each phase of the project lifecycle to help staff to manage their projects successfully. There is even a Tools and Training page which links out to further training for staff who want to learn more. 

Our Library Business Services team put the toolkit together so that we can standardise the project approval process, ensure that library projects are managed consistently, and follow best practice project management processes. The toolkit aligns with existing University of Newcastle digital resources to ensure a common language and consistent approach. 

How long did it take to build?

Approximately one month for the toolkit itself, which will include information and training sessions for library staff in 2023 to build capability and confidence. The toolkit was refreshed in 2022 and flipped into a more interactive SharePoint site with intuitive navigation based on gateways and the project lifecycle. The templates were also updated to align with University of Newcastle brand guidelines, giving them a clean, professional finish.  

How did the team decide what to include? 

The team benchmarked practices, tools and templates within the University of Newcastle, and researched other universities’ toolkits and project management methodologies (the University of Newcastle is PRINCE2 aligned). They looked at the types of projects usually undertaken by our library staff, and applied what was appropriate for those projects. 

Do we track usage? How popular has it been? 

The team looks at analytics in SharePoint to measure toolkit and template views. Stakeholder evaluation consultation was undertaken post-implementation, for feedback prior to the toolkit being flipped into the new design. This feedback informed the design and allowed adjustments to be made to the content. 

The initial review feedback was positive. Usage was low however due to COVID-19 impacting the number of projects being launched, and we hope to see more engagement following the training sessions in 2023.  

Are the documents/templates used in different ways? 

Templates are required for project approval and endorsement under the guideline that accompanies the toolkit. Staff are required to use the templates if they have a medium to high level project, to ensure projects are properly scoped and documented for consistency. The documents are designed to be tailored to the size and scope of the project.  

Staff can refer to the inbuilt Project Lifecycle page which provides guidance on the different stages (Ideation, Planning, Delivering, Close and Review) of any project, the approval gates, and the relevant templates for each stage.  However, the purpose of each template is clear, and they are used mostly for the same purpose in each project, e.g. Project Brief and Closing Report. 

University of Wollongong (UOW) Library – Microsoft Planner 

What is it? 

UOW Library make frequent use of Microsoft Planner. As it integrates so well into Microsoft Teams there are multiple active Planners in our digital environment, with uses ranging from project management, team priorities, strategy, and even resource sharing. Planner can be used to document tasks at a high level, or more granular level. Depending on the preferences of your team/project group you can arrange it by work area, due date, project phase, or topic – the options are virtually endless. 

Are the documents/templates used in different ways? 

In a team context, Planner can be used to manage team tasks, both strategic and operational. Buckets can be set up for the various focus areas that the team is responsible for, and individual task cards in each bucket document progress against the tasks. A ‘New’ column at the beginning of the board serves as a catchall queue for new items coming to the team, and the task cards are often moved across to a bucket as a team member picks them up. Projects with a separate Planner can be included in the Team Planner as a link, rather than replicating the tasks across multiple Planners. 

A resource-based project group uses Planner to arrange resources by topic. This is less a task-based system, and more a categorisation and navigation board.  

Project groups use Planner to manage the tasks for the project, with buckets for each of the project phases. There are task cards which function as links to key external reference points such as the vendor knowledge bases, with the rest of the board being populated with a variety of project tasks assigned to relevant staff members, utilising the Checklist function to break each task down into smaller components. The Charts view (which is available in all Planners) is particularly useful in a project as it gives a visual overview of the project milestones that can be extracted for use in reporting. 

Tips for getting the most out of Planner 

Staff with assigned tasks sprinkled through multiple team and project planners can choose to view a streamlined overview of all the tasks assigned to them by adding the “Tasks by Planner and To-Do” app to their MS Teams sidebar. This app draws in tasks from multiple planners and collates them into a handy task list. From the app view, there are options to filter tasks by options such as ‘Important’ or ‘Assigned to Me’ to drill down to the highest priority tasks. 

Prefer to see all the tasks assigned to you across various Planners in a more board-like structure? Use the web view by navigating to displays to see the various project planners you are part of by navigating to the Planner of your choice in the left-hand column. Visually motivated folks will enjoy the ability to add a colourful background to the Planner in web view, too! 

Large and complex Planners can get overwhelming and details can be easily missed. Use the Filters on the top right-hand side to drill down and see only those tasks which are high priority, due soon, or assigned to a particular staff member. 

Rather than adding multiple cards for smaller steps of a task, use the Checklist within a card to track the more granular aspects like emailing a certain stakeholder, finding an image to use, setting a meeting etc. This allows you and your team to see how the task is progressing and keeps the board a little cleaner. 

So … what do I choose?

This will really depend on the nature of your project, and how your team prefers to work.  And these two different examples of project management tools are just the tip of the iceberg! Sit down with your project team and talk about what will work best, for the project and for the people involved. Remember, too, that one function of these tools is to keep management updated with what you’re doing, so choose something which is easily shareable or copied for a presentation or meeting. 

