Module 2: Mobilising Resources

Your progress

Topic outline


Module theme

In Module 1 on developing digital identities you were introduced to a range of situations

where you might use ICT to access information or content that is available online. The
kinds of resources that we identified included both people and digital media.

This Module is about making sure that you can find the digital resources you need and
also about creating and sharing your own digital resources.

Unit 1: Finding and using digital resources

This Unit will highlight the various types of digital resources that are available online and will
consider in detail how to find, manage and use these. It will also consider how you evaluate and
select the most appropriate resources.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Use ICT tools to search for and find information and resources online that
fulfil your needs.
 Critically evaluate found content for credibility, relevance, accuracy and
currency.
 Understand how the production and ownership of resources impacts on
purpose and intention.
 Manage and organise the resources you find online.
 Describe some of the issues around copyright, intellectual property, open
licensing, privacy and data ownership.
 Digital resources: Content that is available online which can include a range of
formats and types of content

Intellectual property: Creations of intellectual and artistic processes, such as

literary and written works (including blog-posts and digital media), artistic works,
patents and designs.

Copyright licences: Legal statements that indicate whether and in what ways a
piece of intellectual property may be used.

Aggregation: Collation of digital content for a specific purpose, such as bringing

subject related content together or collating posts using the same hashtag

Curation: The systematic organisation, description and storage of intellectual

property; including metadata, archiving and backup.

Boolean operators: Used to connect search terms together in a way that either
widens or limits a search for content on the internet - AND, OR and NOT

Metadata: Data linked to content that provides information about that content,
often stored in a database or out of sight from users. Examples include EXIF data
relating to photographs; bibliographic data about books or journal articles; author,
date and tags of blog posts

Bibliographic record: Data about a book or article such as author, title, publisher,
date, abstract, keywords

 Unit 1: Digital resources Book

Unit assessment

1. What are digital resources

We can consider digital content from a range of perspectives.

The figure above offers just a few examples of different types of information, resources, media
types and formats that you can find online. News as a type of information could be found in
various resource types - such as web pages, recordings or blog posts. A range of media types
might be used such as text, video, and images. These may come in different media formats so
the video may be available as an mp4 file, the text may be on an HTML page or downloadable as
a pdf file.

It is helpful to be aware of these different levels and types of digital content because it can affect
where and how you search the internet for resources. For example some people prefer to have
text-based resources, while others would rather watch a video or listen to an audio file (such as a
podcast). Some might want to download resources to use offline, particularly if they have limited
access to the internet so they might want text based resources that they can print out or they may
download audio files to listen to at a time that is convenient to them.
For those creating digital content it is likely to reach more people if presented in a variety of
ways. They might present a summary as an infographic, provide a more detailed text-based
document available for download or include a video that people can watch online. This is
particularly important for educators who may want to consider the needs and preferences of
different students.
People with disabilities may find some content easier to engage with than others. So deaf or
hard-of-hearing people are likely to have different needs to blind or partially sighted people.
However, it is not appropriate to try to guess which types of resources may be preferred by
different groups. There is increasing recognition that all people benefit from having content
presented in a range of formats. It is having a choice that matters.

Additional reading
Foley, A., Ferri, B.A., 2012. Technology for people, not disabilities: ensuring access and
inclusion. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs 12, 192–200. doi:10.1111/j.1471-
3802.2011.01230.x. Request-able here)
◄ Using the C-DELTA modules
Jump to...

2. Different audiences - different content

Content producers often have a specific audience in mind when producing digital resources
which can affect content and how it is presented.

This can affect accessibility of some of the resources that you might find. Examples of this are:

Factor Impact on accessibility

Language Actual language used - although there are online translation tools
available

Level of language - affecting readability for people with different reading

abilities

Specific subject languages - some subjects use highly specialised terms

that can exclude people who are not familiar with them

Different meanings - some terms mean different things in different

contexts (for example the word document may have very different
meanings in a legal context to an IT context)
Cultural aspects Professional/workplace cultures - may have their own (sometimes
unwritten) rules about how to present information
 Different cultural norms - there may be cultural differences affecting how
people respond to things such as colours, humour, music, etc.

Dominant cultures - people from dominant cultures may exclude other

cultures by never representing them within resources

Cultural norms/assumptions - may not acknowledge or cater for people

who do not fit into cultural norms (although sub-cultures may emerge to
produce their own content)
Technological assumptions Some content producers might assume that all potential users have the
most up to date and appropriate technologies - resulting in exclusion for
those that do not have it
Political or religious aspects Some sources of information may be biased towards the political or
religious preferences of the owners - may be at an individual level where
the bias may be obvious or from large corporations where it may be more
subtle

Propaganda - deliberate slanting of information or misinformation to

promote the owners beliefs and point of view
Limiting access Resources can be hidden from public view and only accessible to people
who have either paid or signed up for an account.

Registration for an account may be free but will usually require people to
provide personal information.

Providing safe or ‘protected’ spaces for people to share content can be

very useful where people would feel too vulnerable in an open space. An
example of this is where educators may provide private areas for student
to share their work with other students, but not the wider world. This can
help students gain confidence in sharing and getting feedback before
sharing more widely either as a student or in a work or professional
context.

3. What information do you need?

We have looked at the wide range of digital resources that are available through the internet.
Information production is increasing at an exponential rate. The ease of duplication and
transmission adds to this escalating scale and the number of outlets or sources is increasing at a
similar rate.

One of the problems that many people struggle with is that of information overload (or too
much information) that challenges how people choose which resources to use or engage with.
Problems can range from conflicting opinions, false or biased content, and knowing which
sources to trust. This can have a negative impact on what people achieve, be distracting, could
affect productivity in workplace contexts and may even result in stress.

We all need to develop strategies to help us both find the most appropriate information for our
needs and to manage the flow of unsolicited information that arrives from others through
various sources, such as our email inbox or our social media accounts.

What information do you need?

