ECER weblog and discussion space

The ECER '05 conference weblog was launched as a surprise resent for the VETNET community at the Opening Colloquium of the VETNET programme. During the conference Graham Attwell - as the primus motor of the piloting - made good use of the blog page with his real time news updates from the conference venue. Also, the Knownet team - from a distance - gave a remarkable support by making maps, photos and slides available for the participants during the conference.  The table was set for the party of blogging, reading and commenting to start.

However, it appears that - at least in the case of web-based tools for interactive research dialogue - such surprise presents are not welcomed with enthusiasm in the European VET research community. Time and again new platforms and instruments have been piloted. Time and again the utilisation has been limited.  My preliminary conclusions on this are the following:

1. So far the majority of European VET researchers (individually) has perceived the ECER and the VETNET programme as an opportunity to present there individual research papers (or the work of their projects) on a European platform. Therefore, the assumption is that the task of the VETNET network is to take care of the conference preparation.

2. So far the majority of European VET researchers has considered it as a matter for themselves (individually) to publish their own results and utilise thir conference experiences. Issues like 'content enrichment' (as reflective re-processing of the materials', 'cross-cultural dialogue- (between different research cultures and areas of expertise), or 'making VET research publicly present in the web' (as a research community that maintains and develops joint knowledge resource pools) have not become widely shared ideas.

3. Therefore, the majority of European VET researchers has bconsidered it problematic start using actively the website of VETNET and the opportunity to start blogging (either on individual blog pages or on the common VETNET blog page). This is related to the current communicate culture. European VET researchers consider it difficult to find meaningful uses for joint European web-based resources when they are pushed to produce (and be assessed) as individuals to traditional publication channels.

To me the situation is paradoxical:

a) The effort to create joint knowledge resources is left to few pioneers because it appears to be something otside the scope of normal research work. Yet, it is this extra effort that makes the European VET research visible as a community that merits attention at the European level.

b) If VET European VET researchers would only concentrate on publishing (individually) in books and in refereed journals, one could assume that individual researchers would get into better positions in academic competition. Yet, the counter side of this scenario is that the European VET research community would lose its touch on joint knowledge development and on contributing to European-level developments. Bringing bricks to construction site is not enough to make the house with brick walls.

Because of this paradox I have tried to do my bit to pilot with the conference blog. Already when I started I new that the momentum for active discussion afer the conference was no longer there. Therefore, I did not expect much discussion to emerge when some time had passed from the conference. Yet, I found it necessary to try to transform my conference experiences into a series of blog entries. I though that I could learn new regarding

i) my personal pattern to prepare conference reports on ECER conferences,

ii) the attempts of the VETNET board to develop the VETNET programme and related conference culture,

iii) the discussion on the future perspectives of European VET research and the role of virtual platforms in promoting of such debates.

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Extended text for this entry:

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Below, I will present some lessons from the piloting with the conference blog: 1. So far my habit to write mission reports and to store them on ny personal web page on the VETNET site has been a lonely job. The history of the VETNET community is that short that there is little feeling for "learning from the history". It is obvious that this attitude will not change overnight. Neither will blogging - or the pattern of reading blgs - become widespread overnight. Yet, for me the exercise of writing these blog entries has helped me to consider the difference between comprehensive reporting (reports for the files) and inputs to a dialogue that may emerge on blog page (blog entries for discussion). My lesson from this exercise is that I am somewhere in the middle of a transition process from an old-school historian (writing the VETNET chronicle) to a present-day-blogger (who wantsto stimulate real-time debates). 2. There has been some discussion in the VETNET board on the role of thematic clusters or thematic strands in the conference programme. So far this discussion has been related to the grouping the sessions in such a way that there is an opportunity to follow coherent 'strands' as well as pick sessions from different strands. Up to now these strands have not been discussed as thematic 'building blocks' in the creation of electronic knowledge resource pools. My conclusion is that VETNET should appoint 'strand coordinators' for promoting effective use of the VETNET website and to encourage collaborative initiatives (and blogging) related to VETNET sessions. 3. There has been some discussion in the joint VETNET plenary sessions about preparing a common European VET Research Agenda. There appears to be an implicit connsensus that some kind of joint manifesto is needed. Yet, there is no clear idea what could be the aim of such agenda . Should it be a policy document that tries to influence the European programmes of the EU? Or should it be a strategic document that presents joint VETNET conclusions on the development of European VET research and sets strategic goals for the forthcoming period. Or should it combine both aspects? Furthemore, what kind of preparatory and co-participative processes could be linked to the making of the agenda? After my experience with the reporting on the ECER '05 conference I would consider the "European VET research agenda" as a possible next-step 'pilot project' for collaborative pre-conference blogging in order to produce a joint document for a concluding plenary session of the VETNET programme. Pekka Kämäräinen