The SchoolNet Digital Collections Program:
Building a
Knowledge Base on the Web
Linda Stilborne
Ingenia Communications
ABSTRACT:
This paper will provide background on the SchoolNet Digital
Collections Program. This program, sponsored by Industry Canada, ran
as a pilot project from Dec 95 - April of 1996 and produced more than
thirty sites intended to provide a knowledge base of Canadian Material
for K-12 Schools. In June through August, a second phase of the
program was funded by the Federal Youth Initiative and produced
approximately 80 additional projects.
The Digital Collections Program is unique in that it provides both a
learning experience for teams of student developers and a product
which promises to have value for schools. In addition, the project
makes available on the World Wide Web Canadian Heritage materials that
are otherwise inaccessible. This paper will describe the process and
mechanisms that were in place for developing and coordinating projects
across the country. The program included a distance learning component
for development teams, some of whom were not initially familiar with
the Internet. During the summer phase, the program also included low
skill teams, some of whom had not previously used a computer. This
paper will look at some of the challenges faced by individual
development teams. It will also look at the kinds of materials that
were developed by project teams. The Digital Collections Projects
range from sites which profile archival and heritage collections (e.g.
Native artifacts, architectural history, a community history of the
"original information highway", Transatlantic Cable in Canso Nova
Scotia) to resources about writers, (e.g. Earle Birney, Pauline
Johnson,Yves Thriault ). An assessment of the kinds of projects that
are likely to provide a valuable knowledge base for schools, and of
issues that can interfere with the effectiveness of both the project
development experience and/or reduce the ultimate usefulness of the
material to schools. Finally, the paper will consider just how an
initiative such as the Digital Collections Program ties to distance
learning and to the broader issue of educational applications on the
World Wide Web. Conference attendees will be invited to share their
views.
Keywords: Digital Collections, Knowledge Base, SchoolNet, Content
Distance Education has been constrained for many years by the fact that
students at a distance and, as is often the case, from rural locations do
not have access to research materials for class projects, term papers and
reports. The Internet and the World Wide Web provide an excellent
opportunity to build electronic libraries that can support the learning
goals of many distance education courses. This paper looks at one attempt
to develop an information base as a complement to learning. It also
identifies some of the challenges of developing the information base, and
of ensuring its relevance in a teaching/learning environment.
The SchoolNet Digital Collections Program ran initially as a pilot project
from December 1995 to April 1996. The purpose of the pilot phase was to
test the viability of having student teams that were dispersed across
Canada involved in the development of Web sites related to Canadian
cultural heritage. Theoretically, with a sufficient base of heritage
material available online, Canadian students would be able to access
informational materials that could contribute to learning in classrooms or
online.
Approximately 30 projects were produced in the pilot phase. These are
available for viewing on Canada's SchoolNet:
http://www.schoolnet.ca/collections/. In June through August, an
additional phase of the program ran. The summer phase was jointly funded
by Industry Canada and the Youth Initiative of Human Resources
Development. This phase resulted in approximately 80 additional projects
being produced.
Ingenia Communications, the company that has provided technical support
for Canada's SchoolNet since its inception, was hired to provide technical
and learning support to the development teams and to the program as a
whole. Once contracts for developing projects were finalized, Ingenia
became involved in the overall process of assisting teams, supervising and
troubleshooting. In addition, the company helped to craft the basic
guidelines that teams would follow in developing their pages. In the
final stages, Ingenia reviewed completed projects, requesting changes and
corrections as necessary, prior to posting the projects on SchoolNet.
The Digtial Collections Program had four objectives:
- To provide work experience for students and unemployed youth ages 15
to 30. Although in the initial stage, most of the teams were developing
materials in a school setting, they were doing it on their own time and
being paid a small allowance for their involvement. For many, the
initiative provided a short-term job experience along with the opportunity
to learn The skills that teams were to develop included a knowledge of
scanning, presentation layout and graphics design, HTML programming,
organization and material preparation, business management and
entrepreneurship.