This may seem like an obvious question but it can save you a lot of time later on if you spend a
few minutes at the start thinking about what you want to find. You might want to find a quick
fact or you may want to look at some videos. You may need some information to help with your
studies or you might need something for work.

Identifying a search strategy

It can be useful to create a simple mind map to help you identify the boundaries of your search
and what you want to include. In the following example we look at the subject of “DIGITAL
WELLBEING” and break it down into separate areas that we could explore in more detail. You
can do this by hand on a piece of paper as shown in Fig. 1 or try a free mind mapping tool like
mindmeister as shown in the figure 2 below.

Figure 1: Hand drawn mind map on ‘digital wellbeing’

Figure 2: Mind map on ‘digital wellbeing’ created on free software mindmeister

Mind mapping does not suit everyone. Some prefer to use index cards or post-it notes to organise
their thinking. You could try other tools such as trello which allows you to create different
categories and add cards to each category.

Figure 3: Breakdown of topic ‘digital wellbeing’ created on free Trello software

 Activity 1.2: Searching strategies

Once you have defined the subject areas you want to include there may be other parameters or
boundaries that you would like to use to limit what you find. The more specific your parameters,
the more likely you are to find highly relevant resources for your exact needs. This can save you
a lot of time.
The following are ways that you might choose to limit your search:

 by date, for example only content produced after 2016

 by geographical location, for example only content produced in your own country
 by language, for example only content produced in Spanish
 by media format, for example only textual content
 by source type, for example only authoritative peer reviewed content

Making decisions about the words (keywords or phrases) you will search with and the limits or
parameters you will apply, is the first stage of creating a SEARCH STRATEGY. The next stage
of your strategy is to think about the places you will carry out your search (your sources). For
example if you want to find a quick fact then a query on a search engine like Google might be
the best option. If you need to make sure you find authoritative information that has been peer
reviewed to check for accuracy then it is better to use a more specialised source.
4. Sources of digital information and media

The biggest challenge when you want to find some information or resource online is knowing
where to start looking. Many people automatically start with a search engine like Google but this
is not always the most efficient method and it may give you so much information that you have
to spend a lot of time getting rid of things that are not what you need.

Knowing which sources are available and when to use them can save you time and provide much
better results that are more appropriate to your particular need.

Activity 1.3: Sources and information

The table below identifies key sources of online information, provides a few examples and
describes what the source aims to cover and when you might want to use that type of source. If
you have never used these types of resource have a look at them and give them a go. Don’t
forget that most sources like this will have a link to help pages that show you how to use
them effectively.

Source Description When you might use it

Meta search engine such as When you need a very
Runs a search query
[Link] or [Link] comprehensive search and are
against multiple search
Database happy to have a huge number of
engines simultaneously.
results
Runs a search query and When you want to find
finds information on the something quickly like the
Web search engine such as Google
World Wide Web. Uses answer to a specific question, an
or Bing
software to find hyperlinks image or video where the source
on websites. is not very important
When you want to investigate
Presents information in an
Web directory such as WWW the breadth of a subject and drill
organised or hierarchical
Virtual Library down to find relevant links and
way
content.
Online reference works When you need an authoritative
Online encyclopaedia such as
which aim to cover the source of information about a
[Link] or [Link]
whole of knowledge subject
Online dictionaries such as Dictionaries and thesaurus When you need an authoritative
[Link] or [Link] to help understand the source about the meaning,
meaning of words etymology (derivation)of words
(available in various
 languages)
Collections of resources
Specialist subject databases or
that are usually collected When you need an authoritative
collections such as GoogleScholar
and curated by experts in source of specialised content
or African Journals Online
the field
Collections of different
Sources of specific media types
media types that can When you need a specific media
such as e-books on [Link]
usually be searched by type
or images on Google Images
topic
Databases of peer reviewed
When you are doing academic
academic research. May
research.
include links to research
Specialist research databases and
articles.
electronic journals like If you are registered with an
International Education Research educational institution they will
Access to these is often
Database or IBSS: International probably have a list of databases
restricted to staff and
Bibliography of the Social Sciences and electronic journals that they
students of educational
have paid for. You will be able
institutions that have paid
to get passwords for these
for access
Various sources which
Open resources such as open
provide access to materials
courses like FutureLearn or When you want to access
produced with an open
Courseraor open textbooks like learning resources that are free
licence to support free
Open textbook library,the OER to use.
access to digital content by
consortium and OpenStax
all
When you want an authoritative
Online courses or tutorials such as
Courses at various levels source of learning which may
the UK Open University or Khan
that can be studies online have support and certification or
Academy
recognition of your learning
When you want to learn
DIY or ‘How to do things’ Websites, blog posts, something very specific quickly.
information like How stuff works videos and other media Resources made by individuals
or tutorials on a particular topic like that you can find by are not always authoritative or
How to braid hair searching peer reviewed so you use them
at your own risk.
5. Searching for information and resources
Quick simple searches using search engines

Quite often people turn to a search engine to find information. In fact, use of the Google search
engine has become so ubiquitous that the term has become a recognised verb - to google it. There
are other search engines that you can use as well.

Search engines like Google even start to provide answers for you as you type in your search
query into the search box. Take a look at the screenshot as we searched for the term digital
wellbeing. By the time we had typed the first 10 letters Google offered a few suggestions. The
first was an exact match, the second was totally irrelevant, the third was a company and the
fourth offered us another term that we might use - digital wellness.

By clicking on these suggestions Google will then take us to a search for that term.

Most searches on a search engine give you a huge number of results. In the example we are using
Google returned 22,900,000 results. Most people only check through the first few pages of a
search.

Did you know that Google returns different results to people based on several factors?

 where you are - location relevant results (for example if you search for a product
Google will probably return shops in your area)
 personalised results based on your previous searches
 personalised results if you have a Google account and use other services such a
Google Mail (Gmail), or GoogleDrive
Doing better searching on search engines

If you look at the below screenshot you can see a series of links underneath the search box.

