[Sigia-l] CfP: NRHM Special Issue on Studying the Users of Digital Education Technologies: Theories, Methods, and Analytical Approaches

[Cunliffe D J (AT)]

Call for Papers: New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia Special Issue on Studying the Users of Digital Education Technologies: Theories, Methods, and Analytical Approaches

Guest editor: Michael Khoo
National Science Digital Library, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, United States: mjkhoo at ucar.edu

Submission deadline: 16 May 2007
Acceptance notification: 2 July 2007
Final manuscripts due: 20 August 2007
 
Digital technologies are increasingly integral components of educational settings and Digital Libraries, serving for instance as repositories, as scaffolds to enhance face-to-face pedagogy, and as distance-learning tools. How might we understand the impact of these technologies on knowledge and learning, and what lessons might be learnt from their use, that could be applied to future technologies? Addressing these research questions requires recognition of the highly complex character of digital education technologies: they vary in size from handheld PDAs to large distributed digital library projects; they are used in a range of formal and informal educational settings ranging from schools and universities to hospitals, clinics, museums and art galleries; and they serve learners of all ages. How may researchers approach this heterogeneity and work towards useful research outcomes?

This special issue of NRHM addresses issues associated with the qualitative understanding of the use of digital educational technologies in real-life contexts (with a focus on digital libraries, broadly conceived), by emphasizing the importance of contextual sociotechnical studies of technology use and design. The issue will consider educational technologies as complex mixtures of people, practices and technologies, embedded in a range of institutional, technological and social contexts. The editor therefore invites contributions that address the qualitative and sociotechnical study of digital educational technologies and users 'in the wild.' Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

-     Theoretical approaches
        Ethnographic, anthropological, sociological, sociotechnical, activity theory, practice-based, and other approaches to the analysis of digital educational technologies
-     Methodological approaches
        Ethnography
        HCI, user testing, scenarios, interviews, focus groups, etc.
        Discourse analysis
        Webmetrics and use models
        Etc.
-     Applications to particular domains
        Science education
        Medical
        Digital Libraries 
        User groups and use-in-context
        Etc.
-     Applied approaches
        Case studies
        Qualitative research and project evaluation strategies
        Communicating qualitative research results to digital library developers and sponsors
        Etc.

The New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia (NRHM) is published by Taylor & Francis and appears in both print and digital formats. For more details and indicative topics, see the journal website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13614568.asp

Submissions should be sent by email to the guest editor, preferably in pdf format. Questions and enquiries concerning this call should be directed to the guest editor. Open topic papers meeting NRHM's scope in general are also welcome (send to Editor, dstudhope at glam.ac.uk).