- To contribute to local economic and social development while
encouraging the development of emerging Canadian multi-media companies.
Student teams were often supported by local technical expertise. In the
summer phase, the students involved were sometimes trained and/or
employed by local companies involved in Web Page development.
- To provide wider access to Canadian Heritage material. The materials
developed included the presentation of arts collections, historical
collections, museum and archival material, and material related to natural
history. Ideally the material would have some direct relevance to school
curriculum, though as it turned out, this was not always the case.
- To encourage the development of knowledge-worker skills particularly
in rural, remote and economically disadvantaged communities.
The Digital Collections Program experience is best related in the context
of the ultimate product. In the end, close to 100 projects were
successfully completed. In fact, nearly all of the projects were
successful to the extent that most are now available and accessible on
SchoolNet http://www.schoolnet.ca/collections/. I would like to highlight
a few of these projects in the light of the above objectives and provide
some commentary on why these stand out as successful initiatives. In
talking about the projects, I will also provide background on some
elements of the program.
- Objective: To develop skills in Web page
development:
In terms of student teams acquiring new skills in the area of Web Site
development, it is hard to select-out a single success story. Generally
speaking, all students involved in the projects did learn at least some
useful skills. Nevertheless, HERSTORY
(http://library.usask.ca/herstory/index.html) is an example of a project
that worked particularly well. The collection itself is a digital
rendering of a series of calendars which were developed over a twenty year
period and which depicted the theme of Canadian women's contributions in
the areas of Society, Arts & Leisure, Politics and the Professions. The
Herstory Web project was a way of making the excellent research that went
into the production of the calendars broadly accessible to Canadians.
A strength of this project was its capacity to pull together teams of
people from across the community. In this case, student teams and teacher
supervisors from Nutana Collegate and L'cole Canadienne Franaise,
Saskatoon worked with the University of Saskatchewan library and an
advisor from a local high tech company to develop a useful and informative
project which will tie nicely to courses in history or women's studies.
Most participants began with little or no skill, and they were able to
successfully master scanning, Web page development, and to learn something
about Web Page design.
To ensure that this type of learning was available to all of the teams --
regardless of their initial skill level and the availability of local
expertise, a series of online learning modules -- focused on the Internet
and Web page development were made available to teams. Currently, this
material resides on a password protected Internet site. It included a
series of electronic mail "lessons" on specific topics, such as basic
HTML, advanced HTML (forms, etc.) design issues, graphics, and a number of
other topics. Most lessons were distributed initially by electronic mail,
followed-up by a Web posting. An important element of the lessons was to
involve students in exercises with other team members and to point them in
the direction of Internet resources that could assist them at any particular level. The learning "space" was a dynamic resource, so that new materials were posted regularly. A listserver was also established to facilitate teams interacting with one ano
ther, and in phase-two, a "chat"
program (PowWow) was used to facilitate a round-table discussion.
In the end it was also essential to have local technical people advising on the projects. Most teams did have something like this in place -- a teacher already familiar with the Internet, or a local company involved in Web development. The online learni
ng materials were valued where they were used, but most teams were struggling to complete projects in the time frame available. The resources were consulted, but not used in a structured fashion. A number of educators valued the materials as a resource
that they could tap into once they had completed the projects.
- Objective: To contribute to local social and economic development and to encourage the development of emerging Canadian multi-media companies.
A number of projects involved local multi-media companies to a greater or lessor degree. Certainly all of the local communities and companies benefited from the additional work made available through the Digital Collections funding, but there was an addi
tional benefit to companies that were still working to establish a solid business presence for themselves in the high tech arena. DreamWeaver Communications is an example. Their Digital Collections project is a site featuring information about 38 Canadi
an Museums affiliated with the Canadian Heritage Information Network: Highlights of Canadian Collections: DreamWeaver is an excellent example of the kind of company that should benefit from a
government project of this type. The company was started several years ago by a teacher and a group of students. Their initial product was an outstanding online interface for schools called "The Virtual Schoolhouse". For the Digital Collections pr
oject, DreamWeaver Communications worked with a group of students from Sir Wilfred Laurier High School in Ottawa to design the look and feel of the site; they supervised the html coding and they hired and trained the student participants who worked on the
project.