If you click on one of these links Google will apply that limiting factor to your initial search. So
if you click on the News link you will only get results that have been categorised as news or in
news sources. This brings the search results number down to 630,000. If you click on the More
link you can also limit to maps, books and flights.
Also under the search box are two more very useful links if you want to limit a search - Settings
and Tools.

The Tools options differ depending on the other limits. So for example if you previously clicked
on the news link you would be offered options to limit the search further, for example recent
articles or you can list your results by date order.

The following screenshot shows what options Tools offers if you select Images (instead of
news). The options are listed below the links under the search box and include image size,
colour, type (face, line drawing, clipart, animated), time and usage rights (which is very
important for images found on the internet).

The below screenshot shows the results of a Google search for the term “digital wellbeing”
limited to Images
 Activity 1.4: Digital wellbeing

Other ways to improve your searching on search engines

In addition to the Tools link there is also a link called Settings. This allows you to really refine
your search by giving you much more control over what Google lists in your results.

If you click on the Settings link you are offered a drop down box with several menu options
(shown below)
This allows you to change your search settings, identify which languages you prefer, allows you
to turn on SafeSearch (which prevents some websites being included) and offers a search help
feature. We will leave you to investigate some of these for yourself.

The important item in this list is the Advanced Search feature. By selecting this you are taken to
a form where you can choose different ways to limit your search (think back to the parameters
you identified when you did your mind map exercise).

Screenshot of Google Advanced Search options

In th e
example above we changed the search term to an exact phrase rather than two separate words,
we set language to English, we set last update to past year, and we selected usage rights as free
to use or share.
After clicking on the blue Advanced search button we received only 36 results (down from the
original 22,900,000). This is a much more manageable number of results to look at. If your limits
bring your results down too low then you can go back and broaden your limits.
6. Tips and tricks when typing in your search terms

You might have noticed that in the screenshot above the term digital wellbeing is now inside
quotes “digital wellbeing”. This is because on the Advanced search form we selected to search
as a phrase. When you normally type in a term like this into Google, it searches for both words
separately. By asking it to search only for the phrase (or for the two words next to each other)
you can really refine your searches.

In fact there are a few tricks and tips for typing your search terms that can help you refine your
searches….

Exact word or phrase

You have already seen that using quote marks around a phrase (“digital wellbeing”) can stop you
finding irrelevant results. This option is not limited to two words but you do need to be careful
that a search like this does not exclude resources that could be useful.

A means to help you refine search results is through the use of Boolean Operators. Boolean
Operators are simple words, such as AND, OR, and NOT that can be used to include or exclude
certain kinds of results from a search. Using Boolean Operators can help include or exclude large
numbers of results from a search, potentially helping you find the resource that best matches
your search terms.

All of these words using AND

If you enter two words into the Google search box then your results will include resources that
include both of the words. This is the default setting if you don’t type anything else. So really
this is selecting resources that have the words digital AND wellbeing.

It can be helpful to use these Venn diagrams to visualise what you get.

If the circle on the left was all of the resources which contain the word digital and the circle on
the right was all of the resources which contain the word wellbeing. Then the coloured bit in the
middle would be what you retrieve if you use the term AND

Any of these words using OR

When we first entered the term digital wellbeing into the Google search box we were also
offered the term “digital wellness”. Sometimes you may identify synonyms or similar words or
terms that you want to include at the beginning of a search, before you apply other limits like
language, date published, etc.

You can combine words in a search using the term OR

Note that we have used quote marks to make sure we are searching for the whole phrase.
You can see from the diagram below that using OR in a search broadens it and will result in
more results. This is fine if you have identified a search strategy that will limit the results in
other ways.

None of these words using NOT

You can remove items from a search using the term NOT. For example if you decided during the
development of your search strategy that you are not interested in the physical aspects of digital
wellbeing you could exclude resources that included the term ergonomics.

In the Venn diagram you can see the coloured area represents the resources on digital wellbeing
but not including resources with the term ergonomics. This is another way to limit a search if you
get too many results.

Using the asterisk fill in the gaps

You can use an asterisk * in the Google search box as a wildcard symbol.

This can be useful for different spellings for example typing organi*ation will search for both
organisation and organization. It can also be used at the end of a word to capture different
endings. For example typing well* would retrieve well, wellness, wellbeing but it should be used
with caution as this would also retrieve items with terms like welly, wellington, wells.

This can result in broadening searches far too wide.

Activity 1.5: Searching skills

Once you have got a set of resources that fit your search terms then you can limit them by
another factor such as date or media type. The example below limits the search to journal “digital
wellbeing” AND “digital wellness” AND journal articles.
7. Searching specialised resources

A search engine allows you to find a very wide range of information, and you have seen how
many resources you can retrieve. Sometimes though you can save a lot of time by searching in
more specialised sources. You can use the table we provided earlier to identify what kind of
source will be better for your needs or search strategy.

In the previous section you practiced some principles for combining your search terms in the
Google search engine. These principles apply to most search engines and databases or services
that help you search online.

Searching for your studies

Sometimes you need to find information and resources to help you with your learning.

 You may need to find some quick facts, or a more detailed explanation of a theory you
have heard about (a search engine or a trusted peer reviewed source might help you
achieve this).
 You might want to find some useful information to back up an argument you are making
in an assignment or essay. You might try Google Scholar or Open textbook library.
 You may need to do a very comprehensive search to make sure you have considered all
of the research in a particular area (academic databases and searching services would be
needed to do this)

Sometimes a service like an academic database has its own set of rules for searching. These are
usually found in the HELP section or there may be tutorials to get you started.
Specialised databases will usually use the three BOOLEAN operators that you have already
learned about - AND, OR, NOT and will probably also use the asterisk feature. Browsing

A useful feature offered by specialised databases and collections is a BROWSE feature. This
might allow you to look through the headings or categories that subject experts have used. This
can help you refine your search strategy by identifying other keywords or terms that may be
useful. It can be useful to find content if you do not want a very comprehensive search.
Aggregation services

Some tools enable you to trawl for information on specific topics and gather this information
together for you. For example you can set up a Google Alert for a search term and you will
receive emails with a list of new content about that subject. Be careful that you do not get
overloaded with emails though - choose your search terms wisely to prevent this.