Have fun!

In-person versus Online: A Conversation

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by Peggy Hsu, Liaison Librarian, Federation University Australia, and Kayleen Wardell, Team Leader Client Services, Southern Cross University Library

Authors’ contact details: p.hsu@federation.edu.au and kayleen.wardell@scu.edu.au

Open laptop with gallery view of online meeting participants, on a desk next to a pottery cup
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

 “The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.

Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.”

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Fellowship of the Ring. 1954

It’s starting to happen again. Attending events in person and seeing friends and colleagues from other institutions face-to-face.

Kayleen and I both attended the ‘CAUL: Enabling a Modern Curriculum Conference’ in early September 2022, which had both online and in-person days to the program, so it felt like the appropriate time to interrogate and debate our thoughts on ‘in-person versus online professional development’.

Webinar fatigue

Peggy: I. Love. Webinars.

I can see a webinar from anywhere in the world. With webinars, I don’t hurt my neck or back if I’m seated sideways, and *whispers* I can run to the bathroom with my headset on and still listen to the webinar. Plus, the links and attendee chat are often interesting.

Kayleen: I. Love. In-person events.

I enjoy being in the same physical space with others and engaging with them on a very visceral level. I am energised by their enthusiasm and love working together on activities at the event. This can be exhausting, but not as much as ‘webinar fatigue’.

Connections and networking

Peggy: I am an introvert with ‘weird hearing’. I strain to filter all the conversations happening around me, plus I feel weird sidling up to a group, inserting myself and then having said difficulty hearing the conversation. Ugh!.

I also forget names, like really quickly. I’m sorry and embarrassed now.

Kayleen: For me, the most amazing part of an in-person event is meeting the people who until that moment had only been faces on a Zoom screen.

And during the breaks, it’s great to engage in ‘face to face’ serendipitous or ‘water cooler’ conversations. Especially when standing in front of the vast array of teas, trying to work out which flavour you want to try, and then finding out that the person standing next to you likes that same tea. A conversation then ensues about the other things that you have in common. Pure gold!

Costs: Money or Time (Travel)

Peggy: I’m about 90 minutes from Melbourne, so not that far. For me, the event should ideally be longer than the time it takes travelling and if it’s on the other side of Melbourne, add another hour. Plus, why are universities not near train lines?

Kayleen: I must admit that there are probably not many positives about the cost of travelling to an event in person. Unless the event is just around the corner or your boss is paying the bill. However, adding other activities to the trip, such as visiting colleagues in other libraries, can make it worthwhile.

Equity

Peggy: This article from Scientific American had some great points to make on equity provided by online events.

  • Easier access for disabled or people with children.
  • Environmentally friendlier, if you have a budget for travel.
  • Lastly, online is great for diversity.

The information that really blew my mind though was research reported by Allseated that at online scientific conferences, female attendance increased by 253% and genderqueer attendance “jumped by 700%”.

Kayleen: Peggy has raised some excellent points around specific elements of equity for attendees at online events.

There is also some great information provided by the Australian Human Rights Commission on hosting in-person meetings and events to improve the experience of attendees.

Wrap-up

There are positives and negatives to in-person and online-only events. Hybrid seems to be the way forward, but the technology may not be ready in terms of pricing, access, and ease of set-up. Still, worse, we might be stuck in a binary where the only perceived options are in-person or online, and we aren’t displaying pandemic adaptability and innovation.

References

Allseated. (n.d.). The Return to In-Person Events: What’s Changed. Allseated. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://allseated.com/blog/the-return-to-in-person-events-whats-changed/

Australian Human Rights Commission. (2021). Hosting accessible and inclusive in-person meetings and events. https://includeability.gov.au/resources-employers/hosting-accessible-and-inclusive-person-meetings-and-events

Liu, G. (2020, August 21). The Surprising Advantages of Virtual Conferences. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-surprising-advantages-of-virtual-conferences/

MyHub. (2022, May 24). Water Cooler Conversation: The Essential Guide For Hybrid Workplaces. https://www.myhubintranet.com/water-cooler-conversation/

Robinson, E. (2021, April 21). Study explains ‘cocktail party effect’ in hearing impairment. OHSU. https://news.ohsu.edu/2021/04/21/study-explains-cocktail-party-effect-in-hearing-impairment

The National Press Club (n.d.). Live, Virtual or Hybrid Events – Which Approach Is Best? The National Press Club. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.press.org/live-virtual-or-hybrid-events-which-approach-best

Wilson, A. (2021, September 15). What is Webinar Fatigue and how do we manage it? Lernium. https://www.learnium.com/2021/09/15/what-is-webinar-fatigue-and-how-do-we-manage-it/