The company is a talented team of young people, and their involvement in Web page development extends their expertise and their reputation in the competitive arena of multi-media development.
- Objective: To provide broader access to Canadian heritage material
With respect to achieving this goal, the titles of the individual projects probably speak for themselves:
-- Earle Birney, profiles the author and his work.
-- Yves Thriault , the author and his work.
-- Bone Snow Knives & Tin Oil Lamps, materials and tools used by Canada's First Nations
-- Canadian Portraits, a collection of photographs from the National Archives of Canada
-- CN Historical Photograph Collections, and Building Canada, a selection of photographs from a collections which depicts the history of Architecture in Canada,
-- Point Ellice Collection of Household Victoriana,
-- Canada Speaks offers pivotal speeches from Canada's Prime Ministers,
-- Les oiseaux menaces du Qubec, with an environment focus,
--Oeuvres d'art des femmes artistes artistic works of women artists and
-- the CBC 60th Anniversary, an historical profile of the CBC
are all examples.
Although all of the projects relate in some fashion to Canadian heritage, in terms of building a viable information base, individual collections should not exist in isolation. Online information needs to build toward some sort of cohesive body of knowled
ge. Ideally, projects need to come together around a particular theme. In the case of the Digital Collections Program projects which illustrate this are the series of sites which relate to Canadian writers and several projects presenting Canadian histor
ical waterways. The projects focusing on the work of various writers are particularly interesting in this regard since, although they were developed by individual teams with no connection to one another, the projects exist as a nice complement to one a
nother.
It should be mentioned that this type cohesiveness does not happen automatically even when there is some level of thematic linkage. A number of sites that have been funded by the Digital Collections program profile First Nations in some fashion, but, w
hile the individual sites are very interesting, no single thematic unity emerges, probably decreasing somewhat their overall value to schools and distance learners. Other projects were generated through a government interest in making information avail
able, and while these projects will have value in certain arenas, they will not necessarily be of value in a learning context.
- Objective: To encourage the development of knowledge -worker skills, particularly in rural, remote and economically disadvantaged communities.
While not all of the projects did involve rural, remote or economically disadvantaged communities, some of the most worthwhile benefits happened in instances where this was the case. The opportunities for learning were highly valued in these cases. The
Old Crow: Land of the Vuntut Gwich'in project which focused on the presentation of community archival material was particularly challenging in terms of access to computers and Internet connectivity, so that only a few students were able to get directly
involved in developing technical skills. Nevertheless, a larger group was set on its way to becoming more aware of this technology to the extent that a class of students all participated in selecting materials for the site and contributing ideas on how
it might be put together. They did appreciate that this was an opportunity to present their community to the world using technology. In another project, a group of primarily new immigrants were exposed to a range of basic computer skills in the contex
t of learning to develop Web pages. The group is now hoping to pursue an entrepreneurial venture which would get them involved in developing Web sites for non-profit organizations. These people -- previously strangers to one another and strangers to Ca
nada have come together as friends and colleagues.
COMMENTARY:
Projects like this are of little value unless we all know more than we did
when we started. Although many worthwhile things happened as a result of
the Digital Collections initiative, some of the projects were more
successful than others particularly in terms of their ongoing value as a
resource for distance educators and schools. Here is a personal list of
advice/cautionary notes and issues to be aware of in a developing a
far-reaching knowledge base.