A lot of people share useful content through social media sites like Twitter or Facebook. This
might be links to useful articles or videos. Often people use hashtags (#) in social media posts to
indicate that the post covers a specific subject. This might be about an event like a conference, or
an initiative. Whenever someone posts something about this topic they add the hashtag so that
other people interested in that topic can look at all the posts with that hashtag.

An example of a hashtag is #worldAIDSday.

Some tools allow you to collate all of the posts with a particular hashtag. The Storify tool is
useful for collating all the posts with a particular hashtag. Tools like this help to aggregate
content and make it easy to share with others.
8. Managing web links

Once you have found a set of resources that achieve your search strategy goals you may want to
keep them for future use or reference.

Single web links

Sometimes it may just be one resource that you found in a quick search. If it is a link to a
webpage or online resource like a YouTube video you can save the link as a bookmark in your
browser.

There are several different browsers that people use to search the internet. Popular ones include
Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. Most
people tend to have a preferred browser. Each browser has a unique interface and ways to save
your favourite links or bookmarks.
Using this feature is a great way to save links that you think you will come back to later, or that
you use a lot.

Groups of organised web links

Some services allow you to save links in an organised way that is meaningful to you or could be
shared with groups of people with similar interests. Examples of this kind of service are Diigo,
Delicious and Pearltrees. You can usually save your links into organised lists or folders so that
you can keep things together. Some involve sharing and allows other people to harvest your links
into their own organised lists.

Collections and favourites within a service

Some services allow you to save or subscribe to other people’s content. For example in YouTube
you can subscribe to other people’s video streams. In image sharing sites you can often select
favourites. Whilst this feature may be related to connecting with other people and networks it can
be a way to highlight content that you may want to go back to.

9. Managing downloaded resources

If you are able to download a resource you need to store it somewhere and it is helpful to take an
organised approach to this to enable you to find it again in the future. If you will only be using
the resource for a short period of time it may be worth setting up a temporary place to store it and
delete it once you have finished with it.

You may have some space to store downloaded content on the device you use to search the
internet, like your phone, laptop or computer. Storage space is usually limited so it may be worth
considering other storage options.

 save the link rather than downloading a resource if storage space is limited.
 some people prefer to print things out and store it on paper
 use cloud storage services (like Dropbox or GoogleDrive). Often you get some space free
but may have to pay for more space. The big advantage of this kind of storage is that you
won’t lose the content if your device breaks down and you can access it from different
devices.
 use external drives that you can attach to your devices. You can get various different
sizes of external drives. The danger of just using this type of storage is that if the device
fails you can lose your content if it is not backed up to another place.
 If you are storing content that is very precious to you it is best to consider several
different ways of storing it so that failure in one place is not disastrous.
Whichever method of storage you chose it can be useful to establish a system for storing them.
You may want to keep all your music files in one place or you might want to create a series of
folders to categorise them by different types of music.

10. Managing bibliographic records

If you have searched an academic database or searching service you can sometimes download a
journal article or academic paper as a pdf file or word document. In this case you can store it in
ways described in the previous section.

This kind of search usually provides a collection of bibliographic records of academic papers. A
bibliographic reference typically looks like this:

Additional readings
Betts, K., Cohen, A. H., Veit, D. P., Alphin, H. C., Broadus, C. & Allen, D. (2013). Strategies
to Increase Online Student Success for Students with Disabilities. Journal of Asynchronous

Learning Networks, 17, 49–64. Retrieved from [Link]

It may also have an abstract attached to it.

If you have created a collection of bibliographic records it is useful to keep these for future
reference and also to help you produce your own list of references within your own work.
Reference management tools can help you manage bibliographic references. There are some free
online tools that you can use for this, such as:
● Mendeley - reference manager and can be used to share and network.
● Zotero - can be added to some web browsers to help manage references you find.

If you are a student registered with an institution the library usually provides web pages to help
you search for academic content. They may also provide links to sources and tutorials, or provide
support or training to search them effectively.

11. Digital Curation

Digital curation is the selection, preservation, maintenance, collection and archiving of digital
assets. Digital curation establishes, maintains and adds value to repositories of digital data for
present and future use. This is often accomplished by archivists, librarians, scientists, historians,
and scholars (Source: Wikipedia).
We have already considered some of the sources on the internet that are curated by experts or
specialists. When content is curated by professionals like those listed above, you can, to a large
extent, accept that the content is accurate, legal and trustworthy. However content curators, like
content creators, can exhibit bias in what they choose to include or exclude. A librarian working
for a large petrochemical company may be very selective in the kinds of information they chose
to select and share around climate change.

Anyone can be a content curator, as we have seen earlier. You could use aggregation tools (like
Storify) to share posts on Twitter about a particular subject. However, the person who creates the
story can select which posts to include. So if a post by someone offends you, or presents an
alternative opinion to your own, you can chose to censor that post by not including it. (The
offending post will still appear on Twitter with the hashtag, but you could eliminate it from your
shared story.)

12. Who owns the information and knowledge?

One of the most important elements of searching for resources online is to develop the ability to
critically evaluate what you have found. Earlier in this module we considered how content on
review websites and news websites may be biased, contain wrong information, or be linked to
advertising. In the previous section we reflected on the biases of digital curators and how this
may affect some of the collections your find.

Who owns the information and knowledge?

There is an old saying 'Knowledge is power' (so old that people do not really know who said it
first). In many cultures knowledge used to be very closely guarded by elders or experts. It may
have been locked away in libraries (such as the Library of Alexandria) for safekeeping where
only privileged people could access it, like rulers and scribes.
Technology has changed this and has transformed who owns and who can access information
and resources. But information and knowledge have significant roles in supporting and
maintaining the power structures of the modern world. We should be aware that just because
information may be available and accessible, it may well have been tailored by those in power.

There may be several reasons why online content may contain misinformation of some form:

 ignorance - sometimes people just get things wrong or make mistakes with no malice or
ulterior motive (unintentional)
 the desire to present a one-sided view based on personal beliefs (religious, political,
cultural)
 the desire to promote a message that supports commercial gain (advertising, commercial
bias)
 deliberate propaganda by a ruling body or organisation (usually political)
 Activity 1.6: Propaganda online

13. How to be critical?

There are often clues on a website about who owns or produces the content. Some sites have
multiple authors. Look out for these pages which may be at the foot or bottom of the page:

 There is usually a page called About or About us which should give you some clues
about the intent of the authors and the content.
 There is often a link to a Terms and Conditions page which highlights legal aspects of
ownership and how you can use the content.
 There may be a testimonials or reviews page that tells you what other people think of the
services or content
 There may be a help or support page to enable you to get the best out of a site
 If there is cart at the top of the page or a page called prices the site may be trying to sell
you something
 Contact pages often tell you where the producer is based by providing an address or map.

Check the authority of the author or producer

 See if you can find out who the author is. If you cannot find an author this may be a
signal to be wary of the content
 Is the author a recognised expert in the field? Are they affiliated or connected to any
organisations? If so is the organisation credible?
 Is the organisation or body producing the information reputable?
 Does the author provide sources of their information? Can you go and check out these
original sources?
 Can you contact the author or organisation for clarification of any content?

Look at the content

 How old is the information or content. Is the information current? Is the source (website)
updated regularly?
 Can you tell why the content has been published? (Are the goals of the publisher clearly
stated)
 Is the content factual or does it contain opinions? (Is the content biased in any way?)
 Does the content provide links or information to other sites? Are these authoritative? Do
they present alternative views or information?
 Can you check the accuracy of the content against other sources?
 Does the site try to get you to register or sign up to receiving other content by email?
 Does the website contain advertising? (This could affect the content)
 Activity 1.7: Fake news

14. Intellectual Property and Copyright

There can be limits on how you use some of the digital resources that you find on the internet.
How often do you check Terms and Conditions of a website to find out what you can or can’t do
with content found there? Most people probably do not look closely at these. Sometimes a site
will provide information at the bottom of a page about Copyright or about a licence for use, but it
is not always easy to work out what they might mean.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

Intellectual Property (IP) is a term describing creations of literary or artistic processes, such as
books, plays, novels and other literary works, digital artwork, and similar non-tangible products.
It is often also used to describe related commercial products, such as trademarks and logos, as
well as industrial parents. Intellectual Property is legally governed by a set of rules and
conventions which together are known as copyright law.

Copyright law is usually specific to each country and relates to legislation that aims to protect the
rights of individuals to their intellectual outputs. It used to relate mainly to books, but is applied
to electronic information as well.

People generally like to protect the content they produce and be acknowledged for their work or
creativity. It is, however, very easy for someone to take content and claim it as their own. It is
very important to respect the rights and expressed wishes of content producers. There may be
different rights for students or educators, or there may be restrictions on using content for
commercial reasons.

By default, all online materials are under full Copyright (or ‘All Rights Reserved’), whereby the
rights to share, publish, and adapt (amongst others) are restricted to the copyright holder. There
is no legal obligation to indicate copyright status, and so anything without specific instructions to
the contrary must be considered to be under full copyright. Individual content creators may
however be willing to allow others to use, share or adapt their work in specific ways.

So for example a photographer may be happy for you to use one of their photographs in a blog
post or web article as long as you correctly cite (note) the source and creator. They may insist
that you link back to the original place you found the photograph. They are likely to object to
someone downloading the image, and selling prints of it for profit.
If you cannot tell how you can use the content you find you can always contact the author or
creator and tell them how you want to use it. They may then grant you permission.

15. The Open movement

The term ‘Open’ can seem a bit confusing and is used for open courses, open research, open
content, and open educational resources (OER). Here are some definitions and terminology
around being open.

Open content is a term that includes a wide range of resources and materials made available
openly on the web. Open content usually adopts open licensing to enable re-use, revision,
remixing and redistribution. Open content can include raw data, research materials, learning and
teaching materials and informational resources.

It is important to note that there are 'degrees of openness' which can be reflected in a wide range
of licences so content may be partially open or fully open.

The concept of Openness also implies that it is 'free at the point of use' thereby supporting access
for an altruistic public good. Open content appears to be accessible to all but, just like any other
digital resource, it can reflect cultural and political bias of the producer. Open content is usually
developed with a specific audience in mind and this can be reflected in the language used, source
materials used and how it is packaged or presented. Open is not always accessible to all.

Generally the open movement is a positive expression of a desire to promote sharing and access,
which is illustrated in the free online book The Power of Open.

The following is an excerpt which describes the move towards open. The book provides some
exciting examples of organisations and individuals who have experimented with open content.

The world has experienced an explosion of openness. From individual artists opening their
creations for input from others, to governments requiring publicly funded works be available to
the public, both the spirit and practice of sharing is gaining momentum and producing results.

Creative Commons began providing licenses for the open sharing of content only a decade ago.
Now more than 400 million CC-licensed works are available on the Internet, from music and
photos, to research findings and entire college courses. Creative Commons created the legal and
technical infrastructure that allows effective sharing of knowledge, art and data by individuals,
organizations and governments. More importantly, millions of creators took advantage of that
infrastructure to share work that enriches the global commons for all humanity.