- It is important to let the character of the site emerge from the
content. Certain standards of quality should be in place, but there
should be minimal restrictions regarding the look and feel of specific
sites. This has been, I believe, a strength of the Digital Collections
Program. The great variety lends considerable interest to the Collections
as a whole. The freedom to allow individuals to develop distinctive
designs for their materials has fostered creativity and ensured that each
of the collections could feature what they had to offer in the best
possible way.
- If these materials are to be of value for schools and to support courses
in distance learning, the information available needs to be substantive
and pulled together in a meaningful fashion. Sites should not be
developed as a random collection of information. This is a challenging
task, particularly when the content is an existing "collection".
- Projects need to be sustainable. Although some projects are "done
when they are done" others must have a viable funding mechanism in place
to ensure that the content remains current. As information is
incorporated about individual agencies and collections -- such as a
developing art collection, it may be necessary to determine in advance how
the information can be kept current.
- This project highlights the potential for involving students in Web
development projects. Students can provide, ideas, enthusiasm, and they
are certainly less expensive than professionals. In this case most of the
student teams did a wonderful job. There are some things to be aware of,
however. Students' skill sets should match the scope and complexity of a
project, and the material should ideally be of some interest to them.
(With some of the projects that involved the endless scanning of images,
we did hear occasional reports of "The students are getting board", and
who would not be under similar circumstances? ) If student teams are
involved, allowances should be made for their general level of expertise,
and back-up plans in place to provide "clean-up" especially on such things
as spelling, formatting, and design issues. Also remember such things as
the need to allow for school breaks and exam periods.
- It's tempting to try to be comprehensive with respect to what's
included in a web information source, but it is also important to remember
the nature of the web. With the casual surfer typically visiting a web
page for all of 15 seconds this may not be the the exact arena in which to
present an extensive collection of artifacts or archival documents, unless
-- and again -- there is also a meaningful context for the material that
is presented. Chances are that as such a context is developed, less,
rather than more will emerge as a rule of thumb.
- As is frequently the case when funding is made available through
government agencies, there are political and bureaucratic forces in place
which can create conflicting objectives. In this case, which was the most
important objective: the learning needs of students, the development of a
cultural information base, the creation of opportunities for economically
disadvantaged groups, or the final "product" which in most cases was
sponsored by an agency -- such as a local archives, a government agency or
a museum? These agencies did not necessarily have an initial interest in
the students themselves developing skills, though generally they were
supportive of this goal. As a result of many different goals and
interests coming together under the umbrella of the Digital Collections
Program it may be that -- although there have been many wonderful
opportunities created by the program, and the program has resulted in the
production of projects that will undoubtedly have value in the broader
Canadian arena -- in the end some of the projects will not be useful as an
ongoing learning resource.
Still the Digital Collections Program has provided a starting point that
hopefully will inspire Canadian cultural groups to continue developing
this type of resource so that there will eventually be a comprehensive and
cohesive Canadian cultural resource. It is also vitally important for
educators to participate in the development of any type of digital
knowledge base if the material is to have lasting value in the education
arena.
Linda Stilborne
Educational Project Manager
Ingenia Communications
K2L 1Z5
lstilbor@ingenia.com
http://www.ingenia.com/trifolium
Linda Stilborne has been involved with the Digital Collections Program
from its inception as a coordinator for development teams, and as the
primary person responsible for developing the online learning materials.
She is a teacher and a coordinator for the Ottawa Distance Learning Group
and co-author of The Teachers Complete & Easy Guide to the Internet,
published by Trifolium Publications.
COPYRIGHT
Linda Stilborne © 1996. The author assigns to the University of New
Brunswick and other
educational and non-profit institutions a non exclusive license to use
this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided
that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is
reproduced. The author grants a non-exclusive license to the University
of New Brunswick to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web
and on CD-ROM and in printed form
with the conference papers, and for the document to be published on
mirrors on the World Wide Web. Any other usage is prohibited without the
express permission of the author.
N.A.WEB 96 - The Second International North America World Wide Web Conference
http://www.unb.ca/web/wwwdev/
University of New Brunswick.