The Power of Open collects the stories of those creators. Some are like ProPublica, a Pulitzer
Prize-winning investigative news organization that uses CC while partnering with the world’s
largest media companies. Others like nomadic filmmaker Vincent Moon use CC licensing as an
essential element of a lifestyle of openness in pursuit of creativity.
 Activity 1.8: Comparing articles

16. Unit summary

In this unit you learned about the different kinds of online resources, and where
you might find them; how to refine your search strategy through the use of
advanced search features such as keywords and Boolean operators. You also
learned how to apply a critical lens to the materials and resources you do find, by
subjecting them to rigorous interrogation to determine their relevance and value.
Once having found useful resources, you learned how to save, store and curate
them effectively and securely.

Lastly this unit introduced you to the basics of Intellectual Property and copyright
and how these affect you as a digital user. You were also exposed to the Open
movement, which seeks to reduce some of the barriers created by full copyright to
the free sharing, reuse and adaptation of existing digital content.

You can now begin educating others about how to optimise their search strategies
to get content that is accurate and relevant to their needs. You can also enable them
to improve their curation strategies, reducing the risk of losing access to their
existing content.

MODULE 2

Unit 2: Creating and sharing digital resources

In the previous section you learned how to find, manage and critically evaluate digital resources
created by other people or organisations. In this Unit you will find out how to create and share
your own digital resources to tell your own digital stories.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Understand the concept of digital storytelling Produce some of your own

digital resources Share your own digital resources
 Identify and find open educational resources
 Re-purpose content originally created by someone else.

Digital storytelling: Using digital media to create fictional and nonfictional

narratives for different audiences.

Re-purpose: Use an OER or openly-licensed resource in a new educational

context or for a specific teaching objective.

Re-use: Use an OER openly-licensed resource created by someone else in your

educational context.

Re-mix: Combine one or more OER openly-licensed resource with other

educational content to produce a new resources.

Mash-up: A more radical form of remixing in which content is substantively

altered or transformed while being combined with other material.

OER: Educational materials that are made available under an open licence that
unambiguously states how they may be reused.

1. Creating your own content

There are a wide range of tools and services that help you create your own online content and
share it with selected people, groups or the whole world. In Module 1 we looked at the three
ways that people can engage with ICT and the resources on the internet:

 consume
 create
 participate

These considered how these activities might be in a personal, learning or workplace context.

You may only create and share content as a student or as part of your job, but increasingly
people are creating and sharing content in a personal context through social media. In this Unit
we will examine some of the ways you can create content and how you can share it with others.

2. Digital storytelling

Digital storytelling is a term used to describe how we can use digital resources to tell our own
stories. These stories are not limited to fictional narratives but could include any message or
messages that you need to convey to different audiences.

Examples of digital stories include using websites, video, audio, blogs or social media to:

 tell your customers what a difference your service or product can make to their lives
 tell funders what your group or organisation does to transform lives
 complete an assignment for your studies
 engage your local community in taking action
 share good practice from your community with others
 tell people how their donations can help your charity
 provide information to your communities and networks
 inspire others to take action or make changes

Most of us will remember those stories that have captured our imaginations, that have stayed
with us or inspired us to greater things. If we consider ourselves as digital storytellers it can help
us think about telling our story well to captivate and engage our audiences.

Your story may be a set of digital photos of your recent holiday that you share with family and
friends. It may be a poem you have written that you want to self-publish or it might be a series of
reports that you have written at work that need simplifying for a wider audience.
Digital storytelling links closely with your digital identity which is the focus of Module 1 of this
course.

Whatever your need, there are several stages to telling an effective digital story.

Clarifying the message - what do you want to say?

It may seem too obvious to consider what your key message or messages are. Often we start out
with a clear vision and awareness of what we need to say to our audience, but things can become
more complicated as you diversify or if other people get involved.

If you are an individual this is easier to control – although you may have different messages for
several audiences. As an individual, you may not have a lot of opportunity to have a dialogue
with others – which is often an excellent way to refine your message. If you have to describe it to
someone then you have to be clear what it is.

This is a particularly challenging aspect when you are working with other people, such as a
community group or work colleagues. Do you all have the same priorities? Does this matter? If
you have a formal constitution or statement of intent or an agreed business plan then this kind of
document can help you identify the key messages.

Sometimes your message is defined by someone else. You may have to write an essay on a given
topic or to write a report for work. Although this is defined by other people you can still benefit
from considering the message and working out how to break it down. This might be working out
what sections or headings the report would have. There may be several messages to get across so
organising them can help you be clearer.

Activity 2.1: Digital stories

3. Knowing your audience - who are you talking to?

Sometimes we have more than one audience to consider. Some may take more time and attention
than others. Different audiences will each have their traditional approaches and ‘cultures’ which
affect how they communicate and the tools they use.

How well do you know your audiences? Do you know the best way to engage with them? Are
you dealing with individuals, small groups, national or international audiences? If you have
several stakeholders, you may have to tailor your messages in different ways to suit them.

Funders, in particular, can have very specific requirements in how you present your story to
them. You may need to match your activities to their priority areas and offer facts and figures to
illustrate what you are saying.
Some audiences may respond to more visual representation while others may prefer written
content. Some members of your community may not be very technologically skilled and might
prefer content presented in more traditional print methods.

Engaging with your audience

Engaging and interacting with your audiences can be done using ICT – whether it’s online polls
and surveys, social media such as Twitter or Facebook, making good use of a website, email
marketing campaigns or discussion forums. These can all enhance face-to-face methods such as
meetings, focus groups and conferences. It can be challenging working out which methods will
be most cost effective.

Getting your message across can only be effective when you know your audience and understand
their culture, languages, and changing needs.

4. Creating your story - crafting the content

Once you have identified what you want to say, and the approaches that your audience/s will
respond to there are likely to be a range of tools to help you, but it can be challenging to work
out which ones are best for the particular task at hand.

Creating your story begins with getting the right tone and approach – so you may need to use
more formal language with a tutor than you would with your friends. You may have to write
your story in several different ways. No matter which tools you chose to package your story, the
content your produce is critical.

Working with others

You might be able to get people to help you with this or you can get feedback to see how
effective your writing is. You could create content in a collaborative way using tools that let you
share documents like GoogleDrive or wikis. There are also online tools to check your grammar
and spelling if you don’t have any people to help with this.

Sometimes making an audio file from your writing can add a new element to your content, and
can give a more personal voice to your words. Combining words, audio and images in a short
video can provide content to use in live presentations or to make available on the web. There are
tutorials on the web showing you how to make videos, audio files and presentations. (Try typing
How to make a video into a search engine and see what you get back)
Be prepared to take some imaginative approaches to telling your stories – it can make you stand
out from the crowd.

5. Telling your story - packaging your content

Once you have created your story/stories you need to make sure your audiences can find them.
Telling your story effectively through a range of approaches is vital.

Using the web to get your messages to the right people requires a clear strategy. Do you want to
put the content on a website so that it has an established and permanent place or are you happy to
share it on social media services instead. The value of putting content on a website is that it will
have a permanent URL (or web address) that can be shared through a variety of ways.

You may already have access to a web-site that you can use to share your content or story, for
example some educational institutions provide web spaces for students to upload content or
assignments. There are free services which allow you to create a web site, but most web hosting
has costs. One way to make a free site is to use [Link]. The WordPress community
offers excellent support and training materials to help people create their own blog.

Here are some ideas for ways to package your story/ies:

 text on a webpage or blog like WordPress

 as a video shared on a video sharing service like YouTube or Vimeo
 as an audio file or podcast shared on a sound sharing service like [Link]
 as a post on a social media site like Facebook
 as an image or series of images on an image sharing website like [Link] or
[Link]
  multi-media story with a mixture of text, images, video and sound files on a webpage like
WordPress

If you are unsure about this part of the process the next section in this unit Producing your own
digital resources may help you.

6. Dialogue and feedback - the cycle

It is really important to find out if you have correctly identified your message and if you are
using the best mechanisms to get them across. Is your audience listening? Are your efforts
effective?

There are numerous ways to engage your audience with online tools like surveys or short polls,
for example using SurveyMonkey. If you have a website you can use tracking mechanisms to see
which parts of your website they are using most or where you lose people? Tracking how your
audiences engage with your messages is a useful precursor to dialogue. You can also use
comments and messages on posts to help you get feedback.

You may need to change or refine your message after having a dialogue. Maybe you missed
something out that people would find useful or have some incorrect information that needs
changing or updating.

The below diagram shows a cyclical approach to digital storytelling that emphasises the need to
refine and develop your story/stories
7. Producing your own digital resources

We have previously talked about creating a digital story and thinking about the purpose and
audience of your content. It can be daunting to think about producing your own digital resources.
The kinds of questions that may arise are:

 What do I have to say?

 Who will want to listen?
 How do I do it?
 Do I have the technical knowledge to do it?
 Which technologies should I chose?
 Where should I publish them?

In fact you may have already produced digital resources. Have you ever written something using
word processing software? Have you ever taken a digital photograph? Have you made a video
using your phone? Have you ever created a presentation for work? Have you ever posted your
thoughts on a social media website like Twitter or Facebook?

All of these activities produce a digital resource. You may have only shared them with
colleagues, tutors, family and/or friends but some of these activities also involve publishing of
content online.

Sometimes we publish digital resources without really thinking about it. Putting your holiday
photographs on Facebook means you have published that content. According to the Facebook
terms and conditions you have:

 only upload content that you own.

 ‘granted Facebook a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide
license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook’ (this
means they can use your holiday photos for Facebook purposes like advertising)
 if you publish it as public then you are allowing everyone. (including people outside
Facebook) to access and use the information and associate it with you.

These are just a few of the Facebook terms that many people may not have looked at or
considered. When you publish or post content on social media websites you need to think
carefully about the implications. Would you be happy for your work colleagues to see those
holiday photographs?

This links back to your digital footprint or online presence covered in Module 1 of this course.
8. Tools to help produce resources

There are a wide range of tools that you could use to produce resources. Some of these are aimed
at professionals to produce very high quality content, such as Adobe’s Creative Suite for
designers and artists. These tend to be expensive and can be quite complex to use.

There are many free tools available on the internet that you could use. It is impossible to list
them all but Table 3 below lists some of them. Please note that some may charge for premium
versions.

Media formats Free tools to create them Places to publish or share them
Open Office- productivity suite (writing,
spreadsheets, presentations) Google Docs

Text documents Libre Office - as above Scribd- share text documents

Google Docs- create and share text [Link] - share text online
documents, spreadsheets, presentations
Flickr- image and video management
GNU Image Manipulation Program GIMP- image and sharing
Images/photographs
editor
Instagram - photograph sharing
Powtoon - animated videos
YouTube - video storage and sharing
LightworksFree - video editing
Videos Vimeo - video storage and sharing
Videopad - video editing
Flickr - image and video sharing
You can produce videos using some digital
cameras or smartphones
SoundCloud - music and audio
platform
Audacity - free audio software for multi-track
Sound files
recording and editing
ccmixter - music community based
on sharing and remixing music
Open Office, Libre Office, Google Doc, Prezi -
online presentations
Slideshare - presentation sharing
Presentations
[Link]- infographics
[Link]
[Link]
Blog posts/web [Link] - blogs and websites [Link] [Link], [Link]
pages - microblogging and social networking
Blogger
 Blogger - blogging platform
Electronic books Lulu - e-book publishing Lulu

Activity 2.3: Creating and sharing

9. What licence should you use?

When you create a digital resource it is important to think about how other people might use it.
Whenever you create content you automatically own the rights to your intellectual
property. You do not have to add a copyright symbol © with the words All Rights Reserved, but
many people do this without thinking about how people might want to use their content.

There are two ways to look at licences - one way it to think about what kinds of activities you
want to prohibit and the other is to consider what you want to allow. One way to protect your
own content is to limit where you share it, but you can use licences to tell people how they can
use it.

Creative Commons licences emerged as part of the open movement that we talked about earlier.
The principles are about sharing and opening up content. If you want to encourage people to use
and share your content you can use any of the six Creative Commons licences described in the
table below:

Licence Description
This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your
work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original
creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered.
Creative Commons Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed
Attribution-only (CC BY) materials.
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even
for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their
new creations under the identical terms. This license is often
compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All
Creative Commons new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any
Attribution-Share-Alike derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by
(CC BY-SA) Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from
incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.
This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-
commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole,
with credit to you.
Creative Commons
Attribution No-
Derivatives (CC BY-ND)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-
commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge
Creative Commons you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative
Attribution Non- works on the same terms.
commercial (CC BY-NC)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-
Creative Commons commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new
Attribution Non- creations under the identical terms.
Commercial Share- Alike
(CC BY-NC-SA)

This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only
Creative Commons allowing others to download your works and share them with others as
Attribution Non- long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use
commercial No- them commercially.
derivatives (CC BY-NC-
ND)

Do you want to let anyone use it in any way (give it a Public Domain dedication) or do you
always want people to attribute the work to yourself and link back to the original content (give it
a CC BY licence)? Are you happy for others to use your work but only for non-commercial
purposes (CC BY-NC) or for any usage, so long as they don’t change it in any way (CC BY-
ND)?

Giving your work a licence is much easier than you might think. You can link back to the
appropriate licence on the Creative commons website and you can use their graphics to tell
people quickly what they can do. See the example below:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

By putting this licence on your digital resource it means that people can

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. As
long as they follow the terms

Attribution — you must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if
changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests
the licensor endorses you or your use.

The important thing to remember is that as the owner of the intellectual property you have
control over what rights you want to give and you need to tell people what they can do.

In reality it is difficult to enforce your licensing conditions if someone chooses to use it in a way
that you did not intend it to be used. Sometimes this could be the result of ignorance about
licences, so a polite notice or email to someone could change how they have used your work. For
example, you could contact someone who has taken one of your images and used it on their blog
without attributing you, and ask them to comply with your licence. Most people do not have the
resources to take people to court if they disregard a licence.

10. Adapting digital resources

The open movement that we described earlier has, at its heart, a basic principle of encouraging
sharing. There is a difference between sharing digital resources for others to use (or consume)
and sharing them for others to change or adapt (create).

There are some confusing terms that you might hear:

Reuse - this implies some kind of adaptation or change but you can reuse something in a
different context without actually changing it. For example a teacher might use something
created by someone else in a different class. This would count as reuse.

Re-purposing - this also implies some kind of adaptation or change but is very similar to re-use,
as a digital resource could be repurposed for a different context without being changed. For
example a teacher could take a diagram created by someone else and use it in a different class or
context.

Re-mixing - this clearly involves changing a resource. For example a teacher may take a
presentation created by someone else but change some of the content to include examples that
are relevant to their subject or class context.

Mash-up - this is re-mixing or changing content but implies a more radical mixing of different
kinds of content.

Benefits of changing and adapting digital resources

Changing or adapting digital resources created by someone else can be a useful way to save time
and make more efficient use of limited resources. It should be noted that changing someone
else’s content can take as long as creating it yourself from scratch. A major benefit of sharing
and reusing content is that it allows people to focus on their own areas of expertise and make
effective use of other people’s knowledge and skills.

This can be important in organisations where people specialise in different areas or subjects. In
an educational institution, there could be real value in sharing content created in other
departments. For example, many courses might include an introduction to statistics so it would
make sense to create a basic ‘introduction to statistics’ module that could be adapted by each
subject team to include relevant examples to their course. This would prevent each department
creating a similar module from scratch.

Some people like to work in a collaborative way with other people and find that sharing content
openly during the creation process can result in a more comprehensive or creative outcome. This
approach makes the best use of people’s expertise and knowledge.

Using other people’s content can encourage creativity and be inspirational. Some online services
and communities actively encourage collaborative creation of content and re-mixing. A good
example of this is ccmixter which exists to foster collaboration, sharing and remixing of music.

When is it improper to re-use digital resources?

There are some situations where reusing or adapting other people’s content could be described as
improper.

A student producing resources for a course assignment needs to be very careful to ensure that
they do not use digital resources in a way that can have a negative impact on their studies.
Students need to be able to use resources to inform their own original work and to attribute or
reference them properly. They should not copy elements of work done by others and claim it as
their own. This is called plagiarism. There are many tools available on the internet to check if
someone has stolen work by other people, and these are often used by educational institutions to
check students work.

Commercial organisations are also very sensitive about people using their content or resources
without their permission.

One way to prevent plagiarism, cheating and stealing of digital resources is to make sure content
creators apply a clear and understandable licence stating how the work can be legally used.
Another is to make sure that people understand how to check for licences and to make sure they
properly present and attribute anything they want to use in their own work.

All Creative Commons licences and many other open licences specifically include an attribution
clause which states that the materials may only be re-used if proper credit to the original creator
is given. There is no definitive way to reference; however common elements of a good reference
include the name of the original author or creator, the location where the original source was
found, and the licence provided on the original resource. Here’s an example of how to attribute,
provided by the Creative Commons organisation.

11. Unit summary

In this unit you learned about the conceptualisation and creation of your own
digital story - the fictional and non-fictional narratives you wish to communicate to
the wider world. You learned how to storyboard and develop your digital
story, taking into account the different audiences you may want to connect with
and their needs, and how to receive feedback on your story using the affordances of
various forms of feedback mechanisms. You learned how to source existing
content and incorporate that into your own story, while remaining legal and ethical
in your practice through using open content - materials which are specifically
licensed to be reused by others. You learned how to identify and find these
materials yourself, and how to license your own materials as open content if you
should so wish.

As a future digital education leader, you are now positioned to help others develop
their own digital narratives, individually or collectively. You can help educate your
community on the responsible use of third-party content, and how to produce their
own materials in such a way that they can be reused by other users. By doing this,
you can help improve the quality and legality of online content production.